There Are Endless Conspiracy Theories About Lindsey Graham’s Death
There Are Endless Conspiracy Theories About Lindsey Graham’s Death
关于林赛·格雷厄姆之死的阴谋论层出不穷
It took just hours after South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham’s death was announced for conspiracy theories to spread. Extremists, right-wing influencers, and political commentators have baselessly spent the weekend claiming that Russia, Israel, or Iran assassinated the 71-year-old. 南卡罗来纳州参议员林赛·格雷厄姆（Lindsey Graham）的死讯公布仅数小时后，各种阴谋论便开始蔓延。极端分子、右翼网红和政治评论员整个周末都在毫无根据地声称，是俄罗斯、以色列或伊朗暗杀了这位 71 岁的参议员。
Graham died on Saturday night at his Capitol Hill residence just hours after returning from Ukraine, where he announced a deal to impose sanctions on those buying Russian soil. A preliminary report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Washington, DC, said Graham likely suffered a tear in his aorta, linked to a hardening of his arteries. 格雷厄姆于周六晚在国会山的住所去世，就在几个小时前，他刚从乌克兰返回。他在乌克兰宣布了一项对购买俄罗斯石油者实施制裁的协议。华盛顿特区首席法医办公室的一份初步报告称，格雷厄姆很可能是因动脉硬化导致主动脉撕裂而死亡。
“The death certificate will be pending until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death,” the statement said. 声明称：“在所有毒理学和显微镜检查完成之前，死亡证明将处于待定状态。届时，死亡证明将进行更新，以反映死因并对死亡方式进行适当分类。”
CNN, citing multiple law enforcement officials, reported that no foul play was suspected in Graham’s death. 据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）援引多位执法官员的消息报道，格雷厄姆的死因并未发现任何可疑之处。
But by Sunday morning, while many of Graham’s colleagues paid tribute to the senator, conspiracy theorists were already claiming his death was the result of an assassination attempt orchestrated by one of the governments the senator had spent decades fighting against. 然而到了周日上午，尽管格雷厄姆的许多同事都在向这位参议员致敬，但阴谋论者已经开始声称，他的死是参议员几十年来一直对抗的某个政府所策划的暗杀企图的结果。
Serial conspiracy theorist and Trump confidante Laura Loomer was one of the first to suggest there was more to Graham’s death than natural causes. She linked the killing to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, citing the fact that during the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran last week, attendees held up posters calling for the assassination of a number of Americans, including herself, President Donald Trump, and Graham. 连环阴谋论者兼特朗普亲信劳拉·卢默（Laura Loomer）是最早暗示格雷厄姆之死并非自然原因的人之一。她将这起死亡事件与伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队联系起来，理由是上周在德黑兰举行的已故最高领袖阿亚图拉·阿里·哈梅内伊的葬礼上，与会者举着海报，呼吁暗杀包括她本人、唐纳德·特朗普总统和格雷厄姆在内的多名美国人。
“Was he poisoned by a foreign adversary either abroad or upon returning to the US?” Loomer wrote on X in a post viewed 1.8 million times, without providing evidence. “There should be an investigation into his death. Especially after Iran called for his death less than one week ago.” “他是在国外还是在返回美国后被外国对手毒害的？”卢默在 X 上写道，该帖子的浏览量达 180 万次，但她并未提供任何证据。“应该对他的死因进行调查。尤其是在伊朗不到一周前才呼吁将他处死之后。”
Loomer claimed her theory was confirmed when Explosive Media, one of the pro-Iranian groups who have been trolling the US with AI-generated Lego videos, shared a video that appeared to suggest Iran was responsible for Graham’s death. The video, which was deleted from X but remains active on platforms like Instagram, included a scene where a character places a tick next to the name Lindsey, with the name Laura written underneath it. 卢默声称她的理论得到了证实，因为一直用人工智能生成的乐高视频在网上骚扰美国的亲伊朗组织之一“爆炸媒体”（Explosive Media）分享了一段视频，视频似乎暗示伊朗应对格雷厄姆的死负责。该视频已从 X 上删除，但在 Instagram 等平台上仍然可见，其中包含一个场景：一个角色在“林赛”（Lindsey）的名字旁边打了一个勾，而名字下方写着“劳拉”（Laura）。
Loomer also pointed to the statement of FBI director Kash Patel, who wrote on X on Sunday that his agency is “assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available.” This itself was, for many conspiracy theorists, evidence of a cover-up. 卢默还提到了联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔（Kash Patel）的声明，他周日在 X 上写道，他的机构正在“协助地方当局，并已提供了一切必要的资源”。对于许多阴谋论者来说，这本身就是掩盖真相的证据。
In response to Patel’s post, Tony Seruga, who claims to be a former CIA contractor, said the FBI “doesn’t roll out for natural causes.” In a widely shared post, he wrote that the “aortic dissection” explanation provided by the medical examiner was “the perfect cover diagnosis,” as “it’s mechanically indistinguishable from certain chemical attacks.” He did not provide evidence to back up his claim. 针对帕特尔的帖子，自称是前中央情报局承包商的托尼·塞鲁加（Tony Seruga）表示，联邦调查局“不会因为自然死亡而介入”。他在一篇被广泛转发的帖子中写道，法医提供的“主动脉夹层”解释是“完美的掩盖性诊断”，因为“从机制上讲，它与某些化学攻击无法区分”。他没有提供证据来支持他的说法。
Others blamed Russia for the attack, given Graham’s support of Ukraine and his vocal criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin. “Putin has poisoned and assassinated many of his opponents, and Graham was just in Kyiv where there are certainly FSB agents operating,” political commentator Marc Thiessen wrote on X. “There should be a full autopsy and tox screen to rule out foul play.” 其他人则将矛头指向俄罗斯，理由是格雷厄姆支持乌克兰，并公开批评俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京。“普京毒害并暗杀了许多反对者，而格雷厄姆刚去过基辅，那里肯定有俄罗斯联邦安全局（FSB）的特工在活动，”政治评论员马克·蒂森（Marc Thiessen）在 X 上写道。“应该进行全面的尸检和毒理学筛查，以排除谋杀可能。”
Bill Browder, a British financier who has been targeted by Russia for years, also pushed the idea that Russia could be behind Graham’s death. “All tests should be done immediately to rule out foul play,” Browder wrote on X. ”I’ve seen enough Russian related suspicious deaths to know this is the only course of action.” More than 1.5 million people viewed Browder’s post. 多年来一直被俄罗斯针对的英国金融家比尔·布劳德（Bill Browder）也推测俄罗斯可能是格雷厄姆之死的幕后黑手。“应该立即进行所有测试以排除谋杀，”布劳德在 X 上写道，“我见过足够多与俄罗斯有关的可疑死亡事件，我知道这是唯一的行动方案。”超过 150 万人浏览了布劳德的帖子。
Loomer also wrote on X: “Did Russia just murder a US Senator?” 卢默还在 X 上写道：“俄罗斯刚刚谋杀了一位美国参议员吗？”
Alex Jones, who dedicated many hours of his show to promoting conspiracy theories about Graham’s death, posited without evidence that the senator had actually died while on a visit to a drone factory in Ukraine which was subsequently bombed by Russia. 亚历克斯·琼斯（Alex Jones）在他的节目中花费数小时宣传关于格雷厄姆之死的阴谋论，他毫无根据地推测，这位参议员实际上是在访问乌克兰一家无人机工厂时死亡的，而该工厂随后遭到了俄罗斯的轰炸。
Some of those blaming Russia on social media also pointed to a now-deleted post by Putin adviser Alexander Dugin in which he advocated for the assassination of Graham. 社交媒体上一些指责俄罗斯的人还指出，普京顾问亚历山大·杜金（Alexander Dugin）曾发布过一条现已被删除的帖子，他在帖中主张暗杀格雷厄姆。
Dugin, however, had his own ideas about who was responsible for Graham’s death. “The sudden death of Lindsey Graham can be the black mark sent to Trump,” Dugin wrote in an X post viewed 1.2 million times. “I doubt it were Iranians. Most realistic it was Mossad job in order to push Trump to renew full scale war with Iran.” 然而，杜金对谁该为格雷厄姆之死负责有自己的看法。“林赛·格雷厄姆的突然死亡可能是送给特朗普的‘黑记号’（死亡威胁），”杜金在一条浏览量达 120 万次的 X 帖子中写道。“我怀疑是伊朗人干的。最现实的情况是，这是摩萨德（以色列情报机构）所为，目的是推动特朗普重启与伊朗的全面战争。”