Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) pushed a conspiracy theory Friday that a Democratic “deep state” run by former President Obama is seeking to prevent President Biden from being the Democratic presidential nominee this fall.
“I’ve said for over a year many times that Joe Biden would not be on the ticket and Michelle Obama would be the likely nominee,” Patrick posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “It’s clear the Democrat deep state run by Barack Obama knew they had to take him down to give them a chance in November.”
Patrick alluded to the controversy Thursday when a special counsel — who had previously been appointed to a position by former President Trump — issued a report that said no criminal charges would be brought against Biden for his handling of classified documents outside a secure setting.
The report made numerous negative references to Biden’s age and memory, which were seized upon by Republicans. Biden then fiercely rebuked the report and took questions at a Thursday night news conference where he at one point confused Egypt’s president as the president of Mexico. Some Democrats have acknowledged problems with the presser.
While many Democrats have pointed fingers at the special counsel and suggested the report included cheap political shorts, Patrick saw a broad conspiracy involving the deep state and the Obama family. He argued the report itself was a setup.
“They set him up in the report calling him a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,'” he wrote. “They could have protected him by putting him in the Oval Office to read a statement with no press questions. Instead, they sent him out and fed him to a press – where he was a total embarrassment. He doesn’t have a memory and Kamala doesn’t have a brain. Now they have a real problem.”
Theories that former first lady Michelle Obama could be a sleeper Democratic presidential candidate have filled the airwaves for years. She is one of the most famous and well-liked political figures in the country but has indicated less-than-no-interest in running for office.
Karl Rove, the former strategist to President George W. Bush, just this week described the idea that Michelle Obama could run as a Democratic candidate for president as “pure lunacy,” though he did suggest it was possible Biden could bow out because of concerns about his age. Rove’s remarks came before the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report.