The photo “Walz’s For Trump” went viral on X – real or AI-generated?

Anyone who has lived in the United States for the past eight years—and perhaps much, much longer—knows that politics is not something to be discussed in the circle of extended family. It is highly unlikely that everyone will agree, even in a close-knit family.

Differing political opinions are commonplace today. Even those who run for or hold political office cannot always count on the support of their loved ones.

It should be remembered that although two members of the Roosevelt family were elected president, Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican and his distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat.

So it may not be too surprising to hear that some members of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, may be supporting former President Donald Trump. An image circulated on X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — on Wednesday showing several people wearing “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts in front of a “Trump 2024 – Take America Back” flag. The unidentified people are said to be related to Gov. Walz through his paternal grandfather. Walz was a native of the Cornhusker State before moving to Minnesota.

The image was reportedly taken by a family friend and posted on X by Charles W. Herbster, a former Nebraska gubernatorial candidate and Trump supporter. The former president has since shared it on Truth Social.

It is not uncommon for family members to turn against each other for political reasons these days. And it should also be remembered that only a few of the extended Kennedy clan supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his quest for the White House, while Mary Trump – the former president’s niece – spoke out against him.

The Harris-Walz campaign has not issued an official comment, and calls to the governor’s office to confirm the authenticity of the photo were not returned.

Is it real?

Many social media users were quick to dismiss the image as fake, even AI-generated. This claim was supported by the fact that X-parody account @realDonParody also shared an image of Trump with supporters who were also wearing “Walz’s for TRUMP” shirts.

“AI certainly makes the validity of the content we consume more questionable. Is the image we see actually what was there, is the voice we hear actually the one who said that, or is the recording of the video actually what happened? In this case, relatives of Tim Walz have been reported by many outlets to support Donald Trump. This is nothing new, the image does not call this into question,” explained technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.

Combined with memes containing edited photos, things became increasingly confusing.

“It’s an interesting example of how we determine what is ‘true’ in the modern media environment,” warned Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Michigan’s School of Information.

“On a technical level, people will either look to see if this is AI, or on a more fundamental level, it’s a simpler image-editing product, which is what we’ve seen a lot of in this election as well,” Lampe said. “Let’s imagine for the moment that the photo is unaltered. At this point, there are still questions, including whether the people here are actually ‘Walzes,’ and if so, whether they are part of Tim Walz’s immediate family or how they might be related to him.”

The context will certainly be questioned.

“Relying on a motivated poster’s caption would probably be a mistake for someone seeking the truth of something,” Lampe added. “One way to determine the authenticity of a piece of information is to think about the motivations someone has for sharing that information with you. Why do they want you to believe something? Of course, a person’s strong motivation doesn’t make the information false, but it should give cause for thought.”

The spelling of the family name on the shirts is also noteworthy.

“I hope this is an AI-generated image, because I would hope that every member of the Walz family knows the English language well enough to know that the pluralization of their last name is not with an ‘s’, but that it is ‘Walzes,'” Entner noted.

Expect more AI-generated content

Manipulated photos are nothing new, but until recently it took a certain amount of skill to make them look convincing. Now AI can generate images in a snap.

“The election campaign saw a lot of AI-related images, many of which were shared online without reservation. President Trump shared AI-generated images of Taylor Swift endorsing his campaign. Elon Musk shared an AI-generated image of Kamala Harris as a ‘communist leader.’ The use of AI has become so brazen that there is no debate about whether it is appropriate or not – it is the de facto norm,” Lampe explained.

But it’s not the most compelling photos and videos that should cause concern in this election cycle.

“Just as dangerous are the so-called ‘cheap fakes’,” Lampe continued. “These can include maliciously edited videos that leave out important context, or simply editing a photo. Such edits can be done by any child, and they are even more common than AI-generated images – which any child can create – when it comes to creating political narratives or simply misleading people.”