Further undermining
Oh lord he’s done it again. Wouldn’t you think he’d learn? Or at least that the people around him would learn? WE CAN SEE THE BLANK PAPER.
President Donald Trump was seen in a photo taken at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center apparently signing a blank piece of paper with a marker, further undermining the credibility of the White House when it comes to the president’s health.
And further undermining anyone’s ability to take this bozo seriously.
The White House on Saturday night released pictures of the president working at the hospital, where he remained for a second night after he and First Lady Melania Trump both tested positive for the coronavirus.
Or rather, pictures of the president pretending to work. Pictures of the president pretending to work in the manner of a small child, who mimics the outward gestures of adult Working while having no clue what the work actually entails. I sit at desk, I have paper, I have sharpie, I write on paper with sharpie, I working.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a senior aide, shared one the pictures on her Twitter page, adding: “Nothing can stop him from working for the American people. RELENTLESS!”
That is, nothing can stop him faking photos of himself pretending to do workings. We’re much impressed, Princess.
“Ok, sir, first in the brown room in shirtsleeves, then in the white room in a jacket. Thaaaat’s it; nicely done, sir.”
Early Sunday morning, the word “staged” was trending on Twitter.
They can’t even lie to us competently.
With a Sharpie. That’s the part that finally made me laugh.
How long until they give him a box of fat, triangular crayons?
How long until they give him a box of fat, triangular crayons?
My guess is, they’ve tried that but he eats them.
snort
Now all he needs is a map of a hurricane.
How much of a President’s job is signing paper anyway? Don’t Presidents spend most of their time discussing with advisers, the cabinet, heads of state etc and reading briefings?
“They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace –
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
A face looked out, but it wasn’t the King’s.
“He’s much too busy a-signing things,”
Says Alice.”
Today has been a Hell of a day both physically and mentally for me, so it may be tiredness fogging my brain, or it may just be a ‘senior moment’, but there seems to be something very odd about the 2nd. photo for which a logical explanation eludes me. So, please can somebody explain to me – as simply as you like – what it is that I’m not getting about this.
The reflection in the desk shows the Sharpie almost to the start of the felt tip, as well Trump’s fingers to just above the point where they touch the paper, despite all of that being directly above the paper and quite a way in from the sheet’s borders. Briefly put, there should be no reflection of anything directly above and so close to the paper, so there is just too much of his pen and fingers visible in the reflection.
OK, I might be getting a tad obsessed with the image but I’ve just spent several minutes with a large mirror flat on a table and with Mrs. o’S humouring me – albeit with some mutterings under her breath about how she’s known for four years that Trump would eventually send me to the big house with soft walls – by sitting with pen and paper replicating Trump’s pose, whilst I took photographs from various distances and heights to try to get one that matches the Trump shot.
No joy. When my wife is positioned correctly in the frame so that as near as dammit the picture was taken from the same position as the original there is no reflection in the mirror lower than the second joints of her fingers that are resting on the paper and her index finger is reflected only from the first joint behind the nail.
Conversely, in order to achieve the same amount of reflection as the original requires having the camera far lower, almost level with the desk’s surface, which then throws the rest of the shot out of perspective.
Finally, whatever it is that is written on the paper is certainly not his signature
“Ok, sir, first in the brown room in shirtsleeves, then in the white room in a jacket. Thaaaat’s it; nicely done, sir.”
“And make sure no one else is in the room, so everyone knows this isn’t really a conference anything. Just you and a piece of paper.”
Wow, AoS, I see what you mean! Wonder what sort of trick they did?
Oh yes, now that you mention it – that is very bizarre. The paper is in the way but there’s a reflection as if the paper were not there.
…cont. (whoops)…. but four seperately-formed letters: the open right-side (our left as we look at it) of his jacket is in line with his index finger-tip and thumb and doesn’t hang straight, whereas in the reflection there is a clear band of jacket between its edge and his finger, and the edge in the reflection looks to hang perfectly vertically: the deep folds in his shirt are missing in the reflection, which is odd considering the almost perfectly mirrorred images given by the desk top everywhere else.
And no reflected image at all from his left hand despite it being in line with the clearly reflected parts of his right hand.
Am I losing my marbles or are these discrepancies I’m seeing really there? Worse (from my viewpoint): are they there but have a really simple explanation?
I’m going to bed; I’m fried.
Hmm.
I suspect, from looking at some of the perspective of the background, that the camera is in fact nearly level with the table, maybe about the level of Trump’s belly or chest. If the camera is far from the desk and close to vertical, I think there will be very little vertical distortion. I believe vertical distortion can also be adjusted in post processing.
There is no left-hand reflection because of the folders; either there is no reflection in that location (folders in the way) or we can’t see the reflection (folders in the way in a different manner); I think the latter.
Looks fine to me, AoS. The camera is positioned a fair distance, well back from the table itself, and therefore is at a low angle to the surface.
i think the weirdness is due to magnifying part of an image that was already take with a very long lens. Hell, if I were photographing Trump I’d want to use the Hubble Space Telescope.