Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones says Donald Trump called to thank him

Alex Jones, the far-right conspiracy theorist, radio talk show host, and provocateur founder of the popular Infowars website, says President-elect Donald Trump called him last week to thank him and his audience for their grassroots support of his unlikely candidacy.

“On my way here, Donald Trump gave me a call,” Jones said in a YouTube video shot atop Mount Bonnell in Austin, Texas, and published Friday. “And I told him, ‘Mr. President-elect, you’re too busy, we don’t need to talk.’ But we still spent over five minutes [on the phone], and 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 want to talk to you to thank you and your audience. And I’ll be on in the next few weeks to thank them.’”

A representative for the president-elect did not immediately return a request seeking confirmation of Trump’s call to Jones.

“I want to thank you, thank your listeners for standing up for this republic,” Trump said, according to Jones. “We know what you did early on for this campaign.”

Last December, Trump appeared on Jones’ show in a video interview from Trump Tower, and Jones greeted him by saying that 90 percent of his listeners were Trump supporters.

“Your reputation is amazing,” Trump replied. “I will not let you down.”

Jones’ reputation has been built, largely, on his conspiratorial claims. Among other things, he has suggested that 9/11 was an inside job; no one died in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School; the U.S. government is turning American children gay through their juice boxes; and President Obama and Hillary Clinton are possessed by demons.

“I never said this, because the media will go crazy with it,” Jones told his listeners in mid-October. “But I’ve talked to people that are in protective details, they’re scared of her. And they say, ‘Listen, she’s a frickin’ demon, and she stinks and so does Obama.’ I go, ‘Like what?’ ‘Sulfur. They smell like hell.’”

Jones has said he shares a common bond with Trump, who has also embraced conspiracy theories on the campaign trail. Notably, Trump for years cast doubt on the authenticity of President Obama’s birth certificate.

“He’s been what you call a ‘closet conspiracy theorist’ for 50 years,” Jones said in July. “I think he’s been a chameleon in the system, and now he sees the time to strike.”

In late August, Clinton turned a spotlight on Jones, when she cited him as the source behind some false claims Trump had repeated on the campaign trail.

“This is what happens when you listen to radio host Alex Jones, who claims that 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings were inside jobs,” she said.

Roger Stone, a frequent Infowars guest, was an unofficial adviser to the Trump campaign.

Jones also made headlines during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where he held an “America First” rally outside the convention center.

“We’re identifying the globalists, their program of control, their operations,” Jones said at the rally. “Once the public understands the paradigm: It’s game over!”

Trump’s postelection call, Jones said, proves he is “not the average elitist — these stuck-up nobodies who believe they control the world, who believe everybody’s an idiot.”

Jones added, “This whole criminal multinational enterprise that has hijacked the nation, ladies and gentlemen, is now coming down.”

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