This interview of Trump-backing conspiracist Alex Jones goes pretty much as you'd expect
"I went to Austin to hang out with Alex Jones for Vice News Tonight," said Michael Moynihan on Twitter. "It was... well... you'll see." In the video he was teasing, Moynihan describes Jones as "probably America's best-known and most influential conspiracy theorist," noting that Jones thinks both 9/11 and the Sandy Hook murder of schoolchildren were hoaxes. Still, his YouTube channel has nearly 1.2 billion views, nearly three times the views on the channels of Fox News and CBS News, Moynihan points out, and "while Jones' views might live on the political fringe, he's no longer a fringe player."
In Austin, Jones has a big, state-of-the-art studio, indicating that the conspiracy-mongering and supplement-hawking business is going well. "The whole takeover failed, and now who gets to talk to the president?" Jones is shown boasting on-air, after railing against the "new world order." "Who gets to talk to the Supreme Court justices? Matt Drudge, Alex Jones." Donald Trump appeared on Jones' show during the campaign and called him to thank him for his support after prevailing in the election.
Jones told Moynihan his show was part of the wave that Trump surfed into the White House because while the mainstream media ignored "flyover country" for decades, "we'd already taken the nation back psychologically many, many years ago. All we do is study the enemy — we know who they are, where they vacation, how they operate, what their plans are, what types of satanism they carry out, we know their operations." Moynihan asked about the "satanism" comment, and Jones explained: "They're psychopaths, so their religion is basically satanic."
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If that seems a little over-the-top, that's kind of Jones' thing. "Is there an element of theater to it?" Moynihan asked. "I mean everything I say when I'm being serious," Jones insisted, "and more and more, I'm probably serious 95 percent of the time." Moynihan asked Jones how he can believe that government is incompetent and crooked but is also able to do all the crazy things he alleges? "I see the globalist-run government upset by Trump, because they know what he's trying to do, so I'm trying to give that a shot at reforming it," Jones said. "This is part of the global awakening to the new world order."
Let's hope nobody tells Jones about all the Goldman Sachs and Big Oil executives in Trump's historically well-heeled Cabinet.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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