Bizarre conspiracy theory claims Biden didn’t test drive Ford truck and it was in control of secret service
President Joe Biden took the Ford electric truck for a quick spin but conspiracy theorists claimed that it was staged
(CNN/Screengrab)A few days after Joe Biden travelled to a Ford electric vehicle plant and took a spin in an electric truck, conspirators online are now claiming that the president staged the whole thing.
On Tuesday, Mr Biden visited Dearborn, Michigan to Ford Electric Vehicle Center and test drove the F-150 Lightning Truck but conspiracy theorists are convinced he wasn’t actually driving it. Some are claiming that Mr Biden took part in an elaborate ruse to fool the public and that the car had, in fact, a second steering wheel.
“The model Joe Biden was ‘driving’ has two steering wheels,” author Jim Hoft of far-right website Gateway wrote. The internet soon followed suit. Mr Hoft’s theory was based on a single frame of a video that shows the president driving the electric truck.
However, these theories did not hold water on further scrutiny by Internet users.
In the videos and photos from the day, it is clear that there is a secret services agent in the truck, whose arm is outstretched towards the dashboard of the vehicle. But there is no second steering wheel, that right-wing internet was trying to prove.
Driving the electric truck, Mr Biden had commented: “This sucker’s quick.”
Anyone notice two steering wheels? pic.twitter.com/hmavnxt6PE
— Chance Paschall (@ChancePaschall) May 19, 2021
Yes pic.twitter.com/wsRNo5l8ul
— SWCC-Smith (@CoachSmith84) May 19, 2021
One Twitter user noted that those right-wing conspiracy theorists were claiming was a second steering wheel was in fact a DSLR camera that the secret service agent appeared to be holding on to keep it from falling off the dashboard.
I’m on my way to Dearborn to tour the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. See you soon, Michigan!
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 18, 2021
On a @ford test track, @POTUS gets to take the #F150 for a spin. (Photo: @reuterspictures/ Leah Mills) pic.twitter.com/liALmrsuXO
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 18, 2021
Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich) who was with Mr Biden during his visit to the Ford Center also shared a photo of the truck. And it also didn’t show any second steering wheel.
Any day we get to talk trucks, bringing good-paying jobs to Michigan, AND setting up the U.S. to lead the world in sustainable tech is a *very* good day.
I got to do just that when I joined @JoeBiden and @gretchenwhitmer to tour the Ford plant making the electric F-150. pic.twitter.com/hCWSZwo9Rq— Elissa Slotkin (@ElissaSlotkin) May 18, 2021
Others called the claims of Mr Biden not really driving the electric vehicle “utter nonsense.”
Q types new theory de jour is that Biden wasn't actually driving the electric F-150 and the Secret Service agent in the passenger seat was via hidden control
Except the agent was grabbing the DSLR camera on the dash to keep it from flying into his face when Biden floored https://t.co/AgbDGsckk8 pic.twitter.com/qSbJ3rSlRo— zedster (@z3dster) May 19, 2021
On Tuesday, Mr Biden had said: “We need automakers and other companies to keep investing here in America and not take the benefits of our public investments and expand electric vehicles and battery manufacturing abroad.”
The latest pointless conspiracy theory is that Joe Biden wasn't driving that car yesterday in Dearborn because someone else has his hand on something. I guess he looked a little bit too cool so there needed to be a reason to say it wasn't him? pic.twitter.com/EAtz7EdzXE
— Arieh Kovler (@ariehkovler) May 19, 2021
Another angle, though, shows clearly inside the car. There's no "second steering wheel". https://t.co/OvmOd6vPpk pic.twitter.com/XPOb01CPwW
— Arieh Kovler (@ariehkovler) May 19, 2021
The president added: “We’re going to set a new pace for electric vehicles.”
“The future of the auto industry is electric. There’s no turning back.”
- Joe Biden, driving an electric truck at a Ford factory. pic.twitter.com/p2xAbzfiQ6— Global Health Strategies (@GHS) May 19, 2021
Mr Biden is aiming to push for electric vehicles in the auto industry and the White House wants to encourage production facilities which will ultimately ramp up the electric vehicle manufacturing in the country.
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Watch live as Joe Biden visits Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan
