Conspiracy-theorist extraordinaire Alex Jones may not actually believe the insanity that spews out of his mouth.
Jones is currently involved in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Kelly Jones, over their three children, who are 14, 12 and nine years old. The crux of Kelly Jones’ argument is that her ex-husband’s loony rants highlight how unstable he is.
“He says he wants to break Alec Baldwin’s neck. He wants J-Lo to get raped,” Kelly Jones said in court. “I’m concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress. He broadcasts from home. The children are there, watching him broadcast.”
Bobby Newman, Kelly’s attorney, argued that Infowars “is the world he has planned for his kids.”
However, Alex Jones’ lawyer, Randall Wilhite, argued that such rants by Jones are nothing more than an act.
“He’s playing a character,” Wilhite said. “He is a performance artist.”
The judge presiding over the case, Orlinda Naranjo, allowed only two Infowars clips to be admissible. One clip features Jones bringing one of his children on his show to present various videos he created with Jones’ guidance; Jones gushes about him. The other clip shows “Jones smoking marijuana in California, where it is legal.”
Naranjo said during the proceedings that she didn’t want the case “to be about Infowars.”
“I am in control of this court, not your clients,” Naranjo told the lawyers in front of her.
Jones, of course, has spouted numerous conspiracy theories over the years, including that 9/11 was an inside job and that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Even if Jones doesn’t actually believe these conspiracy theories, his audience likely won’t leave him.
Stephen Miller explains in Heat Street:
It’s like the first time people find out that the WWE is carefully choreographed, athletic stagecraft. At first they may feel betrayed that what they are witnessing isn’t 100% spontaneous, authentic battle of muscles and wills. But that all subsides the first time a flying sumo elbow from the top buckle squarely lands on a jaw in a long anticipated title match. That’s what will happen with Jones.
He may have to issue an on-air statement regarding these claims and admissions of theatrics, but the first time he grunts, bellows and throws a metaphorical elbow in the direction of the Washington, D.C., Swamp monsters or Unholy Satan’s offspring Chelsea Clinton, all will be forgiven.
President Donald Trump has previously expressed admiration for Jones.