That photo of what appears to be $1,200 tickets to ex-President Donald Trump’s second inauguration ceremony at the White House on August 15?
Yes, it’s totally fake.
The image that’s circulated on social media this week has been debunked by multiple fact-checking sites, including Snopes:
Per the bogus ticket, the celebration of the twice-impeached former president’s mid-August return to the Oval Office will feature musical performances from pro-Trump rockers Ted Nugent and Kid Rock.
But as myth-debunkers at Snopes, Verify and The Dispatch discovered, the picture is actually just an edited version of a stock snap that’s for sale on the stock photography website 123rf.com. Also, neither rocker has dates for the fake event listed on their websites. Nor does the website for the U.S. Capitol, outside which the alleged ceremony is advertised to take place.
Snopes suggested the picture was first posted on the 4chan message board “as a joke to mock the idea that Trump would soon be reinstated to the presidency.”
While the ticket and the event it promotes are clearly fictitious, the wild idea of Trump’s imminent reinstatement has gained ground among QAnon conspiracy theory followers – and reportedly the ex-president himself, despite there being no Constitutional way it could happen.
Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, despite the former’s continued unfounded allegations of mass voter fraud.