“A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets but was still deciding on his company’s separate bankruptcy case, leaving the future of his Infowars media platform uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax,” the AP reports.
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Most Republicans Believe Another Trump Conspiracy
A new CBS News/YouGov poll finds 80% of Republicans believe that the criminal charges brought by the Manhattan district attorney were because of “directions that came from the Biden administration,” rather than merely by “prosecutors in New York.”
A clear majority of Americans, 57%, don’t believe this. But the idea has taken hold in Trump’s base.
Alex Jones Cries
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cried after announcing he is liquidating his assets to pay Sandy Hook families that he defamed, CNN reports.
Alex Jones Agrees to Liquidate His Assets
“Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre,” CNN reports.
“The seismic move paves the way for a future in which Jones no longer owns Infowars, the influential conspiracy empire he founded in the late 1990s. Over the years, Jones has not only used the media company to poison the public discourse with vile lies and conspiracy theories, but also to enrich himself to the tune of millions of dollars.”
Trump Spreads QAnon Posts Once Again
“As Donald Trump heads toward a November rematch election against President Joe Biden, his online posts are reinvigorating a key element of his support from years past: the conspiracy theory known as QAnon,” USA Today reports.
“While QAnon largely faded from the spotlight after Trump left office, he has newly amplified the ideas on his social media platform, Truth Social.”
Roseanne Barr Goes Full Q-Anon
Jimmy Kimmel shared a video of Roseanne Barr imploring people to drop out of college “‘cause it isn’t nothing but devil-worshipping, baby blood-drinking Democrat donors,” the Daily Beast reports.
Macron Dismisses Rumors His Wife Was Born a Man
French President Emmanuel Macron addressed transphobic rumors circulating about his wife Brigitte, dismissing conspiracies that she was assigned male at birth, the Daily Mail reports.
Said Macron: “The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios. People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Why don’t you fuck off?”
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), when asked by Emily Maitlis about pushing conspiracy theories like “Jewish space lasers.”
Alabama Chief Justice Appeared on QAnon Show
“Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker, who wrote the concurring opinion in last week’s explosive Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos have the same rights as living children, recently appeared on a show hosted by self-anointed ‘prophet’ and QAnon conspiracy theorist,” the HuffPost reports.
“Over the course of an 11-minute interview, Parker articulated a theocratic worldview at odds with a functioning, pluralistic society.”
“God created government,” he declared, adding that it’s “heartbreaking” that “we have let it go into the possession of others.”
Mike Lindell Must Pay $5 Million to Election Data Debunker
“My Pillow owner and right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell will have to pay $5 million because of a contest he initiated at one of his ‘cyber symposium’ events after the 2020 election, a federal judge confirmed Wednesday,” CNN reports.
One in Five Believe Taylor Swift Conspiracy
A new Monmouth poll finds that 18% of Americans believe that Taylor Swift is part of a covert effort to help President Biden win the 2024 election.
Fully 71% of those who believe this identify with or lean toward the Republican Party and 83% indicate they are likely to support Donald Trump in the fall.
Also, 73% of those who believe the Swift conspiracy also believe the 2020 election outcome was fraudulent.
On a less sinister note, 68% of the American public approves of Swift encouraging her fans to vote in the upcoming election.
Quote of the Day
“Just like we drew it up.”
— President Biden, mocking the GOP conspiracy theories that he had rigged the Super Bowl for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Texas Lt. Governor Says Obama Is Pushing Biden Out
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) pushed a conspiracy theory that a Democratic “deep state” run by Barack Obama is seeking to prevent President Biden from being the Democratic presidential nominee this fall, The Hill reports.
Said Patrick: “I’ve said for over a year many times that Joe Biden would not be on the ticket and Michelle Obama would be the likely nominee. It’s clear the Democrat deep state run by Barack Obama knew they had to take him down to give them a chance in November.”
The Meaning of the Hysteria Over Taylor Swift
The Economist: “Conspiracists have often worried about artists being manipulated for political ends. After Anna Akhmatova, a Russian poet, gave a recital in Moscow, Stalin is said to have raged: ‘Who organized the standing ovation?’ In the 1950s America’s paranoid ‘Red Scare’ blighted careers and lives, including Charlie Chaplin’s.”
“As during the cold war, American politics is now especially conducive to suspicion of entertainers. One of them became president, a reality-TV star whose rallies combine the vitriol of a witch-burning with the reassuring formula of a game show. Donald Trump blurred to vanishing the line between politics and showbiz; he also dragged conspiracy theories to the centre of debate. And he exacerbated a prior political trend—America’s extreme polarisation—which encourages conspiratorial thinking.”
Trump Pushes Immigration Conspiracy Theories
“Donald Trump, in an interview that aired on Fox News on Sunday, suggested falsely that Latin American governments were picking the citizens they didn’t want and shipping them to the U.S. border, resurrecting a claim that was central to his 2016 campaign,” the New York Times reports.
“He also accused the Chinese Communist Party — without providing any evidence — of orchestrating illegal immigration into the United States, and said he believed China would try to interfere in the presidential election, adding that he liked President Xi Jinping ‘a lot.’”
Quote of the Day
“Taylor Swift is allowed to have a boyfriend. Taylor Swift is a good artist. I’ve taken my daughter to Taylor Swift concerts before. You know, to have a conspiracy theory of all of this is bizarre. Nobody knows who she’s going to endorse. But I can’t believe that that’s overtaken our national politics.”
— Nikki Haley, quote by Politico.
Quote of the Day
“What your kind of people call ‘conspiracy theories,’ I simply call an amalgam of collective incentives hiding in plain sight.”
— Vivek Ramaswamy, quoted by the New York Times.
A MAGA Meltdown Over Taylor Swift
“For football fans eager to see a new team in the Super Bowl, the conference championship games on Sunday that sent the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers back to the main event of American sports culture were sorely disappointing,” the New York Times reports.
“But one thing is new: Taylor Swift. And she is driving the movement behind Donald Trump bonkers.”
“The fulminations surrounding the world’s biggest pop icon — and girlfriend of Travis Kelce, the Chiefs’ star tight end — reached the stratosphere after Kansas City made it to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years, and the first time since Ms. Swift joined the team’s entourage.”
“The conspiracy theories coming out of the Make America Great Again contingent were already legion: that Ms. Swift is a secret agent of the Pentagon; that she is bolstering her fan base in preparation for her endorsement of President Biden’s re-election; or that she and Mr. Kelce are a contrived couple, assembled to boost the N.F.L. or Covid vaccines or Democrats or whatever.”
Brian Beutler: Maybe Republicans should wonder why all the attractive, likable people hate them?
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