Trump supporters create and share AI photos of him with black voters in ‘strategic narrative’ to push popularity lie
Supporters of former President Donald Trump are spreading artificial intelligence-generated photos of him surrounded by black voters to drum up extra support, according to a report.
The now-viral AI pictures show the former president hugging or posing with smiling black Americans, suggesting the fake people are supporters.
Cliff Albright, the co-founder of a group called Black Voters Matter, called the manipulated images a “strategic narrative” aimed at perpetuating a specific lie — that Trump is popular among young black voters, according to the BBC.
One such post was made by Mark Kaye, who runs a conservative radio show in Florida, showing Trump hugging a group of black women at a party — with a post suggesting the fake people in the photo were actual supporters.
However, Kaye denied spreading misinformation by sharing the AI image to his more than 1 million followers on Facebook.
“I’m not a photojournalist. I’m not out there taking pictures of what’s really happening,” he told the BBC. “I’m a storyteller.
“I’m not claiming it is accurate. I’m not saying, ‘Hey, look, Donald Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters. Look how much they love him!'” he added.
“If anybody’s voting one way or another because of one photo they see on a Facebook page, that’s a problem with that person, not with the post itself.”
Kaye did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Another Trump supporter using the X account “Shaggy” was behind a similar incident. The user, who was not publicly named, used an AI image from a satirical account mocking the former president and twisted it to fit a new, supportive narrative.
The now-famous AI picture shows Trump sitting on a porch posing with a group of young black men, with Shaggy’s caption claiming it was part of a real event where the leading GOP candidate stopped his motorcade to meet his fans.
Albright claimed these AI-generated photos were being pushed by conservative groups in order to try to win over young black voters, who he said could be more easily influenced to vote for Trump.
“There have been documented attempts to target disinformation to black communities again, especially younger black voters,” he told the British outlet.
The latest New York Times and Siena College poll found that President Biden is losing ground with black voters in six key swing states, with 71% of them saying they would vote for the Democrat in November, a steep drop from the 92% who turned out to help him win in 2020.
The poll also found that about 26% of black voters believe Trump’s policies had helped them personally, as opposed to only 17% who believed the same of Biden’s policies.
