Within the wake of a debate performance that has been widely 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 vice president Kamala Harris, and wild claims in regards to the vice chairman’s earrings.
Inside minutes of the controversy 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 sporting.
“It seems Kamala Harris was being coached by utilizing earphones embedded in her earrings through the ABC presidential debate in opposition to 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 controversy was nonetheless happening, and that submit has been seen over 5 thousands and thousands occasions.
The declare relies on the truth that the earrings Harris was sporting bear a passing resemblance to a pair of so-called “audio earrings” that have been bought on Kickstarter final yr. “NOVA H1 Audio Earrings—the primary and solely wi-fi earphones embedded in a pair of pearl earrings,” the product description reads.
This conspiracy rapidly gained traction amongst Trump supporters on Tuesday evening 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 controversy.
All through the controversy, Harris deftly attacked Trump’s weak spots—the scale 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 crammed with disinformation, together with lies about abortion, elections and the Capitol riots. He even resorted to pushing the false conspiracy about illegal Haitian immigrants eating 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 stay 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 rapidly fact-checked and debunked by ABC Information hosts and debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, a undeniable fact that clearly additional incensed Trump.
Virtually instantly after the controversy completed, Trump reiterated the conspiracy a few “rigged” debate from ABC Information that he has been promoting for the last week.
“I believed that was my finest Debate, EVER, particularly because it was THREE ON ONE,” Trump wrote on Reality 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 Faux Information is the enemy of the folks!”