A truly bizarre conspiracy theory has emerged after President Donald Trump was lightly knocked in the face by a reporter with a boom mic.
The moment unfolded on Friday (March 14) while the 78-year-old POTUS was taking questions from reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
As he spoke, the mic — equipped with a fuzzy windscreen known in the industry as a “dead cat” — suddenly made contact with his mouth and dragged across his face, prompting him to instinctively lean back and shut his eyes.
Clearly caught off guard, Trump shot a sharp glance, his eyebrows raising in response. But rather than brushing off the incident in silence, he couldn’t resist cracking a joke.
“She just made television tonight. She just became a big story tonight,” he quipped, seemingly referring to the journalist holding the mic.
Still laughing, he turned off-camera and asked: “Did you see that?”
Though it’s unclear which media outlet the boom mic operator worked for, these types of microphones are frequently used in noisy environments, like near Air Force One and Marine One, to capture clearer audio.
Despite the brief distraction, Trump quickly regained composure and continued answering questions before boarding Air Force One.
Conspiracy Theories Circulate
Rather than accept the incident as a slip of the wrist and a rather embarrassing mistake, some social media users are not only calling the moment “intentional” and “deliberate”, but some are sharing even darker theories.
Some people are sharing a bizarre conspiracy theory after the footage circulated online. Credit: Fox/X
While some users on X (formerly Twitter) criticized the Secret Service for failing to protect the President from a slight boop on the nose, others suspected potential foul play and called for an immediate investigation.
“Was the microphone poisoned? Hitting Trump with the mic was done on purpose,” one X user wrote. “I hope secret service checks for mic being embedded with substances in the future and not allow such mics anymore close to him.”
And while the idea that the mic could have been tainted seems utterly bizarre, there were plenty of people who agreed.
“The problem with this video is not that President Trump was “accidentally” hit in the face with a boom mic,” another added. This is a failure of the @SecretService to protect him. He handled it well, but that boom mic could’ve had poison (arsenic) on it.”
A third wrote: “Can you imagine hitting the face of President Trump with the MIC that can be laced with poison? The reporter needs to be investigated. This type of actions just give the Democrats an idea to kill Trump.”
Another tweeted: “This was 100% on person and to be honest, this enrages me. Also @POTUS what was on that mic… that could of been poison. They went for your mouth. Omg this makes me so mad. You fought for us and I’ll die for you.”
“The @SecretService should investigate the incident and test the mic for poisonous substances,” another wrote.
Others suggested the mic could have been tainted with “biological agents”, “fentanyl”, and “chemical solutions”.
Call For Reporter To Be ‘Arrested’
As expected, footage of the incident went viral on X (formerly Twitter), and users had plenty to say.
President Trump looked somewhat perplexed after being hit to the face with a mic. Credit: Fox/X
“That look after the incident,” one person tweeted, referring to Trump’s side-eye.
“Omg I bet the person holding the microphone was super embarrassed,” another wrote, with a third adding: “Her life will change forever after this unfortunate decision. She will find out that actions have consequences.”
Others, however, believed the knock was deliberate, and even called for the reporter’s arrest.
“She needs to be arrested! It was on purpose,” one X user wrote, with another agreeing: “Arrest her NOW”.
“That looked deliberate,” tweeted another, with one person adding: “That definitely was on purpose.”
Another concerned person tweeted: “Secret Service better tighten up. Why wouldn’t this be a possible dry run for something more serious… chemical to germ related?”
It all seems like a lot of commotion for what it most likely is an innocent mistake.
