In late September, Rand Paul announced that he had been endorsed by eight people: Fox News’s John Stossel; his own father, former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul; Reps. Mick Mulvaney, Justin Amash, Thomas Massie, Cynthia Lummis, and Raul Labrador; and Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer Pat Miletich.
Paul can now add one more name to that impressive list: professional conspiracy theorist and iodine salesman Alex Jones, host of the Alex Jones Show and founder of Infowars.com.
On Tuesday, the reclusive right-wing blogger Matt Drudge made a surprise appearance in Jones’s studio while the radio host was on the air. Jones could hardly contain his excitement, and the pair proceeded to have an in-depth conversation about the media and politics, with Drudge warning several times that the United States is in danger of ending up with “Hillary’s brain in the Oval Office in a jar.”
I texted Jones on Wednesday while I watched the interview to ask him if he agreed with Drudge’s assertion that Clinton is, besides being unfit for the presidency ideologically, too old and unwell to serve. “She is too corrupt and evil!” Jones replied. “America needs real change.”
When I asked if there were any candidates he thinks are not corrupt and evil, he said, “Rand Paul for sure.”
Jones said he’s sure of this because “I have watched him for a long time and know him.”
That’s true. Jones has said he first heard Paul on the radio in the 1990s, while the ophthalmologist helped his father, Ron, campaign for reelection to Congress. Ron Paul has been a frequent guest on Jones’s show, and Infowars.com republishes his columns—including his latest, “I Wish Nobody Was Bombing Syria.”
In 2009, just a few months into Rand Paul’s campaign for the Republican nomination for the Kentucky Senate seat he ended up winning, Paul appeared on Jones’s radio show to offer his opinion on what he called the “scary” trend of “political profiling.”
Jones was impressed by what he heard.
“It’s just weird how time flies,” he told his listeners. Now it was clear to him that Paul would “probably end up being president if we’re able to turn this country around. He’s got a real shot at it, except for the electronic voting machine fraud. I can read the tea leaves, as anyone can.”
Jones told me he will be voting for Paul.
Asked if the senator had any comment or if the campaign planned to announce Jones’s endorsement publicly, a spokesman did not respond.
It seems unlikely that the Paul campaign will flaunt the endorsement, given Jones’s history saying outlandish things, including that a 2013 tornado in Oklahoma was orchestrated by the government and denying the moon landing (though he claims he doesn’t deny the moon landing).
But behind the closed doors of a campaign polling at 2.3 percent and fundraising anemically, Paul staffers are likely thankful for the support.