Far-right talk radio host and prolific conspiracy theorist Alex Jones turned on Donald Trump after the former president said he’d been vaccinated against Covid-19 and encouraged his supporters to do the same.
At a rally Saturday night in Cullman, Alabama, Trump was booed after telling followers the vaccine works. “I believe totally in your freedoms, I do. You got to do what you have to do. But I recommend — take the vaccines. I did it. It’s good,” he said.
During his InfoWars programming Sunday, Jones raved about the safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine and how he’s certain it will create “mutants.” He declared that Trump was following orders from “the left” to “go out and push” the vaccine.
“CNN snaps their fingers. [CNN President] Jeff Zucker snaps his fingers, and Trump clicks his heels and hops up there at attention and says, “How high do you want me to jump, boss?” Jones said.
He then played a clip of Trump’s message about vaccines in Alabama.
“BS,” Jones proclaimed afterward. “Trump: That’s a lie; you’re not stupid.”
After rattling off some random claims about vaccine efficacy, Jones added: “Shame on you, Trump. Seriously. Hey, if you don’t have the good sense to save yourself and your political career, that’s OK. At least you’re going to get some good Republicans elected, and we like you.”
“But, my God, maybe you’re not that bright,” he added. “Maybe Trump’s actually a dumbass.”
Jones, an ardent Trump supporter, leaned heavily on Trump’s base to boost his own audience and profits throughout his presidency. He appeared outside the Capitol on January 6 and claimed on his show that he contributed nearly half a million dollars to help organise the “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse near the White House the day of the riot.
In March, leaked video from a 2019 documentary showed him ranting about how he was “so sick of fucking Donald Trump” and saying that he wished he’d never met him. The filmmaker who leaked the video said it indicated how Jones is exploiting supporters by feeding them things he doesn’t even believe in.
Watch an excerpt from Sunday’s show below via Media Matters.