Former Republican Who Doctored Presidential Seal Is
Happy Trump Stood In Front Of It
In a widely publicized misstep, the organizers of a college Republicans’
event in the nation’s capital projected a doctored version of the U.S.
presidential seal behind Donald Trump
for a minute or two on stage this week.
One person suspected of
finding and showing the image ― with its references to Russia and Trump’s golf
habit ― was swiftly fired.
But the man who created
the doctored, satirical seal has only kind words for whoever pulled the stunt.
“I love them,” said Charles Leazott, a former Republican and graphic designer who was tracked down by The Washington Post on Thursday.
Leazott created the seal as a joke just after the 2016 election and told the Post he never expected it to blow up in the news.
The designer said he couldn’t be sure whether the person who chose his graphic was “wildly incompetent or the best troll ever,” but suspects the explanation given by the conservative group Turning Point USA, which hosted Trump, is nonsense.
Turning Point said the
seal ended up onscreen due to a last-minute error in finding a high-resolution
image to project behind the president.
“You have to look for
this,” Leazott told the newspaper. “There’s no way this was an accident, is
all I’m saying.”
Turning Point managed to
display an accurate representation of the presidential seal later during the
president’s 80-minute speech.
The doctored image can
be traced back to a website Leazott set up to sell shirts and other merchandise
featuring the doctored seal.
Its central bald eagle has two heads instead of one ― resembling the Russian coat of arms ― and clutches golf clubs in one of its talons. A scroll above the eagle reads, in Spanish, “45 is a puppet.”
Its central bald eagle has two heads instead of one ― resembling the Russian coat of arms ― and clutches golf clubs in one of its talons. A scroll above the eagle reads, in Spanish, “45 is a puppet.”
Leazott said his
T-shirts are now sold out. A photo of Trump in front of the seal is his new
computer desktop background.
“Whoever put that up is
my absolute hero,” he told the Post.