(JTA) — Radio host, conspiracy theorist and Donald Trump supporter Alex Jones — who earlier this year ranted about a “Jewish mafia” run by billionaire George Soros — was at it again Sunday with a theory that “leftist Jews” may have impersonated Nazis to discredit white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Speaking on “The Alex Jones Show,” Jones recalled his own experience, he said, protesting the Ku Klux Klan:
I mean, quite frankly, I’ve been to these events, a lot of the KKK guys with their hats off look like they’re from the cast of “Seinfeld.” Literally they’re just Jewish actors. Nothing against Jews in general, but they are leftists Jews that want to create this clash and they go dress up as Nazis. I have footage in Austin — we’re going to find it somewhere here at the office — where it literally looks like cast of “Seinfeld” or like Howard Stern in a Nazi outfit. They all look like Howard Stern. They almost got like little curly hair down, and they’re just up there heiling Hitler. You can tell they are totally uncomfortable, they are totally scared, and it’s all just meant to create the clash.
A video of his remarks, posted Saturday, was titled “Virginia Riots Staged To Bring In Martial Law, Ban Conservative Gatherings.”
Media Matters first reported Jones’ comments about the rally goers.
White nationalists gathered Saturday for a “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, ostensibly to protest a plan by local officials to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. There were clashes between the white nationalists and counterprotesters, and a 32-year-old woman was killed when a car driven by a man who espoused neo-Nazi views plowed into a group of counterprotesters.
In the past, Jones has denied that he is anti-Semitic, saying he reserves his attacks for Jewish liberals. In March, Jones said that “the Jewish mafia” was supporting efforts by moderate Republicans to “derail the Trump presidency.”
“Well there is undoubtedly a Jewish mafia and the [Anti-Defamation League] will say you’re anti-Semitic,” Jones said on his program. “No, there’s an Italian mafia, Irish mafia, Jewish mafia, Jamaican mafia, and there’s mafias, there’s Dixie mafia. And absolutely, the Jewish mafia, then, if you criticize it says you’re anti-Semitic, but the Jewish mafia is a very powerful mafia.”
In December 2015, Trump appeared on “The Alex Jones Show,” where the then-candidate for the Republican presidential nomination told the host that “your reputation is amazing” and promised he would “not let you down.”
Jones has been called out for spreading other conspiracy theories, including one claiming that FEMA wanted to put Americans in concentration camps, Vox noted. Southern Poverty Law Center fellow Mark Potok told Vox that Jones is the “primary producer of conspiracy theories in America today.”
