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Undated: Definition of conspiracy theory ... a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspiracy%20theory
Undated: The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. The perpetrator, Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother before murdering 20 students and six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and later committing suicide.[1] A number of fringe figures have promoted conspiracy theories that doubt or dispute what occurred at Sandy Hook. Various conspiracy theorists have claimed, for example, that the massacre was actually orchestrated by the U.S. Government as part of an elaborate plot to promote stricter gun control laws.[2] Other conspiracy theorists ... have denied that the massacre actually occurred, asserting that it was "completely fake."[3]
No evidence supports these conspiracy theories, which make a number of implausible claims.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting_conspiracy_theories
-- 2016 --
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May 24: Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton ... A Guide To The Many Conspiracy Theories Donald Trump Has Embraced
https://www.npr.org/2016/05/24/479331275/a-guide-to-the-many-conspiracy-theories-donald-trump-has-embraced
November 10: Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?
The company is being accused of abdicating its responsibility to clamp down on fake news stories and counter the echo chamber that defined this election
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/10/facebook-fake-news-election-conspiracy-theories
-- 2017 --
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February 17:
We found no credible evidence of an "army" or "shadow government" being formed by the former president.
The former president may well engage in civic activity or political activism in his post-presidential life, and the non-profit group that has been aligned with him for years is engaged in political opposition activity during the term of a president with vastly different policies. Neither of these items are particularly surprising, but neither do they mean that President Obama is hunkered in Washington in a “shadow White House” from which he sends forth armies to thwart President Trump.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-army-anti-trump-activists/
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[Undated]: Pizzagate is a debunked[2][3][4] conspiracy theory that emerged and went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory
April 18: ... various right wing web sites ... reported a claim that Malcolm Nance, a retired Navy intelligence officer, veteran counterterrorism expert and current MSNBC commentator, called for the Islamic State, or ISIS, to bomb property belonging to President Donald Trump.
[In fact,] Nance’s tweet was a “threat assessment” based on the fact that both President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are particularly resented by ISIS, and that both have recently been in the news together, making a location that both bears Trump’s name and is situated in Erdoğan’s country vulnerable. On 18 April 2017, the news media widely reported that President Trump had called to congratulate Erdoğan on a referendum election that granted him expanded powers. In June 2016, the Turkish president called for Trump’s name to be removed from a building owned by a Turkish conglomerate, because of the then-candidate’s derogatory comments about Muslims while on the campaign trail.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/04/22/counterterrorism-isis-trump/
August 11: [A ] memo [by former National Security Council staffer Rich Higgins] contends that the president is the target of a vast conspiracy spearheaded by so-called cultural Marxists, who have allied with Islamists and captured (among other groups) the media, the deep state, academia, “global corporatists” and leaders of both parties. That Higgins worked for the NSC is disturbing enough. But more disturbing is that Trump, who saw the memo when it was passed to him by his son Donald Trump Jr., was “furious” at Higgins’s removal — a sign of the scary conspiratorial depths the president is already descending to.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/08/11/this-nsc-ex-staffers-memo-is-crazy-trumps-reaction-is-more-disturbing/?tid=hybrid_mostsharedarticles_1_na&utm_term=.0954428cdc69
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August 14: Amid criticism for his response to violence that ensued between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, President Trump retweeted Jack Posobiec – an alt-right media figure who pushed the PizzaGate and Seth Rich conspiracy theories ... His tweet had nothing to do with Charlottesville, instead linking to a story about Chicago homicides. It's unclear why Trump chose now to retweet Posobiec to his 35.9 million followers.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-everything-president-trump-retweets-alt-right-blogger-who-1502769297-htmlstory.html
August 14: Posobiec promoted the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory that high-ranking Democratic officials were involved in a child sex ring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Posobiec
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August 17: Hours after a van plowed through a crowd in Barcelona, Spain, and left at least 12 people dead, President Trump tweeted condemnation of the attack and quickly followed with a statement about U.S. Army Gen. John Joseph Pershing that historians describe as urban legend.
The full claim, which Trump repeated several times during his 2016 presidential campaign, is that in the aftermath of the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902, Pershing had his men dip 50 bullets in pig blood and use them to kill 49 Muslim prisoners. The survivor was told to relay the experience to others. [Again, this is urban legend -- an "alternative fact"].
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-tweets-unsupported-claim-about-1503002456-htmlstory.html
August 17: "This story [about Pershing and pig's blood] is a fabrication and has long been discredited," Brian McAllister Linn, a Texas A&M University historian, told Politifact. "I am amazed it is still making the rounds."
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-tweets-unsupported-claim-about-1503002456-htmlstory.html
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October 3: ... conspiracy theories are not built on rational evidence. They are built on irrational fear.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/03/politics/gun-laws-slippery-slope/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist
November 18: CIA Director Mike Pompeo held an hour-long meeting with a former intelligence official—who has denied Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election—because President Donald Trump told him to speak to the ex-official, according to reports.
http://www.newsweek.com/russia-conspiracy-trump-dnc-hack-mike-pompeo-705008
November 7: It is particularly stunning that Pompeo would meet with [NSA critic Bill] Binney at Trump’s apparent urging, in what could be seen as an effort to discredit the U.S. intelligence community’s own assessment that an alleged Russian hack of the DNC servers was part of an effort to help Trump win the presidency.
“This is crazy. You’ve got all these intelligence agencies saying the Russians did the hack. To deny that is like coming out with the theory that the Japanese didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor,” said one former CIA officer.
“The Director [Mike Pompeo] stands by, and has always stood by, the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment,” Boyd, the CIA spokesperson, said.
https://theintercept.com/2017/11/07/dnc-hack-trump-cia-director-william-binney-nsa/
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December 19: President Donald Trump's eldest son suggested Tuesday that the investigation around his father's campaign has been fueled by government higher-ups who have conspired to block the President's agenda.
"There is, and there are, people at the highest levels of government that don't want to let America be America," Donald Trump Jr. told a gathering of young conservative activists in West Palm Beach, Florida.
In his remarks Tuesday, Trump Jr. railed against special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and attacked the media's coverage of the Russia story, saying the ongoing probe was emblematic of the kind of "rigged system" the President had railed against during the campaign.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/19/politics/donald-trump-jr-russia/index.html
-- 2018 --
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January 25: Republicans Are All in on the [totally false] 'Secret Society' Conspiracy Theory ...
... Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin ... suggested there was a "secret society" in the FBI holding "off-site meetings" to strategize about how to undermine the Donald Trump presidency. Johnson offered little evidence beyond references to an "informant," though we now have a better idea where he got this tasty nugget.
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a15881201/secret-society-theory/
January 25: Fox goes silent as its "secret society" conspiracy theory falls apart ... This new narrative began on Monday night when Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) claimed on Fox News that a post-election text message exchange between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page contained the line, “Perhaps this is the first meeting of the secret society.” Gowdy omitted any context to the message and offered no evidence to show that such a text, which has not been released, wouldn’t have been facetious.
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Fox News went all in.
The following two days, the phrase “secret society” was aired on Fox over 100 times. The network repeatedly showed the video of Rep. Gowdy and another video of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) as Fox anchors, hosts, and guests piled on.
On Wednesday night, ABC News published the text of the full, stand-alone “secret society” text message. The message, according to ABC, read: "Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society."
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/01/25/fox-goes-silent-its-secret-society-conspiracy-theory-falls-apart/219167
March 9: HUD adviser spread conspiracy theory about Clinton campaign chairman taking part in Satanic ritual
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hud-adviser-spread-conspiracy-clinton-campaign-chairman-article-1.3864420
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March 19: Joseph diGenova, who alleges FBI plot to frame Trump, joins president's legal team
President Donald Trump has added a longtime Washington lawyer to his legal team who has publicly promoted a conspiracy theory that officials in the FBI and Justice Department are plotting to frame the president with a "false crime" in the Russia investigation.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/joseph-digenova-who-alleges-fbi-plot-frame-trump-joins-president-n857966
May 23: Donald Trump turned a rumor into a full-blown government conspiracy in just 5 days
Within the span of five days, Trump went from having just heard about FBI's use of a confidential source to rendering the judgment that this was a purposeful -- and political -- attempt by the Obama Justice Department to install a "spy" within his ranks.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/politics/donald-trump-spygate/index.html
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May 23: Donald Trump doesn't seem to want you to trust the government he leads
... as with his unfounded claims that then-President Barack Obama "wiretapped" his phones at Trump Tower, the President has taken a kernel of truth and contorted it into an all-out conspiracy theory of entrenched bureaucrats out to get him.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/22/politics/trump-government-trust/index.html
July 8: What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset Since 1987?
Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart — Or His Handler?
A plausible theory of mind-boggling collusion.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html
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July 31: The letter Q was everywhere to be seen at Donald Trump’s Tampa, Florida Rally. It showed up in countless signs and shirts. “Q” is a shorthand for QAnon, an anonymous internet purveyor of pro-Trump conspiracy theories that are gaining traction among the the president’s most vocal fans. The QAnon theories are elaborate and contradictory but at their heart is the idea that Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a cabal of pedophiles who hold positions of power in the government and the media.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/150351/qanon-conspiracy-theory-trump-can-neither-embrace-disavow
August 1: Who is Q? Behind conspiracy theory erupting at Trump rallies
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/1/who-is-q-behind-the-conspiracy-emerging-at-trump-r/?utm_source=GOOGLE&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=chacka&utm_campaign=TWT+-+DSA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_brRyPnq3gIVkLjACh2OcQctEAMYASAAEgKdGvD_BwE
September 13: A running list of Donald Trump's conspiracy theories
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/13/politics/donald-trump-conspiracy-theories/index.html
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September 21: Trump HUD Secretary Ben Carson claims Kavanaugh allegations are part of a centuries old socialist plot
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/21/hud-secretary-ben-carson-kavanaugh-allegation-is-part-of-a-socialist-plot.html
October: Brexit and Trump voters more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, survey study shows
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/brexit-and-trump-voters-more-likely-to-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-survey-study-shows [University of Cambridge, England]
October 19: Fact Checker: A grainy video from Guatemala sparks Trump conspiracy theory
Without offering evidence, Gaetz [Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)] implied that liberal billionaire George Soros or nongovernmental organizations were paying the migrants.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/19/grainy-video-guatemala-sparks-trump-conspiracy-theory/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7bd50373d584
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October 24:
October 27: Many of bomb suspect’s conspiracy theories tracked Trump’s
Mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc lived in an alternate universe where monstrous reptiles stalk people in Florida’s Everglades, a malevolent Jewish billionaire pays American children to stage school shootings and German politicians are secretly being conceived using Adolf Hitler’s frozen sperm.
https://www.apnews.com/bdea8d5f34854ec59bc013bf6ebd32cc
November 1:
Trump is pushing propaganda about immigrants, fueling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and failing to address political violence.
November 15: Like most unsubstantiated claims leveled by President Donald Trump, his allegations of fraud in the high-stakes recount in Florida’s Senate and gubernatorial elections started with a tweet.
Shortly after polls closed on last week's midterm election, the president warned of a “big corruption scandal” in Florida as officials struggled to tally votes in Broward County. Days later, he referenced “massively infected” ballots and accused Democrats of trying to “falsify” his 2016 win in the Sunshine State, without citing evidence.
Trump went further Wednesday, suggesting that voters were using disguises to cast multiple ballots
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/15/donald-trump-pushes-conspiracy-theories-florida-recount/1991767002/
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November 22: Around a third of certain populations think their governments are 'hiding the truth' about immigration — here's why some people believe conspiracy theories ... Some people believe conspiracy theories because it makes them feel unique.
About 11,500 people were surveyed in total. The results showed that in Britain, 30% of people believe their government is hiding the truth about immigration, as well as 21% of those in the US.
https://www.businessinsider.com/a-third-of-people-believe-conspiracy-theories-about-immigration-2018-11
Undated: From hinting that Justice Antonin Scalia may have been murdered to suggesting that George W. Bush knew the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were coming, Donald J. Trump has shared many outrageous conspiracy theories.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/donald-trump-conspiracy-theories/LFIsWQ745BFbauxBVfFm6M/
-- 2019 --
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May 4: Donald Trump Goes On Retweet Rampage Against De-Platforming Of Far-Right Extremists
The president said it was “so great to watch” a video from Alex Jones’ conspiracy-mongering website Infowars.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-deplatforming-rant-twitter_n_5ccd7fc8e4b04e275d4af20a
-- 2020 --
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