# Optical illusion flag with pattern visible only on camera? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [October 16, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036 "2025-10-16T21:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/21 "2025-10-18T12:56:38Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > So then we ask Dave Taylor to prove it. Show us another flag that looks like a normal flag to the naked eye, but displays a swastika on video. I’ll bet he can’t. Unfortunately, the magic of the claim is that such a demonstration could only be made live, in person. Because the only way a person could demonstrate such a flag otherwise is by camera, and if it’s a magic flag that looks like a swastika on all cameras, then that’s what it’d look like. Except that it looking that way on all cameras is plainly impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/22 "2025-10-18T13:12:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Because the only way a person could demonstrate such a flag otherwise is by camera, and if it’s a magic flag that looks like a swastika on all cameras, then that’s what it’d look like. And that’s the problem with destroying trust. Who would we trust to represent us in such a demonstration? Certainly no one associated with the GOP in any way. Maybe Penn and Teller? I’m used to watching them try to figure out tricks in real-time. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/23 "2025-10-18T16:12:18Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > That photo looks suspicious, as if it has a couple of pieces of white tape on the flag. It looks like some made two "T"s with a crossbar of red tape behind a vertical piece of white tape and stuck them to the flag., the left one inverted. Closeup photos have now been released and that is exactly how it was made. It is not subtle at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/24 "2025-10-18T16:25:42Z")
[This article](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/16/gop-congressman-blames-swastika-flag-in-his-office-on-a-ruse-00612783) from Politico contains closeup photos. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/25 "2025-10-18T16:59:34Z")
That closeup isn’t the same flag. The caption says it’s “similar to the one displayed in Rep. Dave Taylor’s…”. Also, the swastika has black marks on the ends, presumably to make it easier to see (ETA and the star field is different). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/26 "2025-10-18T17:07:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That closeup isn’t the same flag. The caption says it’s “similar to the one displayed in Rep. Dave Taylor’s… Yes, but it also says that it “was delivered to a different GOP Hill office in February.” So likely the same type of handiwork. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/27 "2025-10-18T17:24:43Z")
What are you all’s best guesses as to what the other objects in the picture are? Some seem innocuous, like a flag pin just above the the star field of the altered flag and what looks like the first page of the US Constitution on the far right, but what about the others? The photo to the left of the flag that’s difficult to make out. A silvery object above that photo that looks like some sort of law enforcement / sheriff’s type badge. Another American flag on the left, with a four word phrase underneath it. A red rectangle with white letters (letters that don’t look like MAGA or Make America Great Again) above that flag. Three pins beneath the altered flag, one to the right, and another above, next to the US flag pin. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036/28 "2025-10-18T18:16:27Z")
The left flag looks like it says “In God We Trust”. Above the swastika flag is what might be an angel, and to the right of it is a pin shaped like the state of Ohio (it might have a seal on it, or might just have blotchy reflections on it). The figure in red in the photograph appears to be holding a rifle, and it looks like it might be some sort of trading card. The rest, I’m not sure of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/optical-illusion-flag-with-pattern-visible-only-on-camera/1024036.md?page=1)