Anyone who has lived in the United States for the past eight years, and perhaps much, much longer, knows that politics is not something to be discussed around extended family. It is highly unlikely that everyone, even in a close-knit family, will agree on this.

Different political opinions are common these days. Sometimes even those who run for or hold political office do not always have the support of their loved ones.

Note that while two members of the Roosevelt family were elected president, Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican and his distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat.

So perhaps it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that some members of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, may be supporting former President Donald Trump. An image circulated on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday showed several individuals wearing “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts in front of a “Trump 2024–Take America Back” flag. The unidentified individuals are believed to be related to Gov. Walz through his paternal grandfather. Walz was originally from the Cornhusker State before moving to Minnesota.

The photo was reportedly taken by a family friend and posted to X by Charles W. Herbster, a former Nebraska gubernatorial candidate and Trump supporter. The former president has since shared the photo on Truth Social.

It is not uncommon for family members to break ranks for political reasons in modern times. Moreover, we should not forget that few members of the extended Kennedy clan supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his bid for the White House, while Mary Trump, the former president’s niece, has spoken out against him.

Jeff Walz, the governor’s older brother, recently posted on Facebook that he is “100% against his (Tim Walz’) ideology,” but he also told NewNation on Wednesday, “It was not my intention, nor our intention as a family, to put anything out there to influence the general public.”

The Harris-Walz campaign has not yet made an official comment, and calls to the governor’s office seeking to verify the authenticity of the photo were not returned.

Is it real?

Many social media users were quick to dismiss the image as fake, even AI-generated. That claim was aided by the fact that the X Parody account @realDonParody also shared an image of Trump with supporters also wearing “Walz’s for TRUMP” shirts.

“AI certainly calls into question the validity of the content we consume. Is the photo we see actually what happened, is the voice we hear actually the person who said it, or is the video recording actually what happened? In this case, it’s been reported by many media outlets that Tim Walz’s family members support Donald Trump. That’s not news, the photo doesn’t call it into question,” explained technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.

Combined with memes featuring edited photos, the issue became increasingly complicated.

“It’s an interesting example of how we determine what’s ‘true’ in the modern media environment,” cautioned Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Michigan’s School of Information.

“There’s the technical level, where people are either looking at whether this is AI, or at a more basic level, a simple photo editing product, which we’ve seen a lot of in this election,” Lampe said. “Let’s imagine for a moment that the photo is unaltered. At that point, there are still issues, like are these people actually ‘Walzes,’ and are they part of Tim Walz’s immediate family or how closely related they might be to him.”

The context is certainly being questioned.

“Relying on a motivated poster’s caption would probably be a mistake for someone looking for the truth of an issue,” Lampe added. “One way to determine the authenticity of information is to think about the motivations someone has for sharing that information with you. Why do they want you to believe something? Of course, just because someone has a strong motivation doesn’t mean the information is false, but it should be thought-provoking.”

The spelling of the family name on the shirts is also worth mentioning.

“I hope it’s an AI-generated image because I hope every member of the Walz family has enough knowledge of the English language to know that the plural of their own last name doesn’t happen with an ‘s’, but rather ‘Walzes,’” Entner said.

Expect more AI generated content

Manipulated photos aren’t new, but until recently they required a certain level of skill to make them convincing. Now, AI can generate images in a flash.

“There have been a lot of AI-related images in the campaign, many of which are being shared online without reservation. President Trump has shared AI-generated images of Taylor Swift supporting his campaign. Elon Musk has called an AI-generated image of Kamala Harris dressed as a ‘communist leader.’ The use of AI is so brazen at this point that there is no debate about whether it is appropriate to use it or not — it has become the de facto norm,” Lampe explained.

But it’s not the highly compelling photos and videos that should be a concern in this election campaign.

“Just as dangerous are what we call ‘cheap fakes,’” Lampe continued. “These can be a maliciously edited video that omits important context, or a simple edit of a photo. Any child can do these kinds of edits, and they’re even more common than AI-generated images — which any child can generate — in an attempt to create political narratives or outright mislead people.”