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The GOP Mainstreamed ‘Conspiracy King’ Alex Jones

Fact-averse Republicans are natural fans of conspiratorial thinking

Manny Otiko
4 min readOct 4, 2021
Photo by Sean P. Anderson (Wikipedia)

Conspiracy entrepreneur Alex Jones has hit the headlines again for negative news. This time he was again ruled against in his ongoing battle with the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. A recent court ruling said that he would have to pay damages to two families who were victims of the shooting.

Jones has faced an ongoing legal battle with the families over his comments about the tragedy. If losing a child wasn’t bad enough, Jones added to their misery by claiming the incident was a false flag by the government. He also said that the parents of children killed at Sandy Hook were “crisis actors,” and their children never existed.

His latest legal defeat may open the floodgates to further judgments that may eventually bankrupt him.

A toxic legacy

But while Jones’ fortunes are on the downturn, his toxic legacy has left an aftereffect on politics. Jones, who promoted outlandish conspiracy theories such as Martian prison colonies and Orange juice will turn you gay, has been mainstreamed into the right. Jones was long seen as a clownish figure whose name was synonymous with lies and misinformation. But now, his ideas have been absorbed…

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Manny Otiko
Manny Otiko

Written by Manny Otiko

Manny Otiko writes about race, politics and sports. He has been published in Salon and LA Weekly. Follow him at @mannyotiko.bsky.social

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