A Republican state legislator from Idaho is being slammed for sharing a conspiracy theory that accuses former President Barack Obama of helping to organise the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville as part of a plot to sabotage Donald Trump.

Idaho Representative Bryan Zollinger posted a story on Facebook that suggested that other top Democrats including billionaire George Soros and Terry McAuliffe, the governor of Virginia, may have also helped orchestrate the violent rally that led to the death of a young woman earlier this month.

“I'm not saying it is true, but I am suggesting that it is completely plausible,” Mr Zollinger wrote on Facebook.

Mr Trump has received widespread bipartisan backlash for his comments appearing to equate white supremacists and new-Nazis with the left-wing demonstrators who opposed them at the rally. One Democrat even launched an effort to impeach the President over his response to the violence.

Patricia McCarthy, the author of the conspiracy theory, begins her post by asserting that “the ridiculous campaign by virtually every media outlet, every Democrat and far too many squishy Republicans to label Trump some kind of racist and Nazi sympathizer is beginning to have the stink of an orchestrated smear.”

She goes on to recite a widely debunked claim that Mr Obama “set up a war room in his DC home to plan and execute resistance to the Trump administration.”

Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Show all 10 1 /10 Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iran's 'Trumpism' contest A picture taken on July 3, 2017 shows a cartoon of US President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on display at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest An Iranian woman looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest An Iranian woman looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iranian cartoonist Hadi Asadi poses for a picture with a trophy and an award next to cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump, at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iranians look at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest An Iranian woman looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iranian reformist cleric Mahmoud Doaei looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest An Iranian man looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest An Iranian woman looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iranian reformist cleric Mahmoud Doaei looks at cartoons of US President Donald J. Trump at an exhibition of the Islamic Republic's 2017 International Trumpism cartoon and caricature contest, in the capital Tehran on July 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images

“So were the events of Saturday the result of a despicable plan to further undermine Trump?” Ms McCarthy concludes after attempting to make the case that the Charlottesville rally could have been staged.

“There was plenty of time and Charlottesville is the ‘capital of resistance.’ If it was, it was evil and deadly and the people involved need to be prosecuted. Or is this a wild conspiracy theory? Perhaps. But the pieces fit.”

Mr Zollinger told the Post Register, a daily newspaper in Idaho Falls, that he hadn’t meant to offend anyone by posting Ms McCarthy’s theory on Facebook.

On further reflection, its claims are “probably wrong,” Mr Zollinger said, but he continued to describe the claims as “plausible”, the newspaper said.