On Saturday night, President Trump took to social media to share an outrageous conspiracy theory: former President Joe Biden had been "executed in 2020" and replaced by a robotic clone, which marked the latest instance of the president amplifying dark, false material to his millions of followers.

Trump reposted a fringe conspiracy theory originally posted by another user on his social media platform, Truth Social, in which the unsubstantiated claim was made about Biden. The White House did not address requests for comments by the The New York Times.

Dear Sunday talk show anchors,

Ask every Republican guest if they believe that Biden was executed and replaced by a robot in 2020 and why they believe Trump is still mentally fit after posting this— and don’t let them off the hook by saying it was a joke, or they didn’t see it. pic.twitter.com/uZWmhouCko

— Melanie D'Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) June 1, 2025

Trump has repeatedly attributed various societal problems to Biden while questioning his cognitive abilities, even promoting the unfounded claim that Biden's team secretly used an autopen to implement policies and grant pardons without his awareness. Trump previously acknowledged that his administration occasionally employed the autopen system.

Trump the conspiracy theorist

The US president has consistently demonstrated a tendency to circulate disproven or unfounded conspiracy theories across digital platforms, though his propagation of misinformation extends beyond social media. Many of Trump's appointees have parroted different conspiracy theories.

During a recent Oval Office meeting alongside South Africa's president, Trump asserted without evidence that white farmers in the country were being systematically targeted in widespread attacks, while presenting a photograph purportedly supporting his controversial claim. The image Trump used was actually from the eastern Congo conflict. 

Trump falsely asserted to Ramaphosa that there is a "white genocide" in South Africa, a claim that data from police statistics disproves, with Johannesburg's white population being no more vulnerable than other groups.

RFK and vaccines

Robert F. Kennedy, Trump's appointee to lead the Health Department, is a massive skeptic of vaccines and has promoted many claims that vaccines are ineffective or linked to childhood diseases.

RFK's gripe with vaccines eventually forced Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine official in the Department of Health, to resign, citing the health secretary's constant peddling of misinformation.

"It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies," Marks said in his resignation letter.

The United States is currently battling a measles outbreak with a total of 1088 confirmed cases across 33 US jurisdictions as of May 29, with 96% of the cases being among unvaccinated individuals.

Trump's first term filled with misleading, false statements

During his initial term in office, Trump routinely made inaccurate or deceptive claims, with one analysis documenting over 30,000 such instances, averaging approximately 21 per day, while also frequently promoting unfounded conspiracy theories throughout the 2024 election cycle.

The New York Times reviewed thousands of his social media posts and reposts from a six-month period in 2024, finding at least 330 that pushed false claims of secret plots against him or the American people while naming supposed culprits.

Trump's claims included suggestions that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered his assassination, and that government officials ordered the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.