How Trump ended up in front of a doctored presidential seal

At first glance, there was nothing unusual about President Donald Trump's introduction Tuesday at Turning Point USA's student summit. In many ways, it mirrored the production style that has become synonymous with Trump's campaign rallies.

Following a 12-minute video illustrating Trump's rise to the presidency, music blared as the president's name flashed across a giant screen in a bold shade of red. Trump took the stage and soaked in the raucous cheers from hundreds of young supporters packed inside the Marriott Marquis in Washington.

Charlie Kirk, Turning Point's outspoken founder and executive director, was on his left. But the image on the screen to Trump's right — captured in dozens of photos and videos from the event — is less familiar.

The image almost resembles the official seal of the president, but a closer examination reveals alterations that seem to poke fun at the president's golfing penchant and accusations that he has ties to Russia.

The eagle has two heads instead of one — a symbol historically tied to empire and dominance. It closely resembles the bird on the Russian coat of arms and also appears on the flags of Serbia, Albania and Montenegro. Its left talons, rather than clasping 13 arrows, appear to clutch a set of golf clubs.

On Thursday morning, Turning Point announced that it had fired the member of its video team who was responsible for displaying the fake seal.

The spokesman called the mistake "unacceptable" and said it was the result of a rushed online search to find an image of the presidential seal to display behind Trump.

One Post reader noted a website that sells merchandise featuring what appears to be the same fake seal. In those images, the words on the parody eagle's banner say "45 es un títere," which in Spanish translates to "45 is a puppet." On the official presidential seal, the eagle's mouth holds a banner with the U.S. motto, "E pluribus unum" — out of many, one. The fake seal on the shop's merchandise shows the eagle clutching cash in its right talons.

The Post reached out to the Twitter and Facebook accounts associated with the Web retailer, OneTermDonnie, but has not received a reply.

A projection of the true presidential seal was centered behind Trump's name as he walked onstage. The true seal was also on the lectern where the president spoke for 80 minutes.

A White House spokesman told the Post they did not see the fake seal before it appeared on-screen and referred questions about the incident to Turning Point.

He called the incident "careless."

"You should have control over what the private group is doing, what they're putting on the screen and anything else," said Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota. "To let someone project something on the screen that isn't controlled by the White House is pretty stupid."

A congressional statute indicates that the presidential seal may not be used to falsely suggest sponsorship or approval by the U.S. government, but Painter and other legal experts say parodies of the seal are protected under the First Amendment right of free expression.

The bird on the doctored seal closely resembles the shape of the double-headed eagle that has been Russia's coat of arms for centuries. It appears on some former renderings of the country's flag and figures prominently in the jerseys of Russia's vaunted national hockey team.

The set of clubs in the eagle's claw are probably a tribute to Trump's well-documented golfing habit. The Post previously reported that by October of last year, the president had visited his golf course in Virginia more than 40 times and spent all or part of more than 70 days at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.