Internet Outrage Over Trump’s AI ‘MedBed’ Conspiracy Video

AFP/APP

Washington: Former US President Donald Trump sparked online outrage Monday after sharing an apparent AI-generated video promising Americans access to all-healing “MedBed” hospitals, reviving a widely debunked conspiracy theory.

The deepfake video — posted Saturday on Trump’s Truth Social account and later deleted — was styled as a Fox News segment. It featured his daughter-in-law Lara Trump promoting a fictitious White House launch of a “historic new healthcare system.”

The phony clip then purported to show Trump announcing from the Oval Office that “every American will soon receive their own MedBed card,” guaranteeing access to “new hospitals led by the top doctors” and “equipped with the most advanced technology.”

The problem: no such hospitals exist.

The “MedBed” conspiracy, popular in far-right and QAnon circles, refers to an imaginary medical device that supposedly cures all ailments — from asthma to cancer. Some believers even claim the technology kept President John F. Kennedy alive after his assassination, alleging it is deliberately withheld from citizens by a secretive government cabal.

“Trump later deleted the contentious post without explanation. The White House did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.

“How do you bring people back to a shared reality when those in power keep stringing them along?” asked Noelle Cook, author of The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging.

Conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild wrote on X: “The next time Trump takes questions, I hope someone asks why he shared — and deleted — an AI slop video touting ‘MedBed hospitals.’ Did he think it was funny? Or real?”

An archived version of the video circulated widely online, alongside links to a merchandise site selling “Trump MedBed” gold cards priced between $599 and $4,999. The site, registered to a Delaware corporation, marketed the cards — featuring Trump’s photo and the slogan “Save America” — as a “perfect gift for other Patriots.”

Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at watchdog Media Matters, commented: “If ‘MedBed’ technology were real, it would be the greatest medical advance in generations. Trump should have to explain why he suggested it was real through the channel he uses for major announcements.”

Fox News confirmed to The Verge that the video segment was fake and “never aired on Fox News Channel or any other Fox News Media platforms.”

Trump has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories and unverified health claims. Just last week, he urged pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, falsely linking it to autism, and suggested major changes to standard childhood vaccines. The World Health Organization dismissed both claims, stressing that neither Tylenol nor vaccines cause autism.