Republican presidential candidate and real estate mogul Donald Trump on Tuesday learned a fundamental lesson of campaigning: beware of stock images.
This image was posted to Trump’s prolific Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon:
It was swiftly deleted after Twitter users pointed out that the soldiers pictured in the lower right hand corner of the image were wearing the uniform of the Waffen-SS, the military wing of Nazi Germany’s Schutzstaffel, or SS:
@20committee @HKFrese @mitchellvii @BecketAdams the original => http://t.co/zwsoEcYPIg pic.twitter.com/2NXYqPv3fp
— LeftyBollocks (@LeftyBoIlocks) July 14, 2015
See also Waffen-SS tunic with unit cuff title & SS eagle on left arm, as in Trump pic https://t.co/b3pwWmdwHY pic.twitter.com/IdQlwcIebJ
— John Schindler (@20committee) July 14, 2015
Notice the late-war Waffen-SS “dot” camo tunic, with SS eagle on left arm as in the Trump pic https://t.co/b3pwWmdwHY pic.twitter.com/ulScwicbZU
— John Schindler (@20committee) July 14, 2015
An executive vice president with the Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, later told CNN that an intern accidentally posted the photo.
Trump Org EVP Michael Cohen says an intern accidentally posted questionable photo; apologized and immediately deleted
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) July 14, 2015
Oh Trump, you shouldn’t feel too bad. After all, it wasn’t until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor that many rich Conservatives gave up on their love of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Speak to Jeb Bush about how his grandfather adored Hitler. The Rockefellers loved Nazi Germany. Heck, if it wasn’t for Germany’s decision to declare war on the US after we attacked Japan in retaliation for Pearl Harbor they would have pushed and pushed not to have us get involved in Europe.
You’re just keeping tradition alive.
It was an honest mistake!
Yeah… that’s the ticket!
Schadenfreude… pure, unadulterated schadenfreude
Go Trump Go! Fight Trump Fight!
Why would there even be US soldiers in a ‘back into business’ ad anyway? Very odd.
The agency that did this has no QA as I saw crap like this go by all the time and put an end to as fast I could. I even had designers try and defend their use of stock Nazi soldier images as “it fit better with the clients campaign.”
Remember this was “posted by an intern,” not made by one.