President Donald Trump is not accustomed to conspiracy. He rose to political prominence by promoting racist lies that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Not his team either. He took the long-standing unfounded beliefs of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the childhood vaccines caused the promotion of autism or 2016 billionaire Elon Musk of the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory. Masu.
The embrace of conspiracy theory is nothing new, but now that Trump is in power, there is a direct pipeline between online conspiracy theory and government policies, and in some cases, it is happening at a breathtaking speed. Masu.
Sometimes the administration takes the core of truth and distorts it violently. For others, it is completely unknown where the theory comes from. Here are four examples of this government based on conspiracy theory:
1) No, USAID did not secretly fed media outlets for democratic coverage
Musk targets both politicians and Reuters as news outlets, posting screenshots from a database of government payments, falsely claiming that their newsrooms received millions with federal grants. It's there. The Trump administration cites these payments as examples of government waste, citing evidence that the federal government supports anti-Trump media.
In fact, the federal government provides “special reporting, data analysis and expert briefings covering 22 policy areas” to viewers, including industry stakeholders and government officials. I've paid millions for my subscription. These are not grants, but instead are subscription purchases.
However, unfounded speculation that Politico is dependent on government grants has increased online after the company missed its pay due to unrelated technical issues. Within days, Trump posted on his true social platform. [sic] In USAID and other institutions, many of them go to fake news media as “in return” to create a good story about the Democrats. ”
Musk also claims that Reuters received millions of dollars from the US government to undertake a “large social deception” campaign, calling news organizations “a complete scam.” What he didn't mention, however, was that Reuters' data analytics division, not its news division, received these funds that began under the first Trump administration to investigate defenses against such campaigns. It was.
Since then, the Trump administration has ordered many agencies to cancel subscriptions to news organizations such as the Economist, The New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and Reuters. For example, the State Department recently issued a memo ordering “non-mission important” publications to cancel subscriptions “not academic journals or professional journals.”
2) FEMA did not blow millions at luxury hotels for immigration
Earlier this month, Musk posted on Social Platform X that his team at Doge had discovered that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would “contain illegal immigrants last week at a luxury hotel in New York City.”
It was not clear what he was referring to and he did not provide evidence of such payments.
He mentioned funds paid through a shelter and service programme approved by Congress, managed by FEMA, and managed by FEMA to support immigrants who were released in the US after being arrested at the southern border. You can do it.
The New York City mayor's office told The Associated Press it received $19 million in direct hotel fees as part of its program during the period Musk referenced. The city is currently evacuating 46,000 immigrants, including parts of the hotel, but has never paid any luxurious fees, most of which have been placed in hotels outside Manhattan, the Associated Press reported. On average, I paid $152 per night, but a 5-star accommodation is usually more than twice that price.
On February 11, the administration recognised $80 million in grants to New York City. On Friday, the city filed a lawsuit seeking to get the money back.
The Trump administration “received these funds from the city without prior notice that it would do so without giving the city any decision or basis.”
3) RFK Jr. doubles conspiracy theories about pediatric vaccines
Recently confirmed as Health Secretary, Kennedy was one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement. He says that even though scientists have already proven that mercury levels in these vaccines are not harmful and do not lead to autism, some pediatric vaccines can cause autism. He has pushed forward with misinformation about the vaccine ever since mistakenly claiming he has mercury.
During his confirmation hearing, he reportedly made a personal commitment to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a doctor and longtime vaccination advocate, and he was a pre-existing said it would not change vaccine recommendations. It helped him secure a pivotal vote from Cassidy. Cassidy said he said he would work with Kennedy on health policy several times a month.
However, Kennedy is currently taking steps to link the vaccine to chronic disease. This is a potential precursor to anti-vaccine policies. He announced that he is using a newly created panel to investigate pediatric vaccines for measles, polio, and other diseases for linking with other chronic diseases.
“Nothing will be off limits,” Kennedy said in his first comment at the agency.
Kennedy is also critical of a government panel of vaccine experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The so-called advisory committee on vaccination practices was to meet for the first time since Kennedy was confirmed, but the meeting was postponed, and the committee itself faced a review based on one of Trump's recent enforcement orders. It's.
4) Trump's offer to asylum to white South African minority is based on conspiracy theories
Earlier this month, Trump cut off US aid to South Africa, granting asylum to the country's white minority, claiming that the government is discriminating against them. The executive order cites a recently enacted land reform bill, allowing the seizing of “an uncompensated minority African agricultural property,” and “disparities against racially favored landowners.” It advocates violence.
In fact, by law, the South African government seizes privately owned land under limited circumstances where, if property is abandoned, it usually requires “fair and fair” compensation for public use. I'm allowed to do that.
About 70% of that land is still owned by white people, and white people make up about 7% of South Africa's population decades after the end of the African-controlled government's apartheid system. There is no evidence that white farmers were disproportionate and racially motivated victims of violence.
But Trump's rhetoric about it reflects the rhetoric of the influential African rights group Afriforum, which has pushed such conspiracy theories over the years. The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil rights group, calls African leaders white supremacists.
Musk, who is from South Africa, also denounced what he calls “genocide” against white farmers.
Trump has been trying to halt American refugees from resettlement and access to asylum, with the exception of white South Africans, and how deeply this conspiracy theory has penetrated his administration's thinking. It indicates whether there is.
