On Friday, President Joe Biden underwent a routine medical checkup. As is standard for people of a certain age, his physical included a colonoscopy. Because the procedure requires anesthesia, Biden transferred presidential powers to Vice President Kamala Harris while he was under.
This has happened previously. CNN reporter Kevin Liptak pointed out that former President George Bush twice transferred power during colonoscopies while he was in office.
But in the wide world of conspiracy theories, nothing is as it seems—not even a medical screening the American Cancer Society recommends people of average risk regularly receive after age 45. Conspiracists believe the colonoscopy was a ruse for various purposes.
QAnon promoter Tracy “Beanz” Diaz posted about Biden’s colonoscopy on her podcast’s Telegram channel. Diaz wrote, “I thought it was a ‘routine physical.’ Now it’s a colonoscopy and he has to be asleep?” To her credit, she subsequently posted that she’d learned that colonoscopies are indeed part of routine physicals.
Within minutes of Diaz’s original post, her followers were coming up with wild hypotheses.
“I expect some wild fireworks events for the hours he’s out,” wrote one. “More will happen in that time than in a month.”
Another theorized, “I bet he doesn’t wake up. Perhaps the ‘transfer’ has begun.”
The transfer of power to Harris during Biden’s colonoscopy marks the first time a woman has wielded presidential power. Several noted that one day, this could be the answer to a question on a history test.
“In my wildest dreams, I never imagined the path to the first woman (acting) president would involve a colonoscopy—but making history is never easy, you know?” tweeted @amandalitman.