The term “false flag” is a popular rallying cry in the nutbag conspiracy theorist camp, and it’s become one of the main lines of rationale when conspiracists piece together their bogus takes on tragic world events. InfoWars founder Alex Jones has been at the forefront of popularizing the term, which describes a staged operation (a shooting, terror attack, etc.) that can be manipulated and propagandized for the masses in order to implement a secret agenda.

When Jones and other conspiracy peddlers trot out the false flag storyline, one of the first things they attack is the official media narrative. With 9/11, Newtown, Aurora, the common theme among conspiracists is that the media was complicit in the implementation and coverup of the stories. But when it comes to the shooting at a GOP congressional baseball practice by a self-described leftist in Alexandria, Virginia, Jones and the usual suspects in right-wing conspiracyland aren’t questioning the official media narrative.

The shooter, James Hodgkinson, was a self-professed Bernie Sanders supporter and Trump hater.

Paul Joseph Watson, a reporter for InfoWars who’s busy solidifying his bonafides as a conspiracy peddler equal to his employer, relies on the “media is lying” narrative for his very own brand to exist. His claims about attacks like 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Virginia Tech shooting all rely on one central premise: the media is lying to you — always. But when writing about the Alexandria shooting for InfoWars, Watson cites CNN’s reporting — yes, CNN, who Jones and his minions constantly slander as being “fake news.”

Leftist Gunman Shoots Republican Congressman in Media-Inspired Terror Attack https://t.co/QdjvRhcYfI #Alexandria pic.twitter.com/Oj7YsMZUW2 — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) June 14, 2017

After citing mainstream reporting on the story and lifting quotes taken from CNN on the ground, Watson concludes that this “strongly suggests that the shooting was a terrorist attack carried out by an anti-Trump leftist.” In another article, Watson confirms the identity of the shooter by simply rehashing the reporting from mainstream media outlets. Not one single ounce of scrutiny is given.

As The Daily Wire‘s Jacob Airey points out, Jones is pretty much on board with the official media narrative as well:

Jones, for his part, seems to support this opinion. He is disregarding the idea of a false flag operation completely from Wednesday’s incident. He is calling the live episode of his show covering the shooting: Republicans Targeted by Leftist Gunman Amid Baseball Practice. He released a segment on his YouTube where he said, “These people are whacked out of their brains,” talking about leftists like the Virginia shooter.

The formula is simple: if a terror attack or mass shooting can be manipulated into supporting the InfoWars theme of a shadow government secretly staging events to implement a shadow agenda, then everything you hear about the story is a lie and they’re the true harbingers of truth. But now that a crazed leftist has picked up a gun and targeted Republicans, Jones and his followers stumbled on a rare occasion where they didn’t have to bend the truth on a story that was tailor-made for their audience.

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