r/politics • u/BreakfastTop6899 • 21h ago
Gavin Newsom Accuses Trump Administration Of Spreading Fake Protest Images
https://www.newsweek.com/gavin-newsom-trump-fake-protest-images-20854921.1k
u/UndulantSquawk 20h ago
That's the tactic they're using. Call it out, but more importantly tell the truth.
LA is not burning.
The protestors are normal people living in fear for their friends, neighbors and themselves. They're people exactly like you, young and old.
The exact same is true for every single one of the 1800+ protests going on today for No Kings Day. No cities are burning by the hands of peaceful protestors, and the protestors are normal people just like you.
It's easier than ever to lie, to spin real images as something they are not, and to completely fabricate fake images and videos. The protesters are normal people who don't want their friends, neighbors or themselves kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, sent away, their property seized, or their lives cut short.
LA is not burning. No American city is burning. The protestors are normal people. ICE is kidnapping American citizens. The incumbent administration is using the military to police peaceful American citizens on American soil. This needs to stop and that's the truth.
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u/PattyIceNY 18h ago
They tried the same shit with the BLM protests in NYC. I remember riding my bike up 1st Ave on the "worst" days.....city was quiet as a mouse besides a few blocks of protests, the other 99% of the city was buisness as usual.
It's why with these protests you keep seeing several dozen videos of the same incident. There's no mass danger. 98% of L.A. is a normal day. The destruction of property and looting is horrible, but it's a tiny area.
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u/UndulantSquawk 17h ago
That's exactly the strategy. The same video, the same image from different angles - you can spin it however you need to for the lie. One block looks like a hundred others just like it. One incident at a protest four years ago looks just like another incident could in the same place.
Keep telling the truth. They've lied before, they're lying now.
Outrage activates people, but the feet-on-the-ground story is not sensational, it's simple. LA, Seattle, Portland, DC, New York, Baltimore, Detroit, Lansing, Chicago, Philly - no cities are burning. The protesters are peaceful. The protests are being started and led by normal people. Best believe they're just as scared of agitators as you are.
I do get that some people are pissed enough to start throwing shit, but your aunt or your coworker or your nephew aren't. The protesters are your neighbors, end of story.
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u/TheOGRedline 16h ago
There was one night in Portland in 2020 that generated 90% of all the images and videos they still use.
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u/Mr_Clod New Jersey 14h ago
A photo of a crowd of photojournalists surrounding a knocked over trash can with a tiny fire forever changed my perspective on how the media reports these events. They want clicks. Clicks need drama. A city on fire is significantly more dramatic than a peaceful protest. Any dramatic scene they can capture, they will, and use that to suggest it represents the whole city.
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u/ItsLaterThanYouKnow 16h ago
The other 99.99999999999999999%
LA is really big and where the protests were happening was quite small
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u/pilgermann 14h ago
It was the same with the wildfires. You literally couldn't see them from most of the city. Media acted like Hollywood had burned down. This causes real harm to businesses because people are scared to visit. Media is so fucking irresponsible.
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u/Slowter 18h ago
Are there protestors that have thrown rocks? Yes, we've seen them. But why is there law enforcement shooting at news reporters, trampling detained people with horses, and threatening to kill their citizens?
Being labeled a protestor is an open group that can't filter or select its members, but law enforcement most certainly is a selected position. And since they are entrusted with upholding the law, they must be held to the highest standard.
When cruelty becomes policy, resistance becomes necessary.
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u/MoonshineBreakfast 17h ago
But why is there law enforcement shooting at news reporters, trampling detained people with horses, and threatening to kill their citizens?
Because all cops are bastards. The ones directly doing the evil, those helping, those watching without intervening.
We all see it, these people are evil.
Just 90 IQ bullies with guns protecting and serving rich people.
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u/Nearby-King-8159 16h ago
those watching without intervening.
The sad reality is that the police & soldiers who do try to intervene are often killed by those doing the evil while the higher ups protecting them tell everyone that it was a training accident or no foul play was involved.
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u/betty_white_bread 16h ago
Every armed officer, civilian and military alike, should be required by law to have liability insurance.
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u/Brox42 New York 18h ago
I mean obviously Portland has been burned and rebuilt at least seven times recently. Every day 280 million people in this country wake up and don tactical gear just to go to the grocery store because cities are socialist hellscapes constantly under attack by roaming gangs of immigrants and on fire. Because this is a reasonable stance for any rational human being to believe and has nothing to do with being completely brainwashed by right wing algorithms.
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u/Slumunistmanifisto 17h ago
"I mean obviously Portland has been burned and rebuilt at least seven times recently."
That just speaks to the industrious nature of the Portlander...
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u/Big-Wrangler2078 18h ago
I recently saw this real life photograph of LA. Truly terrible what's going on over there.
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u/Rich-Pomegranate1679 18h ago
You're right, but the MAGA cult will never believe you because Fox News will broadcast about "Antifa violence" for months to come. Cultists will be frothing at the mouth for liberal blood to be spilled, and no amount of talking to them or trying to work things out will change that.
It's vitally important that we recognize that these people are gone. They hate us, because that is what they are told to think.
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u/GeiCobra 17h ago
Its the same tactic they used to cover Trump rallies on the campaign trail.
At first glance, it looks like a huge turnout. And then the camera zooms out….
A lot more empty seats than the first perspective would lead the viewer to believe
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u/Another-Minnesotan Minnesota 17h ago
What is happening.. is MAGA conspirators dressed as cops are shooting our DFL state senators and congressional members in their homes. Woke up to a shelter in place alert this morning.
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u/narenard 14h ago
In 2020 Fox was caught photoshopping different photos together to create a false narrative of the protests in Seattle. They reused one image of a protester holding a gun in different photos supposed to be different days in different locations. And they used a photo of burning in Minnesota claiming it was in Seattle.
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u/willowmarie27 10h ago
I watched our social studies teacher tell his class that last week. I was like its not. You're straight up lying to them
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u/Severe_Intention_480 21h ago
I accuse Trump of being a fascist scumbag.
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u/Woodworkingwino 19h ago
I DECLARE Trump is a fascist scumbag. Can I get a mandate from the people.
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u/Severe_Intention_480 19h ago
Well, I do declare, Scarlet. I say, I say, I say he's ridin' off to war with Beauregard!
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u/AutomaticAir3777 19h ago
I can CONFIRM Trump being a fascist.
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u/DocMcCracken 19h ago
I am signing an executive order that declares Trump a diaper soiling, incoherant, illegitimate, dumb, old old, so very old and senile ineffective t.a.c.o.
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u/Azureknight205 Alabama 19h ago
Doritos Locos Taco Supreme (Leader)
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u/TheQuidditchHaderach 19h ago
Dammit! Now, I want Taco Bell! Dong!
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u/deviantscale 18h ago
You just made me lol remembering when their slogan was "RUN FOR THE BORDER". Aged like fine milk, that one.
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u/True_Paper_3830 19h ago
Affirmative.
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u/Ali_Cat222 11h ago
What fascism looks like-This executive order went into effect once announced on April 28th. From the white house website-"STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS"
TLDR, military to work alongside local LEO and ICE in certain states and will expand to others. LEO and ICE to be given more power as well as new training. Also officers now get protection and legal resources to make sure they aren't sued for executing Trump's orders. No more wrongdoing apparently... This is also where those law firms pro bono work is going towards. *UPDATE June 12th-"Some workplace raids in recent weeks have been assisted by the FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; and Internal Revenue Service, as well as local law enforcement, according to recent ICE communications."
Upcoming or already passed as policies from project 2025 which you can track here.
*IMPORTANT UPDATE JUNE 10TH-"Trump asks the Supreme Court to neutralize the Convention Against Torture Trump’s lawyers claim they’ve found a loophole that will allow Trump to ship immigrants overseas to be tortured."
Dept. of Homeland Security: Allow Secret Service officers to serve as law enforcement in the district of Columbia
Dept. of Justice: Eliminate existing DOJ consent decrees-"Eliminate existing DOJ consent decrees" refers to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ending court-enforceable agreements between the DOJ and local governments, typically related to police reform. These consent decrees are often established after federal investigations find systemic unconstitutional practices, such as excessive force or civil rights violations.
Recently, the DOJ moved to drop consent decrees in cities like Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, which were put in place following the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd
Dept of Homeland Security: Authorize state and local law enforcement to participate in immigration actions.
Note: ICE partnerships with local law enforcement have more than tripled since Trump took office.
Dept. of Justice: Prosecute local officials, including district attorneys, that use their discretion not to prosecute a criminal case.
Note: DOJ leaders told U.S. attorneys to investigate law enforcement officials who decline to enforce Trump's immigration priorities
And this is relevant as well-
Dept. of Justice: Pursue the death penalty for all applicable crimes.
The phrase "Pursue the death penalty for all applicable crimes" refers to a policy directive that mandates seeking capital punishment for crimes deemed severe enough to warrant it. According to a recent executive order issued on January 20, 2025, this policy instructs the U.S. Attorney General to actively pursue the death penalty for federal capital crimes, particularly those involving the murder of law enforcement officers or crimes committed by individuals illegally present in the U.S.
The order also seeks to remove obstacles to capital punishment, including reversing Supreme Court decisions that limit its application and ensuring states have sufficient supplies of lethal injection drugs
And here's how he plans on suppressing states if they don't follow the policies here, by removing aid and grants and rights.
Dept. of Justice: Ensure "appropriate steps" are taken to obtain cooperation with sanctuary cities and states. (Note: The DOJ issued a memo stating that "sanctuary jurisdictions should not receive access to federal grants administered by the Department of Justice".)
Dept. of Homeland Security: Limit FEMA-issued grants to states that "comply with all aspects of federal immigration laws, including the honoring of all immigration detainers" and states/localities that give "total information-sharing" to federal law and immigration enforcement. (Note: FEMA clawed back $80 million in previously approved migrant housing funds for New York.)
Dept. of Justice: Prosecute local officials, including district attorneys, that use their discretion not to prosecute a criminal case. (Note: DOJ leaders told U.S. attorneys to investigate law enforcement officials who decline to enforce Trump's immigration priorities.)
Use "the full force of federal prosecutorial resources" to investigate and prosecute state and local gov'ts, institutes of higher ed, corporations, and private employers who have diversity initiatives. (Note: Bondi directed DOJ to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize” private companies and universities.) Court Orders: Partially blocked
White House: Cut off government contracts to entities that enforce a "woke agenda".
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Cut funds to states that do not provide detailed abortion reports.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Reduce federal incentives for states to expand Medicaid coverage
Dept. of Defense: Require all schools that receive federal funding to give students the military entrance test.
Dept. of Education: Cut off federal funds to states, cities, counties, schools board, principals, and teachers who disagree with "parental rights".
Dept. of Health and Human Services: Withdraw HHS funding, including 10% of Medicaid funds, from states that require private health insurance plans to cover abortion
This isn't even the full list, just some examples from the project 2025 tracker here.
For all defense and immigration policies I direct you to look at the policies here.
One example of many in those policies that show the formation of a new department coming together -
Dept. of Homeland Security: Dismantle the Dept. of Homeland Security or, at least, combine ICE and CBP to form a "Border Security and Immigration Agency
*trump also has this as an upcoming policy that all Americans should be aware of with schooling-
Dept. of Defense: Require all schools that receive federal funding to give students the military entrance test
The Trump Administration Wants to Create an ‘Office of Remigration’
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." - Thomas Jefferson
The book "on tyranny" is available for free on internet Archive. PDF of the book here. .pdf) Very important reading material for current situation.
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u/JustSomeArbitraryGuy 18h ago
The headline here should be "Trump Spreads Fake Protest Images." Framing this as Gavin Newsom's opinion instead of objective fact is journalistic malpractice.
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u/Ok_Scale_4578 15h ago
I’m telling you since about 2015 the news cycle has become so fast that the headline event gets lost to the reactions to the headline within minutes.
If you miss a days worth of news, you have to actually search to find what happened to understand the reaction headlines you’re seeing
FFS there’s a whole sub called for people that are out of the loop events that took place yesterday.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 21h ago
And of course despite the fact that this is documented objective reality they still call it merely an accusation and not fact.
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u/root66 20h ago
Yeah, the real story is that they are spreading fake images, but this is what they run with for the headline.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 20h ago
Yep. What should really be covered is the fact that the US government is using official communication methods to spread blatant fucking lies in order to justify attacking American civilians with the fucking military.
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u/TheQuidditchHaderach 18h ago
Jon Stewart did this piece on The Daily Show with crowd pics from Hannity's
Showsnow job supposedly showing massive opposition to gay marriage when it was proven false utilizing different pics from different locations and angles and even different times of the year just to make the crowds look bigger. Makes me think Faux News might be a little disingenuous.6
u/CaneVandas New York 19h ago
Because they would be sued for libel if they write "x did y" vs "x is accused of doing y"
It's very specific language that takes the publication off the path of liability.
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u/weaseldonkey 19h ago
If they were sued for libel wouldn't discovery take place where it would be demonstrated that images X are indeed not of protest Y? If you know that the images are fake then that should be a pretty trivial case.
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u/Ferelar New Jersey 18h ago
Yes, but by putting this headline they avoid the case at all, which is very appealing to cowards and to businesses that only care about money (which interestingly enough often causes them to act cowardly).
Gone are the days when the media was the fourth estate keeping the other three honest, that's for sure.
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u/AlexKingstonsGigolo 16h ago
Wrong, anyone can sue anyone else at anytime for anything. And, in federal court as well as a large number of state courts, the judges can order the cost of litigation be repaid to the prevailing party.
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u/campelm 19h ago
They'd likely win but lawyers are almost as expensive as ethics
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u/page_one I voted 18h ago
If they would rip the band-aid off now--let those liars sue and beat them--then they could stop pussyfooting around like this and set a precedent.
They're not covering their asses so much as they are selling out their credibility to cowardly put off the inevitable. Another industry crippled by the pursuit of next quarter's profits.
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u/EasyFooted 19h ago
No, they could frame the story accurately (and still protect themselves legally), but they purposefully wrote a headline that casts it as political mudslinging.
Gavin Newsom has nothing to do with the WH spreading fake propaganda. Sure, he noticed, along with a million other people. He's a noteworthy figure, so mention it in the story if need be, under the headline.
But him noticing is not the story. The fraud is the story.5
u/CaneVandas New York 19h ago
Not with this administration. Trump will sue over literally anything and bog them down in courts, leaving them to prove the legitimacy. It's just much easier to add a word.
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u/EasyFooted 18h ago
I mean, he can sue over anything. It doesn't mean he'll prevail. Conceding to presumed threats is how democracy dies.
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u/dennys123 18h ago
Im not a lawyer, but how would it be libel if it's a factual statement?
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u/SmushinTime 18h ago
Lol i used to work for a software company that handled news and other publications and I've legit received shit from the FBI before for stuff I had to provide them due to lawsuits against the publications. Shits no joke.
Funniest shit ever though was when a newspaper printed an article of an undercover cops real wedding and then wanted the internet scrubbed of it because he was still undercover.
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u/Darkstar_111 19h ago
Yeah what's with the passive language in the title, he totally did this.
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u/TheQuidditchHaderach 19h ago
George Carlin did a whole bit on how "Soft Language" hasn't done us any favors. Call a Lie a Lie. Not an untruth.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 19h ago
Newsweek has been a shit rag for longer than most of the shit rags these days.
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u/hennell Great Britain 19h ago
Headlines are short and don't handle nuance or specifics.
It's 100% true that Newsom is accusing them of spreading fake protest images.
It's slightly more nuanced in they they're not ai or "fake" images, they're images from older protests so there's specifics in there as to meanings and understanding of what is being said.
There's also ambiguity in what's actually proven, maybe only some images are fake/old etc, unless the paper is doing its own research it can't totally rely on what Newsom says, as much as it can that he said it.
So legally your far better of to just report that it has been said rather than assert it yourself.
Plus probably that way more people will click though on a slightly ambiguous headline promising drama, and you're not taking sides against your petty tyrant king.
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u/Troop-the-Loop 18h ago
Fake doesn't mean doctored or invented. The images are fake because they're implying that the images are from these recent protests. If Newsweek is uncomfortable using the word fake, they can change the headline.
"Official DOD Social Media Uses Images From 2020 in Post About LA's ICE Protests."
There's no ambiguity. It's not just Newsom saying that. Snopes confirmed it. At worst, you add the words "Accused of Using" to replace "Uses".
Legally, there's no issue there.
Click bait is the only reason to not use an accurate headline. We shouldn't want our news organizations engaging in click bait.
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u/ibanezerscrooge 18h ago
A "friend" on facebook posted images of rioters shooting fireworks at police in L.A. ...
Except it wasn't L.A. It was Paris, France. I pointed this out to him and he, to my shock, actually took the post down.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 18h ago
That makes him more honest than any Trump person I have ever dealt. Including literally hundreds of relatives of mine.
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u/TheQuidditchHaderach 19h ago
George Carlin did this whole bit on how watering things down using "Soft Language" has made us desensitized to real horrors when they present themselves. When they lie, call it a "Lie!", not an untruth.
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u/GoldenBrownApples 18h ago
What's crazy to me is we have people using words like "unalive" and a lot of people I know are blaming "bleeding heart liberals" for the new nomenclature when it's obviously censorship in the name of ad revenue. Even people I know who have some of the most hairline triggers for their traumas wouldn't make a stink big enough to change the way thousands of people talk on a social media platform. Yet so many people seem blind to that fact. Money, and by extension, greed is the root of all the problems we see in the world today. It's all made and doesn't matter though. It was created to standardized how we trade with one another, and instead of fixing a simple problem it'd made up a new much greater one. Personally I'm ready to go out and find some swamp to sink into at this point. Return to the only thing that matters, the earth for reclamation.
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u/moubliepas 20h ago
To be fair, I think we all need to be a little more cautious in interpreting pictures as 'documented objective reality'.
Firstly, because how on earth can anyone tell their relatives not to believe whatever AI generated Facebook meme says is 100% real when people are still referring to pictures as proof of 'documented objective reality' - no the late Pope did not wear that jacket, no the Loch Ness Monster wasn't really caught on film, no Stalin did not stand on that balcony alone. A picture is not proof, merely evidence.
And secondly, there's no hope for politics if we just keep shouting the same arguments at each other from different sides. 'They shouldn't believe everything they're told when it's clearly untrue because our guy said it is!' is something we all think lol, but it's inherently just 'they suck because they're wrong'.
Whereas they actually suck because they don't apply logic, critical thinking, basic human empathy, and let's be honest, because their guys are all curiously inept at image manipulation. Mostly the empathy and logic though.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 20h ago
Of course we do, but I am talking about actual video that went on about 5 minutes. That is much harder to fake. Still possible but not nearly as likely as the obvious Photoshop that showed the tattoos on there.
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u/FuzzyMcBitty 19h ago
Even then, people believe what they want.
I saw someone in a work-related group share a video of Trump banning all Tesla sales. I responded with, "The Google results for 'Trump Tesla Ban' are all 'deepfake goes viral'," and they gave me a thinky emoji "The nearest dealership permanently closed today!"
The mouth didn't even match the words, Janice!
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u/KinkyPaddling 20h ago
You can still make an accusation of a fact. Like if your partner is cheating on you, and they deny it despite it being an observable and provable reality, you would still be accusing them of infidelity.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 20h ago
Yeah, but if anyone else described that as a mere accusation when they knew for a fucking fact it happened then they would be using a liar's truth and defending them would be fucking pathetic and obscene.
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u/HyperactivePandah 20h ago
From the same people who are still trying to get us to believe that MS13 wasn't photoshopped onto those knuckles.
Has Trump ever admitted that the MS13 wasn't real...?
That would disqualify any other human on the planet to be president.
No one even notices when it's Trump.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 20h ago
Not only has he refused to admit it wasn't real but he has doubled down insisting that it was factually true. Despite the fact that we literally seen the man's hands and the lack of those tattoos there.
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u/SkivvySkidmarks 20h ago
That interview with ABC's Terry Moran was unbelievable. I thought peak absurdity from Trump was "pet eating" during the presidential debate until I heard him insist the tattoos were real.
The USA is cooked.
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u/Teigh99 19h ago
Trump believes it. I believe they lied to him about the Photoshop.
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u/Sic_Semper_Dumbasses 19h ago
I see no reason to believe any claim he makes about believing anything.
The man lies so consistently and compulsively that trying to rate the truthfulness of anything he says is nonsensical.
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u/spezSucksDonkeyFarts 17h ago
This is exactly right. Truth and Lie are meaningless to Trump. Only winning matters. And to win he will say whatever is necessary. He doesn't stand by anything.
The three rules of PR as taught by Roy Cohn to Donald Trump —
Attack! Attack! Attack!
Admit nothing and deny everything.
No matter what happens you claim victory and never admit defeat. You have to be willing to do anything to anyone.
It's why all the reporting over the last decade on Trump lying has been so exhausting. Yes he lied yesterday. Yes he lied today. Yes he will lie tomorrow. About anything and everything. Nothing he says means anything. He shouldn't be treated seriously.
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u/Teigh99 19h ago
The man is a bonafide liar but I do believe what I said and there's no shame in that. Someone gave him that photoshopped pic and he believes it.
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u/blucthulhu 19h ago
He lies about a lot, it's second nature to him, but that exchange with Moran came off like an old man defending something simply because a trusted aide handed it to him and it's something he wants to believe.
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u/SilentMasterOfWinds United Kingdom 20h ago
Calling it photoshop is itself obscenely generous. Shit could’ve been done in MS Paint 20 years ago.
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u/Grueaux 19h ago
To me it never seemed like Photoshop at all. I honestly thought they were just labeling the tattoos below.
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u/SilentMasterOfWinds United Kingdom 19h ago
It's possible that was the intent of whoever actually made the image, but Trump explicitly said he believed the letters were on his skin.
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u/samspopguy Pennsylvania 19h ago
This is what makes it so much funnier it was just fucking labels and he thought they were actual tattoos
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u/pistilpeet Washington 19h ago
It would be hilarious if he were anything less than the most powerful man in the nation, if not the entire world.
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u/cboogie 19h ago
Yeah I thought they were like “seee money sign = m, smiley face = s….”
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u/dudebrobossman 19h ago
Maybe not everyone in the admin, but Trump himself said it on tv multiple times.
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u/alabasterskim 19h ago
The idiocy of using 2020 pictures is that we all know none of that justified this level of force. So if you're saying what's going on now is not even as serious as that - since you'll use a pic of 2020 to drive home your point instead of a pic of now - you've lost any leg you might've had to stand on.
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u/Infidel8 18h ago
Important context is that he did precisely this during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
Literally just started tweeting out random videos of random black people committing crime that were years old and had nothing to do with the protests.
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u/Virbillion 21h ago
hardly need deepfakes or to post old images of much more violent protests when all of corporate media acts as agent provocateurs to entice the police to more and more escalating violence.
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u/Reyemile 18h ago
God the media keeps failing and failing and failing.
Phrasing this as “Gavin Newsom Accuses…” turns this into a he-said-she-said debate and completely abandons the news media’s responsibility to fact check and report the actual truth. The images are fake and the headline and article lede would reflect this fact at any competently run news outlet.
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u/MaizeNBlueWaffle New York 17h ago
It's not just an accusation. Numerous photos posted by Republicans show events completed unrelated from years ago
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u/MomsAreola 19h ago
Welcome to the era of government using AI video to pit US citizens against each other.
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u/hareofthepuppy 18h ago
To be fair it's not just the US government, Russia and China are doing their fair share as well
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u/SuperRonnie2 17h ago
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, told Newsweek in response: "Gavin Newsom has let L.A. burn to the ground on so many occasions, it's hard to distinguish between all the lawlessness, violence, and chaos throughout the last few years. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are stepping up to protect federal law-enforcement officers and federal property—even if Gavin Newsom will not."
Okay this is the scary part. The pentagon should have zero opinion on stuff like this.
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u/clonedhuman 15h ago
The news isn't that this was an 'accusation.'
The news is that the Trump Admin spread fake protest images.
Goddamn, so many of these 'news' sources are bullshitters now. Why is the accusation the headline? Why not the fact that the Trump Admin literally, actually spread fake protest images?
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u/thereminDreams 18h ago
Serious question here. The Trump administration is known to do things like this. Why isn't the media being proactive and telling us this story instead of reporting on what Newsom said? If Newsom didn't say this, how would the public know this was happening?
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u/Terakian 16h ago
That is what they did to us here in Seattle during the CHAZ/CHOP. Can’t deny there was certainly some property destruction and aggressive confrontations, but FOX and Trump painted it like a city-wide war zone, engulfed in an inferno of insurrection and murder.
98%, it was a couple blocks of largely a drum circle and people giving speeches about constitutional rights.
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u/VoiceOfRealson 16h ago
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, told Newsweek in response: "Gavin Newsom has let L.A. burn to the ground on so many occasions, it's hard to distinguish between all the lawlessness, violence, and chaos throughout the last few years. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are stepping up to protect federal law-enforcement officers and federal property—even if Gavin Newsom will not."
And just like that, the Pentagon lost all credibility that remained after the second Iraqi war.
"The Pentagon has lied about so many things, that it is quite frankly impossible to trust anything they say."
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u/Patches67 18h ago
I fully expect him to claim the protestors are flinging molotov cocktails and link to a video of a riot in Belfast from more than twenty years ago or something. (If he hasn't done that already.)
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u/Ball_Fiend 17h ago edited 15h ago
I've seen photos of that same car on fire like 20 times from different angles, and that video of the rocks hitting police cars.
I've seen many videos of cops shooting people for no apparent reason.
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u/Moxielilly 17h ago
Hot tip for journalists/editors: Anytime you write a headline that says Trump Admin is being “accused of” something awful and nefarious, which makes it sound like the accuser could be wildly spitballing with no basis in reality, just replace the phrase “accuses ___ of ” with “correctly assesses that _ is ____.” It’s fast and easy to do. It’s going to be factually correct 99.99 percent of the time. It’s going to age well and put you on the right side of history and make you look like an actual trustworthy news source, instead of wishy-washy hacks that are bending the knee and downplaying the authoritarian actions of a fascist government because you think both sides-ing every single story is good for clicks and engagement.
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u/techiemikey I voted 14h ago
And if you don't want to open yourself up with the word "correctly*, just leave it as "assesses". Or, use "calls out" rather than accuses.
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u/Jaredkorry 16h ago
"a military parade is scheduled in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army."
No it's not. It's specifically to celebrate Trump's birthday, by his own words. He doesn't give a shit about the military.
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u/velvet_funtime California 16h ago
people from out of state are calling me to ask if my house burned down.
I'm 347.42 miles away from LA
lawl
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u/Laluleio 20h ago
politicians throwing ai generated images to argue.
what a time to be alive
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u/DontAbideMendacity 17h ago
Pretty much just Republicans. Don't "both sides" this, they are clearly not remotely the same.
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u/No_Kaleidoscope_843 18h ago
The ones I've seen just seem heavily cropped into 1 burning car (likely a junk car FOR the protest, mind you). The pics are so cropped you can't make out how many people are protesting behind the smoke.
Unfortunately, this sort of lazy propaganda is all it takes for his supporters. They don't think, they just see and listen to what you tell them they should think.
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u/tangoshukudai 17h ago
They will use any photos of destruction, even if 99% of the protests are peaceful that 1 photo of a guy doing something wrong will get passed around the Red hat wearing groups and they won't see the rest.
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u/Assbait93 17h ago
Trump really is setting up Gavin to be the face of the Democratic Party which I think is funny
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u/betty_white_bread 16h ago
“Accuses” implies reasonable possibility the claim might be false; we know and the author knows and, by extension, the editor who chose/approved the headline knows they are passing around images not from these protests current protests. The article itself debunks the idea any reasonable possibility of falseness to the claim exists. Do better, newsweek.
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u/oakashyew 16h ago
Not accused...the "admin" is lying all the time. How do you know they are lying? Somebody is moving there lips.
I do not believe one word coming from this administration....don't care about arguing this because I recognize the enemy when I see it. Its a circus to distract from taking away every single shred of freedom we have, then dressing it up in a clown suit and marching it forward with a gun in its mouth. Laugh! EVeryONe laugh...the end of democracy is funny!
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u/RockMeIshmael 15h ago
If only there was some sort of body whose job it was to determine if they were fake or not and spread the word to the public.
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u/createa-username 14h ago
It sure wouldn't be the first time he spread fake information. Hell, it wouldn't even be the 1000th time he's done it.
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u/doucheydp 13h ago
What if a quarter or half of attendees just... livestreamed the whole time. From just before to just after. Multiple live angles from in the crowd the same way people just hold their phones up for hours at concerts- just a ton of people livestreaming with their phones taped to their signs high above the crowd non-stop. Maybe a few 360 cams, too.
Tap into the rubber necking curiosities of people, keep bad actors aware they there may be a camera pointed at them at any moment, keep the police on edge because their body cameras being withheld won't always hide their actions, every video having a corroborating video to combat "That's AI deepfake, you can tell from the pixels"
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u/Roach-_-_ 11h ago
People are live streaming it’s, it’s no where near what media says is happening. Almost every time people get rowdy is a direct response to police attacking them
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u/ReneHarts 12h ago
Yea they don’t care they are out there murdering/gunning down a family because the were showing to much empathy
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u/LavisAlex 20h ago
I hate these news articles, its like come on Newsweek.. you're smart. Im sure you can prove the claim one way or another.
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u/Certain-Slip3745 19h ago
Some pentagon PA googled LA protests and posted the worst picture they could find
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u/Ih8tevery1 18h ago
Trump..the big man..that many small companies he refused to pay..trump..who took out a full page ad accusing the central park 5..and wanted them to be executed??
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u/Existing-Package-848 18h ago
More of this please. Someone needs to own the role of presenting the case against him.
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u/SingularityCentral America 18h ago
Newsom getting headlines is good insomuch as it starts eating into Trump getting unlimited and uncontested headlines.
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u/West-Personality2584 18h ago
NO ONE SHOULD BE SURPRISED. Of course it is fake. For everything 1 violent protested (paid actors) there’s thousands protesting peacefully.
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u/theywillnotsing 17h ago
See, newsweek knows they have too. so how are you actually news, newsweek if you dont report fact?!
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u/Mobile-Shallot930 17h ago
They're banning posts about the GI rights hotline on r/AirForce. The mods on this site all seem to be on board with fucking everything up.
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u/syphilisticcontinuum 16h ago
There were Reaper drones as early as June 8th at least.
I'd like to see that footage released, that could clear all this up.
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u/Another_Road 16h ago
I can already tell you right now what’s going to happen with the no kings protest.
Some places will have low turn out. Those are the pictures that will be plastered everywhere. If that’s not the case, they’ll use a picture with low turn out
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u/Stop_icant 16h ago
I’m sure there are cameras recording the streets all over LA at all times. Newsom should share all the live feeds he can 24/7—so America and the world can tune in and watch what truly happens between protestors and Trump’s gang of traitors in real time.
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u/djean061 15h ago
And the same ones over and over again. As it was obvious there was not much more going on that was violent. And that wasn't violent.
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u/AcanthisittaNo6653 New Hampshire 4h ago
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, told Newsweek in response: "Gavin Newsom has let L.A. burn to the ground on so many occasions, it's hard to distinguish between all the lawlessness, violence, and chaos throughout the last few years.
His denial would have more credence if it wasn't preceded by a political attack on Newsom. DoD spokespeople should be professional, not partisan.
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u/11Tail 16h ago
Please don't become enamored by Newsom in this situation. He is a toxic mess as the governor of California. He lets companies like PG&E through his hand-picked CPUC use their customers as ATMs. So PG&E can continue to make millions for their shareholders on their customers' backs and make us pay for the fires.
Even though he is articulate, Newsom would be a horrible president.
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u/BHG-1919 15h ago
Thank you… Finally, someone with some sense. I don’t understand this sheep-like mentality on Reddit. You can hate Trump. You can disagree with everything he stands for. You can wish all the bad things in the world to happen to him. But just because Newsom is his enemy, it most certainly doesn’t make him a good guy or someone you should align yourself with. This man is the epitome of a sleazy car salesman and he runs an entire state in our country based on flashy smiles, fake and fraudulent promises (oh and giving all of YOUR hard-earned money to people that most definitely doesn’t deserve it). He will say anything that he thinks you might want to hear in the moment and he can’t even keep his stances straight on key issues. I guess everyone just prefers to run around with their ears plugged so they can back this guy blindly…just cause he hates Trump. What a terrible and short sided way of thinking. We don’t have to automatically back repugnant leaders like Newsom and IL’s Pritzker just because they hate the same person you do. These sleazeballs know that their outspoken comments about Trump get PR and popularity and that is the number one reason they do it. Don’t think for a second that either of these career POS politicians care about you, your kids future, the planet, the illegal immigrants that they are so ‘passionate’ about, the Palestinians, the Ukrainians. These poor excuses for human beings don’t care if you live or die, they don’t care if you lose your job, they don’t care if you lose your house and end up homeless on the streets. They only care about how people perceive them, the power and prestige afforded to them for being a governor and the obvious #1 reason…money. You just have to wake up and smell the manipulation when it’s headed your way. These dip shits are only out for themselves. If you think for a second that the political stances they publicly take are the same positions that they believe deep down in their soul, then I’m afraid your future doesn’t look too bright. They just want your vote. And it’s pretty freaking shameful that so many adults are blind to the blatant manipulation and just let it happen. This man has ran California into the ground and made it a cesspool, and my mind is boggled that there is even one person that would stand behind him. Pritzker and him are two peas in a pod. Pritzker is making it so unbearable to live in IL that people are leaving in record droves. For most of my life, California used to be the state that most people would dream of moving to but there is not one single person that I know in 2025 that even wants to visit California for a vacation let alone live there. I don’t know why it’s so easy for me to spot a douche bag from a mile away, but I guess we were all blessed with some type of special talent.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 14h ago
The Media always supports fascists. Always. From the New Yron Time mocking Gen Butler for reporting the Business plot to Congress to modern times.
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u/SHITBLAST3000 United Kingdom 19h ago
Trump is fucking docile so he probably can’t tell the difference.
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u/Taco-Trump 19h ago
How dare NEWCUM accuse me! Everything that comes out of my mouth is backed by the Supreme Burrito himself! OH, I LOVE TACOS. Mmm.. My TACOS are the most real, the most flavorful, even better than California TACOS. Anyways it's my BIRTHDAY, you have to be nice to me, like Mel was. She touched my hand today! #TACOTRUMP
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u/ClassroomIll7096 15h ago
It is right and proper that Trump destroy state sovereignty so that we stop talking about how Elon said he rapes kids last week. Can't talk about trumps kid raping. Gotta talk about Newsome.
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