MTG Scrambles to Walk Back Conspiracy for Trump’s Debate Face-Plant
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene escalated a conspiracy theory about the presidential debate so blatantly baseless that even she couldn’t back it up.In the wake of Donald Trump’s disastrous debate performance last week, during which he falsely claimed that immigrants were eating their neighbors’ pets, Republicans have scrambled to create a narrative that might explain away their candidate’s flailing. Conservatives have begun claiming that there was a so-called “whistleblower” at ABC News who could prove that Kamala Harris had received the questions in advance and had an agreement with the moderators that she would not be fact-checked. Such claims appeared to originate from a few far-right accounts, including someone who participated in the January 6 riot, with absolutely no evidence to support them. The MAGA Republican representative from Georgia took the outlandish claims a step further Sunday. “The ABC whistleblower who claimed Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of the debate has died in a car crash according to news reports,” Greene wrote in a post on X.Four hours later, Greene tried to walk back her claim, without retracting the actual misinformation. “This story appears to be false, and I’m glad to hear it,” Greene wrote, referring to reports that the so-called “whistleblower” had died. “We need a serious investigation into the whistleblower’s report that Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of time from ABC!”Greene did not delete her original post, but a lengthy community note appeared beneath it, which clarified that the unverified story had come from a random WordPress blog.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene escalated a conspiracy theory about the presidential debate so blatantly baseless that even she couldn’t back it up.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s disastrous debate performance last week, during which he falsely claimed that immigrants were eating their neighbors’ pets, Republicans have scrambled to create a narrative that might explain away their candidate’s flailing.
Conservatives have begun claiming that there was a so-called “whistleblower” at ABC News who could prove that Kamala Harris had received the questions in advance and had an agreement with the moderators that she would not be fact-checked. Such claims appeared to originate from a few far-right accounts, including someone who participated in the January 6 riot, with absolutely no evidence to support them.
The MAGA Republican representative from Georgia took the outlandish claims a step further Sunday.
“The ABC whistleblower who claimed Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of the debate has died in a car crash according to news reports,” Greene wrote in a post on X.
Four hours later, Greene tried to walk back her claim, without retracting the actual misinformation.
“This story appears to be false, and I’m glad to hear it,” Greene wrote, referring to reports that the so-called “whistleblower” had died. “We need a serious investigation into the whistleblower’s report that Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of time from ABC!”
Greene did not delete her original post, but a lengthy community note appeared beneath it, which clarified that the unverified story had come from a random WordPress blog.
