Donald Trump, the world’s most famous weirdo, has made many absurd claims over the years. But the 78-year-old’s latest comments on social media may be his strongest yet. Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday to say that Kamala Harris misled the crowds at her August 7 rally in Detroit, Michigan. In fact, Trump claims the crowd photos were created with artificial intelligence technology and has absolutely insane screenshots to prove it.
“Did anyone notice that Kamala FORGOT at the airport?” Trump wrote on Sunday. “There was no one on the plane, and he ‘wanted it’, and showed a large ‘crowd’ of so-called fans, BUT THEY WERE NOT THERE! He was approached by a maintenance worker at the airport when he saw a fake image, but there was no one there, it was later confirmed a mirror similar to the end of the Vice President’s plane.”
Trump went on to insist that all of this alleged fraud will lead to fraudulent vote counting in the November presidential election.
“You are a CHEATER,” Trump wrote. “There was NO ONE waiting for him, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! The same thing happened with his fake ‘crowds’ in his speeches. This is how Democrats win Elections, by FRAUD – And they’re worse at the Ballot Box.”
Trump has also claimed that the 2020 election was rigged, a claim that has been repeatedly proven false in court. Then Trump got into what he really wanted to see with all this conspiracy talk. As Trump sees it, Harris shouldn’t even be able to run because he allegedly created fake photos of his crowd.
“He should be withdrawn because the creation of a fake image is DISRUPTION IN THE ELECTIONS. Anyone who does that is cheating ANYONE!” Trump wrote.
Trump has continued the conspiracy theory in many posts, surprisingly insisting that Harris created a huge crowd with AI. But Trump didn’t invent the conspiracy theory himself, of course. Tweets about the theory have been circulating online and gathering millions of views in recent days, and Trump even posted a screenshot of the tweet below to make his case.
“BREAKING REPORT: Harris campaign BAPTIZED using non-crowd photo at campaign stop,” one tweet by X user Chuck Callesto falsely claimed on August 10.
EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Harris’s campaign has been DEFEATED using a fake crowd photo at a campaign stop. pic.twitter.com/HjTjN7vCdz
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) August 10, 2024
It sounds silly to even point out that the Harris rally in Detroit was real and the crowd wasn’t created by AI. But it was real and not done with AI. There are tons of photos and videos from the event, all of which show a large crowd.
The photo below, for example, was taken by photographer Demetrius Freeman for the Washington Post and is distributed by Getty Images. An enthusiastic crowd cheered for Harris and his new running mate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota. And there are no indications that anything is wrong with the image.
Another photo taken by a different photographer from a different angle at the same event also proves that the crowd in Detroit was huge, as you can see below.
As another example, PBS Newshour has a live stream on YouTube that clearly shows the same large crowd seen in footage broadcast on sites like X and Public Truth.
Why did Trump start this crazy line of attack that Harris doesn’t really get big crowds? First of all, Trump is obsessed with the size of his crowd and uses it as an indicator of a politician’s popularity. The fact that Harris gets even bigger crowds than his neo-fascist rallies hurts him personally.
But more importantly, Trump is afraid of losing the presidential race now that Joe Biden is out. Trump doesn’t know how to attack Harris effectively and has been faltering in recent weeks. Poll after poll is coming out showing Harris with a narrow lead in several of the battleground states where Biden lost, including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The latest New York Times poll over the weekend showed Harris winning by four points in each district. And the Democratic National Convention hasn’t even started yet, which tends to give the party a small bump in the polls overall.
Trump plans to hold an audio interview on X with Elon Musk on Monday night at 8 pm ET. And it will be one of the most consistent experiences on the platform over time. Given the fact that this ridiculous “AI Harris crowd” conspiracy theory started with X, it will be really interesting to see if Trump comes up with the idea that Harris is using computers to manipulate his crowd.
It’s amazing that Trump is the guy who uses AI sometimes on social media. Remember when Trump shared a picture of his AI kneeling down in prayer? As the saying goes, all these guys are accused of is an admission.
