Maker of fake presidential seal displayed behind Trump is a former Republican who voted for George Bush twice

President Donald Trump hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons once again this past week after he took to the stage at a convention for conservative teens in front of a doctored and satirical image of the presidential seal.

After the initial confusion and furor surrounding the gaffe, it has now been revealed that the creator of that seal is Charles Leazott, a 47-year-old graphic designer.

According to reports, Leazott is a former Republican from Richmond, Virginia, who twice voted for George W. Bush but has since changed his allegiances to the Democrats.

The seal, which has become the talk of the internet, has quite a few subtle alterations from the original. The organizers of the event, Turning Point USA,  might have failed to check the accuracy of the image because it's quite easy for someone to miss the nuances unless he/she pays close attention.

For one, the 'E Pluribus Unum' motto that means 'out of many, one' in Latin that features in the original was replaced by a Spanish phrase, '45 es un Titere,' which translates to '45 is a puppet.'

In an 'Ask Me Anything' thread on Reddit, Leazott explained he had picked Spanish on purpose because "his [Trump] stance on immigration is disgusting."

The bald eagle in the seal, which has remained unchanged since 1960, was exchanged for a two-headed eagle from the Russian coat of arms, with the 13 arrows in its left talon had been replaced with a set of golf clubs and the olive branch in its right talon had been swapped out for a wad of cash.

Furthermore, the insignia on the two-headed eagle's chest contained five hammers and sickles that are synonymous with many communist movements around the world but are mostly synonymous with Russia. 

Each is a subtle jab at Trump and the controversies that have plagued his administration since he took office in 2016. 

Leazott admitted he came up with it in 2016 as "nothing more than an outlet for frustration" and that he "never imagined I'd be sitting here years later with this as a result."

Meanwhile, Turning Point USA said it had fired the aide responsible for the mishap and that the seal had been "accidentally" selected following a last-minute search. They insisted it was a "simple oversight."

But Leazott brushed aside the claim and said there was "no chance" this was an accident. "I have zero clue who did it," he said. "Although, if I ever find out, I will absolutely buy them a beer. That's awesome."

He said it was impossible for someone to have randomly stumbled across his design because the website where he displayed and sold the merchandise with the seal had been offline for two years. If anyone clicked on the link to his website, all they would see is an empty blog page.

Leazott conceded he had posted the seal to Twitter and Facebook but says you would have to know it was there then 'clicked and clicked and clicked' to find it.

"My website would technically have existed but it wouldn't have taken you anywhere and the art wasn't on there," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. "You have to remember I'm just a random nobody and why would I come up in the search results. There's a million funny Trump images on google and this is just one more of them."

"You would have had to specifically go seeking this out," he continued. "So I just don't buy for a minute that this was just an innocent mistake. Somebody did this on purpose —I think it's hilarious."