According to The New York Times, a Washington hotel where Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization, hosted a conference for high school students. Trump spoke there on Tuesday.
What the problem? The seal placed behind Trump was not the real presidential seal. As The Washington Post reported, instead of the customary bald eagle, the altered image showed a double-headed eagle, similar to that featured in Russia’s national emblem.
After the image was circulated online, an aide at the organization was fired. The seal appears to be the same as oneused to sell anti-Trump march.
In an interview with The Times, Charles Leazott who runs the store said he had created the image, based on the Russian double-headed eagle. Mr. Leazott, who works in video production and graphic design said,
“This is the most petty piece of art I think I’ve ever designed. This was every petty, little thing I could think of to needle him because he was driving me bananas with his politics.”
On Thursday morning, he said he was surprised to come across his creation in a news article while he was drinking coffee and scanning Reddit,
“It kind of made my day.”
Online, some delighted in the dig and called it “brilliant trolling.” Others denounced the switch as an offense worthy of dismissal.
The alterations were subtle enough.
The traditional presidential seal contains the image of an eagle, which holds arrows representing war in one talon and olive branches representing peace in the other. A banner above its head bears the motto “E Pluribus Unum,” Latin for “Out of Many, One.”
In the new seal, the eagle clutches golf clubs and what appears to be a wad of money in its talons. The banner above its head reads “45 Es un Títere,” Spanish for,
“45 Is a Puppet.”
And a shield across the eagle’s chest features five instances of the hammer and sickle, a Communist symbol associated with the Russian Revolution.
#MasterTrolling
The ‘Russian Eagle’ Has Landed W/ Golf Clubs At Trump’s Speech #PutinPUNKINTrump 😂 #FakePresidentialSeal 👀😂🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/jcdpHwuYjw
— OldMoodyFooka #foo (@MoodyFooka1) July 25, 2019
(Photo, screen grab; via The New York Times)
