A change in John Fetterman’s appearance, which has seen the Pennsylvania senator shave his trademark beard and grow a moustache, has sparked a wild conspiracy theory online that he may have been replaced with a double.
The claim has been made by a number of Donald Trump-supporting influencers, with one claiming it proves the American government “uses doubles.”
In November 2022, Fetterman was elected as a Democratic senator, defeating Trump-endorsed Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in a tightly fought contest, which helped the Democrats maintain control of the upper chamber.
On Saturday Fetterman posted a photograph on X, formerly Twitter, showing he had removed his iconic goatee beard, and grown a spruce moustache. In reference to his 13-year-old son, he wrote: “Lost a bet with Karl” followed by the “disgusted face” emoji. The post was widely shared, receiving over 950 reposts and 1.9 million views.
Later the same day Gisele Barreto Fetterman, the senator’s wife, posted a photo of the couple with the caption: “Date night (ps. I never knew he had a chin.”
Asked what the bet had been about she replied: “Chess, always chess.”
However, online influencer Stew Peters took a different view. He shared the new photo of Fetterman, wearing a plain shirt and glasses, alongside an older one of him in a suit with his beard. He wrote: “The guy pretending to be John Fetterman looks nothing like the real John Fetterman. Ears clearly don’t match.”
Jack Danger, a self-styled “Twitter influencer” and part of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, shared the same side-by-side comparison, commenting: “For those of you who still don’t believe the U.S. government uses ‘doubles’ despite all the evidence of Joe Biden & others, & for those of you who are on the fence, I give you actual evidence. They are trying to pass this person off as John Fetterman. Look at the ears.”
A third X account, with more than 34,000 followers, posted side-by-side shots of Fetterman along with President Biden, actor Jamie Foxx and philanthropist Melinda Gates. He wrote: “Just a few examples of how they are using doubles to fool the masses.”
Hi-Rez, a Trump-supporting rapper with 137,000 X followers, shared a video of a man claiming he had uploaded two photos to a “biometric scanning website,” from before and after he grew the moustache, showing only a 39 percent match. He added: “John Fetterman is a clone,” followed by a tears of joy emoji.]"
No other “evidence” has been presented to support the wild claims.
Gisele hit back at the conspiracy claims, commenting: “Thinking there may be something to the body double rumors … suddenly ‘John’ is closing kitchen cabinet doors. WHO IS HE,” alongside an eyes emoji.
Yoooo that comment from his wife Gisele though
“Gisele hit back at the conspiracy claims, commenting: “Thinking there may be something to the body double rumors … suddenly ‘John’ is closing kitchen cabinet doors. WHO IS HE,” alongside an eyes emoji.”
They seem extremely good at social media.
When I was four years old, my dad shaved his mustache, and I swear to God I thought it was a stranger who came out of the bathroom and I ran away screaming.
I think that sums up the cognitive state of these particular conspiracists.
I shaved my beard when my daughter was a baby and I stuck my face in front of her. Her face looked all screwed up and confused for about 20 seconds, then she realized it was me and gave me a huge smile. It’s something I’ll never forget.
Lol. My dad shaved his beard when my sister was a toddler. She flew into hysterics. He hasn’t shaved his beard since. That was almost 40 years ago.
Conservatives creating conspiracy theories? NO WAY!
I love this conspiracy, mostly because the ‘why’ factor.
Aside from sowing doubt in the world we live in, what’s the point?
I suspect these are the deeply mentally I’ll people who think there are actual lizard people.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I was looking for a double, I think choosing the same facial hair would be a no brainer, possibly the first thing to request.
That’s what they want you to think. They’re trying to outsmart you by making it obvious.
I’d also not immediately post a picture of the double on social media.
I haven’t looked into their reasoning at all but I would guess “the original” was incapacitated by his stroke so democrats put a clone in to take his place to keep the well liked politician in power.
Yes I also think this must be the actual reasoning.
Since every accusation is a confession, I now expect Trump to send a body double to his booking on Thursday. But instead of an identical one, he’ll send one who is taller and thinner, because he thinks no one will notice (and it can make his reported height and weight better)
And his legion of fans accept it’s him and get mad at anyone who says it isn’t.
There was for sure a second Melania. They didn’t even look alike. The fake one was prettier.
I just googled it, and found a vox article where they portrayed thinking Melania used a body double as being equal to flat earthers.
I really hate this tendency to pretend all conspiracy theories are the same.
This one makes sense - they didn’t seem to have the happiest time together, the base wanted to see them together, this is an easy fix where everybody’s happy. She didn’t have a reason to be there and could have spent time with the kid instead, you could even argue it would be morally better.
I have no idea if they used a double - probably not - but it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to speculate in. It’s not crazy, it doesn’t require a huge cover up, and it would make sense.
If you can’t even speculate in this without being labelled as crazy, good luck ever uncovering anything that wasn’t meant to see the light of day.
I’ve read that article and agree. They make it out as if it’s a crazy conspiracy. I really think it’s pretty reasonable to think it happened. But either way I at least acknowledge it could be wrong.
has sparked a wild conspiracy theory online that he may have been replaced with a double.
The claim has been made by a number of Donald Trump-supporting influencers, with one claiming it proves the American government “uses doubles.”
[emphasis mine]
This is tripe, and there was no need to post it. The bold part is all I needed to see.
I find just about any political fanboi gullible as hell, but the magats are just on a different level when it comes to being suckers.
I don’t want to start any wild rumors but Senator Fetterman is clearly a downed UAP pilot just trying to make his way in this crazy world.
“UAP“…Google yields no useful results…help me
It’s what they used to call UFOs. It stands for ‘unidentified aerial phenomenon.’
What a dumb thing to make a conspiracy theory about. Typical for the qanon right.
I hold onto the conspiracy theory that the most bizarre Q conspiracy theories are the result of 4chan types seeing what they can get the radical fringe to actually believe, and just trying to outdo each other in monthly competitions.
That’s how it started. FBIAnon, CIAAnon, etc etc. For some stupid reason, stupid people took the Q one seriously. It’s one step removed from gangstalking.
I’d say its political consultant groups using think tanks that employ teams of psychologist, sociologist and anthropologists among other PhD. All who sit around and come up with bullshit that the Koch brothers or whoever the latest asshole is that can use that research and figure out where to put their money and influence to be most effective. Like organizing a feminist protest to sell cigarette’s. Stuff that no normal person would see coming or figure out but a group of highly paid mentats figure out and the powerful people put into motion. Next thing you know Dan Bonginao is paying some country singer to produce songs about old ways that get blasted over this network that was built over 10 years on social media that looks grass roots but is just a straight up astro turfed funnel direct to the eye balls of the world
It may be just me , but if I were getting a body double, I think I would probably make sure he had the same facial hair, not something radically different.
If they were able to think critically, they wouldn’t be Trump supporters.
It must be exhausting thinking everything is a conspiracy
Quality reporting.
In reference to his 13-year-old son, he wrote: “Lost a bet with Karl” followed by the “disgusted face” emoji.
It’s obviously “disguised face”, not disgusted.
I’m disappointed he’s wearing suits instead of hoodies. Fuck everything about suit and ties.
You wanna know how I know you’ve never taken a picture with a phone and a real camera before?
Yep. “The ears don’t match” is clearly “the lenses don’t match”.
Ah yes, Newsweek. The bastion of modern thought. /s
What’s „modern thought“?
Something about TikTok influencers probably.
Chat GPT seems to think it’s:
Modern thought refers to the intellectual and philosophical ideas that have emerged since the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, continuing into the present day. It encompasses various fields, including science, philosophy, politics, and culture. Generally, modern thought values reason, individualism, empirical inquiry, and skepticism towards traditional authority. It has led to advancements in areas such as democracy, human rights, scientific method, and technological progress.
What do you think it is?
You had to ask Chat GPT because you just used a term willy-nilly without understanding it, LMAO. So you think Newsweek’s articles are led by morals and ideals from pre-Renaissance and pre-Enlightenment times. To be honest, I’ve not seen them advocate for the burning of witches lately. Just admit you’re using terms over your education grade, dummy.
Thank you! I learned something today.
Any time!
