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1. Wild Thoughts: 'I hate Trump, she likes him – we both think he staged assassination attempts'

How do two people with different political views end up believing the Donald Trump assassination attempts were staged?

Meet Camille and ‘Wild Mother’. Both women love nature, animals, and the outdoors. Both women also believe the assassination attempts on Donald Trump were staged – but have very different political views. Why do people believe the things they do? And what role do social media sites – and their algorithms – play?

In this series, ´óÏó´«Ã½ disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring travels to the United States to investigate the social media backdrop to the 2024 presidential election and explore the different ways in which what is happening online is influencing the campaign offline.

Marianna starts her journey in Colorado, looking at how conspiracy theories have spread so far across the political spectrum in the US. She interrogates the consequences for Camille, ‘Wild Mother’, and the upcoming election.

Host: Marianna Spring
Producers: Daniel Wittenberg & Emma Close
Story Editor: Matt Willis
Editor: Sam Bonham
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Sound Designer: Tony Churnside
Production Co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Mon 23 Sep 2024 16:30
  • Tue 24 Sep 2024 23:00

Podcast