In a since deleted Instagram post made Wednesday night, Donald Trump, Jr. shared a poorly photoshopped image of a CNN Gallup poll graphic. The poorly altered image showed his father finally reaching a 50 percent approval rating.
In his caption, the younger Trump stated:
Amazing. I guess there is a magic wand to make things happen and @realdonaldtrump seems to have it. #maga #americafirst"
Caption by Donald Trump Jr. on since deleted Instagram post. (screen grab)
The doctored image intended to show his father’s approval rating at 50 percent versus President Barack Obama's 45 percent approval rating. Only the 50 percent for Trump failed to pass even brief examination.
Whoever altered the original CNN screen grab left the "50%" misaligned with the text on the original graphic. Also, the background shade of red was drastically different.
After zooming in, people also clearly saw the original "40%" was still visible under the fake number. It didn't take long for the internet to pick up on the error of Trump Jr.'s ways.
A few went to Trump Sr. to ask about the graphic his son shared.
While some theorized on the real reason behind the fake image.
Some found irony in Trump Jr.'s magic wand comment since it is one of the photoshop tools used when altering images.
The magic wand from Photoshop. (Photoshop)
While others offered their own fake poll numbers.
Although it appears not everyone got the memo as Nevada Republican State Senate Leader and candidate for Nevada Lieutenant Governor Michael Roberson shared the clearly altered image Friday morning, well after the public called it out as fake.
Ironically, he captioned the image "Facts are stubborn things."
Twitter post by Nevada Republican candidate Michael Roberson. (Twitter screen grab)
After the public notified Roberson, rather than admit his mistake and delete the post, he claimed he was owning Libs with a badly photoshopped image.
Twitter user Alex Kaplan broke the whole thing down in the following series of tweets.
First he shared the Instagram post by Trump Jr. as well as several pro-Trump Facebook pages.
Donald Trump Jr. Instagram post with photoshopped and an arrow added by Alex Kaplan. (Twitter)
Pro-Trump Facebook pages share of altered CNN graphic. (Twitter)
After Trump Jr. deleted his Instagram post, Kaplan noted the Facebook posts of the same image had been turned into memes with the same numbers, but no basis in reality.
Trump Jr. did not respond to any media inquiries about the graphic before or after deleting it from Instagram. It is unclear where he got the image, but he retweeted a similar claim from Twitter user Paul Joseph Watson making a 50 percent approval rating claim.
Retweet by Donald Trump Jr. (Twitter)
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