Liberal Twitter users apparently fooled by fake image of evangelicals praying over golden Trump statue

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Former President Trump speaks at CPAC

Former President Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Some liberal users on Twitter appeared to be duped by a digitally modified photo depicting evangelicals praying to a golden Trump statue at CPAC this weekend.

An unlikely centerpiece at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC) turned out to be a gold-colored statue of former President Trump in shorts and flip-flops carrying the Constitution.

The statue quickly became known as an "idol" online. Meanwhile, an edited picture circulated on Twitter appearing to show evangelicals praying to the statue. The original photo was taken during the launch of the "Evangelicals for Trump" group dated Jan. 3, 2021.

The doctored photo had the golden Trump overlaid on top of the former president and tricked some online into believing that the evangelicals were praying over the statue.

Journalist Joel Stein asked if "the fall of Rome was this embarrassing" and shared the picture, clarifying a few hours later that the image was "Photoshopped."

"The statue is real. It is difficult but important to stick to facts amid the insanity of American politics," he continued in a following tweet. "I shall take this post down tomorrow."

GOLD-COLORED TRUMP STATUE AT CPAC DRAWS CROWD

Former Democratic congressional candidate Adam Christensen shared the photo on Twitter as well, adding the caption: "Praying to a Golden Idol."

He posted a follow-up tweet minutes later clarifying that the picture was doctored but claimed that the "intent" in the photo was "clear."

"White Evangelical support is near an all time high going into CPAC and after the event rolling this idol into the conference it’s clear that their 'support' is close to going to the next level," Christensen wrote.

When asked by a user on Twitter whether sharing "disinformation" might make it harder to trust his "future statements," Christensen replied that the photo was a "visual representation of what I see in Conservative media circles as well as those that I grew up with."

Tech journalist Ed Bott said that he "needed to see this story carved into stone tablets" but clarified in a later tweet that the picture was a "Photoshop that mashes together two real photos that are each as bad as this."

"Worshipping the new Christian Golden Idol…," wrote astrobiologist David Grinspoon.

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The statue is made out of fiberglass and was created by artist Tommy Zegan. Zegan said on Saturday that he had made the piece in Mexico and was selling it for $100,000.

Zegan said that the fiberglass statue is actually the "mold" of the "real" thing, and that he hopes the actual statue will be included in the Trump Presidential Library.

Fox Nation was a CPAC sponsor.