Image comparing assassination attempt on Donald Trump with Hitler is fake

Context

On July 13, 2024, there was an assassination attempt against former U.S. President Donald Trump by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed Trump's ear; another rally attendee was killed, and two others were injured. Crocks was shot at the scene by Secret Service agents.

Following the assassination attempt, a deluge of misinformation hit social media platforms, including false images of alleged shooters and claims that the assassination attempt was staged. Notably, the shooting also generated many "Blueanon" narratives, a democratic equivalent of QAnon. This conspiracy theory claims certain forces are trying to ensure Trump is re-elected president in the upcoming 2024 vote. 

Recently, an image comparing former president Donald Trump's assassination attempt and an alleged assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler has gone viral on social media. The image has primarily circulated on X, formerly known as Twitter, with claims that Trump staged the assassination attempt (examples archived here and here). So far, the posts have garnered several hundred thousand views. 

The Trump picture is genuine, but the image of Hitler is a fake image made up of several different ones composited into a collage.

In fact

The image of Trump is an actual photo captured by AP photographer Evan Vucci on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

The image of Hitler is not a historical image of an actual assassination attempt on him but a collage of several historical images featuring Adolf Hitler, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and an unknown woman. 

Several discrepancies in the image suggest it is a digitally manipulated collage. Firstly, the shadows fall differently on Hitler, Goebbels, and the woman, indicating they are a composite, as the original images may have been taken at different times of day and in different lighting conditions. The woman's face looks oddly sharp, as if cut with a cropping tool, such as in Photoshop. Similarly, her hand is clenched, and it seems like she is grabbing Hitler's uniform, but the fabric remains straight and untouched. The flag's color is also sharper than other colors in the image.

Examples of discrepancies in the fake image. (Source: X/Screenshot/Annotated by Logically Facts)

We found several of the original images using reverse image searches. The image of Adolf Hitler is from a speech at the Reichparteitag in Nürnberg in 1934. The identical image of Hitler with the clenched fist can be found on Getty Images and Alamy. 

The image of Joseph Goebbels, minister for Propaganda in Nazi Germany, can be found on Bridgeman Images, Getty Images, and Alamy. We have not found which year it was taken, as the image libraries suggest different years. Considering his clothing and the clenched fist, it could be from this speech in 1932. 

We have not been able to conclusively identify the woman holding onto Adolf Hitler.

Using Forensically and its noise analysis tool, which can be used to uncover manipulated images, reveals further evidence that the image has been manipulated. Joseph Goebbels, the unknown woman, and the Nazi flag appear in white, further proving they have been added to the image of Hitler. 

Screenshot of image noise analysis using Forensically.  
(Source/Screenshot/Forensically/Annotated by Logically Facts)

Origin of the image

The fake image has a watermark labeled @PaulleyTicks, which leads to an X account with the same name that posts digitally manipulated images and satire. 

A different post by Paulleyticks with the same watermark as the Hitler-Trump comparison. (Source: X/Screenshot/Annotated by Logically Facts) 

Searching through the account, we could not find the original image comparing assassination attempts on Hitler and Trump, but a Google search for "@PaulleyTicks + hitler + trump" reveals that he most likely made a post between July 15-19, 2024. Notably, on July 19, he posted on X that he had to delete an image comparing Hitler to Trump. 

A Google search for @Paulleyticks + Hitler + Trump indicates that Paulley Ticks was likely the first disseminator of the false claim. 
(Source: Google/Screenshot/Annotated by Logically Facts)

The tweet highlighted in the Google search has since been removed, but the timing correlates with another early publication of the false image, posted on July 19, 2024. Fact-checking organization AFP has also noted that the account has posted other pictures comparing Trump with Hitler before. 

While the Google breadcrumb does not concretely prove that Paulley Ticks posted the first instance of the image, it is a strong indication, considering that the now-viral image features his watermark. 

Snopes and AFP have also fact-checked the claim, concluding that the image is fake. 

The verdict 

The image of Trump is genuine, but the image of Hitler is a fake collage of different historical photos. We have, therefore, marked this claim as fake.