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Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters.

Fringe media supporting President Donald Trump have claimed that former President Barack Obama violated federal law and is acting as a shadow president because he has talked to former and current foreign leaders since the end of his presidency. The claims, which have at least partially been parroted on Fox News, are an extension of conservative medias ongoing conspiracy theory that Obama runs a shadow government.

Since Trumps inauguration, conservative outletshavebaselesslyclaimedthatObama is running some kind of shadow government, a conspiracy theory which has since been invoked by aRepublican congressmanand byone of Trumps attorneys. The right-wing hysteria took on a new level of feverishness after Obamametwitha handfulof former and current world leaders, some of whom he worked closely with as president.

Pro-Trumpfake news purveyorswere quick to attack Obama for his post-presidency activities. Several websites, includingAmerican Today,Patriots On The Right,US Postman, andUSA Daily Time, claimed in June that Obama was undermining President Trump while advertis[ing] his shadow government. They suggested that Obama had committed treason and violated the Logan Act, a law barring private citizens from interfering with American foreign policy and for whichno one has ever been prosecuted.The Federalist TribuneandThe Washington Feedalso asserted that Obama would get a lengthy jail sentence as a consequence of the law. Eventually, more fake news purveyors continued to push the false narrative, withMad World News,USA Newsflash,GOP The Daily Dose,The Angry Patriot,Global Politics Now,Freedom Daily,US Advisor,ENH, andBefore Its Newsjoining in.

Additionally,alt-right-affiliatedInfowarsand fake news purveyorsConservative Fighters,TruthFeed, andRed Rock Tribunehyped a Daily Caller piece suggesting Obama was ashadow president.Alt-right-affiliatedThe Gateway Pundit also called Obama ashadow presidentwhomay be breaking the Logan Act.There has also beensomediscussionregarding Obama and the Logan Act on thealt-right-affiliatedforum 4chan /pol/.

According to social media analytics website BuzzSumo, these claims being peddled by the pro-Trump fringe ecosystem, including American Today, Mad World News, USA Newsflash, GOP The Daily Dose, The Angry Patriot, Freedom Daily, Infowars, Conservative Fighters, TruthFeed, and The Gateway Pundit,have drawn numerous Facebook engagements that rise well over the thousands, according to social media analytics website BuzzSumo. There were at least 380 engagements with American Todays article, 41,900 with Mad World News article, 122,500 with USA Newsflashs article, 6,500 with GOP The Daily Doses article, 7,000 with The Angry Patriots article, 48,300 with Freedom Dailys article, 58 with Infowars article, 10,200 with Conservative Fighters article, 8,700 with TruthFeeds article, and 5,000 and 6,900 for The Gateway Pundit articles, respectively.

Some of the narrative has now gained cable news visibility by reaching Fox News, with host Lou Dobbs on July 6attacking Obamafor shadowing and trying to undercut Trump, andFox & Friendsco-host Brian Kilmeade on July 7wonderingwhy Obama was shadowing Trump and wondering whether Obama was trying to swamp him.

The spread of these baseless claims yet again illustrates how the pro-Trumpalt-right/fake news ecosystemhas been used to pushlies,conspiracy theories, andfalsehoods.

Header image bySarah Wasko / Media Matters

The rest is here:
Obama 'Shadow' Presidency Is Latest Conspiracy Delusion - The National Memo (blog)