# What's the most insane rumor you've heard about a candidate for public office, in the U.S. or elsewhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 8, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122 "2025-05-08T22:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/1 "2025-05-08T22:56:10Z")
Last night, I was dinking around on YouTube, and found a video by an ex-porn star who had become a born-again Christian, and he said that the Harris/Walz campaign had advertised on PornHub in seven U.S. states. (I’d like to know how that site could find state borders, KWIM?) I did a bit of sleuthing, and the only sources originated with this guy. I also remember the 30-minute infomercials the Lyndon LaRouche campaign aired on network television during the 1984 presidential campaign, and when a local (Des Moines) station broadcasted one stating that the Mondale/Ferraro campaign was financed by the KGB, the station was inundated with angry phone calls, and the station had to say that any footage submitted by a candidate had to be aired, when and where the candidate’s campaign wanted it. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/2 "2025-05-08T23:01:05Z")
I’ve yet to hear any that top the ones about RFK Jr. Brain worm? Dead whale oozing down his windshield? Hit-and-run on a bear and trying to frame a bicyclist for it? You can’t make this up. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > (I’d like to know how that site could find state borders, KWIM?) The same way as every other website, of course. Ads on porn sites are notoriously geolocated. Are you saying you’ve really never seen jokes about “Hot singles in \ hoping to hook up”? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/3 "2025-05-08T23:03:02Z")
> **[Pizzagate conspiracy theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory)** > > "Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner's emails. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police. > In March 2016, the personal email account of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign ch... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/4 "2025-05-08T23:05:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The same way as every other website, of course. Exactly. Unless one is using a VPN or something similar to actively disguise one’s location, websites and digital advertisers are able to use information like your IP address, your ISP, and/or (if you are on a mobile device) cell tower signals to locate where you are, with a fair-to-excellent degree of accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/5 "2025-05-08T23:09:37Z")
Those stories about RFK Jr. were TRUE. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/6 "2025-05-08T23:18:45Z")
Yup, which doesn’t make them any less insane. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/7 "2025-05-09T00:14:22Z")
The whole “George Bush did 9/11” business was pretty insane. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/8 "2025-05-09T00:22:39Z")
There was the one about Jefferson having sex with his slaves. Oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/9 "2025-05-09T01:07:44Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I also remember the 30-minute infomercials the Lyndon LaRouche campaign aired on network television during the 1984 presidential campaign Lyndon LaRouche campaigns were continuing streams of the most insane rumor you’ve ever heard, from Queen Elizabeth heading the international drug cartel to Henry Kissinger being a Soviet agent to jazz being invented by whites to re-enslave Blacks. The rumor about George H.W. Bush having a long-term affair may not have been “insane” but I always found it so unlikely that I believe anyone who spread it had to be insane. Overall, I think Hillary Clinton had more insane rumors spread about her than even Obama, and I agree with @PastTense that Pizzagate was the most insane of all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/10 "2025-05-09T01:15:46Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > There was the one about Jefferson having sex with his slaves. Oh wait… IIRC Team Jefferson spread rumors that John Adams was a hermaphrodite. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/11 "2025-05-09T01:16:33Z")
The Russians have footage of Donald J. Trump enjoying the company of hookers and their golden showers. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/12 "2025-05-09T01:36:56Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > The Russians have footage of Donald J. Trump enjoying the company of hookers and their golden showers Not even close to the most insane. May not be true, but it’s certainly conceivable. Unlike Pizzagate, Hillary killed Vince Foster, or Obama was born in Kenya. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/13 "2025-05-09T02:07:43Z")
I suppose it isn’t a rumor if he admits to it, but my first thought was the guy in Georgia who had sex with livestock. [https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/georgia-candidate-for-governor-admits-to-bestiality/](https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/georgia-candidate-for-governor-admits-to-bestiality/) ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/14 "2025-05-09T02:41:55Z")
This one beats all, though: I’ve heard rumors that Donald Trump is a successful businessman who has America’s best interests at heart. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/15 "2025-05-09T03:23:06Z")
There’s the [famous rumor](https://www.thestanduplawyer.com/make-the-sonofabitch-deny-it-the-rise-of-pig-fucker-politics/) about one of Lyndon Johnson’s political opponents. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/16 "2025-05-09T04:13:37Z")
The rumors about Eisenhower and Kay Summersby are also believed by most to have been unlikely, and mostly wishful thinking on her part. My brother summed up the idea of Bush v. 1.0 having an affair best: “If he cheated on Barbara, she’d kick his butt!” I’ve also heard, from more than one person, that Bush v. 2.0 and Condoleezza Rice had Something Going On, but I’ve also heard that she’s a lesbian, so who knows? Some of the LaRouche infomercials are on YouTube. Last time I looked, the one about the KGB connection wasn’t there - yet. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/17 "2025-05-09T04:20:05Z")
Oh, yes, I’ve seen those “Increase The Size Of Your P3n1s!” ads myself. I don’t know what a p3n1s is, but it’s a pretty safe bet I don’t have one LOL. I once saw a link on another site to a gay-man hookup site, and there was something about it that prompted me to click on it to see if it was for real. Not only was it for real, but I saw a thumbnail of a young man wearing a leather mask, and I knew who he was. I had never suspected that he was gay, and he’s in a job where it could be an issue if the wrong people found out, so I quickly hit the X button, backed out, and will say nothing to anyone that we both know. “If the wrong people found out” he was doing this on a straight site, that could be a problem too, if you think about it. If that Harris/Walz ad really existed, I’m sure I would have heard about it, and somebody would have posted it some place where it could be easily seen. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/18 "2025-05-09T04:41:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve yet to hear any that top the ones about RFK Jr. Brain worm? Dead whale oozing down his windshield? Hit-and-run on a bear and trying to frame a bicyclist for it? You can’t make this up. And yet, they’re so far out that they continually make me question my own memory, thinking maybe I _had_ just made them up, or distorted them somehow. I was relaying these tales to a friend of mine, who didn’t even particularly push back, but in the telling, I just thought that even one of these is way too insane, that certainly nobody could act like that in repeat, so I looked them up… And no, it’s just exactly that insane. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/19 "2025-05-09T11:19:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve also heard, from more than one person, that Bush v. 2.0 and Condoleezza Rice had Something Going On, but I’ve also heard that she’s a lesbian, so who knows? So… GeeDubya was actually a woman? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122/20 "2025-05-09T12:39:15Z")
…or a “hermaphrodite” (the word is _intersex_ nowadays) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-insane-rumor-youve-heard-about-a-candidate-for-public-office-in-the-u-s-or-elsewhere/1018122.md?page=2)