Here are the 4 alterations in the fake presidential seal spotted behind Trump
A fake presidential seal appeared behind President Trump onstage at an event for conservative student group Turning Point USA this week.
The fake seal was only briefly visible as Trump walked onstage, replaced by the authentic one for the remainder of the speech, but an aide to Turning Point has reportedly been fired over what was either a startling error or a deliberate prank.
Here are four differences between the genuine seal and the one that appeared behind the president on Tuesday.
The eagle
While the presidential seal features a standard eagle, the one behind Trump this week featured a double-headed eagle. Double-headed eagles are typically associated with empires and have appeared in other countries’ iconography as well, including the coats of arms of the Austrian Empire and Serbia.
Resemblance to the Russian Federation coat of arms
In addition, the eagle makes the false seal bear a resemblance to the coat of arms of the Russian Federation, which is itself based on the coat of arms used in czarist Russia. The original double-headed eagle coat of arms was discontinued after the Russian Revolution in 1917 in favor of the recognizable Soviet hammer and sickle imagery but the eagle was restored in 1992 after the dissolution of the USSR.
The motto
The standard presidential seal bears the national motto “E pluribus unum,” Latin for “out of many, one.” The fake seal behind Trump at the Turning Point event instead featured the phrase “45 es un títere,” Spanish for “45 is a puppet.” Trump famously pushed back against his then-opponent Hillary Clinton’s characterization of him as a “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2016 presidential debates.
The eagle’s claws
While the eagle on the real seal bears several arrows in its right talon, the one on the doctored seal is bearing golf clubs, an apparent reference to Trump’s frequent visits to the several golf clubs he owns. Trump has spent 210 days at his golf properties while in office, according to NBC’s tracker.
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