Conspiracy theories fly on left and right over Trump contracting coronavirus

Conspiracy theories are swirling following President Trump’s announcement that he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump could be faking his coronavirus diagnosis in order to avoid participating in another debate against Joe Biden. Or maybe he was deliberately exposed to it by a malicious actor at Tuesday’s debate against the Democratic presidential nominee.

He’s faking it in order to distract from the election — or to garner sympathy for himself. Or maybe, this is part of a grand QAnon plan to save the president from the deep state.

Each political persuasion seems to have theories about versions of hidden events swirling on the internet.

With a high-stakes election on the line and Trump being pulled off the campaign trail due to contracting the coronavirus, neither the Left nor the Right had a shortage of suspicion of foul play when it came to Trump announcing a positive test result.

Former Republican congressional candidate-turned-Newsmax commentator DeAnna Lorraine floated the idea that a someone on the left deliberately infected Trump.

“I’m just going to say what we’re all thinking. Trump was fine until the debate, where they set up microphones & podiums for him. Incubation period is usually 2-3 days. He tests positive a couple of days after the debate. I put nothing past the left. NOTHING,” Lorraine tweeted.

She added: “Does anyone else find it odd that no prominent Democrats have had the virus but the list of Republicans goes on and on?”

(Several federal Democratic politicians, such as Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Cunningham, Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Utah Rep. Ben McAdams, have tested positive for the coronavirus.)

Some people wondered if Trump was faking the sickness as some sort of dirty campaign trick.

“I mean, honestly, do we know this is real? Do we know this isn’t some last ditch election ruse where he claims he’s cured himself with some obscure drug that his company coincidentally makes? That sounds ludicrous but ‘gestures at 2020],” tweeted attorney Ken White, who blogs and tweets under the name “Popehat.”

He added: “On the one hand, wild conspiracy theories are killing society, but in the other, this is one of the most pathologically dishonest humans in public life surrounded by amoral cultists.”

Twitter user “JohnCammo” theorized two weeks ago that Trump would fake a coronavirus infection in October in order to keep attention off of Biden and prop up the experimental use of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus. His tweet went viral on Friday.

A similar strain of theories say that Trump is faking having the coronavirus so he can have a fake miraculous recovery to “prove” that the virus isn’t that serious.

MSNBC host Joy Reid spread theories that Trump could be lying about his coronavirus infection while attributing the ideas to others.

“Here’s how wrecked Trump’s credibility is at this point: I’ve got a cellphone full of texts from people who aren’t sure whether to believe Trump actually has covid. ‘He lies so much,’ one friend just texted. ‘Is he just doing this to get out of the debates?’ others are texting,” Reid said.

In a subsequent tweet, Reid suggested that those questioning that Trump is positive are justified.

“Important point for those who are skeptical re the Trump diagnosis — a skepticism he has earned, by the way. It’s not clear the White House would have disclosed any of this on their own. Journalism dragged this out,” she said in a tweet responding to a point noting that the White House only announced that Trump was being tested for the coronavirus, or that anyone in the West Wing had it, only after Bloomberg broke the news that top Trump aide Hope Hicks contracted it.

Activist Linda Sarsour and social media personality Joey Diamond also floated the idea that Trump could be trying to dodge a debate with Biden, since a two-week quarantine period would end on the day after the next scheduled presidential debate on Oct. 15.

Filmmaker Michael Moore had a different rationale for Trump possibly lying about having the coronavirus: attempting to gain sympathy.

“He’s an evil genius and I raise the possibility of him lying about having COVID-19 to prepare us and counteract his game,” Moore wrote. “He knows being sick tends to gain one sympathy. He’s not above weaponizing this.”

Several accounts that push QAnon, a conspiracy theory tied to a right-wing fringe culture that claims “deep state” satanists are working to undermine Trump, also questioned whether Trump could be lying about the coronavirus in order to distract from some secret operation.

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