Biden debate prep fuels false and misleading claims about body doubles and drugs

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will take the stage June 27 for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election. But some conservative politicians, pundits and social media users are pushing unfounded claims it won’t actually be Biden behind the lectern — or if it is, it’ll be Biden in an altered state.

"The man on the stage that night will not be Joe Biden and clearly the podiums play an important roll in their plan," a blue check X user posted June 21, misspelling "role" and referring to Biden winning CNN’s coin toss and deciding to pick lectern placement over speaking order.

The false conspiracy theory that Biden and other well-known figures use professional impersonators as stand-ins for public appearances has circulated for years. But in the lead-up to the debate, the body-double conspiracy theory is one of a number of claims that aim to paint Biden as incapable of debating Trump without the help of a stand-in or, as Trump suggested, being "jacked up" on drugs.

The narrative is in line with attacks from the popular conservative X account RNC Research and other Trump supporters who have spent weeks circulating video clips of Biden that seem to show him declining cognitively, but omit fuller context about Biden’s actions. This is also not the first time Trump has attacked his Democratic competitor before a debate.

Biden, 81, has dedicated the better part of a week to preparing for the debate, the first either candidate has participated in since 2020. Trump, 78, said holding rallies in the days ahead of the debate is his best debate prep strategy.

Experts on U.S. politics said historically presidential candidates have typically taken several days to prepare for a debate, which can be particularly important for incumbents.

Users on X and Instagram shared a video clip from the conservative podcast Valuetainment in which one co-host said body doubles have "progressed" so much that these stand-ins can now give speeches.

PolitiFact and other news outlets have repeatedly fact-checked false claims that Biden employs a body double or that video footage shows a masked impersonator instead of the real Biden. Some believers of this conspiracy theory point to photos and videos of Biden that were taken years apart as evidence. But Biden’s aging and wrinkles aren’t proof he’s been replaced.

The fact-free notion that powerful leaders have body doubles was a frequent claim among QAnon conspiracy theorists who helped shape the 2020 election and believe that the world is controlled by a "deep state" with ties to pedophilia.

Biden has gathered with his team at Camp David in Maryland since the night of June 20, his calendar blocked off to other events as, according to news reports, he practiced for the 90-minute faceoff with Trump.

Trump supporters used the prep time as an opportunity to bolster Trump’s unsupported claims about Biden’s capacity to debate.

"Biden — on an intense doping regimen at Camp David — hasn’t been seen for days," wrote RNC Research in a June 22 X post, resharing images of Trump on the campaign trail.

Another X post viewed more than 3.8 million times claimed June 23 Biden is being isolated "to not only dial in his medication, but they also shift his sleep cycle," so that he can give a strong performance at the debate.

By June 24, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, wrote a letter calling on Biden to submit to a drug test before taking the stage in Atlanta for the CNN-moderated event. And Trump wrote the same day on Truth Social that he would "immediately" submit to one. A Trump adviser told The Washington Post Biden "will be highly prepared and alert on debate night" because of a "perfectly calibrated dosage."

On June 25, Fox News host Sean Hannity polled viewers on which version of Biden they thought would appear at the debate: "jacked-up Joe" or "confused/cognitively impaired."

None of them cited evidence that Biden is using medication to help him.

Biden’s campaign dismissed the claims as falsehoods. In a statement to The Washington Post, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Trump and his allies "are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies."

History shows presidential candidates commonly set aside time to prepare for debates, especially when they are incumbents.

Many presidential candidates seek to avoid the kind of fallout then-Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon experienced in 1960 following the first televised presidential debate, said Jon Marshall, a media historian and associate professor at Northwestern University. Kennedy entered the debate rested and prepared; Nixon continued campaigning and, on TV, "appeared tired and uncomfortable when the debate began."

Kennedy’s performance is often lauded as being pivotal in helping him win.

In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton set aside "most of a week" for his first debate as an incumbent, former White House speechwriter Michael Waldman wrote in an article for the Brennan Center for Justice, where he serves as president.

Incumbent presidents often go into their first debates "rusty" and "cocooned," Waldman wrote. Former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and even Trump gave underwhelming performances in their first presidential debates as incumbents, he said.

Robert Rowland, a University of Kansas professor of communications studies, said what’s "more out-of-the-ordinary is that Trump is really not doing any kind of formal debate preparation."

Incumbent presidents and challengers typically "take debates very seriously and allocate several days to the preparation process," Rowland said.

Although Trump has floated the notion that Biden needs performance-enhancing drugs to perform during the debate, he has also described Biden as "a worthy debater".

Rowland said this tactical change to characterize Biden as formidable is part of a strategy to "lower expectations."

"And at the same time, he’s trying to explain that if Biden does well, it’s because of some medication, etc., and still maintain his attack that Biden has lost his cognitive skill," Rowland said.

This election cycle is not the first time Trump and his supporters have sought to cast aspersions on Biden’s debate performance.

In 2020, Trump also called on Biden to take a drug test, which the Biden campaign laughed off. Trump also employed this tactic in 2016, when he suggested his then-Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, was taking drugs ahead of that year’s debates.

Also in 2020, Trump and his campaign said Biden sought the use of an earpiece ahead of the first presidential debate that year. Biden’s campaign dismissed the claim, saying the Trump team was "lying."

The claim resurfaced after 2020’s first presidential debate: Social media users claimed video footage proved Biden wore a wire or earpiece at the debate. PolitiFact rated these claims Pants on Fire.

At least one other president also faced accusations of debate foul play.

In 2004, there was speculation that then-President George W. Bush received offstage help during that year’s presidential debate against Democratic nominee John Kerry because a photo showed a rectangular bulge on Bush’s back.

Although some people claimed Bush was wearing some kind of electronic device at the debate, Bush’s campaign said there was nothing under his suit jacket. Bush himself attributed the bulge to "a poorly tailored shirt."

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.