The six best (and most bonkers) new conspiracy theories of 2017

Donald Trump is fond of a good conspiracy theory – remember all that stuff about Barack Obama’s birth certificate? – and with Trump at the helm, it’s been a bumper year.

Trump’s own obsession with ‘fake news’ fueled distrust of the mainstream media – meaning that people are much more likely to believe bonkers stuff on YouTube instead.

Here are some of the most out-there conspiracy theories to see the light of day this year.

Melania Trump has been replaced by a Russian clone

In October, people became fixated by the idea that Melania Trump has been replaced by a crude body double (possibly cloned in a Russian lab).

The evidence? It’s down to something strange Trump said, plus video grabs showing Melania looking rather unlike herself – heavily made up, in large sunglasses, and looking like she’s got a false nose.

In the CNN video, President Trump said, loudly, ‘’My wife, Melania, who happens to be right here.’

Conspiracy theorists (naturally) believe that he’s protesting too much – and said this to cover up for the fact that the Melania on display was a fake.

Justin Bieber is a shape-shifting reptile

Now this one is a little more plausible: is Justin Bieber really a shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptile?

Conspiracy sites reported that Bieber ‘shapeshifted into a reptilian’ in front of fans who were waiting for him to arrive in Perth Airport in Australia.

YourNewsWire reported, ‘There were girls hiding in toilets, crying. Guys were running for the exits, jumping in taxis to get out of there.’

The conspiracy sites claim that a report on the shapeshifting incident was briefly published by a local news outlet – then deleted in an attempt to cover up Bieber’s true, reptilian nature.

Donald Trump has secretly arrested Hillary Clinton and she is wearing an ankle tag

People seriously believe this one, claiming that Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Chelsea Clinton have been covertly arrested, and are already wearing ankle tags.

It’s all part of a broader – and breathtakingly bonkers – conspiracy theory that Donald Trump is ‘cleaning up’ an operation of supposed ‘elite paedophiles’ who have been drugging and raping children.

The Clintons, McCain and the Rothschilds are supposedly involved.

Believers in the conspiracy think that President Trump is days away from arresting hundreds of paedophiles – and can be found on Twitter with hashtags such as #thestorm and #followthewhiterabbit.

NASA is secretly sending children to Mars to be sex slaves

This one made enough of an impression that NASA actually stepped in to comment about it – although the idea’s completely ludicrious.

A guest on the online conspiracy theory show Infowars, Robert David Steele said, ‘We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride.

‘So that once they get to Mars, they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.’

NASA spokesman Guy Webster said, with admirable restraint, ‘There are no humans on Mars.’

The Las Vegas shooter was a communist agent aiming to start an American civil war

‘Could Stephen Paddock, the lone Vegas shooter, have been a patsy to kick off the left’s war with the right in the streets of America?’ asked Alex Jones on Facebook.

Jones and his associates claimed in a video segment that ‘antifa’ (ie leftists) were planning a civil war to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the October revolution in Russia.

David Knight of Infowars said, ‘As we look at the 100 year anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolutionk… We have a new civil war that is coming to overthrow the government. These Antifa communists are training with weapons.’

Jones has claimed that Paddock had ‘Isis and Antifa literature’ in his room.

Jones is a notorious Sandy Hook ‘truther’ who claims that parents of the murdered children ‘made up’ the attack in 2012 where 26 children were killed.

The word ‘covfefe’ is actually a secret message to Muslims

When Donald Trump famously tweeted, ‘Despite the constant negative press covfefe’, the world (sensibly) assumed he fell asleep while typing the word ‘coverage’.

But was he actually sending a secret message of solidarity to the Muslim world?

Believe it or not, various social media Trump fans claim that this is the case – and the word ‘covfefe’ means ‘I will stand up’ in Arabic.

The fact that Trump hastily deleted his Tweet when he woke up suggests that it may just have been a typo, however…