Why conspiracy theorists thought Biden died

When President Biden announced he was suspending his campaign for president, Donald Trump and some of his supporters stitched together a series of conspiracy theories about Biden’s health, his motives for dropping out, and even whether he was still alive.

Those false assertions built on years of reality-bending messages from Trump and others on the right that have helped polarize the electorate and shaken Americans’ belief in a shared set of facts. While political conspiracy theories have long been a feature of American life, today’s diffuse army of conspiracists are especially able to sow doubt, experts say, and are poised to undermine faith in the coming election less than four years after such false conspiracy theories fomented a violent attack on the Capitol.

Hours after Biden said on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race, which came days after he received his covid diagnosis, Trump set the tone in a social media post. “Does anybody really believe that Crooked Joe had Covid? No,” Trump wrote, challenging the announcement from Biden’s own physician describing his symptoms.

In the same post, Trump claimed, without evidence, that Biden “had wanted to get out” of the presidential race since the night of the debate that sparked concerns nationally over the ability of Biden, 81, to serve a second term in the White House. (Biden acceded to calls that he resign from the race only after weeks of pressure from members of his own party.)

Trump and his allies provided no evidence for their conjecture, and the false assertions built up to the allegation advanced by some on the far right that Vice President Harris’s elevation to succeed Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate amounted to an illegal government takeover.

Caption from original article by Sarah Ellison and Mariana Alfaro.

[chickenanon]

Love that this video is just "you really think someone would do that?? Just go on the internet and LIE????"

[bennybenicasa]

Biden never said COVID is why he left the race....

and it's a free country. He can leave the race just because he wants to leave. No excuses are needed.

[Jade_Stone_]

I love the absolute fantasy world of telling a conspiracy theorist the source is unverified and they go "oh ok"

[DaveJorgenson]

sometimes when someone says they're going to quarantine because they had covid ... it's because they had covid and they are quarantining

[mattdixon]

We need more people encouraging interaction like this, don’t mock or demean or get angry instead have a calm conversation addressing their concerns.

[wall]

plot twist it’s actually monday and we just got double misinformed

[brianfox]

Even if he doesn't have Covid, and is just using that as an excuse... who cares? Why is that important information to anyone? Story is that he's dropping out, not the reason. Conspiracy people are getting desperate.

[letsplaygtag]

Small problem - most of the people who would believe this don't GAF about evidence

[fafflerproductions]

It's funny that trump posted on his echo chamber of a platform saying he destroyed Biden in the debate and Biden was wildly incompetent. When he had to be reminded time after time by the moderators that he never answered the question (cuz he was trash talking instead). And whenever they gave him additional time after reminding him of the question he was supposed to He still didn't answer it

[Comaxwolf]

Gotta love how Biden talked about how he hopes trump makes a speedy recovery and whatnot, and Trump's thanks is calling him "crooked Joe" and calling him a liar on something so stupid to even lie about in the first place.

[msjkramey]

Why would I care if he had COVID or not though? The elderly man finally realized that he needed to retire, whether that was because of sickness or because of an epiphany, the outcome is the same. And what reason would they have to even lie?

[dogedarkthethird]

This is such a funny situation because people kept telling him to drop out but when he did people started complaining about HOW he dropped out like what?

[onirem]

Oh man, I'd love to get some lunch and talk conspiracies with my coworkers

Sounds like a great time!

[greenorigin]

When you have expensed the intern and have to use them in every short.

[GNZOU]

I saw brand new comments saying he was dead or in a care home hours after seeing him live, the misinformation won't let up.

[alexb]

So sad to see trump in the denial stage of grief after the breakup

[MeowMeow_]

Battle misinformation don't let ignorance win

[dickywebster]

I keep forgetting the guy under multiple criminal investigations calls the other guy crooked...

[lwitte]

The only way she should debate on fox is if she gets to pick the moderator. He picked the channel, she picks the moderator. And she should pick Jessica Tarlov.

[theamazinghaole]

Haha 🤣. If only people were that easily persuaded by rationality and critical thinking.