Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, on Sept. 30 to survey the damage from Hurricane Helene. More than 130 people have died in six Southeastern states since the hurricane made landfall on Sept. 26. The hurricane left a path of destruction from Florida’s Gulf Coast into parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia.
A photo appearing to show Trump wading through floodwaters has more than 149,000 views on Facebook since being posted on Sept. 30. The photo is being shared across social platforms with commentary suggesting Facebook has “been deleting” the image.
Several VERIFY readers emailed and texted to ask if the image is real.
THE QUESTION
Is the image of Trump wading through floodwaters real?
THE SOURCES
- VERIFY analysis of the image
- Donald Trump’s Sept. 30 social media posts
- Associated Press, Getty Images, Fox News and NBC News coverage of Trump’s Sept. 30 visit to Valdosta, Georgia
THE ANSWER
No, the image of Trump wading through floodwaters isn’t real. It was made with artificial intelligence.
WHAT WE FOUND
The image appearing to show Donald Trump wading through floodwaters isn’t real. It’s made with generative artificial intelligence software.
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce new content, including images, videos, audio and text based on a prompt.
VERIFY analyzed the image and found a number of visual cues that show it was generated with AI.
AI creation tools can struggle with details. Often, a person seen in an AI-generated image or video has misshapen or distorted features. Numbers, letters, textures and background details are often also distorted or over-stylized in AI content.
In this image, Trump’s right hand appears distorted and claw-like. The text on the yellow hat worn by the other person and the lettering on the nametags aren’t distinguishable.
Despite the fact the image shows Trump and the other person walking through deep water, the clothes don’t appear wet.
Those clothes are also not what Trump was wearing during his visit to Georgia.
News coverage from The Associated Press, Getty Images, Fox News and NBC News and Trump’s own social media posts all show Trump wearing a suit, red tie and Make America Great Again hat. Trump’s visit was covered by the media, and he did not visit any flooded areas.
