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

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.

Trump 100% photoshopped his hand bigger for this picture hanging in the white house, which is the most embarassing thing I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/MGTbFfdLqp — Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) January 27, 2017









Also Read: See All of Trump's Changes to the White House Website (So Far)

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.

Also Read: 'SNL': Putin Congratulates America on Trump's Inauguration - 'We Did It' (Video)

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.

I lined up the Getty Images source file to the White House print. It's a warp deformer, look at the helicopter behind it. pic.twitter.com/kJB2T8U5yh — Joaquin Baldwin (@joabaldwin) January 27, 2017









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.

Also Read: 'Black Mirror' Doesn't Seem So Bad Next To Trump's America (Commentary)

Funny. I did the same thing. And this is bullshit. https://t.co/xKulBObi3b pic.twitter.com/UsKnLXvviu — tc (@chillmage) January 27, 2017









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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