WASHINGTON – As the number of coronavirus death in the United States rose to 185,000 this week, President Donald Trump has commanded several rounds spreading unfounded conspiracy theories and shooting down Internet gossip about his own health.
Monday: Trump claimed in a television interview, without offering evidence, that Democratic rival Joe Biden is controlled by others hiding in “dark shadows” and that a flat mass of black uniformed anarchists planned to disrupt the Republican National Convention.
Tuesday: Trump has turned to Twitter to dispel an unfounded rumor on the Internet that a series of mini-shots sent him to Walter Reed Medical Center last November.”This never happened to this candidate — NEW FALSE,” he writes.
Wednesday: Trump retwented an article from a conservative publication that raised questions about the effect of mail voting on the upcoming elections and added his own editorial comment: “False election?”Asked.
Trump has long adopted conspiracy theories as a way to attack his critics or divert attention from occasions that misrepresent his attention, but the dizzying speed with which he has given oxygen to outlandish stories that are usually the domain of Internet trolls or marginal teams as QAnon suggests.that practice now has a central component of its re-election strategy.
“Conspiracy theories make it powerful,” said Jennifer Mercieca, of “Demago for President: Donald Trump’s Rhetorical Genius.”
Conspiracy theories “are narratives that close themselves,” to which no evidence is allowed to oppose them, said Mercieca, associate professor of communication at Texas A
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Coverage of november’s presidential election has spanned the circus, from Trump’s challenge to Biden being tested for drugs before his first debate to his public cavilations over whether Biden’s vice president, Senator Kamala Harris, is eligible.Harris was born in Oakland, USA. But it’s not the first time California, and has been a U.S. citizen since birth.)Disputes can temporarily divert attention from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic consequences and racial conflicts that are taking place in many cities.
“Half the time, Trump seeks to distract himself from COVID with marginal plots and, part of the time, seeks to draw the attention of cable news about himself by selling conspiracies,” said veteran Democratic strata Jesse Ferguson.”People are disappointed,” but I’m not surprised they live up to these old things.”
Trump’s rise to political force was partly due to a conspiracy: Trump, a true real estate tycoon and television celebrity at the time, was one of the main supporters of the birther movement, who falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.and was not eligible for president, a theory trump then rejected and blamed Hillary Clinton.
Trump has perpetuated conspiracy theories during his presidency and warned that voter fraud accuses him of the popular vote, but he never supported this claim with evidence.
The president’s impeviction last year was triggered by a phone call in which he insisted that Ukraine investigate unreliable data that Biden had led to the dismissal of lawyer Viktor Shokin to protect Hunter Biden, the son of the former vice president.he had provoked foreign calls for his dismissal and, in the end, brought him to his political trial through the Ukrainian parliament, and no evidence gave the impression that Biden’s involvement had anything to do with his son.
Now that Biden has officially accepted his party’s nomination to oppose Trump in the November election, the president is circulating more unproven things at a faster pace.
“I don’t even like to mention Biden because he doesn’t do anything,” Trump said in an interview Monday night with Fox News driver Laura Ingraham echoing his often repeated claim that Biden is a radical left puppet.Biden, he argued, is heading through “other people he’s never heard of, other people who are in the shadows.”
The statement seemed disconcerting in Ingraham, a commentator who with Trump on many issues.”What does that mean? Sounds like a conspiracy theory,” he said.”Black Shadow, what is it?”
In the same interview, Trump claimed – evidence – that “thugs” in “black uniforms” had boarded a plane bound for Washington, where they intended to disrupt the Republican convention.When Ingraham asked for the details, he replied: one day.He’s been under investigation lately.”
The next day, Trump joined the story, telling reporters that he had been informed of the flight through someone who was a passenger, but declined to identify its source.
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In recent weeks, Trump has spread unproven theories that Biden is taking drugs to “improve” and appears to be bringing to life a conspiracy that Harris is not eligible to become president because his parents were not U.S. citizens at birth.makes it clear that anyone born on American soil is automatically a citizen, which means there is no doubt that Harris is eligible to become president.
“I heard today that she wasn’t eligible,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month.”I don’t know if that’s true. I would have … would have assumed that democrats would have verified this before she did.”selected to run for vice president.”
Trump also made false or exaggerated statements about mail voting, arguing evidence that “mail votes are corrupt” and that there are “many fraudulent votes in this country.”While there have been examples of voter fraud, adding at a local election this year in New Jersey, experts say voter fraud is incredibly rare.
In addition, Trump encouraged QAnon fans (“I’ve heard they’re other people who love our country,” he said), warned that bleach and soft ultraviolet rays can kill the coronavirus in patients (experts say this is fake) and retwented a video.in which a questionable physician claims that hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for COVID-19 and that masks are useless.The doctor, Stella Immanuel, also claimed that gynecological disorders can be caused by sex with witches and demon dreams.
Asked through reporters about Emmanuel’s claims, Trump said, “I think his voice was a vital voice.”But, he added, “I don’t know anything about her.”
Biden’s Crusade Trump’s conspiracies as a distraction.
“The last thing the American electorate is hungry for is more damaging instability or unbearable poison for this commander-in-chief,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Trump crusade spokeswoman Thea McDonald defended the president by suggesting biden’s team was “taking straws.”He didn’t mention Trump’s conspiracy theories.
Republicans have accused Democrats of inventing their own conspiracies, such as the concept that Trump would not settle for electoral effects if he lost, but Trump himself added to that hypothesis by refusing to say definitively whether he would settle for the effects.to give a definitive answer to that consultation in 2016.
“I have to see, ” said Trump to Fox News on Sunday in July.”I’ll just say “yes.” I’m going to say “no, ” as I didn’t last time either.”
Several Republicans noted that the challenge of conspiracy theories slipping into cross rhetoric is not a new phenomenon in American politics, but they claimed he had stepped up Trump’s term.
Russ Schriefer, a senior GOP consultant, said the challenge had been exacerbated through the ability of conspiracies to penetrate the electorate’s consciousness through social media. When the electorate seeks quick and simple answers to complex challenges, he said, conspiracy theories can fill the void.
“And certainly, bad actors who are intentionally creating things, stir the pot and contribute to the problem,” Schriefer said.”Today, any crusade plays a role in getting rid of the crazy theories of the left and right.”
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While spreading unverified stories about Biden and others, Trump tried to silence rumors about his own physical condition, in one case giving them much more attention than they had initially received.
Trump and white house doctor took unusual steps to release statements Tuesday denying he had had a stroke: no primary media outlet had explored any hypothesis that Trump had suffered a stroke.
However, speculation had sworn in left-wing circles on social media.
A new eebook about Trump’s presidency through New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt seems in some of the discussions, the eebook doesn’t mention anything about “mini-hits.”
Schmidt’s book, “Donald Trump v.U., Inside the Struggle to Arrest a President,” focuses on internal clashes within the Trump administration.A ticket quotes Trump’s wonderful stop at Walter Reed in November.Schmidt writes that “in the hours leading up to Trump’s arrival at the hospital, it was heard in the West Wing that the vice president would be on hold to temporarily assume the presidency if Trump were to undergo any procedure that would have required him.be anesthetized.”
“Pence never assumed the powers of the presidency, and explained why Trump’s to the doctor remains a mystery,” Schmidt wrote.
While Schmidt, a New York Times reporter, did not report the explanation for why Trump’s sudden visit, Internet users filled the blanks with all sorts of unfounded theories about the president’s health, asked Joe Lockhart, President Bill Clinton’s former press secretary.tweet if Trump had a stroke, but did not provide evidence of that claim.
Other Internet users have speculated that Trump had suffered what doctors call a brief ischemic attack: a “mini stroke.”
While Trump was traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to take a look at the damage caused by protests against police, the White House unveiled a presidential doctor, Dr. Sean Conley, who said Trump had not suffered a stroke, mini stroke or acute cardiovascular attack.Emergency Sickness. Trump used rumors to publish the attack, saying it is his critics who are to blame for spreading unfounded accusations.
“The president stays healthy and I have no regard for his ability to the rigorous schedule ahead of him,” Conley said.
Conspiracy and gossip theories are here to stay no matter who wins in November, predicted Mike DuHaime, a well-known Republican strata.This is partly due to the increased polarization of U.S. policy.
“It may not go away after this election,” DuHaime said.”The leaders of either party, as well as business and media leaders, deserve to participate in the ease with which many other people succumb to conspiracy theories, which depend on the will to believe in the worst people outside of you.”
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