(AFP) – Donald Trump stirred online outrage Monday after posting an apparent AI-generated video of himself promising every American access to all-healing “MedBed” hospitals, reviving a widely debunked conspiracy theory. The deepfake video — posted Saturday on the US president’s Truth Social account and later deleted — was styled as a Fox News segment and featured his daughter-in-law Lara Trump promoting a fictitious White House launch of a “historic new healthcare system.”
The phony clip then purported to show Trump announcing from the Oval Office that “every American will soon receive their own MedBed card,” guaranteeing access to “new hospitals led by the top doctors” and “equipped with the most advanced technology.” The only problem? Such hospitals do not exist. MedBed, a theory popular among far-right circles and the QAnon conspiracy movement, refers to an imaginary medical device equipped with futuristic technology that adherents say can cure any ailment, from asthma to cancer.
Some QAnon adherents believe that “MedBed” technology was used to keep President John F. Kennedy alive for years after his assassination and that it is deliberately being withheld from ordinary citizens by a secretive government cabal. “How do you bring people back to a shared reality when those in power keep stringing them along?” asked Noelle Cook, a researcher and author of “The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging.”
Trump later deleted the contentious post, without offering any explanation. The White House did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment. “The next time Trump takes questions, I hope someone asks why he shared — and deleted — an AI slop video touting ‘MedBed hospitals’ that will instantly cure illnesses. Did he think it was funny? Or real? Did he think it was a speech he’d given?” said Mike Rothschild, an expert on conspiracy theories.
Trump-themed merchandise is also making rounds. An archived version of Trump’s post and video, which offered no disclosure that it was AI-generated, widely circulated across social media platforms. Additionally, there were posts linking to a merchandise site selling “Trump MedBed” gold cards as memorabilia, priced between $599 and $4,999. The site, linked to a Delaware corporation, marketed the cards — bearing a photo of the president alongside the slogan “Save America” — as a “perfect gift for other Patriots and Trump supporters.”
“If ‘MedBed’ technology were real, it would be the greatest medical advance in generations,” Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at the watchdog Media Matters, wrote on X. “Trump should have to explain why he suggested it was using the channel he makes major policy announcements, and why he deleted it after the fact.”
Fox News told US media outlet The Verge that the phony segment “never aired on Fox News Channel or any other Fox News Media platforms.” Trump is no stranger to conspiracy theories and unfounded health claims. Last week, the president vehemently insisted that pregnant women should “tough it out” and avoid the pain relief medicine Tylenol due to an unproven link to autism and urged major changes to the standard vaccines administered to babies. The claim was dismissed by the World Health Organization, which asserted that neither Tylenol nor vaccines have been shown to cause autism.
– Anuj CHOPRA
© 2024 AFP
