John Fetterman's New Look Sparks Wild Conspiracy Theory
John Fetterman's New Look Sparks Wild Conspiracy Theory
The Pennsylvania senator changed his iconic look after losing a bet with his 13-year-old son, leading to conspiracy theories on social media.
A change in John Fetterman's appearance, which has seen the Pennsylvania senator shave his trademark beard and grow a moustache, has sparked a wild conspiracy theory online that he may have been replaced with a double.
The claim has been made by a number of Donald Trump-supporting influencers, with one claiming it proves the American government "uses doubles."
In November 2022, Fetterman was elected as a Democratic senator, defeating Trump-endorsed Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in a tightly fought contest, which helped the Democrats maintain control of the upper chamber.
On Saturday Fetterman posted a photograph on X, formerly Twitter, showing he had removed his iconic goatee beard, and grown a spruce moustache. In reference to his 13-year-old son, he wrote: "Lost a bet with Karl" followed by the "disgusted face" emoji. The post was widely shared, receiving over 950 reposts and 1.9 million views.
Later the same day Gisele Barreto Fetterman, the senator's wife, posted a photo of the couple with the caption: "Date night (ps. I never knew he had a chin."
Asked what the bet had been about she replied: "Chess, always chess."
However, online influencer Stew Peters took a different view. He shared the new photo of Fetterman, wearing a plain shirt and glasses, alongside an older one of him in a suit with his beard. He wrote: "The guy pretending to be John Fetterman looks nothing like the real John Fetterman. Ears clearly don't match."
Jack Danger, a self-styled "Twitter influencer" and part of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, shared the same side-by-side comparison, commenting: "For those of you who still don't believe the U.S. government uses 'doubles' despite all the evidence of Joe Biden & others, & for those of you who are on the fence, I give you actual evidence. They are trying to pass this person off as John Fetterman. Look at the ears."
A third X account, with more than 34,000 followers, posted side-by-side shots of Fetterman along with President Biden, actor Jamie Foxx and philanthropist Melinda Gates. He wrote: "Just a few examples of how they are using doubles to fool the masses."
Hi-Rez, a Trump-supporting rapper with 137,000 X followers, shared a video of a man claiming he had uploaded two photos to a "biometric scanning website," from before and after he grew the moustache, showing only a 39 percent match. He added: "John Fetterman is a clone," followed by a tears of joy emoji.]"
No other "evidence" has been presented to support the wild claims.
Gisele hit back at the conspiracy claims, commenting: "Thinking there may be something to the body double rumors ... suddenly 'John' is closing kitchen cabinet doors. WHO IS HE," alongside an eyes emoji.
When I was four years old, my dad shaved his mustache, and I swear to God I thought it was a stranger who came out of the bathroom and I ran away screaming.
I think that sums up the cognitive state of these particular conspiracists.
78Lol. My dad shaved his beard when my sister was a toddler. She flew into hysterics. He hasn't shaved his beard since. That was almost 40 years ago.
16My dad changed his shirt because he got wet and I saw him walking outside with another shirt on without knowing about the first one. I thought he was a clone for half a day until he asked me what's wrong. That was a good laugh for him.
11As a teenager I was at work and I was helping a customer. I had my very long hair down and a hoodie on, but it had been a cool spring morning and was starting to get pretty warm out. Finished my interaction, walked away, tied my hair up into a high ponytail and took off my hoodie. Ended up going back to talk to the customer later and he looked at me real carefully and said "do you have a sister?"
4
I shaved my beard when my daughter was a baby and I stuck my face in front of her. Her face looked all screwed up and confused for about 20 seconds, then she realized it was me and gave me a huge smile. It's something I'll never forget.
4Did your dad work for govment?
2
Yoooo that comment from his wife Gisele though
"Gisele hit back at the conspiracy claims, commenting: “Thinking there may be something to the body double rumors … suddenly ‘John’ is closing kitchen cabinet doors. WHO IS HE,” alongside an eyes emoji."
They seem extremely good at social media.
55Of course: facial hair is the hardest part of the face to alter, so they gave up and hoped no one would notice.
47What other explanation could there possibly be for a beard just disappearing overnight???
These people are super smart.
32I’ve had a beard for a decade. I don’t understand how it would just go away. Clearly a beard disappearing could only be from a conspiracy theory
9
has sparked a wild conspiracy theory online that he may have been replaced with a double.
The claim has been made by a number of Donald Trump-supporting influencers, with one claiming it proves the American government "uses doubles."
[emphasis mine]
This is tripe, and there was no need to post it. The bold part is all I needed to see.
26I find just about any political fanboi gullible as hell, but the magats are just on a different level when it comes to being suckers.
4It’s fucking hilarious and I do not regret posting it.
I’ve voted for the dude every time he’s been on my ballot, since 2016. he’s got a sense of humor. He and his wife seem to be leaning in and making a joke of the situation.
3
I love this conspiracy, mostly because the 'why' factor.
Aside from sowing doubt in the world we live in, what's the point?
25I suspect these are the deeply mentally I’ll people who think there are actual lizard people.
14I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I was looking for a double, I think choosing the same facial hair would be a no brainer, possibly the first thing to request.
10That’s what they want you to think. They’re trying to outsmart you by making it obvious.
3I'd also not immediately post a picture of the double on social media.
2
I haven't looked into their reasoning at all but I would guess "the original" was incapacitated by his stroke so democrats put a clone in to take his place to keep the well liked politician in power.
2Yes I also think this must be the actual reasoning.
2
You mean what's the focal point? That's what makes the difference. A professional camera lense verses a fucking phone camera. Damn these people are dumb.
1
Since every accusation is a confession, I now expect Trump to send a body double to his booking on Thursday. But instead of an identical one, he'll send one who is taller and thinner, because he thinks no one will notice (and it can make his reported height and weight better)
24And his legion of fans accept it's him and get mad at anyone who says it isn't.
3There was for sure a second Melania. They didn’t even look alike. The fake one was prettier.
3I just googled it, and found a vox article where they portrayed thinking Melania used a body double as being equal to flat earthers.
I really hate this tendency to pretend all conspiracy theories are the same.
This one makes sense - they didn't seem to have the happiest time together, the base wanted to see them together, this is an easy fix where everybody's happy. She didn't have a reason to be there and could have spent time with the kid instead, you could even argue it would be morally better.
I have no idea if they used a double - probably not - but it's a perfectly reasonable thing to speculate in. It's not crazy, it doesn't require a huge cover up, and it would make sense.
If you can't even speculate in this without being labelled as crazy, good luck ever uncovering anything that wasn't meant to see the light of day.
4
Conservatives creating conspiracy theories? NO WAY!
21His stache looks great! I hope he keeps it.
10I don't know... he kind of has a high school teacher vibe to him with the mustache. He looked like an old alt rocker with the goatee.
5
I don't want to start any wild rumors but Senator Fetterman is clearly a downed UAP pilot just trying to make his way in this crazy world.
8“UAP“…Google yields no useful results…help me
1It's what they used to call UFOs. It stands for 'unidentified aerial phenomenon.'
2
The real evidence that he’s not really Fetterman is that he’s wearing a suit and not a Pennsylvania tuxedo
7It may be just me , but if I were getting a body double, I think I would probably make sure he had the same facial hair, not something radically different.
7If they were able to think critically, they wouldn't be Trump supporters.
2
This is a story about mental illness.
7You'd think with all the meds floating around in this country at least SOME of the crazy would be toned-down just a notch...
2And not John Fetterman's. He got help and set an example for others.
1
Wait 'til Stew Peters finds out about focal length, it would do wonders to fix his hobbit-looking ass.
5Just makes me respect him more. One can only pull off a mustache when combined with confidence. Go Fetterman.
4Honestly he looks sharp with the mustache and glasses, obviously lighting plays a role too but it definitely looks good on him
2
I bet those MAGA turds haven't even realized that Clark Kent is Superman...
4Quality reporting.
In reference to his 13-year-old son, he wrote: “Lost a bet with Karl” followed by the “disgusted face” emoji.
It's obviously "disguised face", not disgusted.
4They got this wrong too - the emoji is the glasses and mustache one.
3
You wanna know how I know you've never taken a picture with a phone and a real camera before?
3Yep. "The ears don't match" is clearly "the lenses don't match".
2
It must be exhausting thinking everything is a conspiracy
3That's what they want you to believe!
5
What a dumb thing to make a conspiracy theory about. Typical for the qanon right.
3Oh for fucks sake...
2Ah yes, Newsweek. The bastion of modern thought. /s
-4What’s „modern thought“?
2Something about TikTok influencers probably.
2Chat GPT seems to think it’s:
Modern thought refers to the intellectual and philosophical ideas that have emerged since the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, continuing into the present day. It encompasses various fields, including science, philosophy, politics, and culture. Generally, modern thought values reason, individualism, empirical inquiry, and skepticism towards traditional authority. It has led to advancements in areas such as democracy, human rights, scientific method, and technological progress.
What do you think it is?
-3