'Chaos is intentional': Internet divided as Donald Trump floats conspiracy theory about campus protests

WASHINGTON, DC: Former President Donald Trump has linked the ongoing pro-Palestine protests in universities across the United States to the migrant crisis at the southern border.

The ex-president has claimed that the student protests, which began at Columbia University in New York, are a distraction from the ongoing migrant influx, according to HuffPost.

Pro-Palestine student protests started roughly two weeks ago, demanding universities to divest from companies connected to Israel in light of the Jewish state's ongoing war on Gaza as the Palestinian death toll crossed 34,000.

Trump's baseless conspiracy theory

The former president aired his latest theory on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, May 1, posing a question to his nearly seven million followers on the platform.

Trump wrote, "Do you think that the Radical Left Lunatics that are causing all of the CHAOS at our Colleges and Universities are doing so in order to take the FOCUS away from our Southern Border, where millions of people, many from prisons and mental institutions, are pouring into our Country? Just askin’…???"

The border crisis due to the increasing number of illegal migrants entering the US is a major concern for President Joe Biden's administration.

Immigration took center stage in the run up to the 2024 presidential election as Biden failed to effectively address the crisis, causing border cities to struggle to handle the recent influx.

Furthermore, the current administration faced a setback in February when the Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border security bill created to address the issue. However, the legislation failed because of Trump's pressure on GOP Senators to thwart it to prevent his successor a victory ahead of the November election.

In addition, some latest reports claimed that the Biden administration was considering the possibility of allowing a limited number of Palestinians who are escaping the ongoing Israel war in Gaza to enter the US on refugee status.

The Republican presumptive nominee had whined that Columbia University's anti-Israel protestors could be treated with more lenience than the Jan 6 rioters who attacked the Capitol in 2021.

On April 30, Trump questioned in the hallway outside a Manhattan courtroom where his hush money trial was taking place whether the student demonstrators who violently took over a Columbia University building would be treated similarly to the Capitol attackers.

"I think I can give you the answer right now. And that's why people have lost faith in our court system," the White House hopeful said, according to the Associated Press.

The student demonstrators, during the early morning hours of May 1, violently seized Hamilton Hall inside the campus, forcing the New York police to clear the protesters, arresting dozens of them forcibly.

Social media divided by Trump's theory

Netizens split into two camps weighing in on Trump's conspiracy theory. While one group dismissed the allegation, the other sided with the ex-president.

One user wrote, "No. Wrong as usual." While another remarked, "We are definitely being distracted! No doubt about it."

"No. They just prioritize a different issue. Trump is so obsessed with campaigning on the border that he told Congressional Republicans to preserve it as an issue for him by tanking a bipartisan border deal that would have provided more agents and fentanyl detectors," a third user added.

Whereas a fourth response read, "A lot of the chaos is on purpose. And trying to get us off stance and trying to keep up. The chaos is intentional."

Someone else claimed, "N0, but I think the response to the university protests is an attempt to distract from the Manhattan trial & the delays/obstruction of the 3 trials yet to come."

Meanwhile, an individual said, "I don’t think that’s their main purpose, no. But it sure is distracting from it and that’s probably why Biden himself has said absolutely nothing."

"Now you’re a conspiracy theorist my God somebody needs to put you in prison and leave you there," one fumed. On the other hand, another user wrote, "Exactly, this is all about taking the focus off of the messes Biden has made."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.