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coronavirus social media

Molly Butler / Media Matters

An inane assassination conspiracy theory about Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis is getting traction on social media

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 10/06/20 5:36 PM EDT

A baseless conspiracy theory suggesting President Donald Trump was intentionally infected with the novel coronavirus at the first presidential debate has received hundreds of thousands of views and shares on social media platforms and has also spread on far-right message boards.

Shortly after midnight on October 2, Trump tweeted that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus. The announcement came after one of his aides, Hope Hicks, had also tested positive for the virus. While it is not known exactly how Trump contracted the virus, the president is one of multiple people who have tested positive after attending the September 26 Supreme Court nomination ceremony for Judge Amy Coney Barrett in the White House Rose Garden.

Shortly after midnight on October 5, a fringe account tweeted a video of a man at Trump’s podium before the September 29 debate, writing, “Man wipes Trumps podium where he puts his hands, and wire connected to his mic? Corona virus on rag? Who is this man?” The video also included a voiceover speculating if the man had “coronavirus on this napkin or rag,” adding that “we need to find out.” The video has earned more than 250,000 views.

Trump debate coronavirus tweet1

The tweet and video have since spread elsewhere on Twitter, with one tweet that embedded the video earning more than 5,500 retweets alone, and other uploads of the video also receiving thousands of views.

Trump debate coronavirus tweet2

The conspiracy theory video has also made its way to Facebook and Instagram, where a version earned hundreds of views.

Trump debate coronavirus Instagram

It has spread on far-right message boards as well. On 4chan’s “/pol/” message board, a user claimed the man in the video was a “Trump assassin caught in the act” and “was 100% an assassination attempt.” The thread received a significant number of posts in response. On TheDonald.win, the new forum for the now-banned subreddit “r/The_Donald,” a user earned more than 1,000 “upvotes” on a post with the video that claimed “A Man in a SUIT with Cowboy Boots WIPED SOMETHING all Over TRUMP'S PODIUM and MIC BEFORE DEBATE ... DID NOT WIPE BIDEN'S PODIUM.” And on the subreddit “r/conspiracy,” a user linked to the video, asking, “Was this an assassination attempt?”

Trump debate coronavirus 4chan
Trump debate coronavirus The Donald dot win

The spread of this new video and blatantly false claims of an “assassination attempt” come as other conspiracy theories about Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis have also spread widely on social media, along with false and baseless narratives about the first debate.

The Latest

  1. Charlie Kirk: “As President Donald Trump is upset on Truth Social, I do not think he's attacking all of you in the rank-and-file. Instead, President Donald Trump is venting off some anger right now.”

    Video & Audio 07/16/25 2:28 PM EDT

  2. Charlie Kirk on Epstein disclosure: “I am worried it's starting to seep in to lower propensity voters”

    Video & Audio 07/16/25 2:18 PM EDT

  3. Charlie Kirk complains of “young women that are infected with the Jezebel spirit that had no interest in getting married or having children, that wanted to be the boss of the relationship”

    Video & Audio 07/16/25 1:47 PM EDT

  4. Fox News host Jesse Watters says Gov. Gavin Newsom has undergone “political sex change surgery”

    Video & Audio 07/16/25 1:46 PM EDT

  5. Charlie Kirk complains about a lack of Epstein messaging from the Trump administration: “We're basically having to do the PR work of the administration”

    Video & Audio 07/16/25 1:36 PM EDT

Pagination

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In This Article

  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)

    Covid-19 / Coronavirus
  • Donald Trump

    Donald-Trump-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Twitter / X

    Twitter-MMFA-Tag.png
  • The Donald

    The Donald Tag

Related

  1. QAnon conspiracy theories take off after Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis

    Article 10/02/20 4:32 PM EDT

  2. The ridiculous Biden earpiece conspiracy theory bounced around the online fever swamps before Fox picked it up

    Article 09/29/20 4:08 PM EDT

  3. A Joe Biden debate conspiracy theory has well over a million views on YouTube -- and the platform is profiting from it

    Article 10/01/20 2:43 PM EDT

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