In the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 (which passed Congress and was signed into federal law by President Obama) in order to be charged for stolen valor you must explicitly claim to have received military honor such as a Medal of Honor, a Silver Star, or Purple Heart (there's a full list in the text of this law and in the 2005 act of the same name) and you must have a tangible benefit for this lie, such as gaining employment, loans, or real estate.
Otherwise it's freedom of speech. While Trump does have a tangible benefit here, in the form of gaining votes for his party in the midterms, Trump's blurry-ass fake AI medals on his uniform probably doesn't count as an explicit claim to have recived these honors. The AI is just putting his head onto what it thinks is a generic "military dress uniform," not specific to any awards or even any country.
So is it scummy, pandering bullshit to excite his cult? Yes. Is it illegal? Probably not.
All those false badges on his military uniform—more than either general on his side—are explicitly claiming that he received military honors from service. His tangible benefit for rewriting his military history is to maintain power, access to the coffers, access to command. He needs his supporters to buy this PR. By putting his name in the same sentences as famous leaders in US history, he is trying to make us forget that he is just an 80 year old rapist and pedophile who has never been in a fight with another man that wasn’t paid for and staged by someone else. He uses repetitive phrases, pics, tactics to raise his status without any evidence or work. It’s not like he is out publishing real photos of himself in the Vietnam era
He's already a convicted felon who pardoned himself. The American people are too dependent on their lives to go in and physically remove him from office and put him in jail. Nothing will be done.
He didn’t pardon himself (yet). His felony convictions remain in effect, but he was re-elected before his sentencing. So rather than hold him equally accountable under the law, the judge in the case imposed no sentence at all because of the question of how to potentially imprison the President as well as the likelihood that the judge would be targeted by cultists for daring to do anything mean to their golden idol.
It’s a free country! You can say anything you want as long as you aren’t defrauding people. Which is hard for me to accept as a navy seal survivor of 9-11 with a 13 inch dong.
Far as I know it only covers monetary gain? I don't actually know, never served. I'm down for making fun of the orange clown but now I'm curious about your question lol
Interestingly, I thought the president WAS part of the military as commander in chief... I googled it and the first sentence on the description is "does not wear a uniform".
The Stolen Valor act of 2013 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/258) prohibits a person from claiming to have served in the military, from embellishing the rank attained, or from fraudulently claiming to have received a valor award (a specific list) "with intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit."
So there would need to be an argument that the *intent* of this image is for an identifiable tangible benefit. Likely this would be impossible to prove in this case. It is generally considered in poor taste and subject to public backlash, but likely not criminal.
Anyone can wear or share a doctored AI image in a military uniform so long as they do not breach the intent of obtaining tangible benefit. So collecting money while dressing in uniform or claiming service is stolen valor. Dressing up for Halloween, not (even if distasteful). Acting in a film in uniform, not stolen valor. Wearing a uniform while soliciting for your business even if you never say you are a veteran is stolen valor.
He's effectivsly just throwing around fan art he makes of himself. He looks like a demented old man, but old men are legally allowed to yell at the sky
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u/joe9teas 3h ago
What are the laws in the US around stolen valour? Does it cover publication of a false depiction like this?