Trump Jr just accused Joe Biden of being a paedophile in 'repulsive' smear tactic

As an election looms, we're hit with a wave of déjà vu as Trump supporters start trying to convince us that his opponent is actually a paedophile. (Pizzagate, anyone?)

But we didn't necessarily expect such wild allegations to come from someone directly attached to the campaign.

Yesterday Trump's eldest son Don Jr took it upon himself to post a meme on Instagram which appeared to accuse presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden of being a sex offender.

It was captioned with three laughing face emojis, and the sentence: "There's definitely way too many videos of Creepy Joe out there!"

As the outrage began pouring in, it seems Trump Jr couldn't decide whether he wanted to defend this as a "joke" or double down.

In a tweet in two parts, he appeared to imply that the emojis made it clear he wasn't being serious, but then went on to suggest that his accusations were fair due to allegations of "unwanted touching" Biden has faced.

He then retweeted a number of other tweets which seemed to back his allegation, including this video which people claim shows Biden "fondling" a young girl.

There have been no credible allegations of sexual behaviour towards children against Joe Biden, although he has been accused of making some questionable comments about two girls aged 10 ("I bet you're as bright as you are good-looking") and 13 ("You've got one job here, keep the guys away from your sister").

Biden has also been accused of inappropriate behaviour by a number of women, who have similar accounts of unwanted touches and hugs that went on too long.

His most high-profile accuser is Tara Reade, who alleged in March 2020 that Biden had sexually assaulted her in 1993.

While definitely worrying allegations against a potential president, none of these claims even come close to what Trump Jr appears to be implying.

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden, told The New York Times:

No repulsive, manipulative tactic will change the subject from how almost 90,000 Americans have paid for Donald Trump's coronavirus negligence with their lives and how the booming economy he inherited from the Obama-Biden Administration is now suffering from depression-level job losses.

It's worth noting that President Trump, who will be running against Biden for re-election, has been accused of sexual assault by 25 different women.

An anonymous lawsuit which has since been dropped also claimed that Trump sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl.