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By now we all know conservative politics is rife with conspiracy theories—some more bizarre than others.
But a new video from The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper filmed at a rally for former Republican President Donald Trump shows the depth of delusion may be far more profound than any of us realizes.
Klepper spoke with a woman convinced of multiple conspiracy theories, but by far the most bonkers one involved former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
According to the woman, Osama bin Laden was actually a guy named Tim who worked for the CIA.
See Klepper's video below.
\u201cMichael Jackson is still alive and Osama Bin Laden's real name is "Tim." Get a load of Gematria. @jordanklepper\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
Klepper learned the big news about bin Laden--sorry, Tim--after interviewing a woman about Gematria, a numerological practice in the ancient Jewish mystical tradition Kabbalah. First documented in the 8th century BCE, Gematria assigns a numerical code to important words or phrases.
As Klepper explains, Trump supporters and QAnoners have been using an app into which you can type a word and it will "calculate" its supposed Gematria code as a way of revealing the truth of things. Or something.
It is via this method that the woman Klepper spoke to has determined all sorts of surprising "truths"--like that Michael Jackson is still alive, for example, and that Osama bin Laden was just a dude named Tim.
In utter disbelief himself, Klepper next asked the woman to calculate the phrase "America is in a bad place," and wouldn't you know it, the app calculated the phrase to add up to 143--the same number as "Let's Go Brandon," a euphemism that means "Fu*k Joe Biden." Extraordinary!
The woman also told Klepper that Gematria assigns the number 88 to both Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Jr., meaning that they are the same person. (It is surely merely coincidental that 88 is also a long-standing white nationalist symbol for "Heil Hitler.")
Perhaps this is what's behind Trump supporters' and QAnon devotees' absoluteobsession with JFK Jr.? Or did somebody simply create an app that cleverly plays to these peoples' unhinged beliefs? Who's to say!
On Twitter, people were downright disturbed by this total break from reality, even if they couldn't help but laugh about it.
\u201c@TheDailyShow @jordanklepper Saw one of these kooks in the wild at Epcot earlier this year. Was explaining how Elvis and JFK, Jr. are BOTH alive and regularly attend Trump rallies.\n\nI'd never seen this much crazy in person.\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
\u201c@TheDailyShow @jordanklepper Hang on. If \u201cTrump\u201d equals \u201c88\u201d isn\u2019t that the tattoo that all white supremacists get? \u201c88\u201d refers to \u201cHH\u201d which is short for \u201cHeil Hitler.\u201d (\u201cH\u201d is the eighth letter of the alphabet.)\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
\u201c@TheDailyShow @jordanklepper Just want to go on record I am not the Osama you are seeking.\n\nCheck my name off the Tim list.\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
\u201c@TheDailyShow @Popehat @jordanklepper Am I the only one who is terribly impressed that ancient Jewish mystics had the foresight to include a "Let's Go Brandon" number into their system? Talk about foresight.\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
\u201c@TheDailyShow @jordanklepper Damnit Tim bin Laden. Obama killed the wrong brother!!\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
\u201cDear God we're doomed.\u201d— Rick Wilson (@Rick Wilson) 1660240266
\u201c@TheDailyShow @jordanklepper America is in as steep and perilous a decline as one could possibly imagine.\u201d— The Daily Show (@The Daily Show) 1660230069
\u201cGentiles of the world, I plead with you once again: STOP USING GEMATRIA. \nhttps://t.co/Lhu1UcudMG\u201d— David/Dovid Bashevkin (@David/Dovid Bashevkin) 1660239444
\u201cThis is unlogic. This is the clearest example of what unlogic is. \n\nIt's just not that the facts are wrong (they are.) It's that the connective tissue between pieces of information is completely rotted\nhttps://t.co/9BKHrqbHSs\u201d— Charlotte Alter (@Charlotte Alter) 1660244478
\u201cOh dear\u201d— Walter Shaub (@Walter Shaub) 1660238309
Say what you want about all this, but you've gotta admit it's pretty cool that ancient Jewish mystics knew to include anti-Biden catchphrases and Michael Jackson into their mystical discipline all the way back in the 8th century BCE.