Isn’t it said that the lock screen is the window to the soul in the smartphone era? Well, they should. We can only choose one image to greet us every time we look at our phones, so we should tell you what our chosen image is. No one could have asked for a better window into the soul of Donald Trump, but a new one has appeared nonetheless. Are you ready to hear what President Trump’s lock screen image is?
What everyone could have guessed, but somehow no one seems to have discovered until now, is a photo of himself. In it, he confidently looks straight at the camera.
You can thank a YouTube group called Nerk Boys for this tidbit of information. Trump recently hosted a group on a plane as part of an effort to reach young male voters. A photo of one of the group members shows his cell phone screen. Post on social media. The Daily Mail identified the specific photo Trump chose as a 2019 snap taken by Getty photographer Chip Somodevilla. The outlet also cited another example of the same cell phone background appearing in an image shared to social media by Montana Sen. Eric Schmidt earlier this month.
This photo choice may have been unintentional. A colleague told me that sometimes your smartphone is set to shuffle different photos as your lock screen, whether by default or not. But considering it’s been filmed twice, and who we’re talking about, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s true that Trump has a Trump lock screen. Because of course you do.
Incidentally, Trump is not the first celebrity whose lock screen was accidentally released, causing uproar and judgment. Last year, fans wondered about Kylie Jenner’s relationship when paparazzi photos revealed that her lock screen was a close-up of her kissing her biggest attraction, Timothée Chalamet. They were delighted to get a glimpse of her, and criticized what they perceived to be her priorities. Can she choose a snap of herself and someone else even though she is the mother of two beautiful children that should be on her lock screen? Fans are similarly trying to read the romantic tea leaves from the lock screens of Ariana Grande, Travis Kelsey, and more. If you’re a publicist reading this, take it as a sign that your celebrity client is probably going to beef up their lock screen information security.
It may seem silly to try to glean information about a celebrity’s love life from your smartphone’s break screen, but it’s a method most people use to cheer themselves up or declare something important to them. This is consistent with what appears to be the use of a screen. Common sights include photos of loved ones, especially significant others, children, and pets. Funny pictures of celebrities and memes. Same goes for the random design that came with the phone. These choices represent the values of the device owner. Owners want to be reminded of the people or things they love most, they like smiling faces, or they just don’t care about their phones enough to customize their phones. All of this goes to show that it’s widely considered strange to have yourself on the lock screen, completely independent of President Trump. Whenever this topic is brought up on places like Reddit, most users declare it to be self-centered or just plain weird. (To be clear, this doesn’t apply to photos where someone is with other people. Just to be clear, this only applies to photos where they’re alone.)
Perhaps fortunately for Trump, this opinion is not entirely universal. In a Vox article from a few years ago, a woman who had set herself as her lock screen defended the practice, saying: I did IDGAF while going down the waterslide, no matter what anyone said. ” On TikTok, another woman’s video declared the practice a “flex.” That’s one way to look at President Trump’s photo choices. You know you’re one of those bitches who can use a photo of the White House created by a professional photo agency as your personal scrapbook, guys.
Still, Trump having a Trump lock screen, like so many things about Trump, is almost on the nose. The main downside of doing this is that it makes it seem like he doesn’t care about others, and Trump has demonstrated this very quality time and time again. it’s kind of his thing thing at this point. Does that make you sound like a narcissist? Almost everyone agrees that Trump is one of them. Does he not love his wife enough to want to see his children and grandchildren? Half the time, this man seems to have forgotten the existence of one of his daughters. Apparently he didn’t even feel like reading his wife’s latest book. The more I think about it, the more it doesn’t make sense for him to choose anything else. don’t call my name playing cards You can work on many products and businesses simply by making your lock screen something other than your own mug. Like everything he does, his cell phone has to scream “Trump!” but there’s nothing quite like a photo of Trump being Trump.
One last thing I would like to mention about President Trump’s choice of this particular photo. It’s an image of President Trump pointing at the camera, which means he’s mostly pointing at himself holding his cell phone. Its playful self-reflexivity is reminiscent of a hat recently unveiled by the Trump campaign: a white baseball cap with a little MAGA hat on it, a hat within a hat. It’s also a reminder of the feedback loop that has always existed during the Trump presidency. Trump turns on FOX News to watch himself, Trump is influenced by FOX News, and FOX News is influenced by Trump. But more than anything, this finger-pointing seems as if President Trump is giving himself a pep talk. He’s an Uncle Sam recruiting himself, poignantly looking back on the days when he was still president. Narcissism is nothing new for President Trump, but is this also a rare moment of (still narcissistic) vulnerability? When was the last time we witnessed President Trump say to himself, “I got this, buddy?” Enough to feel creepy — and maybe a little Hope.
