Trump and Alex Jones -- "Lords of Conspiracy"

 

“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

– Donald Trump, November 27, 2016

This statement is classic Donald Trump. It is his response to Hillary Clinton’s campaign saying it will participate in a recount effort being undertaken in Wisconsin by Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, and potentially in similar pushes in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Trump furthered the accusation by saying in a subsequent tweet that there was "serious voter fraud" in Virginia, New Hampshire, and California.

Of course, before he won the presidency in the Electoral College vote, Trump insisted the election, the system, the media, the government, and most likely the entire world was “rigged” against him. Since then, he has softened his rhetoric about many government officials and political issues.

However, this “kinder, gentler Donald” is predictable since he has gotten his way. Feeling some resistance once more, his narcissism demands he make excuses and blame someone … anyone … for his shortcomings. After all, he constantly reminded the American public that he hates “losers.” He would never see himself in that category, even when he belongs there. Many see this as a classic flaw in his highly unpredictable character.

Trump's comment about the popular vote is ridiculous. Snopescom, PundiFact, PolitiFact, and Factcheck.org have examined this claim, and all deny any credibility. Simply put, there is no evidence that “millions of people” voted illegally in the 2016 Election. It matters little toTrump. He has a history of complaining about votes – remember despite lacking strong evidence, he also alleged voter fraud in the Florida Republican presidential primary and in the Iowa caucuses.

Yet, sources eager to cater to partisan groups and deal in falsehoods – sources such as Infowars.com – print the lies without any regard for the facts. And, like the voracious swelled head he is, Donald Trump gobbles them up and rehashes them in defense of himself.

(Glenn Kessler. “Trump’s bogus claim that “millions of people” voted illegally for Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post. November 27, 2016.)

Infowars has claimed after the election that close to 3 million votes were cast by immigrants living in the US illegally.

Infowars is the website of Alex Jones – American radio show host, documentary filmmaker, writer, and conspiracy theorist. In fact, New York magazine described Jones as "America's leading conspiracy theorist,” and the Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as "the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America.”

The SPLC says …

“Time after time, he warns without any evidence that terrorist attacks — from 9/11 to the Boston Marathon bombings to the 2013 Washington Navy Yard mass murder — are actually 'false flag' operations by our government or evil 'globalist' forces planning to take over the world.”

(“Alex Jones.” Southern Poverty Law Center. 2016.)

Donald Trump often uses Alex Jones as an actual news source. And Jones, himself, says Trump called to thank him and his followers for their support after the election. Of course, that was after Trump's appearance on Jones' radio show in 2015 during which Trump praised Jones and said …

“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 but you’ll be looking to me in a year or two years, let’s give me a little bit of time to run things, but a year into office you’ll be saying, ‘Wow, I remember that interview, he said he was going to do it and he did a great job.’”
 

(Tina Nguyen. “Donald Trump to Prominent Conspiracy Theorist: 'Your Reputation Is Amazing.'” Vanity Fair. December 02, 2016.)

Jones even claims the shooting Sandy Hook Elementary School was a “false flag” ops secretly perpetrated by the government to increase its tyrannical power. Jones believes that no one was actually hurt at Sandy Hook—those were actors. He also maintains that the Apollo 11 moon-landing footage was faked. And, of course, he gained national traction on the American right by promoting the “birtherism” fabrication that President Obama was born outside the United States.

How about the information read and subscribed to by Donald Trump?

During the Presidential Campaign, Olivia Nuzzi of Gentleman's Quarterly was granted a story about Hope Hicks, “the 27-year-old accidental press secretary for Donald Trump.” Nuzzi reports ..

“Getting the most out of the star requires keeping him informed. While Trump nurses an obvious addiction to cable news, the reading that's put in front of him is largely confined to a topic he already knows well. Every morning, staffers print out 30 to 50 Google News results for 'Donald J. Trump.' He then goes at the sheaf with a marker, making circles and arrows and annotating things he likes or doesn't like. The defaced article gets scanned and e-mailed to the journalist or the person quoted who has drawn Trump's attention, under the subject line 'From the office of Donald J. Trump.'

“As for what arrives in Hicks's in-box, a typical day brings upwards of 250 media requests. Usually, she alone decides who gets in and who's kept out. But sometimes it's Trump who plays bouncer for his own private party. 'She sees the tantrums, and there are tantrums,' a source who's been with Trump and Hicks told me. 
 
“He reads something he doesn't like by a reporter, and it's like, ‘This motherfucker! All right, fine. Hope?’ He circles it. ‘This guy's banned! He's banned for a while.’ That's exactly how it works.” 
 
Hicks plays parole officer to an extensive and expanding blacklist of outlets and reporters no longer welcome at his events.

(Olivia Nuzzi. “The Mystifying Triumph of Hope Hicks, Donald Trump’s Right-Hand Woman.” GQ. June 20, 2016.)

What in the world? Donald Trump claims the election was rigged; however, he is giving Hillary Clinton hell for supporting a recount by Jill Stein. Trump is supposed to be presidential and supportive of the populace, yet he lies about the outcome of the election?

It seems Stein’s intervention is an expensive gimmick to promote the Green party. Amid questions from some quarters about how the money would be used, her fundraising site said: “If we raise more than what’s needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform.”

(Amanda Holpuch and Jon Swaine. “Jill Stein requests Wisconsin recount, alleging hackers filed bogus absentee ballots. The Guardian. November 25, 2016.)

So, Donald, keep sputtering, squawking, and spinning stories. With the help of Alex Jones and other fellow conspirators, you can likely make your faithful believe anything you wish. And, I guess you want us all to think you won not only the Electoral College, but also all of the primaries, the popular vote, and the hearts of the American people. Talk about a pack of unfounded suppositions.

Keep believing what you want, President-elect Trump, because it is evident you occupy yourself with building an image of integrity that you have never possessed. I know you believe you are a leader who will make unbelievable deals to make America great again. The problem is your vanity and your pride are the only instruments you employ to seek favor. Your spite is as predictable as the next argument or challenge you encounter.

“Responsibility: A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.”

~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911