Trump in the rough? Altered photo falsely depicts former president on the golf course
If your time is short
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An image shared on Twitter by Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., purports to show former President Donald Trump golfing.
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It’s an altered image debunked years ago.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., no fan of former President Donald Trump, suggested in a June 23 tweet that an image he shared was of the former president.
The image appeared to be a red-capped Trump, his stomach hanging over his belt, swinging a golf club on a golf course.
“Is this in Florida? Because he is beyond Six weeks,” Moskowitz wrote, comparing Trump’s purported physique to a pregnancy.
The tweet included an animated picture of a chick hatching from an egg, apparently alluding to abortion legislation in Florida, where Trump lives.
In April, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, but it hasn’t taken effect. The law is in limbo as the Florida Supreme Court decides a case that challenged the state’s previous 15-week ban, which DeSantis signed in April 2022.
What Moskowitz shared was altered.
Fact-checkers at Snopes debunked the image in 2017.
Trump’s face was digitally inserted onto an image of John Daly, a professional golfer and Trump supporter, Snopes reported.
The Reuters news agency debunked the photo again when it surfaced on social media in 2021.
We found that the authentic photo, of Daly in a light-colored cap, appeared online several years earlier, including in 2011.
Moskowitz’s staff did not reply to our requests for comment.
We rate Moskowitz’s tweet Pants on Fire!
PolitiFact staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
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Our Sources
Twitter, Jared Moskowitz tweet (archived), June 23, 2023
TotalSports.com, John Daly photo, accessed June 26, 2023
Snopes, "Is This President Trump at the Golf Course?", May 15, 2017
Reuters, "Fact Check- Altered images of Trump playing golf resurface," Sept. 3, 2021
God & Golf Tee-ology, "Hit It Hard with John Daly," Nov. 25, 2014
Yahoo!, "John Daly records a 62, and we're not talking beers or wings," Nov. 24, 2008
