Trump campaign image of cop being attacked is actually of 2014 Ukraine
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Mia Jankowicz Jul 22, 2020, 7:37 AM A Trump campaign ad used this image of protesters and police officers in Ukraine from 2014. Courtesy of Mstyslav Chernov
- President Donald Trump's reelection campaign released a new Facebook ad with an image of a group of protesters attacking a police officer alongside the words "public safety vs chaos & violence."
- But that photo is actually from a pro-democracy protest in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2014. The photographer, Mstyslav Chernov, confirmed to Business Insider that it is his photo from six years ago.
- Trump has sent federal law-enforcement officers to quell protests in Portland, Oregon, and threatened to send more to other cities led by Democrats.
- The Trump campaign has seized on the protests in the US as a key campaign issue. Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, has described the Portland protesters as "violent anarchists."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A new ad for President Donald Trump's reelection campaign used an image of pro-democracy protests in Ukraine from 2014 to show what it called "chaos & violence" in the US.
The ad, published on Tuesday, includes a photo of the president listening to police leaders next to another photo appearing to show a group of protesters attacking a police officer on the ground.
"Public safety vs chaos & violence," the text underneath the photos says.
A screenshot of one of the ads on Facebook. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc/Facebook
Trump has sent federal law-enforcement officers to quell protests in Portland, Oregon, and has threatened to send more to other cities led by Democrats. Trump campaign insiders have pounced on the protests as a key electoral issue, Business Insider reported.
However, the image the Trump campaign used is not from the US - or from this year. It was uploaded on Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia's public-domain media archive, in 2014 with the label "a police officer attacked by protesters during clashes in Ukraine, Kyiv. Events of February 18, 2014."
The photographer, Mstyslav Chernov, confirmed to Business Insider that this was his photo from Ukraine in 2014.
"Photography has always been used to manipulate public opinion. And with the rise of social media and the rise of populism, this is happening even more," he said.
"The only way to combat this is through education and media literacy. When people learn to independently distinguish truth from lies, then the number of manipulations will decrease."
President Donald Trump at a press conference on Tuesday. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Trump has used inflammatory language to describe the numerous demonstrations against police brutality in the country that were spurred by the death of George Floyd in late May.
In Portland, where protests have continued for almost two months, federal officers — sent against the wishes of local officials — have used tear gas and nonlethal munitions on protesters. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf described the protesters as "violent anarchists" in a statement last Thursday.
Jesse Lehrich, a former spokesman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, tweeted a screenshot of the ad on Tuesday, adding "LOL."
According to Facebook's advertising archive, the ad has run three times since Tuesday and has been accompanied by messages designed to appeal to American evangelicals.
"Help ensure Pro-Life values are represented in Washington for four more years," one post with the ad said.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comments.
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Trump and his campaign don't know truth from lies.
Why would they? Trumpism is based on lies lies lies.
This is what happens when Putin is your campaign manager.
I can remember when the gop hated Russia...
So can I. Now they wear T-shirts saying they would rather be Russian.
At Trump rallies some probably are Russians!
I used to have a deep seated fear of the Soviets. Then the Cold War ended, I thought, well that's good, and now I'm back to my nuclear nightmares
No doubt.
Russians actually hosted pro Trump rallies.
When I was a little kid we had drop drills and take cover drills in school in case of nuclear attack. Like those were going to do any good. I'm not really too worried about a nuclear attack. We all still have enough nukes for MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). Despite how crazy they might be, I don't think the Russians are suicidal. I'm far more concerned about their efforts to tear down western civilization, especially with the help of people in the west.
The Russians are probably assisting him in planning his efforts to impose martial law right now.
I'm trying to remember those drills but I started 1st grade in 1968 so it's hard to remember. At the time we only lived about 45 minutes southwest of Philly so we would probably would have died.
I still think somebody could get stupid (I'm looking at you Pakistan and India!) and start tossing nukes at each other and then we can all kiss our collective asses good-bye
I get the idea, and it does bug me when someone uses an image and tags it as something else. I don't see the tag here that suggests the image is either current or from the US though. I do see the suggestion that the image represents chaos...which it does.
The Trump campaign chose to use fake photos!
The photo is real. The photo, to me, certainly depicts chaos. Nowhere does the ad suggest the photo depicts chaos in the US. So, what is fake about it?
The photo was represented as being America!
Where? In this little chat here? Because nowhere on the ad is it represented as being America. It would be difficult to make something up that defies credulity more than an assertion that the photo is represented as being America. America is not mentioned on the ad once.
The ad suggests 2 options: Public Safety vs Violence and Chaos. The liberals bent on finding anything and everything they can to bitch about Trump are the ones asserting it as being America. Rational people understand the intended message. People with schizophrenia get hung up on the minutia and can't let it go.
Can't even talk to my siblings anymore as they are Trumpers and can't explain why. I try to talk issues with them but all they are able to articulate is "Trump good! democrats bad!" Too much Fox.