It is something straight out of science fiction film: clones replacing world leaders behind the backs of the public.
But that is precisely the bizarre theory President Donald Trump endorsed about his one-time political rival Joe Biden.
Trump shared a viral post on his TruthSocial site on Saturday night, which claimed the former US president was executed in 2020 and replaced by a ‘clone’.
Details are scant on this Blade Runner-esque conspiracy.
The user, named llijh, said: ‘There is no #JoeBiden – executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see.
‘#Democrats dont know the difference.’
Despite little other information, Trump shared the post and sparked a social media frenzy, getting over 14,000 likes from his supporters.
What we do know is that Biden was elected president in November 2020.
It was a win that prompted Trump to spread misinformation about election interference, leading to the storming of the Capitol building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the election.
Biden was inaugurated in January 2021 alongside Kamala Harris. His term was dogged by questions over his age and health.
His faltering performance in a TV debate against Donald Trump in June 2024 forced him to exit the race in favour of Harris.
The 82-year-old faced renewed scrutiny after the book Original Sin, focusing on his ill-fated decision to run for a second term, was published by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
The exposé detailed alleged signs of his physical and mental decline in his last year as president.
Biden later refuted these claims, joking he could ‘beat the hell out of’ the two authors.
Earlier in May, Biden revealed he is suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which has spread to his bones.
This is not the first time Trump has shared unhinged conspiracy theories.
He once suggested the father of rival Republican Ted Cruz was involved in the JFK assassination.
Trump was a prominent endorser of the so-called ‘birther’ conspiracy, which falsely claimed that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
He demanded to see Obama’s birth certificate for years and suggest it was fraudulent even after Obama released it.
It was only in 2016 that Trump finally admitted Obama was born in the US.
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