WASHINGTON D.C. – Former United States President Donald Trump on Sunday, November 9, 2025, used his Truth Social media platform to promote a long-debunked and entirely false claim that his predecessor, Barack Obama, has collected $40 million in 'royalties' from the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The assertion, which Mr. Trump shared with his millions of followers with the single-word comment “WOW!”, originates from a network of satirical websites known for creating fictional content to provoke engagement.

The specific claim alleges that Mr. Obama has been receiving an annual payment of $2.5 million since 2010, the year the landmark healthcare legislation, commonly known as 'Obamacare', was signed into law. However, this narrative is a work of fiction. Independent fact-checking organizations, including Snopes, Reuters, and AFP Fact Check, have repeatedly debunked this story since it first appeared in 2017. There is no provision in the Affordable Care Act, nor any other U.S. law, that grants royalty payments to a president for legislation bearing their popular nickname.

The Anatomy of a Falsehood

The source of the fabricated story is a network of satirical websites operated by Christopher Blair, a self-described creator of 'fake news' from Maine. The claim has appeared on his sites, including 'America's Last Line of Defense' and the 'Dunning-Kruger-Times'. These websites explicitly state in their 'About Us' sections that their content is fictional. The Dunning-Kruger-Times' disclaimer notes, “Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie, and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”

Mr. Blair has stated that his websites are designed to highlight and ridicule the spread of misinformation, particularly among conservative audiences, through what he calls 'confirmation bias'. Despite the clear satirical intent, the stories are frequently stripped of their context and shared on social media as genuine news, as was the case with Mr. Trump's post.

Political Context and Global Implications

Mr. Trump's amplification of the false claim comes as he has intensified his criticism of the Affordable Care Act, a cornerstone of the Democratic party's policy platform. His social media activity over the weekend included multiple posts deriding the healthcare law, coinciding with efforts by Senate Democrats to extend tax credits for Americans who rely on the ACA for health insurance. When asked by reporters whether the president was aware the story was fictional, a White House spokesperson did not directly answer the question, instead criticizing Mr. Obama's post-presidency wealth.

For Kenya and the wider East Africa region, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the global nature of political disinformation. While the specifics of U.S. healthcare policy have limited direct impact, the willingness of a prominent global leader to amplify verifiably false information carries significant weight. The United States is a major strategic partner for Kenya, recently designating the nation a Major Non-NATO Ally. The stability and predictability of its political discourse are therefore of international consequence.

The deliberate spread of disinformation by political actors erodes public trust, polarizes societies, and can undermine democratic institutions—challenges that are not foreign to the Kenyan political landscape. Analysts of U.S. foreign policy have noted that such domestic information crises can have international ripple effects, impacting the credibility and reliability of the U.S. on the world stage. As nations like Kenya navigate their own complex information ecosystems, this event in the U.S. underscores a shared, modern challenge: ensuring that public debate is grounded in fact, not fiction.