"So he wasn't originally meant to win?": Donald Trump Disney animatronic conspiracy surfaces online again

Recently, the Donald Trump Disney animatronic conspiracy theory resurfaced online. This happened after X user @FionaSmall posted a screenshot of an old tweet by @nikicaga which had two side-by-side images of the animatronic of the former President, one from 2017 and the other from 2021.

“The only conspiracy theory I believe in is that Disney’s Trump animatronic for the Hall of Presidents was originally made as a Hillary [Clinton] animatronic,” the post read.

In the wake of this, netizens are once again speculating that Donald Trump was not meant to win the 2016 presidential election against his then Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Many are even saying that the Trump animatronic, which was first unveiled at the Walt Disney World in Orlando in 2017, was originally made as a Clinton animatronic, which was only altered after he won the race to the White House.

X user @miss_overdose commented under @FionaSmall’s post by writing, “So he wasn’t originally meant to win?”

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What we know about the Donald Trump animatronic conspiracy theory

According to Business Insider, Hillary Clinton was favored to win the 2016 presidential election. As a result, Walt Disney World reportedly had her animatronic ready for their Hall of Presidents.

However, it was Donald Trump who later earned a historic victory. Back then, a conspiracy theory arose that Walt Disney World “refashioned the robot” to make it look more like Trump.

Social media users pointed out that all the original features of the Disney animatronic, including small and round head and wider eyes, shared more similarities with Clinton rather than Trump.

Later, in 2021, Walt Disney World upgraded the robot to make it look closer to the real-life Trump. However, the conspiracy theory continued to dominate the internet. In fact, podcaster Alex Goldman took to X in mid-2021 and wrote in a now-removed post that there was “something uniquely Hillary-esque about robo-Donald’s face.”

“The conspiracy theory I believe with all my heart is that Disney made a Hillary animatronic for the Hall of Presidents fully expecting her to win and then hastily modified it to look like Trump when she lost,” he stated.

Around the same time, he told Business Insider, “If you look at the image, it touches something really primal. It’s like very uncomfortable to look at. It just looks wrong in a way that doesn’t make any sense to my brain.”

Alex Goldman further added, “But then, of course, once someone says, ‘Oh, it’s because it’s actually Hillary,’ it resolves right away.”

Not only that, but the journalist-host also claimed on Substack in July 2023 that a former Walt Disney World Imagineer allegedly confirmed the authenticity of the conspiracy theory.

“Everyone was positive that Hillary was going to win so much so that they created her animatronic, then they got caught with their pants down when Trump won," the former Imagineer reportedly told Goldman.

The anonymous Imagineer allegedly added how creating an animatronic took months and they saw “facial designs for the Hillary animatronic at least six months before the election.”

The person purportedly claimed that when a Disney intern asked one of the 3D artists what would happen in case Trump won, the latter laughed and replied, “Then, we’re screwed!”

As per the alleged Imagineer, when the 2016 election results were announced, Disney reportedly tried to “salvage the animatronic by keeping Hillary’s skull and putting Trump’s skin over the top of it.”

Notably, Walt Disney World never issued an official statement in this regard and there’s no confirmation on what exactly happened.

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Internet reacts after Donald Trump Disney animatronic conspiracy theory resurfaces

In the wake of the ongoing 2024 election nomination, the Donald Trump Disney animatronic conspiracy theory has resurfaced. Here’s how people are reacting to it under @FionaSmall’s post on X.

It is noteworthy that Donald Trump’s 2021 upgraded animatronic continues to stand at the Walt Disney World’s Hall of Presidents. In December 2023, Mouse Trap News reported that the robot of the former President would be removed. However, the article turned out to be satire, as per Snopes.