Trump Fans Spread Conspiracy About Microphone Earrings After Debate

In the aftermath of a debate performance that has been widely panned arsenic disastrous, former president Donald Trump and his supporters person tried to explicate the evening distant by posting conspiracies astir a “rigged” event, profoundly misogynistic attacks connected vice president Kamala Harris, and chaotic claims astir the vice president’s earrings.

Within minutes of the statement ending, a marque caller conspiracy emerged connected X, focusing not connected the contented of what was said but connected the earrings that Harris was wearing.

“It appears Kamala Harris was being coached by utilizing earphones embedded successful her earrings during the ABC statesmanlike statement against President Trump,” 1 pro-Trump disinformation relationship with implicit fractional a cardinal followers posted connected X. Another large pro-Trump relationship besides shared the conspiracy portion the statement was inactive going on, and that station has been viewed implicit 5 millions times.

The assertion is based connected the information that the earrings Harris was wearing carnivore a passing resemblance to a brace of alleged “audio earrings” that were sold connected Kickstarter past year. “NOVA H1 Audio Earrings—the archetypal and lone wireless earphones embedded successful a brace of pearl earrings,” the merchandise statement reads.

This conspiracy rapidly gained traction among Trump supporters connected Tuesday nighttime arsenic they grasped to excuse his mediocre performance. Numerous pro-Trump clickbait accounts connected X and different supporters reshared the conspiracy, including Laura Loomer, a failed Florida legislature campaigner and Trump acolyte who traveled with the erstwhile president to the debate.

Throughout the debate, Harris deftly attacked Trump’s anemic spots—the size of the crowds astatine his rallies, his inherited wealth—and the erstwhile president reacted angrily, lashing retired with nonsensical answers and outright lies.

Trump’s answers were filled with disinformation, including lies astir abortion, elections and the Capitol riots. He adjacent resorted to pushing the mendacious conspiracy astir illegal Haitian immigrants eating the pets of radical successful Springfield, Ohio.

“They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the radical that unrecorded there,” Trump claimed, repeating a baseless conspiracy that has been trending connected societal media platforms similar X successful caller days and promoted by vice statesmanlike campaigner and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio.

This assertion and galore others were rapidly fact-checked and debunked by ABC News hosts and statement moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, a information that intelligibly further incensed Trump.

Almost instantly aft the statement finished, Trump reiterated the conspiracy astir a “rigged” statement from ABC News that helium has been promoting for the past week.

“I thought that was my champion Debate, EVER, particularly since it was THREE ON ONE,” Trump wrote connected Truth Social, wherever helium tried to support his assertion astir migrants eating pets by sharing links to unsubstantiated rumors.

This enactment of onslaught was echoed by Trump’s biggest supporters. "Weird however the hack moderators astatine [ABC News] are lone 'Fact checking' Trump and allowing Kamala to prevarication nonstop," Donald Trump Jr. wrote connected X. "The Fake News is the force of the people!"