DeAnna Lorraine, a right-wing activist who unsuccessfully ran in the Mar. 3 California primary to challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is now pushing new conspiracy theories about COVID-19, promoting the hashtags #coronavirustruth and #filmyourhospital.
On Sunday, Lorraine filmed outside two hospitals in Los Angeles and found them quiet—which she took as a sign that the hospitals and mainstream media are engaged in a hoax, rather than a simpler alternative explanation, which is that hospitals aren’t allowing any visitors to try to protect their patients and prevent further spread of the virus.
“Let’s get #FilmYourHospital trending,” Lorraine tweeted Sunday afternoon. As of early Monday morning, that message had been retweeted more than 15,000 times and people were taking her up on the challenge, filming quiet hospital parking lots as if they were revealing yet another mainstream media plot. The hashtag has also attracted outrage from medical professionals and others who are warning that this kind of disinformation is threatening people’s lives.
Lorraine was back at it on Monday morning, tweeting messages like “I’m sure we would all like the actual #Coronavirustruth” and “How many people do you personally know with #COVID19.” She asserted that, “The FDA has never been interested in cures or safety.”
Right Wing Watch included Lorraine on a list of religious-right candidates to watch on Super Tuesday after she was endorsed from the pulpit by Jack Hibbs, a prominent politically engaged megachurch pastor. Hibbs said that he had been calling San Francisco-area pastors to let them know about Lorraine’s “crusade.” Lorraine’s campaign slogan was “God, Family and Country.”
Lorraine’s descent into conspiracy-mongering is not terribly surprising given some of her history that Right Wing Watch included in the Mar. 2 pre-Super Tuesday post:
A Lorraine campaign video includes a clip of herself speaking at the right-wing American Priority Conference. Last week, Lorraine posted a video clip of “the great Alex Jones” praising her at the National File and Infowars Protect Our Free Speech Rally held in DC just before the start of CPAC. “DeAnna Lorraine is amazing,” Jones said. “She’s so smart, she’s bubbly, she’s on fire. And she’s running against Nancy Pelosi!”
