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Hot on the heels of his official Twitter-disaster campaign announcement, the Ron DeSantis campaign has launch an attack on Donald Trump–for being too chummy with that demon Anthony Fauci. And what better evidence than pictures of Trump hugging and kissing Fauci? Pity they didn’t exist. But no problem! Deepfakes:
A Ron DeSantis presidential campaign video shows three pictures of Donald Trump hugging and kissing Anthony Fauci, all of which seem to be fake images generated by artificial intelligence. One professor told Ars today that there is “no doubt” the ad uses fake AI images.
As reported by AFP yesterday, media forensics experts say the images, which the DeSantis ad passed off as photographs taken during Trump’s presidency, have telltale signs of AI. Even non-experts may notice oddities, such as incomprehensible text on a sign that should say “White House” and “Washington.”
Of course, another giveaway is that then-President Trump and Fauci weren’t really on hugging and kissing term
The Ars Technica link above gives a lot of details as to how one can tell the images are fakes. No comment from the DeSantis campaign yet, although this is consistent with an m.o., part of which seeks to take advantage of the old adage that the ‘truth is still putting on its boots while a lie speeds around the world’. (I used to think the original was coined by Mark Twain, but it seems not…)
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/
The truth about the truth is still looking for its pants.
Meanwhile, this is really way too early in the campaign for DeSantis to sell what’s left of his soul.
There’s an assumption in your second paragraph….
Given Mr. Trump’s propensity for litigation, what are the odds that he sues DeSantis for defamation. And unlike some of his other half-cocked claims, this one might have a chance (maybe).
He would have to show damage, and if he fundraises off it then the defense will claim he benefitted from it.
Plus if I am defending I will claim you can’t libel a seditionist, just like historically you can’t libel a prostitute. Even if that’s not a winnimg defense it opens the door to some great depositions.