Category: Conspiracy Theories

Trump and his crazy conspiracy theories

Trump’s Surgeon General Pick Dodges Vaccine Questions at Senate

Casey Means, Donald Trump’s nominee for US surgeon general, testified before the Senate health committee on Wednesday and repeatedly declined to directly answer questions about vaccine guidance. Despite graduating from Stanford School of Medicine, Means does not have an active medical license, did not complete her surgical residency, and is not board-certified, instead building her career as a wellness influencer aligned with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine skepticism.

When pressed by Republican Senator Bill Cassidy on whether she would encourage routine childhood vaccinations like the MMR vaccine, Means avoided a direct answer and instead emphasized parental “autonomy” in medical decisions. She similarly sidestepped questions about whether vaccines cause autism, a discredited theory promoted by Kennedy, and declined to affirm whether the flu vaccine prevents hospitalization, instead offering only that it prevents severe illness “at a population level.”

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders expressed serious concerns about Means’s ability to counteract Kennedy’s disinformation about vaccine safety and efficacy at a time when measles outbreaks are spreading across the country, including the worst outbreak in South Carolina in over 30 years. Means also faces significant conflicts of interest stemming from undisclosed financial partnerships with wellness products, with Senator Chris Murphy noting apparent violations of Federal Trade Commission rules regarding compensation for product promotion.

Under Kennedy’s direction at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Trump administration has terminated grants, driven out career public health experts, and installed anti-vaccine loyalists to the immunization advisory committee despite Kennedy’s assurances during his own confirmation that he would not interfere with its composition. Means’s nomination represents a direct threat to evidence-based public health policy, with former Surgeon General Richard Carmona calling it a “disgrace” and stating the role requires “a real leader” equipped to combat disinformation.

Means abandoned her medical residency after becoming “disillusioned with traditional healthcare” and co-founded a glucose-monitoring company while co-authoring a book with her brother, a Kennedy adviser, arguing that metabolic health offers alternatives to conventional medicine. This is Trump’s second surgeon general nomination; his first nominee, Dr Janette Nesheiwat, was withdrawn after reports of misleading medical credentials emerged.

(Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/25/casey-means-surgeon-general-nominee)

Trump EPA Weakens Mercury Rules for Coal Plants

The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to weaken mercury emission restrictions for coal-fired power plants, according to reporting on February 18, 2026. Senior EPA officials under Administrator Lee Zeldin were expected to announce the loosening of hazardous pollutant limits during a trip to Louisville, Kentucky on Friday, with the agency arguing the change would reduce costs for utility companies.

The EPA has already exempted 47 coal companies from mercury and air toxics regulations for two years and proposed repealing Biden-era rules limiting carbon dioxide, mercury, and other air pollutant emissions from power plants. The agency estimates the new restrictions would save companies as much as $670 million between 2028 and 2037, according to internal documents reviewed by the New York Times.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin capable of impairing fetal brain development, and the rollback directly contradicts established science on public health harm. Trump declared an “energy emergency” to justify keeping aging coal plants operating and exempting them from critical air regulations, prioritizing coal industry interests over documented environmental and health protections established under previous administrations.

The administration has simultaneously dismantled renewable energy support by removing tax incentives for wind and solar projects and slow-walking permits for renewable energy development on federal, private, and state lands. This pattern reflects Trump’s stated goal of fast-tracking energy infrastructure to support artificial intelligence and data center demands while blocking clean energy alternatives.

The move represents a continuation of the administration’s broader effort to provide industrial polluters exemptions from emissions requirements for toxic chemicals, with the EPA establishing mechanisms for coal plants to request presidential waivers under the Clean Air Act framework.

(Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-epa-plans-loosen-mercury-rules-coal-plants-this-week-nyt-reports-2026-02-18/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=69961ca43819fb000132f3a1&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRleAQEH7ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeZ3nczEhi-kfTKzmV6XIetkq0fohVtl24MPu_UKmzDZqrMolGRNSoeJuN4m8_aem_h-nG89BQRW3OU4xHJKQnpA)

Trump Admin Removes NCAR Supercomputers, Dismantles Weather

The Trump administration is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, a leading American weather and climate research institution, by removing its supercomputing facility according to a National Science Foundation letter released Thursday. The administration characterizes NCAR as a source of “climate change alarmism” and plans to transfer the supercomputer to an unspecified third party, disrupting access for approximately 1,500 researchers from over 500 universities who depend on the facility for weather forecasting models, climate simulations, and extreme weather prediction research.

The supercomputing center’s separation from NCAR threatens critical infrastructure that directly serves the American public through more accurate weather forecasts and climate event predictions used in daily weather applications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently selected a weather modeling system developed by NCAR researchers and relies on the supercomputing facility to operate its current models, making the facility essential to national weather forecasting capabilities.

NCAR director Everette Joseph acknowledged in a staff letter that the center lacks clarity on the transition timeline or the identity of the managing entity, stating “We do not yet know who the new managing entity will be nor do we know the timeline for this transition.” The NSF has requested proposals for reorganizing NCAR and national weather research infrastructure, notably omitting climate research from its mention of continuing programs while indicating support for weather-related work.

Colorado officials, including Democratic Governor Jared Polis, view the dismantling as retribution targeting the state to pressure clemency for Tina Peters, a former county election clerk convicted in a 2020 election-related data breach scheme and prominent election denier. Former NCAR director James Hurrell and prominent atmospheric scientists have warned NSF that fragmenting or dismantling NCAR contradicts national interests and could undermine NOAA’s efforts to improve weather modeling capabilities that lag international competitors.

(Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/weather/trump-colorado-lab-ncar-supercomputer-climate?fbclid=IwdGRleAQB3sZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeB6HO7iqiW0l93wkU2pdoFbFYU71nTPeuDRUryMCYA5dlIL1su5RbInEfngw_aem_NInVf6P89PWWZQxvhGK8pA)

Trump Vows Executive Order Voter ID Mandate Bypassing Congress

President Donald Trump announced Friday via social media that he would issue an executive order mandating voter identification for midterm elections if Congress does not pass legislation to that effect. Trump stated, “There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!” and claimed there are “legal reasons” supporting such an order, though he provided no specifics. The House passed the SAVE America Act on Wednesday with unanimous Republican support, requiring states to obtain documentary proof of citizenship before voter registration and imposing new mail-in ballot restrictions.

Legal experts directly contradicted Trump’s authority to unilaterally alter election procedures. Stanford law professor Nate Persily stated the Constitution explicitly grants election regulation power to state legislatures, not the president, and that “the Constitution is clear on this.” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, said any executive order requiring states to comply with Trump’s voter ID mandate would “similarly be found to be unconstitutional” based on a federal judge’s January ruling that permanently blocked a prior Trump executive order attempting to alter voting laws. Trump issued that sweeping order in March 2025 seeking to impose mail-in ballot deadlines and citizenship proof requirements, which a federal court determined exceeded presidential authority.

The SAVE America Act now faces a Senate vote requiring 60 votes to succeed—an unlikely threshold given Democratic opposition and Republican defections. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the first Republican senator to oppose the bill, noting that GOP colleagues claimed in 2021 to oppose federal election mandates imposed on states. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer characterized the legislation as imposing “Jim Crow type laws to the entire country” and declared it “dead on arrival in the Senate.” Democrats argue voter ID laws are designed to disenfranchise voters, emphasizing that voting by noncitizens is already illegal and exceedingly rare.

Persily connected Trump’s voter ID push to broader attempts to federalize election administration, including the FBI’s recent seizure of ballots and voter records from Fulton County, Georgia—a seizure Trump’s continued false claims about the 2020 election have motivated. Persily stated Trump’s push represents a coordinated effort: “It’s not an isolated tweet here, right? There’s a lot that’s going on. So you’ve got the action in the legislature, in Congress, you’ve got these, the earlier executive order, you have the seizing of the ballots and other materials from Fulton County, right? And so it’s all of a piece with the desire to have greater federal oversight of elections.”

Trump’s pattern of attempting to circumvent constitutional limits on presidential power reflects his stated goal to federalize election administration from states he deems incapable of running elections honestly, specifically targeting Democratic-led jurisdictions. His explicit threat to impose voter ID requirements “whether approved by Congress or not” contradicts the constitutional separation of powers and follows his documented history of pressuring state officials to overturn legitimate election results.

(Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/trump-vows-voter-id-requirements-midterms-rcna259018)

Trump Erases EPA Climate Endangerment Finding, Kills Greenhouse Gas Rules

President Trump announced the elimination of the federal government’s scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, a move that strips the EPA of its legal authority to regulate carbon dioxide, methane, and four other greenhouse gases. Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax,” rejected decades of peer-reviewed research and the scientific consensus accepted by presidents of both parties since Richard Nixon, whose advisers warned of climate dangers in the 1970s, and George H.W. Bush, who signed an international climate treaty.

The action directly accelerates the transition away from pollution controls on fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources like solar and wind. By terminating what Trump called the “disastrous Obama-era policy,” the administration eliminated the regulatory framework that had allowed the federal government to impose limits on the emissions driving heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme weather events documented by climate scientists.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stood alongside Trump at the White House announcement, visibly approving of the decision Trump described as “about as big as it gets.” The move represents the culmination of a yearslong campaign by conservative activists and fossil fuel industry interests—including oil, gas, and coal companies—to block the nation’s shift away from carbon-intensive energy sources.

This decision dismantles protections that had been grounded in scientific fact for decades. By erasing the endangerment finding, Trump’s administration declared that the overwhelming majority of scientists worldwide are incorrect about the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and planetary warming, contradicting a body of evidence that has informed climate policy across multiple presidential administrations.

(Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/climate/trump-epa-greenhouse-gases-climate-change.html)

Trump Orders Pentagon to Purchase Coal Power

President Trump issued an executive order directing the Pentagon to increase purchases of coal-generated electricity, effectively using the Department of Defense budget to subsidize a declining fossil fuel industry. The order represents a direct intervention into energy markets to artificially prop up coal production, which has failed to remain competitive against cheaper and cleaner alternatives.

Coal generation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, yet Trump continues to promote it as economically and environmentally sound. His administration has pursued fossil fuel favoritism through exclusive assistance to oil and coal companies, while simultaneously blocking renewable energy projects, demonstrating deliberate prioritization of polluting industries over clean energy development.

This Pentagon directive exemplifies Trump’s pattern of weaponizing federal agencies to advance personal ideology and financial interests aligned with fossil fuel donors. The order compels military spending to serve as a subsidy mechanism for an uncompetitive industry rather than optimizing defense procurement based on cost or operational efficiency.

Trump has repeatedly made false claims about coal being “clean and beautiful,” contradicting established scientific consensus on coal’s environmental harm. The administration is simultaneously pushing looser pollution rules and increased coal funding, while the EPA delays Biden-era pollution standards that would otherwise protect waterways and air quality.

The executive order redirects taxpayer dollars from military readiness and innovation into sustaining a dying industry, subordinating national defense priorities to fossil fuel industry profits. This diversion of Pentagon resources demonstrates how Trump’s administration systematically bends federal power toward enriching allied industries regardless of economic rationality or public health consequences.

(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/11/trump-coal-pentagon-order/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwY2xjawP698xleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEersty_fFS5HGzkHTkEM7ZQSoTKMW1nx6KGJ_yNjB0KB40S39AeTAEN5P90rM_aem_oqWqjPN1L0uzL5J7-4JNaQ)

FDA Blocks Moderna mRNA Flu Vaccine Despite Variant Surge

The FDA rejected Moderna’s application for a next-generation mRNA flu vaccine on Tuesday, declining to review the shot despite the technology’s proven effectiveness in COVID-19 vaccines. The agency did not cite safety or efficacy concerns but instead objected to Moderna’s clinical trial design, according to a letter from Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research director Vinay Prasad. The FDA demanded the company test its vaccine against a CDC-recommended flu shot to compare safety and efficacy, claiming Moderna’s trial design exposed older participants to substandard care.

Virologist Angie Rasmussen criticized the FDA’s process, stating the rejection lacked “a thoughtful, systematic, transparent review of the evidence that relies on diverse expertise” and represented an individual decision by Prasad rather than an informed institutional review. Rasmussen emphasized that mRNA vaccine technology’s flexibility allows rapid adaptation to emerging virus variants, a capability conventional flu vaccines cannot match. The agency’s decision comes as the 2024-2025 flu season has proven exceptionally severe, with at least 22 million infections and 12,000 deaths documented in the United States, driven significantly by the arrival of subclade K.

The FDA’s rejection aligns with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s broader campaign to overhaul America’s vaccine schedule. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has repeatedly attacked mRNA technology and overseen the Trump administration’s cuts to vaccine research funding. The decision reflects an ideological effort to undermine vaccine development infrastructure rather than evidence-based regulatory assessment.

Rasmussen noted that if mRNA vaccine platforms had been recognized and deployed in time, updated flu shots could have been formulated during the current season to address subclade K, potentially preventing significant illness and death. The FDA’s rejection eliminates this adaptive public health advantage and blocks advancement of a proven technology platform that could address future viral threats with unprecedented speed.

(Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fda-wont-consider-a-new-mrna-vaccine-for-flu-despite-the-technologys-life/?utm_campaign=sprinklr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&fbclid=IwVERFWAP9v1NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEexLElm4gFSSQ9lzhsA2ooHSD-usTICZDS63bImi6l1vLgx0EN7BvpzuKwYPI_aem_rMBeCDQiSn6U4-fwG8DxLw)

Trump Denies Sending Gabbard to Georgia FBI Raid

President Donald Trump told NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas he did not know why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present during an FBI raid on the Fulton County Election Hub in Georgia on January 28, stating only that “a lot of the cheating comes from, it’s international cheating.” This claim directly contradicts Gabbard’s own written statement to senators, in which she asserted that her presence was requested by Trump himself and executed under her statutory authority to coordinate intelligence related to election security.

Gabbard wrote to Senator Mark Warner and Representative Jim Himes that her role as Director of National Intelligence authorized her to investigate foreign and malign influence on elections. However, Trump’s disavowal of knowledge about her presence during the raid creates an explicit factual contradiction with her account. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche attempted to clarify the situation, stating that Gabbard was “in the area where the search took place” but “not part of this investigation,” while also calling her an “expert” on election integrity without explanation.

Trump has offered multiple conflicting explanations for Gabbard’s presence at the Georgia location. At a Kennedy Center screening on January 29, Trump said Gabbard was “working very hard” to investigate 2020 election fraud. At the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, Trump claimed it was Attorney General Pam Bondi who sent Gabbard to Georgia, stating that “she went in at Pam’s insistence” to examine votes from the state.

The contradictions among Trump, Gabbard, Blanche, and Bondi reflect the absence of a coherent official account regarding the purpose of Gabbard’s involvement in the Georgia operation. Gabbard now faces intense scrutiny as whistleblowers have raised concerns about her conduct as DNI director, including allegations that she has obstructed efforts to provide reports to Congress.

The discrepancies underscore Trump’s pattern of using intelligence officials to investigate claims of election fraud that lack substantiation, while simultaneously denying direct involvement in those same operations when questioned by press outlets.

(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-tells-tom-llamas-he-doesnt-know-why-tulsi-gabbard-was-in-georgia-for-fbi-raid-she-claims-he-sent-her/)

Trump Claims States Are Federal Agents in Elections

President Trump declared on Tuesday that states function as “agents for the federal government in elections,” advancing his push to federalize election administration. During an Oval Office signing ceremony, Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the federal government should take over elections from states he deemed incapable of running them honestly, specifically naming Atlanta and other Democratic-led cities as sites of “horrible corruption.” Trump’s assertion contradicts the Constitution, which assigns election administration to state and local officials with limited federal involvement.

Trump framed federal takeover as necessary to ensure honest elections, stating that if states “can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.” When pressed by Collins on constitutional constraints, Trump dismissed them, declaring states “can administer the election, but they have to do it honestly.” This demand for federal control extends Trump’s pattern of weaponizing federal authority against election officials, mirroring his sustained efforts to delegitimize the 2020 election and intimidate state administrators into compliance with his directives.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later reframed Trump’s “nationalize the voting” language as advocacy for the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration. However, noncitizens are already barred from voting in federal elections, making the legislation redundant. The move represents Trump’s broader strategy to impose new voting restrictions ahead of midterm elections under the guise of election security.

The statement follows an FBI seizure last week of election materials from Fulton County, Georgia, in connection with alleged voter fraud claims that have been repeatedly debunked. Legal experts, including UCLA law professor Rick Hasen, characterized such federal intervention as a dramatic escalation in federal control over state-run election infrastructure and warned of further interference in 2026 elections. Trump’s repeated false claims of election fraud and his push for federal dominance over election administration establish the groundwork for authoritarian control over voting mechanisms.

Trump’s assertion that states are federal agents in elections directly contradicts established constitutional law and democratic practice. His pattern of attacking election officials who refuse his demands, combined with federal actions targeting state election materials, demonstrates his intent to consolidate power over election administration and establish federal override of state election systems, dismantling the institutional safeguards that protect democratic elections from executive manipulation.

(Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/politics/trump-nationalize-elections-states?Date=20260204&Profile=CNN+Politics&utm_content=1770166729&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAPxrotleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe_TP6JxjJ8F0XeylqLLR_PnMmKiHjepIwMfFSOkoZjpuKIlcOuE0eA99g3Kc_aem_XKBW8wXEdeRvaH0xj02M9A)

Trump Demands Republicans Nationalize Voting in 15 States

Donald Trump called for the Republican Party to “nationalize” voting across the United States during a podcast interview with Dan Bongino released Monday, demanding that Republicans “take over” election procedures in at least 15 unnamed states. This represents an escalation of Trump’s ongoing efforts to seize control of American election administration, which is constitutionally governed by state and local authorities across thousands of precincts nationwide. Trump’s demand contradicts the foundational structure of U.S. elections and follows his earlier assertion that states function as federal agents in elections.

Trump’s call to centralize voting authority is grounded in his repeated false claims that American elections are plagued by fraud and that Democrats orchestrate a conspiracy to enable undocumented immigrants to vote and boost Democratic turnout. These assertions have been comprehensively rejected by election officials, courts, and his own administration officials, yet Trump continues to weaponize them to justify dismantling electoral decentralization and concentrating voting power under Republican control.

This demand follows a series of actions by Trump’s administration designed to subordinate elections to federal—and specifically presidential—control. Last week, F.B.I. agents seized ballots and voting records from the 2020 election at an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, where Trump’s allies have pursued baseless fraud allegations for years. Trump personally contacted the F.B.I. agents involved in the raid to praise and thank them, demonstrating direct presidential involvement in weaponizing federal law enforcement against elections.

Centralizing election administration under partisan political control is a hallmark of authoritarian governance and has preceded democratic collapse in numerous countries. By consolidating voting mechanisms under Republican authority and eliminating the checks provided by decentralized state and local administration, Trump seeks to eliminate the institutional barriers preventing a single faction from unilaterally determining electoral outcomes and securing indefinite political power.

(Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/trump-nationalize-elections.html)

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