This Week in Misinformation: Omicron Conspiracies, Q Civil War, Suing Gateway Pundit, Cute Cat Pics
2 December 2021
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Reliability scores for media outlets cited in the summary are in parentheses for each, courtesy of the terrific folks at Ad Fontes Media.
There was a lot we could have written about to cover the last two weeks. Here are our top four.
As is customary whenever a Greek letter dominates the news, we’re leading with COVID.
Experts in South Africa identified a new, significantly mutated variant of the novel coronavirus, which foreseeably gave new oxygen to conspiracy theories about the pandemic (Philadelphia Inquirer, 40.60). For one example, former Trump White House doctor and current Congressional candidate Ronny Jackson suggested omicron was invented by Democrats and dubbed it the “midterm election variant” (CNN, 43.70). In the media (@MaxKennerly via Twitter) and online (@marcowenjones via Twitter), mixed messages and straight-up disinformation abounded.
Reporters at NBC News (45.67) filed a story about how “magic dirt,” which is actually dirt, is becoming fashionable as a simple—yet expensive—remedy for the virus among those opposed to being vaccinated.
Last year Donald Trump told many lies about COVID-19, how much it had spread in the U.S., what kinds of things could help treat it, when it would “disappear,” and the like. To this list we may now add: he told no one that he tested positive for COVID three days before sharing a debate stage with his also-elderly opponent Joe Biden (Associated Press, 49.34). Before this revelation was published in a book by his former White House chief of staff this week, the confirmed onset of Trump’s illness was just after the debate.
In Q world it was civil war, zealots, and public crises of faith in the “Plan.”
Attorney, election truther, Christian, “Anon,” and now backstabber: Georgia’s Lin Wood mixed things up, first by feuding with right-wing hero Kyle Rittenhouse over a matter of bail money he didn’t use to get Rittenhouse out of jail (@greg_price11 via Twitter). Next, Wood broke publicly with Q hero Mike Flynn, going so far as to publish private messages in which Flynn calls the Q movement “nonsense” (The Independent, 41.74). And then, apparently for good measure, Wood campaigned against other Q friendlies Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (@NovelSci via Twitter), fellow “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell (Rolling Stone, 38.77), and right-wing media luminaries, Tucker Carlson, Dan Bongino (Daily Beast, 36.65), Jack Posobiec, and Charlie Kirk (@hottub_twin via Twitter). Some Q personalities, like QAnon John, are staying firmly in Wood’s good graces—at least for now (@2021_Karma via Twitter).
The Michael Protzman sect of JFK Jr. return watchers is still in Dallas and behaving more cult-like all the time (Dallas Morning News, 44.06). The dynamic was an interesting one on 22 November, when believers of almost completely unrelated, even contradictory, conspiracy theories showed up to memorialize the assassination of the senior Kennedy on that day in 1963 (@stevanzetti via Twitter).
A Q influencer with thousands of followers posted an “open letter” to Trump on Telegram, saying he was tired of Q’s predictions not coming to pass (Newsweek, 39.37). Anecdotally, and for what it’s worth, some researchers have also noted a steady decline in the number of Telegram followers enjoyed by many of the top Q personalities in recent weeks.
A mother-daughter duo who worked the 2020 election in Georgia are suing for damages sustained from a Trump-led disinformation campaign against them.
Reuters (48.81) published an exclusive report on the lies Trump and other told about the two women, and the threats and other harm that came to them as a result. Yale Law School is now helping the women file suit against Gateway Pundit for defamation (New York Times, 44.72).
In other 2020 election fallout news, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and state Republican leaders have shifted $4 million toward election audits (Dallas Morning News, 44.06), and state legislators in 39 states have penned a letter calling for audits in every jurisdiction (@JenAFifield via Twitter). Interestingly, many of the people most enthusiastic months ago about the Arizona audit have now become enamored of volunteer-based, untrained “citizen canvassing” expeditions to fish for validation of their beliefs about voting irregularities (@get_innocuous via Twitter).
Things are not going as hoped for Mike Lindell, however, as he failed to get his election theft case heard by the Supreme Court despite promising to do so since summer (Daily Beast, 36.65). Two of the attorneys who filed suit challenging the 2020 election on no evidence and flimsy logic, meanwhile, have been ordered by a judge to pay penalties for their shoddy lawyering (Washington Post, 43.82).
The January 6th Committee leaned into its investigation with a full court press to secure documents and testimony from witnesses, both willing and reluctant.
The committee issued new subpoenas for right-wing operative Roger Stone (New York Times, 44.72), conspiracist radio show host Alex Jones (Washington Post, 43.82), and the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers (CNN, 42.94), all of whom are known to have been involved in the planning of “stop the steal” rallies. Investigators are also talking to more than 200 voluntary witnesses (CNN, 42.94), including a number of ex-Trump administration staffers, and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is reported to have come to an agreement regarding his testimony (Reuters, 48.81). Former senior Justice official Jeffrey Clark, though, has not cooperated, was referred for contempt (CBS News, 46.93), and may soon plead the 5th (MSNBC, 37.18).
Jacob Chansley, the QAnon Shaman arrested, tried, and sentenced to 41 months for his prominent role in the Capitol attack, has gotten himself a new lawyer (Forbes, 43.81) and plans to appeal (Bloomberg, 45.75).
Former Vice President Mike Pence was interviewed about January 6th for the first time, saying both that he does not think Trump’s supporters are angry with him for what he did that day and that he does not think the election was stolen from Trump (@RonFilipkowski via Twitter).
In the grab bag we’ve got some interesting platform news and some odds and ends left over from the above featured stories: new tools and reports on IO and misinformation rolled out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; cute cat pictures online are often used to further the cause of misinformation; Michael Protzman said some… things about Kyle Rittenhouse and Princess Diana and Trump’s children; two Fox News contributors resigned over Tucker Carlson’s January 6th misinformation film (and two of its news division reporters protested, privately); White House officials, the Trump family, and Stop the Steal organizers used “burner phones” to plan activities on and before January 6th; and Donald Trump endorsed a QAnon enthusiast for governor of Maryland.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation, double edition.
-- Kevin