On Saturday night, President Donald Trump shared a conspiracy theory on social media, claiming that former President Joe Biden was “executed in 2020” and replaced by a robotic clone. This marks the latest instance of Trump disseminating false information to his millions of followers.
The post, a repost of another user’s fringe rant on Truth Social, appeared just after 10 p.m. The White House has not commented on the post. Trump has frequently criticized Biden, often questioning his mental acuity and propagating theories, such as the baseless claim that Biden’s aides used an autopen to enact policies without his knowledge—a system Trump’s own administration has acknowledged using.
Trump’s tendency to share debunked theories extends beyond social media. During his first term, he often amplified false claims within the White House. For instance, he once falsely asserted that white South African farmers were victims of mass killings, displaying an image that was actually from a conflict in eastern Congo.
A New York Times analysis of Trump’s social media activity in 2024 revealed that over a six-month period, at least 330 of his posts and reposts described a “false, secretive plot” against him or the American people, attributing these to specific entities.These included suggestions that the FBI had ordered his assassination and accusations that government officials orchestrated the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
This particular repost concerning a robotic Biden clone came a day after President Biden informed reporters he was feeling well after starting treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Trump had previously suggested that Biden’s diagnosis, announced last month, was not new and had been concealed from the public.
