If there is one thing you can count on, it is that Donald Trump, his GOP allies, and Fox News will embrace any conspiracy theory that suits whatever their narrative is… no matter how absurd or stupid it may be.
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Just a few days ago, we amusedly wrote about Rep. Ronnie Jackson (R-TX) and his claim that Joe Biden takes performance-enhancing drugs. Mind you, according to the former White House physician (who was demoted for a variety of offenses, including drinking and using Ambien on the job), the president is using these drugs only during high-stakes moments like the State of the Union address and tonight’s presidential debate.
He has been trying to make this nonsense gain traction for months without much success.
That makes sense, because it’s extremely dumb.
The Trump campaign, aided by the right-wing propaganda apparatus, has made highlighting the president’s alleged senility one of the central pillars of this race (to be fair, this effort has been aided by the president looking like the old man he is).
So why would Biden only occasionally use drugs that make him seem more energetic and not use them all the time to combat the image of being a frail man?
Jackson doesn’t have an answer for that.
That’s not surprising. After all, logic has not been a strong suit of the right since Trump took over the party.
On Monday, when we wrote about this, Jackson’s call for a drug test was merely a clumsy curiosity.
Since then, it has gone mainstream, presumably to preemptively address a potential good debate performance from Biden.
“JUICED UP JOE: Biden’s handlers have spent the past week concocting the perfect drug cocktail for this moment,” stated a tweet from an account associated with the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. Naturally, no evidence was presented.
Fox News did its part as well.
On at least a couple of shows, the right-wing propaganda outlet promoted this nonsense. That includes Maria Bartiromo, one of the network’s staunchest Trump ally (which is saying something), who surprisingly still seemed skeptical of the claim a month ago. But on Sunday, she gave Jackson a platform to spout his conspiracy theory.
Other Republicans have been somewhat more cautious, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). While he endorsed the underlying conspiracy of Biden needing an artificial boost, he merely talked about energy drinks.
“It doesn’t matter if he drinks a whole gallon of energy drinks; he’s not going to be able to match the acumen and readiness of Donald Trump,” Johnson told reporters. That is a promise he may regret depending on how the former president performs tonight.
In the meantime, the Trump campaign has made this out to be some kind of conspiracy on the part of Biden.
“Why won’t the Biden campaign commit to a drug test?” asked Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary. “What do they have to hide?”
This all makes it sound as though the president owes them a drug test, which is silly.
You could also ask “Why won’t Donald Trump nail his hand to the debate podium?”
Why would he?
Of course, the Biden campaign could turn this around easily and offer a drug test (and one for Mountain Dew) in exchange for Trump agreeing to a full psychological evaluation by a team of experts.
