4 conspiracy theories that have driven policy under Trump

President Donald Trump is no stranger to conspiracy: He rose to political prominence by touting the racist lie that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. His team isn’t either: Take Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s longtime baseless conviction that childhood vaccines cause autism or the billionaire Elon Musk’s promotion of the 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.

The embrace of conspiracy theories isn’t new, but now that Trump is back in power, there is a direct pipeline between online conspiracy theories and government policy — and in some cases, it’s happening at breathtaking speed.

At times, the administration takes a kernel of truth and then distorts it wildly. At others, it’s entirely unclear where the theories are coming from. Here are four examples of this government by conspiracy theory: