Obama Criticizes Trump for Spreading Misinformation

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Former President Barack Obama, speaking on the “Pod Save America” podcast, criticized President Donald Trump for spreading misinformation, saying he’s causing conspiracy theories to take off across social media.

“Social media, media infrastructure, the conservative media infrastructure. We’ve had this conversation before. That is a problem that is going to outlast Trump. Trump is a symptom of it and an accelerant to it,” he said. “It has gotten turbocharged because of social media. And because the head of our government, of our federal government has resorted to it.”

“I don’t have a quick answer for that, because part of what happens within, when you get these echo chambers, is they become impenetrable. Right. Any bit of information that contradicts the world view and the conspiracies within it or the conspiracy theories within it, it gets rejected as part of a conspiracy and part of the liberal plot,” he continued. “But I do think that that’s going to be a big challenge that we all have. And I’m concerned about it.”

President Trump generated controversy over the summer after he praised subscribers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying they “love our country.” The president earlier congratulated Marjorie Taylor Greene for winning the open House seat in Georgia’s predominantly Republican 14th District; Greene has also supported the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying, “Q is a patriot. He is someone that very much loves his country and is on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump.”