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Donald Trump has shared yet another fake image, this time attempting to smear Kamala Harris with a doctored photo of the presidential hopeful alongside disgraced musician, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Without a shred of irony, the former president took to not-so-Truth Social to share an image of what appeared to be Harris posing with the rapper, who has been arrested on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. The accompanying text questioned whether Harris was “involved with or engaged in” Diddy’s “freak offs,” the drug-fuelled, days-long sexual performances which authorities allege were hosted by the rapper.
Like anything shared by Trump, the post required a closer examination, and was found to be a heavily edited image from 2001. At that time, Harris was pictured with former talk show host Montel Williams, whom she was dating at the time, as well as Williams’ daughter, Ashley. The fake image superimposed Diddy’s face onto Williams’, proving that Harris was not actually photographed with the rapper and had no connections to his “freak offs.”
Trump has since removed the fake image from his Truth Social page but that did little to scrub our memories of the fact that it’s actually him who has some kind of a relationship with Diddy. A quick Google search will show you multiple photos in which the former president and the rapper are posing together — including one with his wife, Melania — and Trump himself has been complimentary of Diddy in the past.
During his time as the host of The Celebrity Apprentice (remember when Trump was just a TV personality and didn’t have the keys to the White House?), the former president discussed Diddy with then-contestant and reality star, Aubrey O’Day. At the time, O’Day had worked with Diddy as a member of the girl group Danity Kane, and said on The Celebrity Apprentice that the experience made her “a very strict and focused businesswoman.”
O’Day — who is now one of multiple people to file a lawsuit against Diddy — told Trump that “working for Diddy for six years trained me to have to be perfect,” and the mention of the rapper prompted praise from the Republican presidential candidate. “I love Diddy,” Trump replied. “You know he’s a good friend of mine, he’s a good guy.”
When O’Day refused to respond to Trump’s praise of the rapper, he further continued his glowing comments, saying he “think[s] [Diddy is] a good guy and that he was “gonna stick up for him.”
That complimentary portrait of Diddy was seemingly lost on Trump when he decided to share the doctored images of Harris, though it’s far from the only time he has relied on fake images to bolster his presidential campaign.
Last month, the former president reshared AI-generated images of Taylor Swift, prior to her endorsement of his opponent, and later posted more artificial photos of himself holding animals to further spread the lies about pet-eating immigrants in Ohio. This pattern made his criticism of Harris’ supposedly faked rally crowd pictures feel all the more hypocritical, but Trump isn’t exactly known for being clear-headed.