Self-described “almost obsolete” Alex Jones told his old pal Tucker Carlson in an interview on X Thursday that he is waiting for other right-wing media figures like Carlson “who actually know what’s going on” to grow in influence before he can “hang it up.”
“Now there’s been a paradigm shattering, and I’m almost obsolete, Tucker,” he said. “As soon as I see a couple hundred more prominent people who actually know what’s going on, when we’re already reached chain-reaction point, I’m going to hang it up and disappear like Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the InfoWars host told Carlson at the conclusion of the 90-plus minute sit-down.
Moments earlier, Jones lauded the former Fox News host as “our champion” in his imagined fight against “the globalists.”
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“The more they throw against me, the more support I get, and it’s really become a historic battle,” the conspiracy theorist claimed proudly. “If I’m completely banned and defanged and shut down and can’t operate, only then would I try to evacuate somewhere to try to keep my show on the air. But… once they disrupt and shut down something, it’s very hard to restart it.”
“The good news is, there are so many other great talk show hosts, so many other great people that now understand this, and even have perspectives better than mine,” he added, citing Russell Brand, Joe Rogan and Steve Bannon. “I’m not obsolete yet, but … thanks to you, I know that no matter what happens to me, men and women are going to continue the fight forward into the future.”
Carlson, who has been posting clips of interviews and his speeches to the Elon Musk-run site since his ouster, has grown ever closer to Jones in recent years. During a December 2021 episode of his primetime show, for instance, Carlson called him a “far better journalist” than credible mainstream reporters like CBS News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan and NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Dilanian.
On an episode of Fox Nation’s Tucker Carlson Today last April, Carlson also lauded the “funny as hell” Jones, yet didn’t seem to understand the many who dislike Jones, who claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax carried out by crisis actors.
“But why is he such a threat?” Carlson said then. “Like, why would you hate Alex Jones? I've never understood that.”
Jones filed for bankruptcy last December, several months after his InfoWars parent company, Free Speech Systems, did the same. That October, a Connecticut jury determined that Jones and the company must pay nearly $1 billion for his lies about Sandy Hook.
Late last month, families of the victims offered Jones a “path out of bankruptcy,” which would require him to pay them $8.5 million a year for the next ten years, plus half of any annual income over $9 million.
Jones’ kind words for Carlson—who himself has appeared on Jones’ show—were preceded by the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal Rally attendee claiming he had recently received two subpoenas relating to his post-2020 election efforts—claims which could not immediately be verified.
Carlson—despite claiming to be “not a conspiracy person”--has pushed such theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection, for instance that a man named Ray Epps was a government agent tasked with inciting the insurrection. That claim resulted in Epps suing Fox and Carlson in July. The next month, Epps pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct related to the Jan. 6 attack.
Carlson also amplified baseless claims about murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, who was the subject of a Fox News story that ended up being retracted. Fox ultimately agreed to a settlement with Rich’s family reportedly worth seven figures.
