Right-wing conspiracy theories about Biden’s health spread on Chinese internet
Online commentators and influencers have adopted US right-wing criticism of American democracy and Kamala Harris following Biden’s withdrawal from presidential race.
Within the first 48 hours after US President Joe Biden announced that he would exit the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, conspiracy theories about his health, why he quit and criticism of Harris, many of which originated in the US right-wing circle, have rapidly spread on Chinese social media.
Although the announcement was made at local time 2 am in China, it quickly became one of the most talked-about topics on the microblogging platform Weibo. Then misinformation followed.
One popular conspiracy theory claimed that the White House has concealed information on Biden’s actual health and that the president is either in critical conditions or already dead.
One Weibo post that has garnered over 4000 likes wrote that “rumors have it that Biden is terminally ill” and added a screenshot as evidence.
The screenshot is an X post from right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who claimed on Monday that “Joe Biden is now in the terminal stage of his illness” and cited her “medical source in DC”.
Loomer’s post went viral on Weibo, shared by at least dozens of influencers and online commentators.
One netizen commented that now is Harris’s chance to send US troops to Ukraine, cancel the election in November and become a war-time president.
Even before Loomer’s claim was transported to Chinese social media, some have already been speculating about Biden’s whereabouts.
“Have you seen Biden since he tweeted (the decision to withdraw)? Have you seen videos of Biden? This is huge news. A tweet was all we got?” one blogger asked in a Weibo post that has gotten over 4500 likes.
On Tuesday, an X account named “Global Press” claimed that Biden is “currently in hospice care and is unlikely to survive the night”. The post has also been shared on Weibo, getting thousands of likes.
Biden was diagnosed with Covid-19 last week and has been recovering in private. The White House just announced on Tuesday that the president’s symptoms have “almost resolved completely”.
Biden is going to address the nation on Wednesday night about his decision to withdraw from the race.
The lowered US flag on the top of the US Capitol building has also added fuel to the speculation that Biden is dead, which first appeared on X and has now spread to Weibo.
The flag was lowered to commemorate Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who passed away on July 19th.
Conspiracy theories on US democracy and attacks on Harris
After Biden announced that he was quitting the race, claims that echo right-wing conspiracy theories spread on Chinese social media.
“Biden was forced to quit due to pressure from the Deep State, the Democratic establishment, Democratic donors and Left media,” one online commentator on US politics wrote on Weibo.
“Back then they put Obama in the position of the president. Now they want to put Harris there for DEI purposes,” she wrote.
DEI means Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a recruiting and managing practice adopted by many US companies. The policy has recently become a target of criticism from right-wingers in the US.
The conspiracy theory that the Deep State has the actual control of the US government has been endorsed by some in the Chinese academia circle.
Jin Canrong, an international relations professor at Renmin University of China, said in a recent video in reaction to Biden dropping out of the race that Biden was “a man chosen by the Deep State” because “he was rather easy to control”.
Some Chinese nationalist commentators say that Biden had to withdraw from the race because he was merely a puppet of other Democratic leaders.
“Biden had no other choices. He doesn’t have much influence,” one online commentator wrote. “The Clintons, (Barack) Obama and (former House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi are the real Democratic bosses behind the scenes.”
“The so-called democracy and freedom are nothing but lies,” he added. “Everything is controlled by the bosses.”
Harris, who is now on track to become the Democratic nominee for the November election, has been on the receiving end of snarky comments on Chinese internet after Biden endorsed her.
A video that was first posted by right-wing X account Libs of TikTok was widely shared on Weibo. The video is a compilation of short clips of Harris laughing in various settings. Some on Chinese social media coined the nickname “HahahaHarris” for her.
“What has Vice President HahahaHarris done in the past few years? What political achievements have she got? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,” one online commentator wrote.
“HahahaHarris can just keep laughing at the debate. It’s surely going to make (Donald) Trump uncomfortable, which would increase the odds that she will be elected,” a nationalist Weibo account proclaimed sarcastically.