Within the wake of a debate efficiency that has been broadly panned as disastrous, former president Donald Trump and his supporters have tried to clarify the night away by posting conspiracies a few “rigged” occasion, deeply misogynistic assaults on vp Kamala Harris, and wild claims concerning the vp’s earrings.
Inside minutes of the talk ending, a model new conspiracy emerged on X, focusing not on the content material of what was mentioned however on the earrings that Harris was carrying.
“It seems Kamala Harris was being coached by utilizing earphones embedded in her earrings throughout the ABC presidential debate towards President Trump,” one pro-Trump disinformation account with over half one million followers posted on X. One other main pro-Trump account additionally shared the conspiracy whereas the talk was nonetheless happening, and that publish has been considered over 5 hundreds of thousands occasions.
The declare relies on the truth that the earrings Harris was carrying bear a passing resemblance to a pair of so-called “audio earrings” that have been offered on Kickstarter final 12 months. “NOVA H1 Audio Earrings—the primary and solely wi-fi earphones embedded in a pair of pearl earrings,” the product description reads.
This conspiracy shortly gained traction amongst Trump supporters on Tuesday night time as they grasped to excuse his poor efficiency. Quite a few pro-Trump clickbait accounts on X and different supporters reshared the conspiracy, together with Laura Loomer, a failed Florida congressional candidate and Trump acolyte who traveled with the previous president to the talk.
All through the talk, Harris deftly attacked Trump’s weak spots—the dimensions of the crowds at his rallies, his inherited wealth—and the previous president reacted angrily, lashing out with nonsensical solutions and outright lies.
Trump’s solutions have been full of disinformation, together with lies about abortion, elections and the Capitol riots. He even resorted to pushing the false conspiracy about unlawful Haitian immigrants consuming the pets of individuals in Springfield, Ohio.
“They’re consuming the canines. They’re consuming the cats. They’re consuming the pets of the folks that reside there,” Trump claimed, repeating a baseless conspiracy that has been trending on social media platforms like X in latest days and promoted by vice presidential candidate and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio.
This declare and lots of others have been shortly fact-checked and debunked by ABC Information hosts and debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, a indisputable fact that clearly additional incensed Trump.
Nearly instantly after the talk completed, Trump reiterated the conspiracy a few “rigged” debate from ABC Information that he has been selling for the final week.
“I assumed that was my finest Debate, EVER, particularly because it was THREE ON ONE,” Trump wrote on Fact Social, the place he tried to defend his declare about migrants consuming pets by sharing hyperlinks to unsubstantiated rumors.
This line of assault was echoed by Trump’s greatest supporters. “Bizarre how the hack moderators at [ABC News] are solely ‘Truth checking’ Trump and permitting Kamala to lie nonstop,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X. “The Pretend Information is the enemy of the folks!”