Does a real photo show Donald Trump Jr. at a shooting bench with the scope of his rifle mounted backwards? No, that's not true: This image has been digitally edited. An earlier copy of the image appears in a 2024 article with the scope mounted properly.
The altered image appears in a post (archived here) published on Bluesky by @mrsbettybowers on Feb. 5, 2026. The post was captioned:
When you're so coked up and stupid you put the scope on backwards:
This is the image published with the post:
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from bsky.app/profile/mrsbettybowers.bsky.social/post/3me4zmrvvxs2b.)
A reverse image search with Google Lens pointed to many duplicate copies of this meme on social media, but the earliest copy of the image appeared in a Dec. 10, 2024 article (archived here) in Must Read Alaska. The image in the article does not have @TheClearCider watermark, the social media post, or the backwards scope. The Lead Stories GIF (pictured below) compares the two images.
(Image Source: Lead Stories GIF with screenshots from bsky.app/profile/mrsbettybowers.bsky.social/post/3me4zmrvvxs2b and mustreadalaska.com/don-trump-jr-goes-after-state-level-republicans-who-caucus-to-put-democrats-in-power.)
The Bluesky account for @theclearcider (archived here) is marked as satire and parody:
Oh, stop it! Laugh. Parody, satire, & truth as needed. Prevent truth decay, brush with Clear Cider. Caution, I still run with scissors. Dog lover.
The screenshot of a @donaldtrumpjr Instagram post appears to be a fabrication. A Google search (archived here) for the name and the quote, "Nice afternoon on the range sending freedom pills long range," did not produce any results pointing to Donald Trump Jr.'s account or any reporting about a post with that wording.
