Yesterday, President Trump told yet another blatant falsehood, alleging that the media has covered up several terrorist attacks, a bogus claim that became even more laughable when the White House released a list of widely-covered attacks in a humiliating attempt to substantiate Trump’s assertion.
Trump, it seems, got the conspiracy theory that the media won’t report on terrorist attacks from InfoWars, the far-right conspiracy theory outlet headed by Alex Jones.
As Aaron Blake of the Washington Post noted, InfoWars has posted several stories accusing the media of supposedly whitewashing, hiding and covering up terrorist attacks.
While running for president, Trump appeared on Jones’ program where he lavished praise on the bizarre conspiracy theorist, telling Jones: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down. You will be very, very impressed, I hope. I think we’ll be speaking a lot.”
Jones is far from the only conspiracy theorist embraced by Trump, but he is among the most influential.
Here are just five additional instances where Trump, himself a pathological liar and unhinged conspiracy theorist, pushed Jones’ wild and baseless claims:
1) Thousands Of Muslims In New Jersey Celebrated On 9/11
In the campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that he saw on television “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey taking to the streets to celebrate the 9/11 attacks.
When no one could find any evidence or news reports, television or otherwise, backing up his claim, Trump’s campaign accused the media of covering it up.
Trump, as we reported, “cited a post on Jones’ InfoWars website and told Jones during an appearance on his program that his assertion was correct because people on Twitter told him so.”
2) Hillary Clinton Uses Drugs
Suggesting that Hillary Clinton had been “getting pumped up” with performance-enhancing drugs prior to the presidential debates, Trump advocated for drug tests for the candidates “because I don’t know what’s going on with her.”
The comment seemed to come out of nowhere, but the bizarre belief was repeated over and over by Jones and his frequent guest Roger Stone, a Trump confidant.
3) Massive Voter Fraud
Trump made waves when he claimed that he only lost the popular vote because 3 million non-citizens illegally voted for Clinton.
He still hasn’t revealed any data to back up his assertion, recently saying that people should “forget” about data because “a lot of people have come out and said that I am correct.”
The claim that 3 million non-citizens cast ballots in the election came from a conservative activist named Gregg Phillips, who has said that he won’t release any corroborating evidence, and amplified by Jones, who said it is an “uncontrovertible [sic] fact that 3 million illegals voted” in the election.
4) Justice Scalia May Have Been Murdered
Jones was also one of several right-wing commentators who thought that the late Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered.
“All of these conservatives that are fighting back that are real conservatives, they are all being found with pillows over their faces,” he said, while alleging that the murder was covered up.
Trump, naturally, had a similar take.
When radio host Michael Savage asked him if he thought that Scalia may have been murdered, Trump responded that he found his death to be “pretty unusual” because Scalia was found with “a pillow on his face.”
Scalia, for the record, was not found with a pillow on his face.
5) Cruz Involved With JFK Assassination
Trump’s obsession with the bogus claim that Rafael Cruz, the father of ex-rival and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy was met with a mix of confusion and amusement.
This was not the case for Jones, who claims that Trump listens to his show.
For Jones, it was a point of pride: “Trump picks up our story, now they’ve got major, major, major freak-outs knowing that he’s pointing out that [Cruz’s] father may have been connected to the CIA and been involved with Lee Harvey Oswald.”
Naturally, Trump reportedly called Jones days after the election to thank him for his all of his help getting him elected president.
