To borrow a line from Oscar Wilde, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh at this.

Alex Jones on Trump launching strikes in Syria… pic.twitter.com/FkPt3xnok4

— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) April 14, 2018

The guy’s a hell of a performer, though. Because of that, I’ve never bought the idea that his conspiracy garbage is all an act. Purely as a broadcaster, he’s more compelling than anything on conservative TV or talk radio. All he’d have to do is dial it back, say, 20 percent (or maybe 10 percent, given the state of right-wing media) by dumping the 9/11 Truth/crisis-actor idiocy and he’d be one of the biggest names in mainstream media. Even his Assad apologism is no barrier to a primetime Fox News gig anymore. He must really believe the crap he’s pushing in order to resist the financial incentives to relinquish it.

Or do I have it backward, and it actually pays *more* to be a conspiracy nut now? Infowars has a huge audience, after all. If you polled a thousand Americans, who would have higher name recognition — Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham or Alex Jones?

If he was crying last night, imagine the sobs this morning when Trump rolled out the “Mission Accomplished” banner:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/985130802668294144

Here’s a little more from last night’s rant, in which Jones makes history by becoming the first person to suggest at any time, in any context, that Donald Trump was “pure.” Cover the kids’ ears if they’re nearby before you click, as he gets salty.

Trump's anti-interventionist base, in this case, Alex Jones, reacts badly to Syria intervention: "Is no one pure in this world?…. F**k Trump!" pic.twitter.com/lBPVctVS1G

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 14, 2018

I’ll give him this too: Like Ann Coulter, his politics aren’t defined by Trump’s cult of personality. Coulter wanted her wall, she hasn’t gotten it, and she hasn’t been shy about criticizing Trump for it, whatever that may mean for her standing among Trump diehards. Same goes for Jones. They have political goals beyond “whatever Trump feels like doing today” and they’re willing to hold him accountable for failing to meet those goals. It’s sad and disturbing that you’re more likely to see the president challenged for breaking his campaign promises on Infowars than on “Hannity” but that’s where we are. Although I doubt Jones will become a “former Trumper” because of this any more than Coulter herself will due to her disappointment over the wall. All it’ll take is a little of the ol’ Trump magic to bring them back in the fold. Eventually POTUS will question Obama’s birth certificate again or say something cutting about Mexicans being rapists or whatever and Jones and Coulter will remember why they fell in love with him in the first place.

I’ll leave you with one more clip. Exit question: Is Jones going to go Full Jones on Trump by accusing *him* of having staged the chemical attack in Douma? Because that’s the line his friends in Moscow are pushing today.

This just happened too. pic.twitter.com/yymrX1YVqI

— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) April 14, 2018