Conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones, who believes the government was involved in the 9/11 attacks, numerous school shootings, and the Oklahoma City bombing, says President-elect Donald Trump personally called him to “thank” Jones' audience for its support during the campaign. According to Jones, Trump said he plans to appear on Jones’ radio show “in the next few weeks.”
Jones is perhaps the country’s most prominent conspiracy theorist, and his support for and collaboration with the Trump campaign repeatedly made headlines during the election. Trump appeared on Jones’ show in December 2015 and praised his “amazing” reputation, promising Jones and his audience, “I will not let you down.” Throughout the campaign, Trump routinely echoed Jones’ talking points and conspiracies, causing Jones to marvel in August, “It is surreal to talk about issues here on air and then word-for-word hear Trump say it two days later. It is amazing.”
In a November 11 video, Jones boasted that the newly elected Trump “gave me a call, and I told him, ‘Mr. President-elect, you’re too busy, we don’t need to talk.’ But we still spent over five minutes -- he said, 'Listen, Alex, I just talked to the kings and queens of the world -- world leaders, you name it.' But he said, 'It doesn’t matter, I wanted to talk to you to thank your audience, and I’ll be on in the next few weeks to thank them.'” Jones added that Trump indicated it was not a “private call” and told him, “I want to thank your viewers, thank your listeners for standing up for this republic. We know what you did early on and throughout this campaign to stand up for what’s right.”
Later in the video, Jones again drove home the point that Trump had taken “time out from talking to world leaders. He’s not calling other media, he’s not meeting with other media, he’s not talking to the media – he wanted to directly talk to you and thank you.”
Trump is right that Jones and his audience were crucial boosters of his presidential campaign, starting in the primary. Jones previously said he convinced Trump to adopt the conspiracy that Democrats were going to “rig” or “steal” the election for Clinton.
This year alone, Jones also: pushed the theory that Clinton is a “demon-possessed” “devil worshiper”; claimed the Clintons had murdered several people; sold the “Hillary for Prison” T-shirts that became a staple of Trump rallies; argued that Billy Bush was a CIA operative who “set up” Trump’s comments boasting about committing sexual assault; and claimed that President Obama’s real father is the communist Frank Marshall Davis and his mother was a “sex operative” for the CIA.
UPDATE:
During a Friday appearance on Jones’ show, Trump ally and adviser Roger Stone, who was a fixture on Jones’ program throughout the election, said he had spoken to Trump “at some length on a broad variety of topics,” including Trump’s appreciation for Jones and his audience. According to Stone, Trump “knows that you are the centerpiece of the resistance. He knows that he has gotten better treatment here than from anyone in the mainstream media, and he is very grateful and very thankful for your support and the support of your audience.”