TIME Magazine Melds Trump & Putin Into Mega Alter Ego In Creepy Optical Illusion

TIME magazine has unveiled an optical illusion cover for its 30 July issue that might leave you doing a double take with its wild photoshopped visual.

The graphic sees US and Russia Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin respectively, melding to become one and the same.

This lead image sums up the recent Trump-Putin summit held in Helsinki, Finland, where Trump declared his siding with Russia over the latter’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In addition to his “would” versus “wouldn’t” gaffe, Trump’s comments implied that Putin and his country were uninvolved because the Russian president had said so.

Even though US intelligence agencies have proof that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, Trump declared otherwise during the press conference, saying, “My people came to me… they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Trump subsequently clarified, “I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’, the sentence should have been: ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double-negative.”

The remarks have drawn widespread criticism, including brutal memes that will leave you unsure whether to laugh or cry.

See TIME magazine’s latest cover below.

TIME’s new cover: Trump wanted a summit with Putin. He got way more than he bargained for https://t.co/sUu9gGKmmP pic.twitter.com/qq6iOjlis1

— TIME (@TIME) July 19, 2018

[via HuffPost, main video screenshot via TIME]