Former President Donald Trump repeated a wide range of false claims, Internet rumors and outlandish conspiracy theories during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, many of which would have seemed incomprehensible without a deep understanding of the dark corners of far-right social media.
This included various unsubstantiated claims about abortion, campaign rallies, the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and bribery of government officials. sensational rumor About immigrants stealing and eating pets in Ohio. And he denied any change A look at the 2020 electionshe falsely claimed to have “so much proof” that he had won it.
While some of the allegations are familiar dog whistles to people who spend time on outside message boards, it’s unclear how the strange rumors hit everyone. The debate was a draw Over 57.5 million viewersThe ABC TV channel, which is the host of
Late in the debate, just before the second recess, Trump released a barrage of vague allegations about corruption in the Biden administration.
“You know, Biden isn’t going after people because China allegedly paid millions of dollars,” he said. “He’s afraid to do it – between him and his son, they’re getting all this money from Ukraine. They get all this money from different countries. Then I wonder why he is so loyal to Ukraine and China. Why did he get 3.5 million dollars from the wife of the mayor of Moscow? Why did he give her $3.5 million? This is a crooked administration and they are selling our country to the pipes.”
None of this is based in fact. there is a denied claim Hunter Biden said he received $3.5 million from the wife of the former mayor of Moscow four years ago, which was included in the GOP report, but only referred to as a “confidential document.”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about the extent of conspiracy talk during the debate.
Trump’s take on internet rumours disappointed some allies who hopes to focus on kitchen-table concerns like inflation in discussions with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson expressed his frustration during the debate. Place in X Trump’s ‘stupid’ advisers ‘forced Trump to repeat your lie about pets’
After the debate, some Trump allies floated a new conspiracy theory about Harris, suggesting without proof that the earrings she was wearing must have contained mini-speakers.
Harris, on the other hand, tried to use the controversy to appeal to people outside his base, noting that he owns a gun and boasts about how the Biden administration is increased domestic oil production.
The debate felt like Trump was being consumed by non-mainstream internet personalities in his bid to retake the White House. Among the people on his plane Tuesday was Laura Loomer, a far-right social media activist and self-described “proud Islamophobe.” Shares pro-Trump conspiracy theories his full-time job.
In recent weeks, Trump has given a series of interviews right-wing influencers such as Logan Paul and Adin Ross, their audiences are young and male.
And Trump’s personal internet brand is now centered on his sworn-in social media platform, Truth Social imprisoning political enemies Get a warmer reception than on more popular apps like Instagram or YouTube.
Tuesday’s debate represented the collision of these two media ecosystems: the relatively small and insular far-right online world and the more traditional nationwide audience.
“In recent years, the Democrats have typically been the party that’s been overly online and stuck in a left-wing bubble,” said Josh Kraushar, political analyst for Fox News Radio and editor-in-chief of the political website Jewish Insider. He wrote in X.
“In this debate, it was Trump who spread the (false) online social media meme about migrants eating cats, and his team showed it in their bubble,” he said.
This is not the first time Trump has made a tactical error by exposing his connections to the insular world of the online far-right. In a 2020 debate with Joe Biden, Trump refused to condemn white supremacist groups and called one extremist group “stand back and stop.” And in 2022, he promoted several posts on the fringe at Truth Social QAnon conspiracy theory.
One of Trump’s strange claims about abortion during Tuesday’s debate. Asked by ABC News moderator Linsey Davis about her change of heart on the topic, she accused Democrats of supporting “postnatal execution” — which is not legal in any state, as Davis pointed out in fact-check during the debate.
Trump specifically said that the former governor of the state of West Virginia, whom he did not name, was in favor of the execution of newborns. But he was likely confusing that state with neighboring Virginia and its former Democratic governor, Ralph Northam. In 2019, Northam talked about impossible pregnancies in an interview that was later distorted by abortion opponents, according to fact-checkers Associated Press and Reuters.
Trump briefly mentioned some Internet rumors, when Harris brought up the topic of campaign rallies, saying people were starting to “leave their rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.” (Several news agencies, including The Wall Street Journal and New RepublicThey said they left Trump rallies early.)
Trump responded without proof that Harris “paid them to be there” at his rallies – claims nonpartisan PolitiFact decided it was a lie After it went viral in right-wing media circles last month.
At other times, Trump has floated conspiracy theories that are too vague to be fact-checked. In the middle of the debate, Trump spoke about election security and claimed that illegal immigrants were trying to get out to vote.
“They can’t speak English. They practically do not even know what country they are in. And these people are trying to attract them to vote, and therefore they allow them to come to our country,” he said in an answer without giving specific information about who was involved in the conspiracy.
Trump has claimed in the past that “millions and millions” of votes were cast illegally, some by non-citizen immigrants; researchers and news organizations there is exposed regularly claims.