Is a photo of President Donald Trump with one eye closed and the other half open with the U.S. Marine Corps flag behind him new as of April 24, 2026? No, that's not true: The image appeared in social media posts in as early as November 2020, although Lead Stories has been unable to pinpoint the exact date it was captured. The image, which re-emerged in April 2026 in posts falsely claiming it was recent, does appear to be real.
Among the recent examples was a post (archived here) shared by the @SpencerHakimian X account on April 23, 2026, with a caption that read:
🚨WHITE HOUSE PHOTO OF TRUMP JUST RELEASED
This is what the image looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: @SpencerHakimian X account)
Lead Stories could find no evidence that the image was generated by AI tools. The Hive Moderation AI content detector concluded it was not.
A Google Lens reverse image search found dozens of recent examples of the identical image shared on social media making the claim that it was a recent photo. But the search results also included the post (archived here) from the Liotloana News Agency's Facebook page dated November 11, 2020.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Liotloana News Agency's Facebook page)
The text with the image was written in Southern Sotho, which is primarily spoken in Lesotho, a landlocked country surrounded by South Africa.
TRUMP RESISTS THE CHAIR
US President Donald Trump is reportedly refusing to accept the resignation of his predecessor, Joe Biden, as he has won the election.
Recent reports suggest that Trump has ordered all government agencies not to work with his running mate, Joe Biden.
Trump has also ordered the White House staff to prepare a budget for next year and stressed that he is not going anywhere and is the country's champion.
Trump is also reportedly making changes to the country's security agencies, putting those who listen to him at risk.
Meanwhile, his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, when asked by reporters whether there will be a warm exchange of power, indicated that "yes, it is, but there are no two bulls in America, only Trump".
Liotloana News Agency is based primarily on Facebook and, according to the Meta transparency data on its Facebook profile page (archived here), is managed from South Africa.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Liotloana News Agency's Facebook page)
