Last Wednesday August 17, beleaguered conspiracy theorist and InfoWars founder Alex Jones made headlines for something other than his own current legal woes.
Jones appeared to dump his longtime ally, former Republican President Donald Trump, for the GOP's newest golden boy, Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, in an InfoWars segment.
Jones told his followers:
"...I am supporting DeSantis."
"...we have someone that is better than Trump."
"Way better than Trump.”
But Jones wants everyone, especially Trump, to tune into his show so he can explain he's still loyal to the 45th President.
You can see Jones new video here:
\u201cGetting some blow-back after he announced Thurs that he was backing Desantis over Trump now, Alex Jones issues an \u201cemergency message\u201d to Trump, saying he was simply trying to persuade him to change his position on the vaccines with some tough love.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1661089813
\u201c@DonLew87 @RonFilipkowski How do they debase themselves like this?\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1661089813
\u201c@ColoNATIVE2nd @kylieklogsredux @DonLew87 @RonFilipkowski nah, it\u2019s for ratings and monetizable social media clickz. most of these partisan talking heads are here to cash in on tribalism.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1661089813
\u201c@SundaeDivine @RonFilipkowski \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1661089813
Jones directed his latest video—released over the weekend—to Trump himself and not his followers.
He assured Trump he was still a loyal supporter who just wanted to give him a tough love wake-up call. Jones also claimed Trump tried to reach out to him, but he'd missed his calls.
Jones blamed corporate media for his message being taken "out of context."
He told Trump:
"So this is my emergency message to you, Mr. President, to go and actually watch the first 30 minutes of Thursday’s show… so you can see what I said in context."
"The corporate media edited it down to a 30-second clip to make it sound like I’m only for DeSantis and that I’ve abandoned you."
"That’s not true. It’s the contrary."
Defending himself by claiming Trump’s family members are giving him the same message, Jones added:
"I understand that you’re under attack, I understand you are surrounded, and I’m trying to get you to reassess the situation."
"I know that people like Don [Jr.] are telling you that you need to reassess the situation."
At the beginning of his video—not included in the clip above—Jones spread more conspiracy theories to support his anti-vax views:
"Mr. President, you have been set up by Big Pharma. You have been set up by the Deep State."
"Your former White House coordinator admits they knew the [COVID-19] shot would never work and that they lied to you."
"The current head of the CDC has now come out and admitted this."
"The rats are leaving the sunking ship and are preparing to set you up, but there's still time to get on the right side of history and save a lot of lives Mr. President."
Jones failed to acknowledge the 425,000+ deaths under Trump during 10 months of the pandemic and contradictory statistics of deaths between the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Jones later said of his DeSantis support message:
"[It was] Not a warning out of any desire to hurt you, Mr. Trump, but to save your important legacy and hopefully ensure you can get back into the White House coming up in 2024."
Reconfirming his support for Trump’s Big Lie about his loss in the 2020 presidential election, Jones proclaimed:
“We know the election was stolen!"
Alluding to Trump’s own current legal entanglements, Jones added:
"We know the ‘Deep State’ is trying to set you up any way they can."
"We understand you are a lion surrounded by hyenas."
You can see Jones full video here:
Trump faces a Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation into documents the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) reported he improperly removed from the White House. As he vacated the official presidential residence, Trump was required to turn over all documents to NARA.
Failure to do so resulted in a complaint to DoJ and a search warrant executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Mar-a-Lago is a club accessible by paid members and can also be rented as an event space.
Having classified and top secret documents stored in an unsecure location—accessible by individuals without security clearances—only exacerbated the situation, but was not the violation reported by NARA. All Trump administration documents, regardless of security level, became NARA property after Democratic President Joe Biden's inauguration.
Trump is also facing an inquiry by New York Attorney General Letitia James concerning the Trump Organization's tax filings and other possible financial impropriety, an investigation by Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis regarding attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and an ongoing congressional inquiry into the January 6 insurrection and Capitol riot.
Meanwhile, Jones is embroiled in the January 6 investigation as well as civil defamation suits about Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories he promoted online. Jones repeatedly denied the mass shooting occurred, implied it was a government "false flag" operation and called the 20 children and six adults murdered and their families "crisis actors."
One Texas court has already awarded the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis—who was murdered in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut school shooting—almost $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the harassment they received because of Jones repeated lies about the mass murder.
Additional defamation suits await Jones in Connecticut.
Whether backlash from his core InfoWars audience or Trump himself prompted Jones' new narrative is unclear.