Dan Bongino is a former Fox News host and top-rating far-right podcaster who popularized conspiracy theories about the so-called “Deep State” and the “stolen” 2020 U.S. presidential election. He also encouraged the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots and spent years disputing the facts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to combat it. Despite his […]
In dramatic scenes on Capitol Hill, Robert F. Kennedy Jr found himself subject to furious questioning by Democrats over his firing of the United States' entire 17-person vaccines expert advisory board and replacing it with a handpicked cabal of some of his favored anti-science conspiracy theorists. But instead of mea culpas during the hearings, Donald […]
It took barely 24 hours following the weekend assassinations of Democratic lawmakers from Minnesota, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the attempted murders of state Senator John Hoffman and his wife. While the suspected killer was still on the run, a swarm of far-right pro-Trump voices scrambled to spread conspiracies pinning the blame […]
It began on the evening of Sunday 25 May, when Emmanuel Macron arrived in Vietnam with his wife, Brigitte, at the start of an official tour of Southeast Asia. As the pair disembarked at Hanoi airport, a few press agency cameras caught a fleeting moment: Brigitte Macron’s hand moved toward her husband’s face. He appeared […]
For almost a century, right-wing extremists have been trying to introduce their conspiracist ideas into popular discourse. Through a number of central concepts, they want to dominate and distort political discussion and public opinion. ‘Umvolkung', a term used by the Nazis for the ‘re-Germanization’ of the diverse populations of Eastern Europe, has more recently been […]
It often takes just one offhand remark, misinterpreted picture, or joke that doesn’t land to start a conspiracy theory that subsequently never goes away. We’ve seen it happen time after time – World Trade Center owner Larry Silverstein’s comment that the firefighting team working to save WTC 7 should be “pulled” serving as “proof” that […]
Before emerging as a far-right antisemitic conspiracy media figure, Stew Peters chased fame in the rap scene. After failing to break through musically, he pivoted to political provocation, finding in social media the perfect springboard. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he rose to prominence by posting viral videos that fused health misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate […]
Russia’s long-term objective in the global information war has never been to convince the world of its version of events. Instead, it seeks to erode the very idea that objective truth exists. The Kremlin’s goal, as described by British journalist Peter Pomerantsev, is to create a world where “nothing is true and everything is possible.” This strategy […]
Donald Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff has attracted global ridicule for spewing Kremlin conspiracy theories about Ukraine being a “false country” while lauding war criminal and dictator Vladimir Putin as “super smart and gracious”. In an extensive interview with pro-Russia far right broadcaster Tucker Carlson, Witkoff declared that Putin “was not a bad guy” and […]
Conspiracy theories about vaccines. Secret meetings with dictators. An enemies list. President Donald Trump’ s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings that were like nothing the Senate has seen in modern memory. The onslaught of claims, promises and testy exchanges did not occur in a political vacuum. The […]
