On June 16, 2024, progressive podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen posted (archived) a photo of Donald Trump on Facebook. The picture showed the former U.S. president walking a red carpet on an elevated stage while holding the hand of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. According to Cohen's caption, Trump held his son's hand because he needed help leaving the stage. Cohen wrote, "Trump has to hold someone's hand to guide him off stage. Cognitive decline?"
Democratic strategist Adam Parkhemenko also posted the photo on Threads on June 17, writing, "I can't imagine why they keep falsifying photos and video of Biden. It's almost like an attempt to distract while still projecting as always."
Some posts on X made similar claims, while other posts on Reddit and X were more vague in their assertions.
However, the picture did not show Trump holding his son's hand because he needed help leaving the stage. The pair quickly grabbed each other's hands for around one second as the former president continued walking.
A YouTube video provided by the Right Side Broadcasting Network channel displays the moment Trump and his son briefly grabbed hands. That moment occurs just after the 7:48:45 mark in this clip:
A user on X also posted a video of the brief moment showing the truth. The user wrote, "'No Lie Brian' lying, as usual," a reference to Cohen's podcast, "No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen."
This misleading rumor was simply the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of users making light of the ages of Trump, who is 78, and U.S. President Joe Biden, who is 81. As we previously reported, once the two men secure the Republican and Democratic nominations, they will be the two oldest presidential nominees representing a major political party.
On June 21, USA Today reported the photo in question was taken during a campaign rally in Hialeah, Florida, on Nov. 8, 2023. Reuters credited photographer Octavio Jones with capturing the photo.
According to AFP, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung called any posts promoting the false narrative regarding the photo as a "cheap fake." The reporting from June 20 mentioned Biden's campaign repeatedly used the same term to characterize misleading videos showing him at various events.
The Poynter Institute's initiative MediaWise defines cheap fakes as "photos or videos that have been manipulated using cheaper, more accessible video editing software." MediaWise continued: "Cheap fakes can also edit out important context or maybe reorder clips to alter the narrative to deceive you and shape your opinion." They are quite different from deepfakes, which involve a video displaying a manipulation of lip movement and possibly a full face replacement.
We contacted Cohen to ask about his post and the Trump campaign to inquire about the photo and AFP "cheap fake" quote, and will update this story if we receive any responses.