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Trash Talk is a study of the rumors, legends, and conspiracy theories that circulated about Barack Obama and his family from 2004 - 2020 — from the first days of his campaign to long after he had exited the White House.
Written by internationally recognized folklorist Patricia A. Turner, Trash Talk uses the analytical tools and theoretical frameworks of folklore studies to delve into social media, email circulars, and other channels that allowed even the most absurd conspiracy theories to take root. Trash Talk charts the outbreaks of anti-Obama lore with each election cycle beginning in 2004 and continuing into the 2020 election – two cycles after Obama left the White House.
2004: Flagged Down
From the very beginning, rhetoric around the symbols and displays of patriotism were problematic for Barack Obama. No matter how many flag pins he wore and how many times he sang the national anthem, he was unable to convince some Americans that he was patriotic. Despite being an obviously faked composite, the image to the left “demonstrated” his lack of patriotism in comparison with election rivals.
2008: Born to Run
Legends about Obama’s birth and allegations that he was not a legitimate citizen of the United States were so pervasive that several prominent national public opinion polling outlets asked likely voters if they believed Obama was a citizen. And each time a poll was administered it determined that the number of Americans who believed that Obama had misrepresented his place of birth increased. This chapter offers an extended analysis of the many versions of allegations Obama was constitutionally ineligible for the presidency due to the circumstances of his birth.
2008 - 2012: Articles of Faith
Articles of Faith traces the evolution of beliefs about Barack Obama’s religious faith. Critics used his middle name, Hussein, to cast him as a Muslim and associate him with 9/11.
In addition to the ubiquitous Muslim beliefs, the chapter also analyzes the controversy that ensued after transcripts revealed that his long-time pastor, Jeremiah Wright, had repeated well-known conspiracy theories in sermons at Trinity Baptist Church.
2014: Michelle Matters
“I so believe Joan [Rivers] was killed for telling the world Michelle is a man.” - YouTube comment
Michelle Obama enjoyed remarkable popularity from her earliest days in the limelight. Her confident, smiling visage adorned the covers of glossy magazines, and her activities in service to her causes resonated with voters unbothered by the prominence of a smart black woman.
Critics began by calling her education into question, dismissing her Ivy League degrees as evidence of misguided affirmative action policies. The severity of anti-Michelle lore intensified with each year in the White House, including widespread memes that the tall, physically fit First Lady was either secretly male or a transgender woman.
In 2014, it reached absurd heights when a conspiracy theory alleged that the Obamas had orchestrated the death of Joan Rivers, who passed away shortly after snapping on camera that Barack was gay and Michelle “a tranny.” 81 years old at the time, an autopsy linked her death to a botched medical procedure — sparking the YouTube commenter’s avowal of foul play quoted above.
2008 - 2020: Pandemic Levels
This chapter documents Obama lore regarding the HIV-AIDS, Ebola, and Covid-19 viruses. HIV-AIDS lore threatened to undermine his 2008 campaign for the presidency; accusations that he fueled the spread of the Ebola virus likely tipped the scales in the 2014 mid-term elections. And although Obama was an ex-president when the COVID-19 outbreak emerged, one of the most popular conspiracy theories alleged that when he was president he conspired with Melinda Gates, Anthony Fauci, and Chinese scientists to develop a lethal virus.
2016-2020: Obama Legends in the Age of Trump
The narratives that surfaced in the weeks, months and years after Obama left the White House were a microcosm of those he and his family endured over the previous decades. Stories that the Trump cleaning crew found illicit drug paraphernalia in the master bedroom of the White House reinforced the stereotype that he was a street thug from the hood. Malia’s acceptance to Harvard was met with the same insults her mother had endured.
QAnon’s attacks were, of course, byzantine conspiracy theories design to undercut opponents of Trump. When Trump and his followers contested the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the conviction that Barack Obama was capable of manipulating the election surfaced in a series of conspiracy theories now labelled “Italygate,” a convoluted narrative that in which Obama is said to have conspired with the Italian government to tamper with American voting machines to favor Biden.