Specifically, they blame the WHO for downplaying the severity of the coronavirus and toting the Chinese government line. They blame Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist who is heavily funding the WHO and coronavirus research, for forcing on the world vaccines that don’t even exist yet. And they blame Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, for contradicting the president, promoting strict social distancing guidelines and suggesting possible immunity papers that could help recovered Covid-19 patients move about freely.

“Something like this hasn’t happened in our lifetimes, so you can’t blame people for being hyper on their guard. The question is — given so much misinformation out of China — where is the line? Who are the bad guys? Who do we trust? These are the things leading people to follow more ‘out there’ theories,” said Raheem Kassam, a former Breitbart editor and co-host of the Trump-friendly War Room podcast.

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Trump’s followers got what they wanted from the president this week when he halted funding to the WHO.

The move was a major blow to the organization because the U.S. contributes more to the international organization than any other country. While the medical community — and scores of leaders around the world — said the move would undercut global efforts to combat a pandemic reaching its peak, Trump and his more passionate backers said it would hold the institution accountable.

“The WHO was willfully working with the [Chinese Communist Party] to mislead the rest of the world as to what was going on,” said Jason Miller, a 2016 Trump campaign senior communications adviser, who co-hosts the War Room podcast, which has been discussing the coronavirus outbreak since late January.

There is no proof the WHO was “willfully working” with China: During the first days of the pandemic, the organization was trying to get international experts, including Americans, into China to study the outbreak.