Politics

Obama Conspiracy Theories Weirder Than Birtherism

September 25th 2016

The conspiracy theories regarding President Barack Obama's birth certificate and country of origin are likely the most well-known involving the president, but they're not the only ones.

Nor are they even close to the most outlandish: Obama has been the subject of rumors involving everything from his sexuality to his mental capacity to his literally making a deal with Satan since the moment he became a household name.

President Barack Obama smoked weedWikimedia Commons/Lance Cpl. Michael J. Ayotte, USMC - wikimedia.org

Most of the theories lack any kind of evidence. But it's important to understand why they exist.

Conspiracy theories are formulated to help explain things that people don't believe make sense. And, to many people, the election of Barack Obama simply didn't make sense.

There are people who can't understand how a multiracial community organizer who lived in a Muslim country and has the middle name Hussein could win the presidency. So they came up with conspiracy theories: Strings being pulled, bodies stacking up, massive lies being spun.

Some theories can be chalked up simple racism: Opposition to the idea of a Black president. But, like the birther conspiracy, they are persistent and fantastical.

Here are some of the conspiracy theories surrounding President Obama.

1. Obama ordered Antonin Scalia murdered.

Justice Scalia died suddenly in February, and no sooner was he gone than a conspiracy theory sprouted that he had been "taken out" under Obama's orders, either smothered with a pillow or shot with a "heart attack gun" (an actual CIA project declassified in the '70s).

The motive? To facilitate gun confiscation, to follow a Satanic numerology ritual, or other reasons.

Contributing to the outlandish conspiracy: Obama skipped the funeral:

There was no official autopsy, and it was reported that Scalia died of natural causes. He was 79, overweight, in a high-stress job, and suffered from a variety of physical ailments, including "sleep apnea, degenerative joint disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and high blood pressure," according to a letter from the Supreme Court's physician, Rear Adm. Brian P. Monahan, as reported by the Associated Press.

2. Obama threatened to murder Chelsea Clinton.

Fox News reporter Heather Childers would later claim she was "just soliciting opinions" when she tweeted: "Thoughts? Did Obama Campaign Threaten Chelsea Clinton's Life 2 Keep Parents Silent?"

Childers included a link to fringe blog Godfather Politics, which posted a video of Bettina Viviano talking about her birther documentary, "We Will Not Be Silenced."

Viviano claimed that Obama was never eligible to be president because he has no birth records and that "someone" with the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign told her that the Obama campaign threatened to kill Chelsea if the Clintons didn't stop pushing rumors about Obama's birth certificate being fake.

Viviano presented no evidence to support the allegation, and it's likely her little-seen documentary would have faded from view if not for Childers.

Childers was subsequently chastised by her superiors and apologized, though she said it was "interesting" that it bothered people.

3. Obama killed everyone who died in the last eight years.

A widely discredited Clinton Body Count list nevertheless garnered some attention, so it's no surprise a similar Obama Dead Pool exists, listing anyone whose death would supposedly benefit Obama.

The list includes people connected to Obama's supposed real birth in Kenya, as well as military figures, celebrities who offended him, former colleagues who knew too much, journalists, figures from his past, and even his grandmother. All supposedly died under Obama's orders. The list was updated as recently as August.

The Obama Dead Pool is just a long list of people who died while Obama was president, most of whom had no connection to him. The list offers no evidence beyond links to other conspiracy theory sites, making up for what it lacks in substance with a torrent of words. Among skeptics, such a list is known as a "Gish Gallop": a massive dump of dubious information that's too large to disprove without significant, if futile, effort.

4. The CIA sent Obama to Mars.

Self-styled "chrononauts" — that's time traveler to you — Andrew Basiago and William Stillings asserted that a teenage Obama was recruited by the CIA to join a band of other high-achieving teens and sent to explore Mars and exert U.S. sovereignty over the Red Planet. Obama was teleported to Mars via a "jump room" in El Segundo, California, and was sent to Mars at least twice — once with Basiago.

Basiago and Stillings have presented their theories on the web, radio, and TV, including a (tongue-in-cheek) segment on the"The Colbert Report." Basiago himself is running for president: He said he's traveled to the future and has seen his election.

Stillings has apparently dropped off the map.

And on and on ...

There are many more Obama conspiracy theories, all of which cast him as an "other": a Muslim, a Marxist, gay, a Satanist.

The conspiracy theories probably won't stop until his last day last day in office. Or maybe not even then.

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