QAnon now believes a body double replaced Senator John Fetterman

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), still recovering from the effects of a stroke he suffered on the campaign trail last year, publicly announced last month that he was admitting himself to Walter Reed Hospital to be treated for severe depression. After more than a month of psychiatric treatment, Fetterman is preparing to be discharged and return to full-time work in the Senate.

But far-right QAnon conspiracy theorists aren't buying it.

According to VICE News on Monday, a bizarre theory spread across the internet over the weekend, fanned by a handful of influential extreme-right voices, that Fetterman has been replaced by a body double.

"The entire basis of the conspiracy theory is the comparison of two photos of Fetterman that the conspiracists claim are not of the same person — even though both are very obviously both of the Pennsylvania senator," reported David Gilbert. "Body double conspiracies are a common trope in conspiracist circles: In recent years QAnon believers have claimed that President Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth, and the Pope have been replaced by body doubles, all in an attempt to undermine the leaders’ credibility and boost the belief that the world is really run by a secret cabal of elites and the faceless 'deep state.'"

"It's a miracle," wrote Catturd, a far-right Twitter troll who has been boosted by his public conversations with tech billionaire Elon Musk since his takeover of the platform. "In only 3 weeks, John Fetterman got a total head replacement. Man, he has some good doctors.” He displayed two pictures of Fetterman that are clearly still of the same person.

As the report noted, the two pictures were taken at different times; the second came from May 2022, as Fetterman was being discharged from a Pennsylvania hospital after treatment of his stroke. Meanwhile, "other Twitter users also pointed out how the varying focal lengths of different camera lenses can have a huge impact on how people appear in pictures."

Despite this, the report said, many prominent far-right and QAnon-linked voices are pushing ahead with the conspiracy theory.

Fetterman was elected to an open, previously Republican-held Senate seat in Pennsylvania last year, besting Trump-backed celebrity TV health trend promoter Dr. Mehmet Oz in a high-profile contest. The victory expanded the Democratic majority in the Senate, removing the need for Vice President Kamala Harris to act as then constant tiebreaker in an evenly divided chamber.