9/11 as ‘inside job,’ &c.

As night follows day, conspiracy theories follow catastrophes. This was true after Pearl Harbor. It was true after the Kennedy assassination. It was true after 9/11.

Do conspiracy theories follow catastrophes that are natural? Hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions? Sometimes, yes. Of interest is a Wikipedia entry headed “Misinformation about the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.”

You may remember Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) and her musings. For example, she wrote,

Yes they can control the weather.

It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.

Back to 9/11. The attacks were an “inside job,” goes the claim. They were perpetrated by the U.S. government, led by President George W. Bush — who then passed the attacks off on al-Qaeda.

At first, this claim, this theory, was peddled by the fringe Left. Before long, however, others wanted to get in on the act.

Laura Loomer is a “MAGA influencer” who has the ear of President Trump. (I wrote about her, and her relationship with Trump, in a column last week.) She is an “inside job” person, where 9/11 is concerned. I know several such people, including a dear friend of mine. (I mentioned this in my column.)

Conspiracy theories, we will always have with us. They are ever popular, to one degree or another. Has there ever been a populism, anywhere, without conspiracy theories? If so, it was rare.

Let me quote from an essay I wrote last fall:

There is a theory — deriving from the QAnon movement, apparently — that goes like this: President Obama and Vice President Biden conspired with Iran to fake the death of Osama bin Laden. Then Biden, specifically, had members of SEAL Team Six killed, in order to cover up the conspiracy.

In October 2020, someone on Twitter tweeted this theory around. The tweeter called himself “Oscar the Midnight Rider 1111.” Donald Trump retweeted Oscar the Midnight Rider 1111.

Trump, remember, was president of the United States.

In a televised “townhall,” he was asked about this. “I know nothing about it,” said the president. “That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody, and that was a retweet. I put it out there. People can decide for themselves. I don’t take a position.”

The president was just asking questions, you see. That’s their fallback, perpetually: “just asking questions.”

Earlier this week, two Johnsons were in the news: Senator Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican, and Benny Johnson, who, like Laura Loomer and legions of others, is a “MAGA influencer.” He was once part of Tenet Media — which was bankrolled by Moscow. (Johnson and other participants said they were ignorant of the source of their funding.)

Benny Johnson is the kind of person who says, “This ungrateful piece of sh*t does not have the decency to wear a suit to the White House.” He was talking, of course, about the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The one Johnson, Benny, is of like mind with the other, Senator Ron. They conversed on The Benny Show.

According to the senator, the U.S. government has concealed the facts about 9/11. Americans “deserve the truth,” he said. “It’s been hidden from them way too long.” He is especially interested in Building 7 and its (alleged) toppling by a “controlled demolition.”

“Controlled demolition” is a common phrase among the 9/11 “truthers.” Senator Johnson uses it easily, breezily.

“Hopefully,” he said, “now with this administration — I think President Trump should have some interest, being a New Yorker himself: What actually happened in 9/11? What do we know? What is being covered up?”

Above, I used the word “fringe.” It may well be that the 9/11-as-inside-job thing will go mainstream. You could say it already has, with the weighing in of a U.S. senator.

And if you say that someone is a conspiracy theorist, he may accuse you of trying to shut him up or to deflect attention from the (actual) conspiracy.

Said Senator Johnson to Benny Johnson, “I know you and I are both considered conspiracy theorists, but that’s exactly how they keep this stuff covered up.”

There you go.

And note “they” — always “they.” Said Congresswoman Greene, “They can control the weather.” Said Senator Johnson, “That’s exactly how they keep this stuff covered up.”

They.

• Also part of Tenet Media was Tim Pool, another “MAGA influencer.” He was paid $100,000 for each episode of his show. That’s a lot (where I come from). Mr. Pool is the kind who says, “Ukraine is the enemy of this country!” He was talking about the United States, of course.

The Trump administration has now invited him to be part of the White House press corps. He made his debut this week. Pool gave what amounted to a little speech, in which he denounced the more established media for, among other things, disparaging the new media (as represented by him).

For the presidential press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, he had a question, or a request: “I’m wondering if you could comment on that unprofessional behavior as well as elaborate if there’s any plans to expand access to new companies.” Ms. Leavitt was pleased to comment.

“We welcome unbiased journalists who really care about the truth and the facts and the accuracy,” she said. At the conclusion of her response, she said, “Thank you for being here, Tim. It’s great to see you. Thank you.”

I have a conspiracy theory of my own: Maybe the “new media” conspire to make the “old media” look good?

• Bush 43 is like Bush 41: He thinks that an ex-president should not comment on public affairs (except in rare instances). But if “9/11 trutherism” goes mainstream — further mainstream — I think he should hit them, hard: hit the politicians who peddle it.

Republicans despise him already (as Democrats always have). Would that make them despise him more? Do it anyway, I say — for honor.

• To the taste of today’s Republicans is Donald Trump. (Three times in a row, Republicans have nominated him for president. Never before had the GOP nominated someone three times in a row.) Trump called Jerome Powell “a major loser.”

Powell, as you know, is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Say you were president and had differences with the Fed chairman. Would you call him “a major loser”? Is that the way a president should talk?

At least half the nation thinks so. We conservatives often spoke of “the coarsening of the culture.” We had a point (and still do).

• Mahmoud Abbas, the boss of the West Bank, called Hamas — Hamas in general — “sons of dogs.” (Dogs are not valued in the Arab world, as they are in the U.S.A., and elsewhere.) That is maybe the nicest thing you could say about them.

• I’m from Washtenaw County, Mich., and it’s not every day that a little town in Washtenaw County makes the national news. But one did last week. A report from the Associated Press began,

Residents of all ages in a small Michigan community formed a human chain and helped a local bookshop move each of its 9,100 books — one by one — to a new storefront about a block away.

The second paragraph:

The “book brigade” of around 300 people stood in two lines running along a sidewalk in downtown Chelsea on Sunday, passing each title from Serendipity Books’ former location directly to the correct shelves in the new building, down the block and around the corner on Main Street.

Very nice. Chelsea is the home of Jeff Daniels, the actor, by the way. He has a company there called the Purple Rose Theatre. At the bottom of a column in November 2023, I had some shots — some photos — of Chelsea: here.

Funny to see that little burg hit the national news.

• Care for a language item? Jay Sigel, the golfer, died at 81. He was always an amateur, though he turned pro in later years to join the Senior Tour (where he won eight tournaments).

An article explains,

His intention was to turn pro when he starred at Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer scholarship. But his left hand went through a pane window on a swinging door that required 70 stitches. Sigel decided to remain amateur and started a successful insurance business.

Hang on, the swinging door didn’t require 70 stitches, did it?

• If you have the time and the inclination, read this obit: “Aliza Magen, Highest-Ranking Woman in the Mossad, Dies at 87.” What a life, what a woman, what a cause — the survival of Israel.

• In the recent period, I have not seen anything better than this:

Thank you for joining me today, my friends. Catch you soon.

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