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Seen, Heard, Read...
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Stay informed with our curated collection of noteworthy updates and insights from the world of conspiracy theories. Uncover the latest trends, explore intriguing perspectives, and broaden your understanding. Delve into our recommended content that keeps you in the know.
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HEIL ELON. Elon Musk’s now viral straight arm gesture executed twice at a post-inaugural rally thrilled fans of the Third Reich around the globe. Media commentators, social media users and TV viewers debated the X boss’s intentions after he made what looked to many a clear Nazi salute. Some said Musk’s claimed heartfelt gesture to the pro-Trump and Musk crowds was the world’s richest man and frenzied social media poster being clumsy and idiotic. Others pointed to him as having autism or Asperger’s syndrome, while critics reminded the puzzled that Musk had form as a rabid supporter of the extreme right neo-Nazi AfD party in Germany, and a regular sharer of pro-Nazi and antisemitic content on his X platform. But there is no doubt in the neo-Nazi conspiracy sphere. “Heil Elon” posted the antisemitic and racist masculinist Andrew Tate on X in response to a video of the now infamous salute. French Holocaust denier Alain Soral’s website E&R boasted “Hitler has won” while Gab founder and “Hitlerbot innovator” Andrew Torba gushed: “Incredible things are happening already lmao” (Sources: Rolling Stone; Wired; Time, January 20-21, 2025).
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Source: Andrew Tate/X, 01/20/2025
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ELECTION DENIALISM. Barely sworn in for his second term, US President Donald Trump wasted no time resurrecting his favorite false narrative: the 2020 election was “rigged.” In a lengthy, unscripted riff after a half-hour inaugural address, Trump explained to an overflow crowd at the Capitol that the election was stolen, blaming Speaker Nancy Pelosi for inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. He suggested that Pelosi "maybe wanted that to happen" and even claimed evidence of the election fraud was destroyed, calling it “a criminal offense” (Sources: The Washington Post, January 20, 2024; Politico, January 20, 2024).
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PARDONING THE J-6 ‘HOSTAGES’. In a move that stunned many, Trump announced that one of his first actions as president would be a full pardon for almost all of the individuals convicted or charged in the January 6 Capitol insurrection. This group included not only trespassers but also individuals who assaulted police officers and took part in the violent disruption of the democratic process. His remarks on the "J6 hostages" — an alarming choice of words — further demonstrated his penchant for twisted conspiracy narratives. As Trump signed the executive order, he remarked: “So this is January 6. And these are the hostages. Approximately 1,500 for a pardon. Full pardon. This is a big one. " Trump’s sweeping move echoed a Truth Social post in March 2024, in which he vowed to “free the January 6 hostages being wrongfully imprisoned.” Critics, including Congressman Jason Crow, were quick to point out that labeling these insurrectionists as “hostages” was not only an attempt to rewrite history but a grave distortion of the word's meaning.
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Trump’s language disregarded the real victims of the Capitol riot, including Officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the aftermath of the attack, obscuring the fact that the rioters were perpetrators, not victims of any wrongdoing. The Capitol rioters were responsible for violence, destruction, and an attack on democratic institutions, not victims of any injustice.
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Among those granted clemency by Trump were extremists like Robert Keith Packer—who wore a "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt to the January 6 riots, a clear symbol of Holocaust denial. Also pardoned by Trump was Enrique Tarrio and members of the Proud Boys, an antisemitic far-right group.
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The executive order, signed on January 20, granted a "complete and unconditional pardon" to everyone convicted for crimes related to the attack, with the exception of 14 individuals. Of those, 9 were members of the Oath Keepers militia group, and 5 were affiliated with the Proud Boys. The remaining 14 had their sentences commuted, ensuring their early release from federal custody.
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Trump’s decision has drawn sharp contrast to the stance of his vice president, J.D. Vance, who had previously stated on January 11 that those who committed violence during the riot should not receive pardons. Trump's order, however, extends clemency even to individuals involved in violent acts, such as those who assaulted police officers with flagpoles during the attack (Source: The New York Times, January 20, 2024).
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EQUATING JAN 6 RIOTERS WITH HAMAS HOSTAGES. The timing of Trump’s rhetoric about the “hostages” of January 6 was particularly shocking given the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. As he spoke about freeing “hostages,” Trump momentarily shifted to discussing the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Standing behind him were relatives of those taken in the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, as well as former hostage Noa Argamani.
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Some commentators pointed out that the language used to describe the January 6 offenders — who were involved in violent acts of insurrection — was seen as deeply insensitive and inappropriate in the context of those held by Hamas. The comparison between innocent civilians, including children, taken by terrorists in Israel and rioters who participated in a failed coup attempt in Washington, D.C., raised alarm that Trump was trivializing the suffering of real hostages.
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Israeli observers and advocates for human rights expressed discomfort with the parallel, arguing that it diminished the true horror of the Hamas hostage situation. The reality that the rioters of January 6 were violent perpetrators, while the hostages taken by Hamas were innocent victims of terrorism, was a distinction Trump’s comments seemed to blur. For those directly affected by the Hamas attacks, the conflation of these two very different groups of people was seen as an alarming failure to understand the gravity of their respective situations (Source: The Times of Israel, January 21, 2025)
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CROWD SIZE CONSPIRACIES. In addition to the pardons, Trump used the occasion of his drastically pared back inauguration held inside due to the cold for the first time since the Reagan era, to air grievances. He revisited his conspiracy theories about a media and left-wing conspiracy against him at his first inauguration. He revived his claims about crowd size, claiming without evidence that up to a million people attended the 2016 event but that media outlets had suppressed the photographs to downplay the number. (Source: NPR, January 19, 2025).
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