Trump Shares Debunked Obama ‘Obamacare Royalties’ Lie

Former President Donald Trump recently propagated a baseless assertion on his Truth Social platform, claiming that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had amassed $40 million in “royalties linked to Obamacare.” This fictional narrative, shared with Trump’s 11 million followers on Sunday, rehashes a long-disproven falsehood concerning payments for the use of Obama’s name in connection with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a landmark healthcare legislation he signed into law in 2010.

Former President Amplifies Baseless Allegation

The assertion that former President Obama receives royalty payments for “Obamacare” is not new; it has been consistently debunked for years, with its origins traceable to at least 2017. At that time, the fabricated story gained traction on “America’s Last Line of Defense,” a satirical website known for crafting fictitious news reports specifically designed to provoke engagement, particularly from outraged conservative audiences.

The iteration of the claim shared by Trump on Sunday had previously circulated in February, successfully misleading many of his supporters. It appeared on Facebook, again via “America’s Last Line of Defense,” and also on “the Dunning-Kruger-Times,” another satirical platform operated by the same individual, Christopher Blair. Blair, a Maine resident, is often referred to as the “godfather of fake news” for his prolific creation of deceptive content.

The Viral Post and Broader Context

On Sunday morning, Trump posted a screenshot of an earlier social media update. This image featured a photograph of Barack Obama accompanied by text that read: “BREAKING: DOGE halted a yearly payment of $2.5 million to Barack Obama for ‘royalties linked to Obamacare.’ He’s been collecting it since 2010, for a total of $40 million in taxpayer dollars.”

Trump, who dedicated much of his weekend—outside of golfing—to criticizing the Affordable Care Act on social media, appended a single word to the screenshot: “WOW!” His commentary coincided with efforts by Senate Democrats to extend crucial tax credits for Americans who depend on the ACA for their healthcare coverage. The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding whether the former president was aware of the fictional nature of the report he disseminated.

The Architect of Satire Responds

Christopher Blair, the proprietor behind the network of satirical websites and associated social media accounts from which this particular false claim originated, has previously commented on the reach and impact of his fabricated stories. In a 2023 interview with The Guardian, Blair notably characterized Texas Governor Greg Abbott as among the “dumbest people in the country” after Abbott himself shared a fabricated article about his own state, which had been published on Blair’s “Dunning-Kruger-Times.”

The repeated amplification of such demonstrably false claims, even those originating from self-proclaimed satirical sources, underscores ongoing concerns about the spread of misinformation in the digital age and its potential to influence public discourse and political narratives.

Source: The Guardian