Eric Trump Suggests That Ellen DeGeneres Is Part Of The “Deep State” Conspiracy Theory

Who is Ellen DeGeneres? If you’re a fan of talkshows, you probably know her as the bubbly and dance-happy host of Ellen. If you love Pixar, then you likely know her as Dory, Finding Nemo‘s sweetly forgetful fish. If you’re just a general connoisseur of pop culture, you likely think of her as a high-level and beloved celebrity who makes everyone happy and is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQIA people. However, if you’re Eric Trump, it seems you think Ellen DeGeneres is a shadowy public figure who’s main objective is to undermine the Trump presidency. That’s where our story begins, and it sure is a crazy one.

Last night, Eric Trump tweeted a skeptical post, side eyeing Twitter’s “Who to follow” suggestions. “Shocking. Once again, here are the @Twitter ‘suggestions’ of who I should follow. #DeepState,” Trump tweeted. Included with the tweet was a screenshot which included Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and DeGeneres.

For those blissfully unaware of what the Deep State theory is, prepare to have your day marginally worsened. Dismissed as a conspiracy theory by academics and journalists, the deep state theory states that there is an alleged entity of powerful people who are able to control and influence government employees and policy from behind the scenes. The term was first defined in 2014, but it gained more attention in 2016 due to Steve Bannon’s claims that powerful people were trying to secretly delegitimize the Trump administration.

Eric Trump’s tweet suggests that both DeGeneres and Twitter, the social media platform that can barely handle dealing with actual neo-Nazis, are behind an elaborate plot to diminish Trump’s presidency. Twitter’s users responded with the expected level of seriousness:

There are many, many ways you can pick apart this insane tweet, ways that question whether or not Eric Trump knows how an algorithm works, how seriously he takes the “Who to follow” suggestion, and how powerful he really thinks DeGeneres is. Instead, I think the best course of action is to let Saturday Night Live have its say.