Aside from the bluster, the accusations, and the firing of the occasional cabinet secretary via tweet, we’ve come to expect certain things from former President Donald Trump’s social media behavior: a willingness to spread conspiracy theories and a complete lack of discernment when it comes to where the information is coming from.
The latest conspiracy Trump has shared comes from an even stranger source than usual.
According to The Daily Beast, Trump on Truth Social this week shared a conspiracy theory, initially posted to TikTok, stating that a woman in Philadelphia has been paid $700 a week “to go to wherever Kamala’s campaign tells them to go.” On top of that, the supposed woman is a noncitizen who can’t vote.
Trump Shares MAGA OnlyFans Model’s Nail Salon Conspiracy About Harris https://t.co/1m9CXv3pl5
— John Applegate (@JohnApp63499667) September 24, 2024
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The video is from Samantha Gangewere, who goes by “thatboostedchick,” and is described by The Daily Beast as a “MAGA OnlyFans model.”
The anecdote is somewhat thinly sourced. Gangewere claims she was at her nail salon, and a nail tech there told her that “their one cousin” was paid by the Harris campaign. I don’t doubt that someone at a nail salon may have said that, but the claim that “one cousin” was paid $700 a week by the campaign is much less plausible.
@thatboostedchickofficialI literally cant make this stuff up.♬ original sound – Thatboostedchick
It’s far from rare for Republicans to claim that Democratic support is inorganic or paid, although evidence for such conspiracy theories tends to remain elusive. Craigslist ads for paid protesters can easily be faked, while videos of buses arriving at Harris rallies only show that the Harris campaign (like the Trump one, at times), sometimes buses people from parking lots to rally venues. Buses are also sometimes used by campaigns as security barriers.
If it were true that the Harris-Walz campaign was paying tens of thousands of supporters, some evidence would have emerged of such payments, such as a paper trail or pay stubs or something of that nature.
Trump has pushed some truly outlandish conspiracy theories on Truth Social of late, including his pushing of a meme — including a photoshopped picture — alleging a connection between Kamala Harris and Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip hop impresario who was indicted last week on federal sex-trafficking charges. Harris and Combs do not appear to have ever been as much as photographed together, but Trump and Combs have several times.
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune photo library.
