One thing is clear, says conspiracy theorist and fringe pitch man Alex Jones: “It’s not a matter of IF you’ll need storable food, but WHEN!”
That was the word from Jones on “InfoWars” Tuesday, in between rants from the conspiracist about how the novel coronavirus pandemic was in fact the result of a Chinese Communist Party bioweapon originally transferred to the country by former President Barack Obama.
Or, in Jones’ words, “a huge, big pharma, deep state, ChiCom hoax!”
Jones, like many of his colleagues in the right-wing infotainment world, was threading a fine needle. Yes, he says, COVID-19 is real and people have really died from it. But also, the “deep state” and media are using the disease’s spread to tank a surging American economy. But most of all: You need to be prepared!
And you’re in luck: From 32-serving cans of mashed potatoes to “nano silver” to plain old iodine, Jones has it all. And it’s all for sale.
Just because the government is lying about coronavirus, he said Tuesday, “doesn’t mean you’re bad if you’ve gotten storable food or tried to boost your immune system. That’s always a good thing to do, because this virus does actually kill some people.”
“But it’s the way it’s been used to go after everybody’s freedoms, and the way it’s been hyped up, that you know evil forces are absolutely behind this entire fiasco.”
The video, titled “Deep State Using Coronavirus Fear and Panic To Destroy Our Country” was hosted on Banned.Video, Jones’ internet home now that more mainstream platforms have blackballed him. It was posted hours after he was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated near his home in Travis County, Texas. (Separately on his show, Jones trained a camera on paperwork showing his tested blood alcohol level at .076 and .079, below the legal limit.)
Jones is quick with a plug. On another segment Tuesday titled “Coronavirus To Cause WW3,” a caller suggested elderly people have to be given a means to boosting their immune systems. The host jumped into action.
“I know companies are coming out with iodine that is put into the nasal passage, mixed and diluted, and also things like nano silver,” Jones responded.
The show description on the Banned.Video site urged viewers to “Be prepared! Secure your bottle of Survival Shield X-2 nascent iodine for 40% off now!” BuzzFeed News reported in 2017 that the item was simply “a bottle of iodine at 3x markup.”
The colloidal silver-based products Jones hinted at, believe it or not, are also on sale at his store.
In fact, sales appear to be booming: Sure, you can still grab a $23.97 “SuperSilver Wound Dressing Gel,” but the single 16oz bottles of Subervblue Silver Immune Gargle? Too late: They’re sold out.
Jones has done his best to goose sales of the colloidal silver concoctions on sale at his website in recent days, including on a March 7 show flagged by Media Matters. (According to the Mayo clinic, “silver has no known purpose in the body.”)
“Controlling people is a stopgap, but having antivirals, getting your immune system healthy, that is the answer. And yes folks, we sell great anti-virals like DNAForce plus, or our great other systems out there that empower the mitochondrial DNA,” he said. “And our SilverSol products like the Super Blue toothpaste and other products. That is literally a stopgap against this.”
“Of course, we were already selling it noting how important it would be currently and in the future.”
He went into a tangent about food suppliers having “sold out to FEMA and other, uh, government groups.”
“That’s when I went, whoa, you better get food. We had the one sponsor that still had the food. That’s crazy, ladies and gentlemen!”
Sure enough, on the homepage of Jones’ store Wednesday, the “Ready Hour” four-week food supply bucket was advertised prominently above-the-fold.
“OTHERS ARE SOLD OUT! We have high quality foods in stock.”
After clicking through, though, a note from the InfoWars store warned that My Patriot Supply was operating at capacity.
“These remain unprecedented times,” it said, “as it’s no longer ’emergency preparedness’ we’re dealing with, but ’emergency reaction.'”
