Former President Donald Trump has again made headlines after sharing a doctored image, this time falsely showing Vice President Kamala Harris alongside rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, currently embroiled in legal trouble. The image, posted to Trump’s Truth Social account, was accompanied by text insinuating Harris’s involvement in Combs’ alleged “freak offs.”
The picture Trump shared was a digitally altered version of a 2001 photograph of Harris with former talk show host Montel Williams and his daughter Ashley. The edited version replaced Williams’ face with Combs, creating a fake connection between the Vice President and the artist.
This isn’t the first time Trump has used manipulated media in his political attacks. He has previously posted AI-generated images, including one showing Taylor Swift and her fans endorsing him, and another of Kamala Harris supposedly addressing a crowd of communists during the Democratic National Convention.
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The former president’s fake Harris post has, however, backfired on him as a bunch of authentic photos of Trump with Combs have resurfaced all over X (formerly Twitter) and have garnered millions of views, sparking renewed attention. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel even highlighted their past connection, showing a clip from a 2012 episode of Celebrity Apprentice where Trump referred to Combs as a “good friend” and “a good guy.”
You sure walked right into this one. 🥂#Trump & #Diddy sittin' in a tree… Grab 'em by the pu$$y, if you please 😱 https://t.co/vnxPO8FTOF pic.twitter.com/CEbudh7mOb
— Michael Burry (@TheMichaelBurry) September 17, 2024
trump posted a photoshopped image of Kamala Harris with Diddy yesterday. The original pic was with Monte Williams.
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 22, 2024
NO network media has reported on it.
Meanwhile — these are real.👇 pic.twitter.com/EcD6yR7ggF
The fake photo Trump shared isn’t an isolated incident in this election cycle. Microsoft recently reported Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining the Harris-Walz ticket. These campaigns have used deepfake technology, creating misleading videos. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump earlier this year, also shared a manipulated ad featuring a falsified version of Harris’s voice.
Trump’s attempt at a dig on Harris and her character by falsely linking her to the rapper follows the recent arrest of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and prostitution-related offenses.
Diddy’s indictment comes after a series of lawsuits were filed against him, including one by singer and former girlfriend Cassie, accusing him of physical abuse and rape. Although Combs denied the claims, a settlement was reached soon after the lawsuit was filed. The indictment describes disturbing details of what prosecutors referred to as “freak offs” — prolonged sex acts allegedly involving Combs and victims, some of whom were reportedly forced to participate using narcotics.
Trump’s repost has since been deleted, but it once again highlights the repeated use of disinformation tactics by Republicans and their endorsers, such as Elon Musk, to the millions of their followers.
A few weeks ago Trump falsely implied that Swift had endorsed him by sharing images of her and her fans supposedly supporting his campaign. In one post, Trump captioned the fake images with “I accept!”—a message suggesting her backing. The images, which appear to have been created using AI, sparked massive outrage among Swifties, who called out the former president of spreading misinformation.
One of the altered images showed Swift fans wearing T-shirts that read, “Swifties for Trump” and even had a satirical headline that read, “Swifties turning to Trump after ISIS foiled Taylor Swift concert.”
Shortly after the pop sensation publicly backed Vice President Kamala Harris for president on her Instagram—an endorsement post that has since been liked over 10 million times and reposted over a million times—Trump’s campaign even released new merchandise mimicking Swift’s megapopular Eras Tour apparel.
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Donald Trump has also gone on to claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets, including dogs and cats on Live TV during his first and what he claims to be his last presidential debate with Kamala Harris despite Springfield police already having dismissed the rumors, stating, “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
I’m reasonably sure that’s a federal crime https://t.co/uN1xe2jnmE
— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) September 24, 2024
Meanwhile, one of his most vocal endorsers, Elon Musk has repeatedly called Kamala Harris a communist on his platform and has shared multiple AI-generated images and videos of her.
Kamala is quite literally a communist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2024
She wants not merely equal opportunity, but equal outcomes. https://t.co/XIS8HSbLbC