An AI-doctored image of Mike Rogers marching in a Fourth of July campaign photo raced across social media this week, turning a routine political picture into a viral punch line. The edited image made the former U.S. Rep. look far more muscular than he appears in the original Detroit News photograph.
The image drew attention quickly because Rogers is not just a former congressman but a Senate candidate in Michigan, and the online reaction landed in the middle of an active campaign season. It also gave opponents and allies an easy target, with the doctored version widely shared and mocked before other AI-generated takes began circulating, including images that portrayed Rogers as obese, as the Hulk and as a curvy woman.
Much of the spread can be traced to Ron Filipkowski, who pushed the image into wider circulation by posting a side-by-side comparison of the altered photo and The Detroit News original. That original picture was taken at a Fourth of July parade in Milford in 2024, but the version that took off online had a different life entirely: one X user used it to criticize Rogers for living in Florida for several years, while Nick Lindquist responded with an even bulkier image of Rogers and wrote, “I'm tired of AI distorting the truth,” followed by, “Here's the original.”
Abdul El-Sayed, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Senate and hopes to face Rogers in the fall general election, joined the pile-on with a joke of his own, posting, “🗣️ computa make this guy look more like Abdul El-Sayed,” and prompting a quick political counterpunch. The Rogers War Room replied with a photo of Rogers and El-Sayed speaking on the porch of the Grand Hotel at last week's Mackinac Policy Conference and wrote, “🗣️ computa remove the step stool,” turning the joke into a height jab that kept the exchange alive.
The back-and-forth did not stay on the usual left-right fault line. The Lincoln Project portrayed Rogers as The Hulk, fashion writer Derek Guy chimed in with, “shirt is too baggy,” and former Michigan Republican congressman Justin Amash added, “He prefers to be called Homelander,” showing how the image broke out of normal campaign messaging and into internet culture. A communications consultant for U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens also suggested there was a double standard by Republicans who bash her boss, adding another layer to the online fight.
What no one has pinned down is who created the original AI-doctored image. For now, the photo is doing what viral campaign images often do best: distorting the candidate, energizing his critics and giving everyone else a reason to keep sharing it.
