Latest Nonsense From the Right-Wing Fringe Trump Fanboy Alex Jones: Putin Is Listening to Me and Says Hi!

Alex Jones, the extremist right-wing conspiracy promoter, has either lost his mind entirely, is reading from a really bad political comedy script, or is telling his fans—many of whom voted for Donald Trump—that he not only loves Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but loves that Putin is telling others to say hi to Jones for him.

This banter is what passes for an inane mix of infotainment, dark messaging and pro-Putin propaganda earlier this week on Jones' InfoWars show. His guest was a host from Russia Today, the Kremlin-funded TV network singled out by the White House’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election as a key propaganda venue, who laid it on thick, telling Jones how much Putin loves what he does—and by the way, Putin sends his regards.

As Media Matters, which tracks and debunks right-wing propagandists like Jones, reported Thursday, “Radio host and prominent Donald Trump ally Alex Jones was told by an RT host that Russian President Vladimir Putin asked him to 'say hi to Alex.' Jones has claimed that he was told years ago that 'Putin’s a big listener' and was previously informed that the 'Russian government listens to' his show and the Kremlin partially 'modeled' RT off of his Infowars network.”

It’s unbelievable that anybody who watches the segment can believe a single word of it, as it’s filled with banter and crosstalk between two right-ring bros who seem to love the sounds of their voices only slightly less than their preening for the cameras pointed at them. Russian TV may not be Netflix, but surely Putin has better things to do.

Nonetheless, this is the Trump era of post-factual reality and fake news, and the Russia Today broadcast suggests more evidence that a murky line and blurry relationship exists between the next president and one of America’s top international adversaries (even though the Russia Today host says Putin's a good guy).

Media Matters takes a darker view, blogging, “Scrutiny of Trump and his allies’ alleged ties to the Russian government has increased since the U.S. intelligence community released an unclassified document finding with 'high confidence' that Putin 'ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,' and that 'Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.' CNN recently reported that senior intelligence officials presented a 'two-page synopsis' to Trump and President Obama that 'included allegations that there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government, according to two national security officials.'"

Whether you believe the White House’s allegations of Russian interference are real or not, what’s unreal, or perhaps just nuts, is that Jones, as Media Matters noted, “has said that he talks to the president-elect on the phone to give advice and stated that it’s ‘surreal to talk about issues here on air and then word for word hear Trump say it two days later.’ Trump has appeared on Jones' show and is reportedly a viewer.”

Alex Jones, if one needs reminding, is the nut who has claimed that 9/11 was an “inside job” by the U.S. government, and that Osama bin Laden was a “CIA asset.” He also said the Oklahoma City bombing was an inside job, the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting was staged, the Boston Marathon bombing was staged, and that vaccines are part of a government plan to kill and maim people. And somehow, all of this is the tip of an even loonier iceberg. (See those chemtrails in the sky?)

Despite Media Matters’ seriousness exposing a lunatic right-wing fringe provocateur who may or may not be part of a Trump kitchen cabinet, one has to ask if this latest display of brotherly love between a fatuous and attention-starved Jones and a fawning and patronizing Russia Today host, is not also staged. It could easily be dismissed as a shabby attempt at mixing political propaganda and humor for an audience of C students. But we now live in Donald Trump’s America.