When JD Vance turned 41 at the weekend, the GOP posted a picture wishing the vice president a happy birthday.
The photo, taken in January when he arrived to take the oath of office on Inauguration Day, seemed harmless enough.
However, some eagle-eyed observers have now claimed the picture may have been digitally altered.
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The most obvious difference between the two images is that a line of stars on the U.S. flag are missing in the birthday picture, over Vance’s left shoulder. It gives the impression his whole body has shifted to the left so the white stripe of the flag has moved to a new position.
Vance’s right arm also looks slightly misshapen in the birthday picture, though this may be a result of imposing the giant text added to it.
More subtly, it appears that Vance is slimmer around the waist than he is in the original image, posters on X have claimed.
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Chris D. Jackson, Democrat party chair in Tennessee, said: “The photoshop you guys did to his face and then to make his waist smaller is hilarious. LMFAO so embarrassing.”
Billie Nelson, another X user, highlighted that Vance “is not that snatched!” also suggesting he was not as slim in the original image.
“What in the Ozempic Photoshop is this?” she said, referring to the highly popular weight-loss jab currently slashing obesity rates in the U.S.
The Independent contacted Vance’s office and the RNC for comment on the apparent differences in the two pictures.
This is not the first time images of JD Vance have become a talking point on social media.
In October last year, Republican congressman Mike Collins of Georgia posted a picture of Vance with a much more chiseled appearance, prompting mockery online.
X users then came up with their own, far less flattering, alterations of the future vice president’s portrait.
And in March, Vance became an internet meme after his face was used in a series of ‘baby face’ edits on X. His facial features appeared blown out, with puffed cheeks and wide eyes.
