EGN NEWS DESK
Former President Donald J. Trump’s penchant for amplifying simply debunked conspiracy theories is well-known. But an intensive evaluation of his posts and reposts on Truth Social reveals a candidate who promotes these sinister theories at a scale and frequency nicely past his already notorious playbook.
The New York Times’s examination of Mr. Trump’s exercise on Truth Social exhibits that, usually a number of instances a day, the previous president is concocting or selling darkish, paranoid materials and pushing it out to his thousands and thousands of followers. Mr. Trump is so hungry for this content material that he seems to be keen to share outlandish info from anybody, together with each well-known conspiracists and nameless accounts that tag him.
The Times analyzed 1000’s of Mr. Trump’s posts and reposts over a six-month interval in 2024 and located that not less than 330 of them met two tightly outlined and putting standards: They every described each a false, secretive plot towards Mr. Trump or the American individuals and a selected entity supposedly answerable for it. The unfounded theories ranged from ideas that the F.B.I. had ordered his assassination to accusations that authorities officers had orchestrated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
About 75 % of the conspiracy-theory posts got here immediately from Mr. Trump’s account. The relaxation Mr. Trump reposted from different social media accounts. The Times additionally analyzed lots of extra of his posts and reposts that didn’t strictly meet each standards however nonetheless invoked the theories with slogans and refined references.
In addition to the posts themselves, the evaluation zeroed in on the 170 Truth Social accounts that Mr. Trump had amplified on the platform. Some are ones he follows; others have simply come throughout his radar. The overwhelming majority of the accounts often promoted conspiracy theories, the evaluation confirmed.
The Trump marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark from The Times.
A spokeswoman for Truth Social didn’t reply questions from The Times in regards to the firm’s insurance policies on conspiratorial content material and the accounts that unfold it. Instead, the spokeswoman criticized reporters.
Since Mr. Trump inaugurated the platform with its first put up in 2022, Truth Social has attracted the sorts of customers, and the sorts of posts, that mainstream and extra closely moderated social networks may not have tolerated. Mr. Trump’s use of the platform is close to fixed; he averaged 30 posts a day within the six-month interval The Times analyzed. That frequency far surpasses his posting on every other social media community this yr, and exhibits how a lot Mr. Trump depends on the platform, and its customers, to bolster his conspiratorial worldview.
From July to September, Truth Social acquired a median of about 4.7 million distinctive month-to-month guests, based on the net analytics agency Similarweb. Those customers are, normally, a part of a gaggle whose fealty to Mr. Trump units the community aside from bigger ones like Facebook or X, which have month-to-month consumer counts orders of magnitude greater. While Truth Social is populated by many on a regular basis followers and supporters of Mr. Trump’s, there are additionally sensationalist right-wing media upstarts, Covid deniers and devotees of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy concept whose adherents suppose that satanic pedophiles management the “deep state.”
“He’s constructing a coalition of people that simply see the world in a really darkish means,” mentioned Joseph Uscinski, who’s a co-author of the ebook “American Conspiracy Theories” and a professor of political science on the University of Miami. Mr. Trump’s rhetoric, he mentioned, isn’t meant to cater to conventional Republican values, however as an alternative appeals to these “who simply wish to see the system blown up.”
The conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump is uncovered to on Truth Social have made their means into his marketing campaign speeches and public appearances. He has repeatedly referred, each on-line and off, to an “enemy from inside” that features Democrats and authorities officers, and urged that the navy is likely to be wanted to deal with them. In October, Mr. Trump described the Jan. 6 riot as a day of “love” at a city corridor occasion and two days later shared a Truth Social put up that claimed the assault had been staged by the federal authorities.
To analyze Mr. Trump’s account, The Times collected all 5,641 of his Truth Social posts and reposts from March 12 to Sept. 12 utilizing pc code. Reporters additionally manually analyzed lots of of posts from every profile Mr. Trump amplified to establish whether or not these accounts had displayed a sample of propagating conspiratorial content material.
Much of the exercise on Mr. Trump’s feed consisted of normal campaign-related fare, like movies from rallies or endorsements of different political candidates. It additionally included disinformation and hateful rhetoric about immigrants, his political opponents and different targets.
But time and again — virtually twice a day on common — Mr. Trump’s account went one step additional and promoted conspiracy theories to his 7.9 million followers.
A seize bag of false conspiracies: George Soros, the Nord Stream pipeline and a ‘rigged’ election
The Times’s evaluation recognized 10 distinct themes within the conspiracy theories shared by Mr. Trump. Some of the posts depicted under referred to a number of false theories.
Nearly 400 further posts not depicted above used language to confer with conspiracy theories however didn’t spell out the total concept on their very own. This included utilizing slogans and phrases {that a} believer of the idea would perceive, however that a median individual may not.
The widespread thread by many of the conspiracy theories is a perception that Mr. Trump is the protagonist of each second and that his political adversaries are the villains.
Experts mentioned that it was significantly regarding that a few of the theories shared on Mr. Trump’s account sought to undermine establishments the general public depends on, together with the Federal Emergency Management Agency throughout Hurricane Helene, and the establishments holding the previous president to account, just like the Justice Department.
Mr. Trump additionally — with beautiful frequency — sowed doubt about American democracy itself.
In greater than 260 posts within the six-month interval The Times analyzed, Mr. Trump shared conspiracy theories that supported his steadily acknowledged declare that the 2024 presidential election can be fraudulent. That contains saying the felony instances towards him are Biden administration plots to intrude within the election.
Some posts falsely alleged that Democrats had been counting on undocumented immigrants to vote and sway the election. Mr. Trump additionally shared posts with references to substitute concept, a far-right false declare usually promoted by white supremacists that claims highly effective forces are attempting to switch American residents with immigrants.
It’s unclear whether or not Mr. Trump or considered one of his marketing campaign staffers wrote any particular person put up, however every one had been despatched from the previous president’s official account.
Max Read, a senior analysis manager on the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who research election disinformation, mentioned that after months of Mr. Trump’s false assertions about election integrity, some Truth Social customers could settle for solely a Trump victory.
“Who are you going to go to to belief election outcomes?” Mr. Read mentioned. “It’s not going to be the media. It’s not going to be the professionals doing the elections. If you’re dwelling in that actuality and getting that info on Truth Social, you’re going to belief Trump and solely Trump.”
Other conspiracy theories Mr. Trump shared included claims that the Biden administration had blown up the Nord Stream pipeline to start out a world conflict; that George Soros, a billionaire Democratic donor, was devising plots to undermine Mr. Trump (a declare that always has antisemitic undertones as a result of Mr. Soros is Jewish); and that Vice President Kamala Harris had used synthetic intelligence to pretend the scale of her crowds at rallies.
The posts from Mr. Trump that didn’t meet the brink of conspiracy concept on their very own, however nonetheless referred to conspiratorial viewpoints, touched on a few of the most harmful and protracted false claims. For instance, he has known as the individuals in jail for his or her actions on Jan. 6 “hostages,” implying that they had been falsely imprisoned in a plot towards him. In a type of posts, Mr. Trump shared a tune that mixed his voice with a choir made up of individuals charged for his or her alleged roles within the assault on the Capitol.
In greater than a dozen cases, Mr. Trump shared posts that included identified QAnon slogans and imagery, just like the acronym “NCSWIC,” that means “Nothing can cease what’s coming,” and “Q+,” the motion’s nickname for Mr. Trump.
“He’s capable of reference a collection of claims and characters and so forth now,” mentioned Brendan Nyhan, a professor of presidency at Dartmouth College who research misinformation and conspiracy theories. “There’s an unbelievable conceptual equipment that has been constructed up across the numerous villains that he thinks are persecuting him and his followers.”
The far-right universe Trump amplifies: real-life confidants and nameless sycophants
Not every thing Mr. Trump posts to Truth Social is a conspiracy concept. But virtually each voice he amplifies not less than dabbles in them — some much more excessive than what Mr. Trump shares from their accounts.
The Times’s evaluation discovered that in the identical six-month interval this yr, Mr. Trump reposted or quote-posted messages from 170 accounts, about 85 % of which often promote conspiracy theories on their very own feeds.
About one-third of these 170 accounts had been run by individuals or organizations that Mr. Trump is aware of in actual life, follows on Truth Social or each. They embody a few of the most excessive figures within the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, lots of whom often go to his Mar-a-Lago resort, just like the far-right activist Laura Loomer and Michael T. Flynn, his former nationwide safety adviser.
Mr. Trump reposted a marketing campaign endorsement from Mr. Flynn that alleged that youngsters “will likely be enslaved by a corrupt, wasteful authorities of woke globalists” if he’s not elected.
Most of the opposite accounts reposted by Mr. Trump weren’t as well-known, together with 15 that had fewer than 500 followers. Because Truth Social permits for anonymity in its customers’ public profiles, figuring out the identities of the house owners of many of those accounts could be tough.
U.S. officers have mentioned that overseas nations have injected disinformation into dozens of social media platforms forward of the 2024 election. It was unclear if any of those accounts had been a part of that effort.
The three posts under had been all reposted by Mr. Trump, who shared materials from every of the three accounts greater than 20 instances within the six months The Times examined:
In some instances, Truth Social customers tag and reply to the previous president time and again, and he intermittently rewards them with a repost. For occasion, Mr. Trump reposted the picture under after being tagged in a put up:
In April, “Ultra MAGA Truther” tagged Mr. Trump in a put up with a litany of conspiracy theories about Mr. Biden, together with that “he stole the election” and “bought the affect of his workplace to China for thousands and thousands.” Mr. Trump reposted it.
“Ultra MAGA Truther” is considered one of not less than three dozen accounts amplified by Mr. Trump that both included a reference to QAnon in its bio or repeatedly posted messages with slogans and imagery related to the conspiracy concept.
Mr. Trump additionally posts screenshots of content material from Truth Social or different social media platforms with out linking to the unique put up, or visible content material that features watermarks of social media handles. The Times checked out almost 300 accounts recognized in these sorts of posts, dozens of which additionally trafficked in conspiracy theories. They embody well-known figures equivalent to Elon Musk, whom Mr. Trump has urged would have a job in his administration if he wins.
In one put up in August, Mr. Trump shared a picture of a put up on X that used the phrase “too massive to rig,” a conspiratorial shorthand that promotes the baseless concept that the 2024 election will likely be truthful provided that Mr. Trump wins in a landslide. The Times discovered that the account behind the picture had posted antisemitic content material on X, together with a put up that mentioned “Adolf Hitler was proper.”
As Americans vote, Trump ramps up threats and undermines election
Truth Social hails itself as a “free speech haven” and publicly says it doesn’t average content material except it’s unlawful or in any other case prohibited by its phrases of service. In addition to the conspiracy theories, The Times discovered a number of posts from social media accounts Mr. Trump amplified that included crude sexual feedback about Ms. Harris, racist disinformation about immigrants and manipulated photos and movies used to assault his opponents.
Mr. Trump’s use of the platform continues to be fixed: He posted greater than 240 instances final week.
On Friday, Mr. Trump took to Truth Social to repeat his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen and that he would search retribution on anybody who had been concerned as soon as elected. He mentioned these individuals, together with legal professionals, donors, election officers and “unlawful voters,” can be “sought out, caught, and prosecuted at ranges, sadly, by no means seen earlier than in our Country.”
The put up shortly gathered 1000’s of replies from different customers who shared further conspiracy theories and cheered on Mr. Trump’s name for retribution.
Though most of those accounts usually are not family names, not less than eight — together with one which known as former President Barack Obama “a sleeper cell terrorist” in a reply — could have regarded acquainted to Mr. Trump. He has reposted their content material earlier than.
Methodology
The New York Times collected 5,641 posts Mr. Trump made on Truth Social from March 12 to Sept. 12 utilizing Truthbrush, a instrument constructed by researchers on the Stanford Internet Observatory, to scrape the textual content, media and metadata of Truth Social posts. The information didn’t embody any posts he could have deleted earlier than Sept. 13.
Times reporters then analyzed every put up to find out if it contained the hallmarks of a conspiracy concept. For a put up to satisfy the usual, it needed to point out a secret and finally false plot towards Mr. Trump, his allies or the American public and level out the individuals or entities supposedly behind it. An further 388 posts that included solely considered one of these parts or solely subtly referred to the conspiracy theories, equivalent to by utilizing slogans identified by their believers, had been labeled as “conspiracy concept adjoining” and weren’t included within the eventual tally of not less than 330 posts.
These posts had been then categorized into a number of of 10 widespread subjects that had been referred to within the conspiracy theories.
To perceive whom Mr. Trump was interacting with, The Times additionally regarded on the 170 accounts that Mr. Trump reposted or quote-posted within the time interval. Each account was categorized into a number of buckets, together with whether or not it had displayed a sample of selling conspiracy theories; whether or not its bio included references to QAnon or the account repeatedly shared QAnon content material; whether or not it was adopted by Mr. Trump or run by somebody Mr. Trump knew in actual life; and whether or not the account posted crude assaults of a sexual nature.
Mr. Trump additionally steadily shared movies and pictures containing watermarks by different customers and screenshots of content material from Truth Social and different platforms. To seize these accounts, The Times used an open-source machine studying mannequin known as Qwen-2 to extract the social media usernames seen within the photos or within the first body of movies from the three,400 items of media in Mr. Trump’s posts and reposts. Times reporters then manually matched the extracted handles to the related account on the proper platform.
