A number of new conspiracies are circulating online following President Joe Biden's announcement on Sunday that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," Biden wrote in the announcement. "And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term."
The conspiracies come from the same posters who long alleged Biden would be replaced in a secret coup, leaving them—for the moment—feeling vindicated.
The posts range from Biden dropping out so the Democrats can replace him with a candidate that would make stealing the 2024 election more believable, it being a ploy to distract from the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, and beyond.
Some posters even alleged that Biden and the Democrats were behind the assassination effort against Trump and that, because it failed, Biden now needed to go.
Biden's move followed weeks of intense pressure from Democrats, with dozens of lawmakers publicly calling for him to step down from the race in the weeks after his abysmal debate performance against Trump.
Not everyone is taking Biden's withdrawal announcement at face value—in part because he was saying the opposite just two days prior.
"Joe Biden did NOT write this," one right-wing poster said of Biden's announcement letter. "There is NO evidence this came from him. Coup underway!!"
He added in a separate post: "And just like that, they got you to stop talking about the failed Trump assassination attempt."
"The coup is complete," concluded Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) offered a similar take, writing: "The Democrat primary voters chose Biden and the elites took him out. This whole thing feels insurrection-ey."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), for her part, similarly stated that there is "a soft civil war happening in the deep state and the elites in power" and mused that "the Biden’s must have gotten the price they demanded for the presidential library that will pay the entire family for years to come.
"Never forget they rigged the DNC Convention in 2016 against Bernie Sanders and for Hillary Clinton," Greene added.
At least one person offered an alternate theory—that the Democratic in-fighting was nothing more than a distraction.
"Finally, the DNC has sorted out their candidate. The only reason for the faux delay and fake in-fighting," the user wrote. "And anyone who fell for it, go back and look at the timeline of who called for him to drop and relate it to where they stand in the Dem party."
And others theorized that Biden would not have dropped out if Trump had been killed during the assassination attempt last Saturday.
Some even thought he was secretly resigning in shame over his plot failing to succeed.
"Biden would NOT have dropped out had the assassin he and his party and the media radicalised achieved their common goal," the right-wing commentator wrote. "He’s not standing down out of honor. He’s standing down because he came at the King and missed."
"The assassin missed and Biden took the hit," was a common refrain pushed online.
Other conspiratorial posts echoed right-wingers' long-standing, baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud that rigged the 2020 election.
"Now the Democrats are rigging their *own* elections," quipped Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
"The reason Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race is so the Democrats can cheat," alleged one pundit. "With Biden, a win—even with cheating—was no longer believable. Now they’ll trot out a charismatic, young, 'moderate' candidate so they can cheat. Mark my words."
Concurred another person: "Democrats are ONLY replacing Biden because they realize the nation will not buy it if they cheat for him again. They think replacing him with someone else will make the theft of the 2024 election more believable. I hope Republicans start waking up."
Someone else claimed the Democrats will replace Biden with "another puppet" who has no chance against Trump and will "either cheat, make another virus or try and take out Trump again - they have no other solutions."
But not all the conspiratorial posts were so nefarious.
Joked Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.): "Today is National Ice Cream Day. Coincidence? No chance!"
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