Were Trump’s Hands Enlarged in White House Photo? Yes, Journalists Are Really Investigating

We’re so used to the Trump administration’s “alternative facts” that we can’t even dismiss this ridiculous claim

trump hand photoshop
trump hand photoshop

Donald Trump is supposedly sensitive about his small hands, and now the internet is wondering if the White House altered an official photograph to make the new president’s hands look a little bigger.

The mystery kicked off when Observer arts and culture writer Dana Schwartz tweeted a comparison of the Inauguration Day photo — which she said appeared in the White House during Trump’s interview earlier this week with ABC News’ David Muir.

It certainly looks like the size of Trump’s hand, placed on Barack Obama’s shoulder, has been slightly scaled up.

https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/825030464037593091

Schwartz then said she went to the original Getty Images version of the image, and compared that to the version she said was altered. That tweet appears to have been deleted.But did the White House actually alter the photo? At least right now, the evidence is sketchy at best.

First, some context. Trump batted away the accusation that he has small hands (or at least small for his stature — he’s 6’2″) during the Republican primary debates. You might remember the moment, because Trump then made a veiled reference to the size of his penis. On live TV. During a presidential debate.

And apparently the president does, indeed, have hands that are smaller than average, according to a report from the Huffington Post. And he seems to be sensitive about the subject.

While it seems ridiculous that the Trump administration would PhotoShop an image of the president to make his hands look slightly larger, it’s not so ridiculous as to be unbelievable.

Remember, Trump claimed while giving a speech at the Central Intelligence Agency that it stopped raining in Washington, D.C., as he began his inauguration speech, and that the sun was shining. Because photography is a thing, as are eyewitnesses, we know that statement — about the weather at an event attended by thousands — is false.

Others have joined Schwartz in analyzing the photo, debating elements like the slightly different angles of the photos. Several started to try to lay the photos over each other for a closer comparison. Here’s one such GIF.

The Daily Dot compiled evidence from both sides of the debate. Then The Verge dug in and called out the whole thing with its own overlay.

https://twitter.com/chillmage/status/825058364774289409

So it appears that, at best, the idea the Trump presidency has someone on staff slightly deforming photos for the president’s hand-size benefit is inconclusive.

The bummer is that we now live in a country where it takes several journalists and multiple news outlets to come to that conclusion.

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