A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News — Over the weekend, President Donald Trump amplified a baseless conspiracy theory on his Truth Social platform, resharing a post claiming that President Joe Biden died in 2020 and has since been replaced by “clones, doubles, and robotic engineered soulless mindless entities.” The post, originating from a fringe supporter, was reshared without comment by Trump—but its implications are anything but silent. This move, part of a pattern of engaging with QAnon-style disinformation, has ignited a firestorm of criticism from journalists, historians, and political analysts concerned about the normalization of anti-reality rhetoric by a sitting U.S. president—and the media’s increasingly casual treatment of such escalations.
QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy: A President Echoing Extremism
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —Trump’s decision to repost the outlandish claim that President Biden has been replaced by inhuman replicas did not occur in a vacuum. The meme fits squarely within a broader pattern of Trump echoing or elevating content aligned with QAnon—a conspiracy movement grounded in delusion and dangerous anti-government sentiment. In the same burst of activity, Trump also reposted an image suggesting that former President Barack Obama is secretly orchestrating government actions behind the scenes, further reinforcing paranoid, authoritarian narratives.
This isn’t a political gaffe or momentary lapse; it’s a consistent, strategic use of conspiracy theory to cultivate allegiance among a base increasingly detached from objective reality. And when the commander-in-chief boosts content that resembles the paranoid stylings of internet cults, the ripple effect can distort democratic discourse far beyond the margins.
Timing and Context: The Cancer Announcement and Cruel Undercurrents
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —The repost arrives at a particularly sensitive moment: just days after President Biden publicly confirmed he is battling stage 4 prostate cancer. While Trump initially issued standard well-wishes, he swiftly pivoted, telling followers, “If you feel sorry for him, don’t feel so sorry, because he’s vicious.” This juxtaposition—mocking and maligning a political rival battling a terminal illness—underscores not only Trump’s disdain for civility but his willingness to deploy cruelty as a political weapon.
It is in this charged context that Trump’s engagement with a “Biden clone” conspiracy takes on an especially grotesque quality. Rather than being framed as a scandal of character or judgment, much of the press has treated this episode as another quirky twist in the Trump saga, missing the grave implications.
Casual Coverage and the Media’s Abdication of Responsibility
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —Mainstream news organizations have largely reported Trump’s amplification of the “clone” conspiracy as an oddity—often with headlines like “Trump Shares Bizarre Meme” or “Trump Reposts Fringe Claim.” This framing reduces a dangerous signal to tabloid fodder, implicitly encouraging readers to view it as unserious or humorous. It’s a journalistic failure that risks legitimizing irrationality under the guise of neutrality.
Treating such events as spectacle strips them of their real-world impact. This isn’t a social media slip—it’s the sitting president platforming dystopian, reality-denying ideology. When the media downplays this behavior, it effectively tells the public, this is not alarming—this is just politics now.
Trump’s QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy: Consequences of Amplifying the Absurd
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —Experts warn that unchecked promotion of conspiracy theories—especially from high-ranking officials—poses a severe threat to the public’s trust in institutions, facts, and even democracy itself. Trump doesn’t need his followers to believe that Biden is literally a robot; he needs them to doubt the legitimacy of democratic governance and accept Trump as the only “real” leader.
Desensitization is the danger. What was once fringe is now mainstream. If the idea of a cloned president can circulate with little pushback, what else can be dismissed as a joke? Violence? Corruption? Electoral subversion? We saw where this pathway leads on January 6, 2021—and yet the playbook is being reopened without consequence.
A Crisis of Truth in the Age of False Balance
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —There is a growing consensus among scholars and journalists that the traditional norms of political reporting—especially the commitment to false equivalence and “both sides” framing—are wholly unequipped to deal with a reality in which one side routinely embraces fantasy. Not all viewpoints are equal, and not all claims deserve platform parity.
When the president spreads lies, it is not the press’s job to report those lies as political drama—it is the press’s duty to call them what they are: dangerous falsehoods. Journalists must resist the lure of clicks and spectacle, and instead anchor their work in accountability, truth, and the public good.
What Bold Journalism Looks Like in 2025
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —To fulfill its democratic role, the media must break from passivity and adopt a bolder stance. That means using precise, unflinching language: lies should be called lies, conspiracies labeled as dangerous, and Trump’s behavior framed not as eccentricity, but as a strategic tool of destabilization. Contextual reporting is essential—linking current rhetoric to past threats and future risks.
Journalists should amplify voices who understand the stakes: national security experts, historians of authoritarianism, clinical psychologists, and civic leaders. These are not memes—they’re markers of democratic backsliding. It’s time for the media to stop reacting and start warning.
Escalation, Not Entertainment
A Dangerous Normalization of QAnon-Style Biden Clone Conspiracy | OGM News —This moment is not entertainment. It is escalation. When the president of the United States reshapes political discourse around conspiracies and dehumanizing fictions, the integrity of governance is at stake. And when the media responds with mild amusement or sterile detachment, it fails not just the profession—it fails the country.
If democracy collapses into delusion, the press will not be a bystander—it will be an accomplice. The time for timid journalism is over. The stakes are too high.
