Conservative podcaster Joe Rogan and Trump financier Elon Musk mentioned and promoted an simply disproven conspiracy idea about CNN throughout their interview launched final Friday.
The 2 males, who’ve an in depth historical past of furthering conspiracies, mentioned the taking pictures that occurred at Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“You also know that CNN streamed it live, which I do not believe they did for any other rally—and certainly not for a rally that’s in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Like, there’s a lot of weird shit,” Rogan stated.
Video of the trade later circulated on Musk’s social media service X.
Amongst those that pushed the clip have been billionaire Trump backer Invoice Ackman who wrote, “What are the chances @CNN was tipped off to stream the Butler rally? Why isn’t this worthy of an investigation? It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who orders the coverage and why.” A couple of months in the past Ackman pushed a false story that Vice President Kamala Harris obtained advance debate questions and was highlighted in an Axios story about “America’s gullibility crisis.”
Fox Information host Joe Concha additionally weighed in to help the conspiracy, describing it as “100% accurate.” Concha later scrubbed the put up from his X account.
CNN debunked the conspiracy in a put up from the community’s communications division.
“CNN provided live coverage of President Trump’s Butler, PA rally in anticipation of news about his pick for Vice President. Any suggestion contrary to that fact is completely false.”
The Trump rally in Butler was the topic of intense media focus as a result of it was broadly anticipated that he would announce his working mate on the occasion. A number of shops carried it stay as a result of it was the one marketing campaign rally scheduled for Trump earlier than the Republican Nationwide Conference. It obtained intense consideration exactly as a result of Trump and his staff designed occasions to happen that approach.
Opposite to the Rogan narrative, CNN has actually obtained ample criticism over the past decade for carrying countless hours of Trump rallies on air with out truth checking or context. The community’s airwaves have been steadily utilized by Trump to additional his personal conspiracy theories, racism, misogyny, and nonsensical babbling. The community has even supplied up defenses for bending over backward for Trump.
Rogan’s reality-free monologue is symptomatic of the fashion of media that makes up the world of conservative/MAGA content material, consisting steadily of simply debunked conspiracies that may hurt the general public. It’s no coincidence that Rogan endorsed Trump within the closing stretch of the marketing campaign after Trump defended him years earlier for utilizing the racist “n-word.”
Musk’s involvement makes good sense as nicely. Below his management and infrequently together with his specific blessing, X has turn into infested with conspiracy theories which are usually shared and circulated by the positioning’s appreciable inhabitants of racists and antisemites.
CNN will not be harmless, however this accusation towards the community is fake. It’s what occurs when Musk and Rogan get collectively, each empowered by their affiliation with Trump to flood the zone with nonsense.
