The 45th President of the United States, it appears, favours the advice of a seasoned conspirator over his country’s most experienced journalists.
After claiming the American press is the “the enemy of the American people” last Friday, links between Donald Trump and nationalistic cult figure Alex Jones – the man who once claimed the Sandy Hook massacre was “completely fake” and that 9/11 was “a cover up” – have emerged.
While the White House refuses to comment on the President’s relationship with the chief of InfoWars – an alt-right website Wikipedia identifies as a “fake news website” – The New York Times has examined just how highly Trump values Jones’ opinions.
Curiously, it appears the former Apprentice host echoes Jones’ sentiment on everything from debunked allegations the mass media covered up acts of Islamic terrorism (they didn’t), to baseless claims Hillary Clinton received millions of unauthorised votes from immigrants.
In both press conferences and on Twitter, Trump espouses a variety of Jones' headlines almost word for word.
A 2015 InfoWars interview between the pair provided ample insight into their gushy relationship - where Trump spoke of Jones' "amazing" reputation, promising him: "I will not let you down."