Donald Trump Jr. Wants to Give a Top PizzaGate Conspiracy Theorist a Pulitzer

High praise for Mike Cernovich’s Medium post.

Reuters/ZUMA

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Amid multiple investigations examining Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible communications between Russian officials and Trump associates, President Donald Trump continues to focus on a bizarre conspiracy theory alleging the Obama administration ordered inappropriate surveillance on him and his campaign officials. These escalating accusations, which began with the false claim Barack Obama “wiretapped” Trump Towers, have been seen as the administration’s attempt to divert attention from the ongoing probes.

The most recent allegation appeared on Monday, when conservative writer and avid conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich published a Medium post alleging former National Security Adviser Susan Rice authorized the “unmasking” of Trump officials’ identities—meaning she may have improperly allowed the names of US citizens to be revealed in intelligence reports. That story was further amplified by a Bloomberg View report with the same charges. The story has since been roundly described as a thin, nothing-burger—a misleading distraction at best.

That didn’t stop Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday, from taking to Twitter to praise Cernovich. He even claimed the story would have garnered him a Pulitzer, had it been published in a bygone era of journalism.

A quick look at Cernovich’s body of work and past social media contributions, however, adds some much-needed context to Trump Jr.’s journalistic insights. Here are some of Cernovich’s most memorable contributions.

#PizzaGate is real:

Date rape is fake, hurts men:

Hillary is covering up a sickness:

Indian women are painful to date:

 

Despite his well documented history of pushing unhinged conspiracy theories, 60 Minutes recently invited Cernovich to speak during a segment about the spread of fake news stories, in which they failed to call out some of his worst material.

In December, Trump reportedly fired the son of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for promoting PizzaGate.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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