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NYT says Leftwing Misinformation is Having a Moment [1]

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Date: 2024-09-04  

THE NEW YORK TIMES STORY

(abridged, ellipsis …. indicate paragraphs were removed)

Several elected officials, along with a top political aide for the billionaire Reid Hoffman, recently suggested, without proof, that former President Donald J. Trump may have staged an attempt to assassinate him in July.

Mark Hamill, an actor and advocate for Democratic causes with more than five million followers on X, criticized a conservative policy proposal by railing against ideas that were not part of the document.

And last month, Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign misleadingly suggested, in posts viewed millions of times, that Mr. Trump was confused about his whereabouts during a campaign stop. Her followers seized on the posts to claim that Mr. Trump was suffering from cognitive decline.

For years, the discussion about misinformation online has focused on falsehoods circulating on the American right. But in recent weeks, a flurry of conspiracy theories and false narratives have also been swirling on the left…..

This is not, however, the first time misinformation has circulated on the left. In 2004, for example, a contingent of disheartened Democrats claimed that President George W. Bush’s re-election over Senator John Kerry had been marred by election fraud. Experts quickly issued rebuttals to the accusations…...

The shooting at the Pennsylvania rally became a lightning rod for conspiracy theories almost as soon as shots were fired. Unfounded rumors that Mr. Trump had staged his own shooting festered into lasting conspiracy theories, which are still shared both by anonymous users and by liberal influencers with hundreds of thousands of social media followers.

Secret Service agents, some popular influencers on X and Threads have claimed, were in on the plan. The blood from the bullet that hit Mr. Trump’s ear was actually ketchup, others theorized. Never mind that there was no evidence behind these claims…..

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