Did Donald Trump wear a bandage on the "wrong ear" -- the left one -- at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024? No, that's not true: The video that makes this claim has been flipped on a horizontal axis, reversing everything in the scene as a mirror would. The former president was wearing a bandage on his right ear when he made an unannounced appearance on the first evening of the convention. It was his first time in public after the assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, when his right ear was grazed by a bullet at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.
The video was posted on X (archived here) by @EvolvingEmpathy on July 17, 2024. It was captioned:
Wardrobe Malfunction! 😼😂😂👇🏼
💙🇺🇸💙
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Jul 19 15:47:18 2024 UTC)
The reversed video is cluttered with additional captions from previous postings. The watermark of the TikTok account where it was first posted, @seyab_badsha, is barely visible. The reversed video clip is no longer public on that account, which consists almost entirely of Trump videos -- several of the more recent also reversed (here, here and here). Additional text captions on this altered video read:
Reply to comment NOCEEE'S
The bandage is on his right ear, the pin is on his left lapel.
Trump supporters will always make excuses for himLooks like Byron Donald made him aware of the wrong ear They told him
A follow-up post (archived here) by @EvolvingEmpathy said:
In case anyone thinks this is real 👉🏼it's not it's just funny it's played in reverse😼 I should've explained I thought it was obvious 💙☮️💟
The screenshot below shows the last moments in C-SPAN's coverage of day one of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee -- just after a recess was called until the following day. The captured scene occurs at about 3:57:00 hours into the video. People stand up applauding and begin shaking hands with Donald Trump. Standing one tier up in the background are Donald Trump, Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is wearing a white dress. On the left and right sides of the frame are Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and J.D. Vance, the 2024 Republican Party vice presidential nominee.
Donald Trump has a square bandage on his right ear.
(Source: c-span.org screenshot taken on Fri Jul 19 15:47:18 2024 UTC)
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims pertaining to the 2024 elections can be found here.
