Thread by @thomasjoscelyn

1. @CNN reports: Kenneth Chesebro, one of the chief architects of the fake electors scheme, was with Alex Jones outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and also attended the conspiracy rally in Freedom Plaza on the night of Jan. 5. Some thoughts to follow...

cnn.com/2023/08/18/pol…

2. Alex Jones and his InfoWars played a crucial role in the "Stop the Steal" movement between election day 2020 and Jan. 6. You can read about Jones's rhetoric and actions both before and on Jan. 6 in Chapters 6 and 8 of the Jan. 6 Select Committee's final report:

https://t.co/YAAGLDfXm2

3. Jones likes to point out that he occasionally used the word "peaceful" in his otherwise incendiary rhetoric, which included chants of "fight for Trump," calls for "revolution," and chants of "1776!" - which obviously wasn't peaceful.

4. And the "Stop the Steal" movement brought together the rightwing extremists who led the attack on the Capitol. Groups such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and the white nationalist Groypers, as well QAnon adherents, etc all joined forces under the "Stop the Steal" banner. See Ch. 6:

5. Now we know that Kenneth Chesebro himself was with Jones on Jan. 6. This underscores a key point: There is no firm dividing line between those orchestrating the political conspiracy to overturn the election and the extremists who led the attack on the Capitol.

6. After all, the Jan 6 Select Committee discovered that members of the Proud Boys were with also with Jones during his march to the U.S. Capitol. And the Proud Boys later convicted of seditious conspiracy were in direct contact with Jones and his InfoWars cohost Owen Shroyer - both before and on Jan. 6. See this passage from Ch. 8 of the report:

7. Jones and Shroyer of InfoWars called for people to "Fight for Trump" - and that is exactly what the Proud Boys did. The Proud Boys led the attack on the Capitol. Other extremist groups (e.g. Stewart Rhodes and the Oath Keepers) were also in direct contact with Jones. Nick Fuentes and the Groypers (some of whom have been arrested for J6 crimes) were allied with Jones in the "Stop the Steal" cause as well.

8. Thanks to @KFILE, @emsteck and @YahyaGhazala we now know that Kenneth Chesebro - one of the chief architects of Trump's political conspiracy - was with Jones and the InfoWars crew as well. This obviously raises a lot of questions. But it's worth emphasizing: rightwing extremism was marbled throughout this entire effort to overturn the election.

9. One final point (for now): It is no accident that Jones and InfoWars were crucial to Trump's conspiracy-laden attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump openly embraced Jones in a December 2015 interview, welcoming Jones and his InfoWars crowd into Trump's base. Roger Stone, another nexus character in this story and longtime advisor to Trump, reportedly suggested that alliance and Stone remained allied with Jones in the years that followed. January 6th happened, in part, because Trump made crazy conspiracy theories and extremism a cornerstone of his political program.