I have a strong aversion to conspiracy theories. So strong, in fact, that my judgment is sometimes clouded in my zealousness to debunk them. Yet, just as a broken clock is right twice a day, the occasional conspiracy theory turns out to be true.

In this column and on many other occasions I mocked the notion that Barack Obama is the behind-the-scenes mastermind who controls the puppet Joe Biden. I found that hypothesis particularly amusing for two reasons: for the most part, because the Biden Administration is both Leftist and incompetent, neither of which describes Obama. If Obama was really running things, I argued, the country would be a lot better off. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I think Obama was the second coming of Ronald Reagan; I rank Obama barely in the top half of all presidents. In stark contrast, though, Biden’s only a few slots from the very bottom. As for Obama’s ideology, contrary to many rightwing histrionics, he’s not a Leftist. In some respects, he’s barely even a liberal. Biden, on the other hand, has been a Leftist enabler. It’s not as if he suddenly changed ideology in his ninth decade of life, it’s that he’s been too feeble to put a muzzle on the Lefty loonies who’ve hijacked his party. If Obama was really in control, that wouldn’t be happening.

Another reason why the “Obama’s really running things” belief annoyed me so much is because I have little patience for those who believe everything they read. Case in point: a recent Facebook post announced that iconic TV hit Sopranos creator David Chase was rebooting the series (whose run ended in 2007). Reader after reader responded with exclamations such as “great news!” “woo-hoo!” and “this is amazing!” Quite skeptical about the story, my first reaction was to Google “David Chase new Sopranos series.” I found nothing corroborating the post, and an article specifically referring to the “fake post” going viral in social media. As I suspected. Yet the gullible masses reveled in false information, and some may still believe it and in a few months ask: “so, when’s the new Sopranos series starting?”

Back to Obama and Biden: I insisted that Obama is not an ideologue. He’s happy being retired – golfing, attending VIP cocktail parties, and lending his name to some charitable endeavor. He’s not interested in politics, I said. Besides, I continued, our country is not a Banana Republic where presidents are puppets controlled by others behind the curtain, so stop acting like it is.

But now that Biden withdrew from the race, we’re learning otherwise. Apparently, Obama played a large and influential role in convincing Biden to step off the mound and hit the showers. In fact, days before Biden’s inevitable exit – bringing to mind Richard Nixon’s final days – stories were abound that Biden was seething with anger at those trying to force him out, not least of which was Obama. The plot thickened as information surfaced about how Obama was the one who discouraged Biden from running in 2016, instead backing Hillary Clinton. Biden believed he could’ve beaten Trump in 2016 (he may be right). In that case, Biden believes he’d now be concluding a successful eight-year reign, and would go down in history as a very good president. I think if Biden won in 2016 he’d have lost in 2020 for the same reason Trump did – the pandemic – but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, Biden has an axe to grind with Obama; the larger point is, Obama’s not spending nearly as much time on the golf course as I assumed. So, to all whose favorite parlor game is reading and then repeating outrageous concepts, congratulations – you got this one right, to some extent. I was wrong.

CHESS BEATS CHECKERS

On another note, my TNH colleague Constantine (Dean) Sirigos suggested quite astutely that Biden outfoxed Trump by waiting to withdraw only after Trump announced his own running mate, arguing that “Biden played chess while Trump played checkers.” I think Dean is right, and I’m still scratching my head about why on earth Trump doubled down with J.D. Vance, a white, male, Trump clone newbie.

Vance seems to belong in the Jared Kushner, Don Jr., Tucker Carlson, and Fox and Friends section of Trumpworld, and that’s not going to attract additional voters. Nor does Vance inspire confidence insofar as being ready to be president on day one if need be. Simply put, Trump should’ve swallowed his pride and picked Nikki Haley or Marco Rubio. In fact, if Trump had chosen his ally-turned rival-turned-ally again Ron DeSantis – who is a far more deserving heir to MAGA – it would’ve ignited enthusiasm for a ticket the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades.

While I’m acknowledging those who get things right, I can’t leave out Bill O’Reilly, who for well over a year now has insisted that Biden wouldn’t be the Democratic nominee. “It’s just not going to happen!” O’Reilly repeatedly declared with certainty.

For those of us who don’t want our current state of porous borders, rampant crime waves, and wokeness run amok to worsen, let’s hope that the Trump-Vance ticket prevails in November, that Trump accomplishes even a fraction of the goals he’s promising, and that Vance is a quick study and rapidly develops enough gravitas to gain the respect and confidence of the nation. He’s young, he’s new, and he’s untested. But so were many others in our country’s history who rose to the occasion.

Nothing would please me more than to write a column a year or two from now titled: “I Was Wrong about J.D. Vance.”