COLUMN: Trump Goes Off the Rails on Truth Social and Calls for Obama’s Arrest

The Myth of Obama’s Espionage

This accusation of espionage by the Obama administration is not new. It is part of a constellation of conspiracy theories that Trump and his allies have been spreading for nearly a decade, claiming that the previous administration fabricated evidence to undermine his victory in the 2016 election. According to this version of events, the FBI and the CIA allegedly hatched a plot to discredit Trump, even though investigations into the matter have shown that information regarding the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia was not made public until after the election, as demonstrated by a detailed timeline published by the Washington Post. Reports of Russian hacking of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the use of Russian bots were documented throughout 2016, thus contradicting the theory of a post-election conspiracy.

It’s fascinating to see how a lie can take on such proportions. We are no longer in the realm of truth or even post-truth; we are in something far more toxic and unstructured. An alternative reality where facts no longer exist, where every investigation becomes a persecution, where every piece of evidence becomes a conspiracy. It’s like witnessing the live suicide of truth, a slow agony of common sense. And the most pathetic part is that Trump clings to these fables like a castaway to a lifebuoy, refusing to accept that his election could be tainted by anything other than his own supposed greatness.

A president who refuses to move on

Beyond the accusations leveled against Obama, reports from Thursday morning also reveal that Trump remains deeply obsessed with his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Among the many posts he shared were a barrage of claims calling the election “rigged,” accompanied by screenshots of anonymous X users who shared his belief that he had actually won. Trump also shared a video from CNN that appeared to show a discussion about his potential victory in Georgia in 2024, though he did not explain the connection between this forward-looking video and his conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election—illustrating once again how he blithely mixes past, present, and future facts to serve his victim narrative.

Five years. This has been going on for five years. Five years of him harping on the same complaints, the same accusations, the same lies. How can a human being remain fixated on a single event for so long without completely losing his mind? How can anyone claim to lead a country when they’re incapable of accepting an election result they don’t like? It’s pure and simple pathology. A sick obsession that devours everything in its path, including democracy itself. And what revolts me the most is that there are still millions of people who believe in this delusion. How did we get to this point?

Bill O’Reilly and the Chinese Conspiracy

Among the other content shared by Trump during this morning frenzy was another conspiracy theory propagated by former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. This time, it involved allegations that the Chinese government was funding left-wing groups as well as the Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committee. These unsubstantiated allegations join a long list of conspiracy theories circulating in pro-Trump circles, each fueling a narrative of victimization in which the president and his supporters are supposedly under siege by hostile forces—whether the “deep state,” the allegedly corrupt media, or foreign powers. This rhetoric allows any criticism or opposition to be portrayed as a concerted attack against Trump and his supporters.

There is something almost fascinating about the creativity displayed in inventing new enemies. China, leftists, the media, the deep state, Obama, Biden, and the list goes on… It’s like a constantly expanding paranoia that eventually encompasses everything that isn’t Trump. It’s like a cult where every day brings a new conspirator, a new traitor, a new informant. And what’s frightening is that these fables aren’t harmless. They construct an alternative reality where everything becomes legitimate, where any extreme measure can be justified in the name of defending against these supposed enemies. It opens the door to all kinds of excesses.

A Conspiracy Theory Machine

The fact that Trump echoed comments made by Jesse Watters and Bill O’Reilly—two iconic figures at Fox News—highlights the central role this network plays in spreading and legitimizing conspiracy theories among the American conservative public. Watters, in particular, has distinguished himself through his controversial comments and unverified claims, which, once echoed by the president himself, gain a new audience and new credibility among his supporters. This vicious cycle—in which right-wing hosts fuel Trump’s obsessions, which he then amplifies through his own social media channels—creates a powerful echo chamber that continually reinforces conspiracy theories among his electoral base.

Fox News has become much more than a television network; it has become a propaganda machine, a lie factory operating nonstop 24 hours a day. And what shocks me is that there are still people who dare to call this journalism. It’s an insult to all real journalists who risk their lives to investigate and reveal the truth. They are purveyors of fear, peddlers of hate who have realized that audiences are won through outrage and division. They’ve turned news into a spectacle and the truth into a consumer product. And they couldn’t care less about the collateral damage.

The Poisoning of Public Discourse

The constant repetition of baseless accusations and conspiracy theories by a sitting president has profound and lasting consequences for American democratic debate. When institutions and political actors are constantly delegitimized by unfounded attacks, public trust in democratic processes gradually erodes. Citizens eventually no longer know whom to believe and come to doubt everything, creating fertile ground for manipulation and authoritarianism. This deterioration of public discourse also makes it more difficult to hold constructive debates on the real challenges facing the country, since attention and energy are constantly diverted toward fictitious controversies and personal feuds.

This may be the worst legacy of this presidency: having trivialized lying, having made the unacceptable acceptable. Before, when someone lied, there were consequences. There was shame, there was accountability. Today? Lying has become a political strategy; it has become a tool of power. And the most appalling thing is that it works. We’ve seen people who for years championed the importance of truth now accept the most blatant lies because they serve their cause. It’s a pact with the devil that will ultimately cost us dearly as a society.

A Platform to Bypass Moderation

Trump’s decision to prioritize Truth Social for his direct communications with the public is no coincidence. This platform, created in response to the restrictions imposed by traditional social media platforms following the events of January 6, 2021, allows him to post content that would likely be moderated or flagged elsewhere. Truth Social functions as an echo chamber where his supporters can access his most controversial posts unfiltered, thereby creating a community of believers even more isolated from factual reality. This strategy of bypassing traditional public spaces to focus on controlled and favorable spaces contributes to the fragmentation of the American public sphere into multiple parallel realities.

In a way, it’s amazing. We created the internet to connect the world, to share knowledge, to bring people together. And what have we done with it? We’ve turned it into an even more powerful tool of division. Bubbles where everyone sees only what they want to see and hears only what they want to hear. Truth Social is the embodiment of this: a giant bubble where reality bends to the wishes of Trump and his followers. It’s communitarianism taken to the extreme, 21st-century digital tribalism. And sitting here in the midst of it all, I wonder if we can still hope for a return to a shared truth, or if it’s broken beyond repair.

The Lack of Response to the Unacceptable

In the face of these calls for the arrest of a former president and the repetition of proven lies, a nagging question arises: why are democratic institutions remaining silent? Congress, national security agencies, and even the FBI itself remain remarkably quiet, as if these repeated attacks on the foundations of the rule of law were part of the new political normal. This lack of response sets a dangerous precedent, suggesting that the norms that once governed American political life can be violated with impunity. Every day that these attacks go unchallenged by any meaningful institutional response, the bar for what is acceptable is lowered a little further, gradually normalizing behaviors that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

And that is perhaps what distresses me the most. Not the lies—we know he’s lying. Not the conspiracy theories—we know he’s making them up. But the silence. The complicit silence of those who should be defending our institutions, who should be protecting democracy, who should be saying STOP. But they say nothing. They remain silent. They calculate. They wait. And in the meantime, democracy is being stripped of its substance, becoming an empty shell, a soulless theater set. How can anyone remain silent when they see the house burning down? I really can’t understand it.

A Point of No Return

This new series of posts on Truth Social by Donald Trump—with his calls for the arrest of a former president and his perpetual obsession with past elections—illustrates once again the depth of the collapse of American leadership on the world stage. While other countries face existential challenges such as climate change, global pandemics, or growing geopolitical tensions, the President of the United States remains stuck in a loop of personal resentment and conspiracy theories. This fixation on the past prevents any constructive vision for the future and condemns the country to political paralysis that could have irreversible consequences. The question now is no longer whether the system can survive this presidency, but rather whether it will ever be able to fully recover from the damage that has been done.

I write these lines with a heaviness in my heart that I have never known before. Because despite everything we’ve seen—despite all the scandals, all the lies, all the attacks—there was always that little voice telling me, “This will pass, the system will hold, democracy is stronger than any one man.” But today, after seeing this president call for the arrest of another president without any action being taken, I’m no longer sure of anything. A line has been crossed—a line that we may never be able to cross back. And that scares me. Because I know that what happens in the United States doesn’t stay in the United States. It’s an example, a model, a warning. And I’m terribly afraid that this message is the following: democracy can die not with a loud crash, but in the complicit silence of those who should have defended it.

Signed, Jacques Provost