Rep. Carlos Gimenez appeared on Newsmax this week, and for the most part, the Florida Republican aired forgettable talking points. However, the GOP congressman shared a conspiracy theory that stood out:
Gimenez added that he and his fellow Republicans “can see what’s going on.”
GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez on Newsmax: “Many of us think this is really Barack Obama’s third term, that he’s behind the scenes pulling the strings.” pic.twitter.com/oX72rhYcks
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 18, 2024
This comes in the footsteps of Alina Habba, a prominent member of Donald Trump‘s legal team, appearing on Fox News and suggesting that Obama is secretly involved in her client’s criminal prosecutions.
Two months earlier, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast and explained, “Obama runs the country.” The right-wing Georgian added that this is something “we knew all along.”
Yes, it seems that the Republican Party, even now, can’t quite shake its preoccupation with the idea that the former Democratic president is still running the White House from the shadows.
Trump himself embraced the conspiracy theory last fall, repeatedly claiming that Obama is the “boss” of the Biden White House, but as regular readers know, the presumptive Republican nominee has plenty of company.
Megyn Kelly, a prominent conservative media personality, told an on-air audience in September: “There are a lot of people who think that the Obamas already run the government and that there is some kind of shadow puppet situation going on that they control.”
Kelly did not elaborate on who the “people” who believe such nonsense are, but the group apparently includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: Two weeks earlier, the Georgia Republican appeared on Fox News and said: he has a “premonition” that Obama secretly ‘makes decisions in the White House’.
In July 2023, Republican Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina said during a Fox Business interview that he also believes Biden is merely “a puppet of a progressive-left committee, led, as it were, by Obama.”
In 2022, Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo also suggested that the former Democratic president would secretly “run the country,” prompting Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee replied that Obama’s meetings with Biden led people to believe the former president was “the de facto leader in the White House.”
In other words, the conspiracy theory is bizarre, but not unusual.
Several months ago I heard from a conservative reader who not only bought into the idea that Obama was secretly in charge, but also presented what he considered evidence: a list of prominent Obama appointees who now hold key positions in the White House from Biden. Rep. Gimenez hinted at such a list during his Newsmax appearance this week, referring to the “Obama people in the White House.”
Except that’s not actually proof of anything. It stands to reason that the sitting president would want White House staffers to have some executive branch experience, and the only other Democratic administration in the 21st century was Obama’s. Furthermore, Biden worked closely with many of these same officials – because he was Obama’s vice president.
What’s even stranger is why exactly so many Republicans continue to invest in this particular conspiracy theory. The idea seems to be rooted in the idea that Biden is old, so he needs someone else to secretly run the White House.
But isn’t this counterproductive for the right? Given how obvious it is that Obama, after being removed from government service for several years, is not While he’s secretly in charge, aren’t we left with the obvious fact that Biden, despite his age, is perfectly capable?
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
