Trump's ear piece conspiracy is a perennial rehash

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

There's a conspiracy theory spreading on social media that former Vice President Joe Biden may be planning to use an electronic ear piece so his campaign can feed him lines during the first presidential debate Tuesday night. President Trump's re-election campaign is playing it up, having requested both candidates receive an ear inspection before they take the stage, although Biden's camp declined after reportedly agreeing to it.

The unfounded claims are apparently based on a single tweet from an anonymous source and were quickly denied by the Biden campaign, but they've made the rounds anyway, eliciting eye rolls and criticism of Facebook for allowing the spread of disinformation.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.