A photograph taken in September 2026 authentically shows U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump staring at the camera and frowning.
In September 2026, some people on social media shared an image that appeared to show U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump frowning as they stared into the camera lens.
For example, one X post (archived) said of the image, “For just a moment, the world saw their true nature. This is a real photo.”
The same image was shared to Reddit (archived) and Threads (archived). Some social media users doubted the authenticity of the image.
The image is authentic, though cropped. The original photo, which includes Chinese President Xi Jinping and first lady Peng Liyuan during their state visit to the U.S., was taken on Sept. 24, 2026 by Getty photographer Chip Somodevilla. We were unable to find any verifiable information as to why the Trumps were frowning at that moment.
The caption of Somodevilla’s photo reads:
A military aide, U.S. first lady Melania Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump, President of China Xi Jinping, and first lady of China Peng Liyuan depart a balcony after watching a Silent Drill Platoon Review at the White House on September 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is hosting President Xi for a three-day state visit to Washington, DC where the leaders are expected to discuss trade practices, artificial intelligence and furthering ‘strategic stability’ between their countries.
An almost identical photo taken by Reuters photographer Evan Vucci is featured on Reuters Connect, Reuters’ licensable photo repository. That caption is less specific than the Getty caption, instead reading, “President Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping after watching a military demonstration from a balcony of the White House in Washington, September 24.”
Reuters Connect also offers two other, more zoomed-out versions of the same photo. These versions photo match Somodevilla’s Getty photo by including Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan, on the far right of the same balcony.
The four can be seen watching the referenced military demonstration in another Reuters photo.
The Associated Press’ own photo repository has photos from just before and about the same time as the Getty and Reuters photos were taken. One shows Melania Trump still looking at Jinping, while the other has both Trumps looking just past the camera, similar to the Reuters photo.
Two other AP photos, one of Trump gesturing for Jinping to walk ahead of him and another of the pair walking side-by-side, suggests the four were heading inside the White House from the military demonstration with the two presidents walking ahead of the two first ladies.
Somodevilla apparently shot another photo a couple of seconds after his first one. In that photo, the Trumps’ frowns are less pronounced than in the photo that spread on social media.
For further reading, Snopes recently compiled a collection of real Trump quotes we’ve fact-checked.
