Posts use altered image of Buttigieg in argument over who is “weird”

This article is available in Spanish in El Tiempo Latino.

Summary

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband adopted two infants in 2021. Social media posts use an altered photo to suggest Buttigieg is “weird” and used a strap-on device designed to allow men to breastfeed their babies. The original photo is from a 2019 article about the device.

Full story

In an election campaign that has already been marked by a flood of insults and accusations, both parties have resorted to branding the opposition as “strange”.

Democrats were the first to latch onto the word. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen as her running mate, began calling former President Donald Trump and other Republicans “just weird” in July, the Associated Press reported. Walz used the word again at the Aug. 6 rally in Philadelphia where Harris introduced him as her vice presidential candidate. Her Republican opponents are “creepy and, yeah, just damn weird,” Walz said.

Trump has responded by denying that he and his vice presidential running mate, Senator JD Vance, are weird. “They’re the weird ones,” he said of the Democrats.

The “strange” war of words has extended to a manipulated image on social media.

A July 29 post on X shows an altered photo of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg using a device to simulate breastfeeding a baby. “JD Vance is just weird,” the post says, attributing the quote to Buttigieg. (We could not find any account of Buttigieg saying those exact words in the posts. However, in a July 29 interview with MSNBC, Buttigieg said Vance has “said a lot of things that are weird.”)

According to the platform, the post received more than 13,000 views and the manipulated image spread on Instagram.

However, the original photo used in the posts comes from a Japanese company that makes a wearable, breast-shaped device that allows a man to feed a baby through a tank of milk or formula. Images of the product provided by the company have appeared in American media, including an article that appeared on the website Mother in 2019 after the company unveiled its device at the annual SXSW festival in Austin that same year. The photo shows an unidentified man using the device.

Buttigieg and his husband Chasten adopted two babies, a boy and a girl, in 2021.

But the photo shared in the social media posts was digitally altered to add Buttigieg’s face.

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Sources

Adobo Magazine. “#SXSW2019: Dentsu’s ‘Pointless Brings Progress’ showcases new experiences and innovations that go beyond value.” March 10, 2019.

Amiri, Farnoush. “How Tim Walz endeared himself to young voters with the message that Republicans are ‘weird.'” Associated Press. August 6, 2024.

Dentsu. “The desire to create everyday products resulted in an innovative device that allows a father to breastfeed and rock his baby to sleep.” July 1, 2019.

Feher, Erin. “New device lets dads breastfeed their babies.” Mother. April 1, 2019.

Kavi, Aishvarya. “Pete and Chasten Buttigieg welcome two children into their family.” September 4, 2021.

Kinnard, Meg. “Why Harris and Democrats keep calling Trump and Vance ‘weird.’” Associated Press. July 31, 2024.

Lebowitz, Megan and Vaughn Hillyard. “Trump uses polarizing rhetoric at first rally since assassination.” NBC News. July 20, 2024.

MSNBC. “Pete Buttigieg slams JD Vance’s ‘weird worldview’ and bizarre GOP agenda.” YouTube.com. July 29, 2024.

Tasolides, Justin. “‘They’re the weird guys’: Trump tries to respond to ‘weird’ Democrat attacks.” Spectrum News NY1. August 9, 2024.

Timotija, Filip. “Senate Democrat calls Trump’s border speech ‘disgusting’ and ‘racist.’” The Hill. March 1, 2024.