July 25, 2019

The Screw-Up Behind the Hilarious Presidential Seal Fiasco, Explained

“Zero malicious intent.”

Andrew Harnik/AP

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At first glance, it looks just like the official seal of the President of the United States.

But look closer. The eagle’s left talon clutches not arrows, but a bundle of golf clubs. Remember the olive branch that is traditionally held in the right talon? Now it’s a wad of cash. And wait. Why does the eagle have two heads instead of one? Turns out this is exactly the way the eagle in Russia’s coat of arms looks, a not-so-subtle nod to the president’s deep ties to that country. In case that wasn’t blatant enough, instead of “E pluribus unum,” the eagle’s banner reads “45 es un títere,” Spanish for “Trump is a puppet.”

The Washington Post reported that apparently no one noticed when Trump got on stage in front of this altered version of the presidential seal on Tuesday at the Teen Student Action Summit of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization. The image of Trump before the fake seal has been widely circulated online, with #45IsAPuppet trending on Twitter.

A representative from Turning Point, which prepared the projected slideshow, told CNN that a member of its AV team had found the fake seal on Google Images and mistakenly took it for the official one, but there was “zero malicious intent.” Still, Turning Point told The Post, the person responsible was fired.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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