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| Newsletter 10/31/2024 |
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Conspiracy Watch diligently curates and produces comprehensive materials and resources for understanding conspiracy theories. If you want to help us bolster our efforts...
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Jackson Hinkle: From Sanders Bro to Antisemitic Putin Worshiper
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Since October 7, Hinkle has amplified and popularized pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, antisemitic trope
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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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ROBERT F KENNEDY JR. “I’m going to let him go wild on health,” former President Donald Trump promised Sunday at his rally at Madison Square Garden. “I’m going to get him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines.” Trump was talking about notorious vaccine conspiracist Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who abandoned his campaign as an independent candidate to back Trump. On Wednesday, Howard Lutnick, head of Trump’s potential White House transition team, announced his support for the controversial anti-vaccine views espoused by Kennedy. Despite substantial evidence debunking these claims, Lutnick revealed on Wednesday that he had been persuaded by Kennedy’s stance. The possibility of Kennedy assuming a role in a future Trump administration—an idea Mr. Trump has hinted at—could bring significant changes to federal public health policies. During a CNN interview, Lutnick disclosed that he had engaged in a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with Mr. Kennedy, where they discussed various issues, including Kennedy’s false assertions linking childhood vaccines to autism. This claim, which dates back to a retracted 1998 study, has been repeatedly debunked by health experts. Nevertheless, it continues to fuel controversy around vaccine safety. RFK Jr went further in his own comments, claiming Trump was going to hand him control of all federal health agencies. “The key that President Trump has promised me is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC FDA, NIH, and a few others … and then also the USDA,” he said (Sources: The New York Times, October 31, 2024; New York Magazine, October 31, 2024; CNN; October 31, 2024).
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ELECTION CONSPIRACIES. Donald Trump is ramping up his rhetoric around false claims of electoral fraud as November 5 approaches. Speaking at a rally in New Mexico on Thursday wearing a black and gold MAGA hat he told supporters “Your votes are rigged”. Recent comments and posts by the Republican nominee on Truth Social suggest that the Republican Party under Speaker Mike Johnson might be gearing up to contest election outcomes in Pennsylvania if Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, prevails.The conspiracy mongering is building on Trump’s years of spreading lies about stolen elections that culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol in Washington, DC when he fomented violent rioting in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win. Trump is targeting the keenly contested swing state of Pennsylvania, claiming without evidence that voter fraud and suppression are underway. His campaign and allies cite routine administrative decisions, such as long lines at voting centers and mail-in ballot procedures, as evidence of corruption. “Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before,” Trump posted without evidence to his social media site Wednesday morning. And he continued Thursday: “We caught them CHEATING BIG in Pennsylvania. Must announce and PROSECUTE, NOW!,” he posted. “Who would have ever thought that our Country is so CORRUPT?”. Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley has criticized the state, accusing “leftist” tactics of fostering voter suppression (Sources: Politico, October 31, 2024; CNBC, October 30, 2024).
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RACIST RALLY. Extremist “comedian” Tony Hinchcliffe used Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally Sunday night to spread the popular MAGA/white supremacist “Great Replacement theory” that migrants, often at the behest of Jews are “invading” America and Europe to “replace” white people. Hinchcliffe took aim at Puerto Ricans, all Latinos, Blacks, Jews and Palestinians, in a shockingly racist performance that went viral and proved troublesome to the Trump campaign. “Where are my proud Latinos at tonight?” Hinchcliffe asked the packed arena, with some loud cheers in response. “You guys see what I mean? [The border’s] wide open. There’s so many of them.” “These Latinos, they love making babies, too,” he added. “There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside just like they did to our country.” The crowd groaned and cheered as Hinchcliffe continued, saying, “Republicans are the party with a good sense of humor.” Next, Hinchcliffe regurgitated a MAGA line about migrants “eating the pets” in Springfield, Ohio, a reference to the Trump campaign’s racist lie about Haitian immigrants in the city. When discussing Israel’s ongoing siege of Gaza, Hinchcliffe made an antisemitic joke about Jews being cheap and obsessed with money. “Why is our money involved in these wars when it comes to Israel and Palestine?” he said. “We’re all thinking the same thing — settle your stuff already. Best out of three: rock, paper, scissors. You know, the Palestinians are going to throw rock every time. You also know the Jews have a hard time throwing that paper, you know?” Hinchcliffe also referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” and made a remark about Black people who “carved watermelons” instead of pumpkins for Halloween (Sources: CBC, October 27, 2024; HuffPost, October 28, 2024).
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ELON MUSK. The billionaire’s online platform X has come under scrutiny for enabling the spread of unverified election-related claims, including conspiracy theories about voter fraud and smears against Vice President Kamala Harris. Utilizing its AI feature, Grok, X’s “explore” section highlights trending content without human fact-checking, allowing unfounded claims to gain traction. This feature, titled “stories for you,” shows posts about popular topics, and its summaries often repeat speculative or false information as factual. Since Musk took ownership in 2022, X has shifted toward favoring right-wing causes, particularly former President Donald Trump’s campaign, through platform modifications and Musk’s own public support. Researchers and public opinion surveys suggest that X has transformed from a widely regarded “global town square” to a channel promoting conservative voices and narratives, often without oversight on content accuracy. Musk has also backed Trump financially and used X to support Trump-aligned narratives. Musk, with the largest account on the platform, has played a personal role in helping make several conservative causes go viral, on subjects from diversity in airlines to an allegedly impending civil war to false accusations that immigrants from Haiti are attacking cats and dogs. The shifts have remade X’s user base, consolidating a right-wing elite who drive political debate on the app — similar to conservative talk radio hosts who appeared a generation ago. University of Washington researchers dubbed the accounts “newsbrokers” in a report noting they often lack journalistic standards and propagate conspiracy theories and partisan views. Musk has personally boosted many of them, such as @libsoftiktok and the account of conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who was suspended from Twitter before Musk bought it (Sources: NBC News, October 31, 2024; NBC News, October 26, 2024).
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ANTISEMITISM FRANCE. Amid surging antisemitism in France, a Jewish woman resident in a central Paris apartment has faced repeated threats and vandalism in a building already stained by tragedy—the same place where Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll was murdered in 2018. The harassment against Nancy has escalated recently, with swastikas and antisemitic threats defacing communal spaces. Her door and mailbox have been vandalized, with some threats written in Arabic. BFM, a French news channel, recently visited Nancy’s home to document these troubling incidents, shedding light on the ongoing harassment (Sources: JNS, October 29, 2024; BFM TV, October 29, 2024).
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