Fox News Says Omicron Variant Was Made to Help Elect Pete Buttigieg as President

A new day, a new conspiracy theory on Fox & Friends. The latest of these focuses on the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and how, according to the network's morning talk show, it was created in order to help boost Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg into the presidency in 2024.

Over the weekend, the hosts of Fox & Friends were discussing the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and has prompted travel restrictions around the globe, with all detected cases so far being outside the United States. But the question on cohost Rachel Campos-Duffy's mind was whether or not Buttigieg was the real culprit behind this new strain.

"Pete Buttigieg, our transportation secretary, is potentially our new president in 2024, or so the Democrats want," she said.

"[He] has said we can't fix the supply chain problem until the pandemic is over, until COVID is over," explained Campos-Duffy. "And now we see these new variants. So that's the answer: more lockdowns, more lockdowns, more fear and therefore he doesn't have to do his job of fixing the supply chain because 'we'll keep this whole thing going.'"

Campos-Duffy's cohosts Pete Hegseth and Will Cain agreed. "You can count on a variant about every October, every two years," Hegseth added, insinuating that the new variant and any that follow would just be inventions by Democrats seeking an advantage in future elections.

"You're probably right," Cain concurred. "However, they could speed up. The variants could come more quickly." This prompted Hegseth to mimic a person speaking into a telephone saying "we're gonna need a new variant here."

However, Buttigieg hasn't indicated he's running for president, and President Joe Biden hasn't indicated he won't seek a second term. So those facts tend to undermine this latest conspiracy theory.