The United States of Conspiracy — The Listening Post

[0:00] Shots fired in Washington. [0:02] Cue the conspiracy theories, and not just from the political right. [0:06] The latest assassination attempt against Donald Trump, [0:10] and what those theories tell us about the information space in America [0:13] and how journalism is seen there. [0:16] Reading the room in Vladimir Putin's Russia, [0:20] the Kremlin admits its latest crackdown on what people can or cannot see online [0:25] may have gone too far. [0:27] Plus, Israel's multifaceted information war in Lebanon. [0:32] The tools, the tactics, and the terrifying effect they have on the people targeted. [0:43] Last week's White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington [0:47] ended up reflecting some of the defining traits of Donald Trump's second presidency. [0:52] Spectacle, chaos, and violence. [0:55] Guests heard the gunshots and quickly learned that yet another attempted assassination of Trump [1:00] had been foiled. [1:01] Many of those guests then set aside their dinner plates and wine glasses [1:06] and instantly went to work, reporting on what they knew. [1:10] But before the night was out, alternative narratives were already spreading online. [1:15] Unverified ones. [1:16] Speculation, basically. [1:17] Suggesting that the attack had been staged. [1:21] Conspiracy theories get far more currency than they merit, [1:24] and they are a byproduct of an American information landscape [1:28] that has been muddied by Trump. [1:30] An ecosystem where facts and the news organizations trying to report them are up against it. [1:38] We have essentially two political tribes in the United States. [1:42] We have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party. [1:46] Democrats have no in-between. [1:48] There is no happy medium because there is no happy anything. [1:51] They often disagree about facts. [1:54] Republicans are doing something that is very dangerous to our society, [1:59] and we have to acknowledge that. [2:00] Democrats, remember, can't even identify a woman. [2:04] Nobody is really trusted. [2:06] And that is exactly why the general public has been increasingly tuning us out [2:14] and turning towards these conspiracy theorists. [2:18] Conspiracy theories have been a part of the American story from the beginning. [2:21] But there's something else as well, the collapse of traditional media. [2:25] Put all of those together, it's like a perfect storm of distrust. [2:30] Americans have grown disturbingly accustomed to attempted assassinations of President Donald Trump. [2:36] This past week's was the third in less than two years. [2:40] The setting, the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, was odd enough on its own. [2:44] A black tie affair where the D.C. press corps mingles and trades jokes [2:50] with the same administration that routinely vilifies it [2:53] and calls the U.S. media the enemies of the people. [2:57] Then, when the sound of clinking champagne glasses [3:00] was interrupted by gunfire elsewhere in the building, [3:04] the partiers in the room went to work, [3:07] reporting on the story, albeit while slightly overdressed. [3:12] The White House Correspondent Center is a terrible event. [3:15] A president and an adversarial press on screen. [3:19] But boy, you know, when they get into this ballroom, [3:22] they all kind of get along and joke with each other. [3:25] And then they're suddenly coming in their ballgowns [3:27] or their tuxedos to appear on TV reports. [3:31] The American people look at that and they say, [3:33] well, this doesn't look very good. [3:34] That feeds into the mistrust. [3:37] We were talking about journalists swiping wine bottles off of tables, [3:42] of journalists sprinting in their heels and their evening gowns [3:45] to the White House press briefing room. [3:47] And a lot of journalists did do a great job that day. [3:51] But we have a tendency in the mainstream media here in America [3:54] to turn the story on the press itself. [3:57] We went straight, as you saw, from being a dinner guest [4:01] to being reporters all in a matter of minutes. [4:05] In the immediate aftermath, I mean, everything was all about the reporters. [4:11] That's really not what it should have been. [4:13] The story should have been, how are we getting to the point [4:16] where there are so many assassination attempts against the president? [4:19] According to Donald Trump's attorney general, [4:23] and this may sound familiar, [4:25] the media are at least partly to blame for that as well. [4:29] And many people in this room, they're just as guilty as a lot of people on X. [4:33] When you have reporters being overly critical [4:36] and calling the president horrible names, [4:39] for no reason, the political violence and rhetoric has got to stop. [4:43] I will have to stick up for the media here. [4:46] The media is not flawless or perfect [4:48] because it's comprised of human beings who are flawed and imperfect. [4:52] But Todd Blanche previously served as a personal lawyer to the president [4:57] and has climbed to his current position [5:00] primarily out of slavish loyalty to Trump. [5:04] So that is the Trump administration [5:05] seeking to delegitimize legitimate criticism [5:09] to suggest that there is something subversive [5:12] about what is frankly just reporters doing their jobs. [5:15] Perhaps there is some truth to what Todd Blanche has to say, [5:20] but he's not taking accountability for the rhetoric that the White House puts out. [5:25] We're going to go to the media company [5:28] and we're going to say national security, give it up or go to jail. [5:33] The president of the United States has threatened journalists with jail for doing their jobs. [5:38] But there's just a lot of hypocrisy on all sides [5:42] There have been calls again from both sides to quiet the political discourse, [5:49] but there doesn't seem to be much of an appetite for that, at least online. [5:54] Not compared to the conspiracy theories doing the rounds. [5:58] That the assassination attempt was cleverly staged to garner sympathy for Trump. [6:03] Suggestions that racked up 80 million views on X in just two days. [6:08] In fact, that kind of speculation is still circulating [6:12] about the first attempt on Trump's life in July of 2024. [6:17] Unlike the most infamous movement peddling conspiracies to any American [6:21] who will click on them, the right-wing QAnon, [6:24] these new theories are also coming from the political left, [6:28] an informal alliance that has been branded accordingly as BlueAnon. [6:34] Regardless of the ideology behind the material such movements produce, [6:38] the process is not to be confused with journalism. [6:42] But one journalistic adage can be applied [6:45] when trying to understand why there is so much conspiratorial content out there. [6:50] And that is, follow the money. [6:53] Unfortunately, there is a segment of people online who get money off of engagement. [6:58] Every time Trump has like a problem or needs to get re-elected [7:02] or his poll numbers slump, somebody supposedly tries to assassinate him. [7:07] Just admit you staged it in Butler. [7:11] It was the heat of the campaign. [7:14] People do crazy things in campaigns. [7:17] And so it is profitable for them to sow discord and misinformation [7:22] because it makes them more money. [7:24] One thing they should consider is that it would be really stupid [7:28] for the president to stage an assassination attempt [7:32] at a dinner full of journalists who hate him. [7:35] It would very quickly unravel if it turned out that that was the case. [7:39] Some mainstream outlets have interrogated the conspiracy theories, [7:45] pointed out that some of them either make no sense [7:47] or are based upon a misleading version of events. [7:50] If you were just scrolling on Twitter in the aftermath of this on Saturday night, [7:54] stuff was just basically all conspiracies and political attacks [7:59] and very little actual credible information. [8:01] Other outlets have avoided really addressing the conspiracy theories at all. [8:06] And I think this speaks to a frequent media dilemma. [8:10] When there is misinformation out there, [8:12] do you confront that head on? [8:14] Or do you take the view that even doing that [8:18] amplifies the original conspiracy [8:21] and therefore has a detrimental effect? [8:23] QAnon, BlueAnon, all of it is really doing the same thing, [8:29] which is causing chaos and confusion [8:31] and not holding themselves accountable [8:34] for the chaos and confusion that they are contributing to. [8:38] Going on social media these days [8:40] is just like an immediate cortisol spike. [8:43] And we increasingly are just going into our little corners, [8:46] just chatting with anonymous people. [8:49] They might not even be American. [8:50] We want to tell ourselves that that is only a function of today. [8:56] But conspiracy theories have been a part of the American story from the beginning. [8:59] Your jaw would drop at the conspiracy theories [9:03] that were a part of the elections of 1800 or 1860 or 1940. [9:08] We've also had conspiracy theories about the Civil War, [9:12] about Pearl Harbor, [9:14] the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. [9:19] Now, they don't merely exist on the far edges. [9:24] That's the digital communications moment in which we live, [9:28] the rise of social media. [9:29] Which gains modern-day conspiracy theories [9:33] audiences of a size they have never had before, [9:36] lends them a prominence they seldom deserve, [9:39] while eroding the trust the mainstream media used to have [9:42] and creating a landslide of doubt [9:45] that has helped bury their credibility. [9:48] And those news outlets do not help their cause [9:50] when they show up at a fancy dinner party in D.C. [9:54] suited, booted, and looking like they are cahooted with [9:58] the politicians they are supposed to hold to account. [10:01] This is sort of the dirty secret of the Washington, D.C. media. [10:06] As much as they criticize the president and vice versa, [10:10] at the end of the day, [10:11] a lot of their journalism is based on access to the people in power. [10:15] And part of this access journalism is that [10:17] attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner [10:19] and being next to the president [10:22] means that they might feel more favorably towards you [10:25] and give you more access to what's happening inside the administration. [10:28] Madam Chairman, I just want to say you did a fantastic job. [10:33] What a beautiful evening. [10:35] We're just in a situation where nobody is really trusted. [10:40] The idea of broadcasting, the very word itself suggested [10:44] that one could broadly cast a news report [10:48] and have that widely accepted, [10:51] that seems to be eroding all the time [10:53] in favor of partisans-believing partisan news sources. [11:00] And when that happens in such a polarized climate, [11:03] you inevitably get people completely disagreeing [11:06] about what the underlying facts actually are. [11:11] Vladimir Putin and the Russian government [11:15] are out to restrict access to the mobile Internet [11:18] and strangle the country's most popular messaging app, Telegram. [11:22] The ensuing uproar has forced Putin to admit [11:25] the steps taken went too far. [11:27] Ryan Coles is here with more. [11:30] For years, Telegram has been the closest thing [11:32] Russia has to a free press. [11:34] Around 90 million users, roughly two-thirds of the population, [11:38] rely on it for everything from messaging and online shopping [11:41] to following journalists, government officials, [11:44] celebrities, and even opposition voices. [11:47] Telegram channels covering Ukraine, both pro- and anti-war, [11:50] give an unvarnished view of the war there. [11:53] The app's popularity and the influence it has [11:55] is why, since February, the FSB, [11:58] the Federal Security Service, has been trying to throttle it. [12:02] The state-built replacement, Max, is unencrypted, [12:05] wired directly into the security services, [12:08] and is pushed onto every phone in the country. [12:11] Since last year, the Kremlin has also been shutting down [12:13] mobile Internet across vast stretches of the country, [12:16] officially to defend against Ukrainian drone strikes. [12:19] Initially, the worst blackouts hit regions outside the major cities. [12:24] Then, in early March, they reach Moscow. [12:27] The backlash has been loud, and it's proven to be effective. [12:34] Pro-war bloggers are mocking the Kremlin. [12:37] State TV personalities are complaining [12:39] that their Telegram audiences are shrinking. [12:42] There has even been a spike in assassination attempts [12:45] on officials at Russia's Internet regulator, Roskomnadzor. [12:49] And pollsters have registered a significant slide [12:51] in Putin's approval ratings. [12:53] The backlash has forced Putin's hand. [12:56] In a televised address to Russian lawmakers, [12:58] he told them to ease off. [13:00] Just how much the screws will be loosened, if at all, is not clear. [13:14] For years, the Kremlin has been working [13:15] to bring the Internet under tighter control. [13:18] That hasn't changed. [13:20] And in Russia, when the public stops complaining, [13:22] the screws have a way of turning again, quietly, [13:25] and with no official announcement. [13:26] Thanks, Ryan. [13:28] Israel's on-again, off-again war on Lebanon, [13:32] which it says is really against Hezbollah, [13:34] has lasted for more than two years now. [13:36] Israeli forces have used drones, AI-powered targeting, [13:40] the infiltration of Lebanese communications devices [13:43] and the networks they rely on to control the population, [13:47] spread terror, and kill people. [13:49] When the fighting resumed about two months ago, [13:52] the Israelis went further, bombing more and more of Beirut, [13:55] destroying towns and villages in the south, [13:58] displacing more than a million people there [14:00] and occupying more and more territory. [14:03] In its escalation of the information war, [14:05] Israel is using all kinds of propaganda [14:08] to psychologically pressure Lebanese society, [14:12] widen rifts within it, and scare people. [14:15] Justin Salhani has been covering this war [14:17] for Al Jazeera Digital. [14:19] We spoke to him about Israel's tactics in Lebanon. [14:22] We're living in a modern dystopia. [14:28] There are drones overhead almost constantly, [14:31] particularly in the south. [14:35] They're trying to dominate the narrative [14:37] through the dissemination of propaganda, [14:39] through managing the population, [14:41] through drones and artificial intelligence programs, [14:43] and they're killing journalists. [14:47] I'm Justin Salhani. [14:48] I'm a senior producer with Al Jazeera Digital, [14:50] and I'm based in Beirut. [14:51] The Israeli military is trying to assert dominance [14:57] and in a lot of ways we could argue [14:59] trying to provoke the Lebanese populace [15:01] by the things that they publish on social media. [15:04] There's also, as we saw in Gaza, [15:07] videos of people in Lebanese houses [15:09] taking items belonging to these houses. [15:12] One that really hit home recently [15:14] was there was a photo of a soldier in a kitchen [15:17] and she was cooking in a Lebanese household [15:20] using local products and things that had been left behind. [15:22] So these sort of things are really provocative [15:25] for a people who have been forcibly displaced from their land. [15:30] One of the most famous people in Lebanon right now [15:32] is Avichai Adrei. [15:34] He is an Israeli military spokesperson. [15:38] If I'm not mistaken, he's actually the former spokesperson, [15:41] but he built up such a massive social media following [15:43] that they still release warnings [15:44] through his social media account [15:46] because the person who ostensibly replaced him [15:48] just doesn't have the same following. [15:51] And it's quite a dystopian reality [15:53] whereby people around the country [15:55] have turned on notifications for his posts on X. [15:59] He'll release these maps [16:00] and on these maps you'll see, for example, [16:02] a red square around a building. [16:03] And if that building is your building, [16:04] it means that your building might be targeted [16:06] in the next 15 minutes to an hour to two hours, [16:09] sometimes even longer. [16:10] In the last intensification in 2024, [16:12] people told me they would joke about it. [16:14] This is the Lebanese sense of humor, if you will. [16:16] They would say things like, [16:17] can Avichai just send out the warnings [16:19] for this evening already [16:20] so we can know where we go out [16:21] and smoke shisha for the evening. [16:23] This is just something that now everyone in the country [16:26] deals with this reality. [16:27] Their phones are on alert. [16:29] You have to know at all times where your mobile is [16:31] because if this warning comes through, [16:33] you might have to move. [16:41] The way that Israel has been carrying out [16:43] this war on Lebanon [16:44] resembles in some ways Gaza. [16:47] The South in particular, [16:51] the level of damage is incredible. [16:55] Buildings flattened, reduced to rubble and dust. [16:57] They're basically uninhabitable. [17:01] Obviously, they're hitting Beirut [17:03] in a new and different way, [17:05] taking down buildings in the center of Beirut. [17:08] The level of fear has struck in people [17:11] in a different way this time around. [17:14] This is the Ainlam Raisa neighborhood. [17:17] A building here was taken down [17:19] by an Israeli strike on April 8th. [17:22] It was a day where many Lebanese were confused [17:25] over whether or not Lebanon was going to be included [17:28] in the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. [17:30] That afternoon, the Israelis hit [17:34] around 100 places in Lebanon within 10 minutes. [17:38] This is one of those places. [17:39] They hit a number of places in central Beirut [17:41] without any warning. [17:43] Some of the Israeli attacks can be quite precise, [17:46] but this was not one of those. [17:49] You can see the lives that people lived [17:51] before the attack. [17:55] Choose books, remnants of a TV, [18:02] lives that were cut short. [18:05] When you talk to a lot of people from South Lebanon, [18:06] they'll tell you it's been 70-plus years [18:09] that they've wanted this land in the South. [18:11] They want the land. [18:12] They want the water. [18:13] They want to push the people out of it. [18:15] They want to destroy it. [18:17] It seems to be quite systematic. [18:19] It's not just a short-term displacement. [18:21] The effort is a long-term generational displacement. [18:25] The biggest example of propaganda [18:27] that we've seen so far [18:28] was probably these leaflets [18:29] that were dropped over Beirut. [18:31] Essentially, these were leaflets [18:32] that said the success of Gaza [18:34] is now coming to Lebanon, [18:36] and it encouraged Lebanese to rise up [18:38] against Hezbollah inside the country. [18:40] It's also interesting to think about [18:42] where these leaflets were dropped. [18:44] These weren't dropped over areas [18:45] where Hezbollah enjoys great support anyways. [18:47] Many people would argue [18:48] this was a psychological tactic. [18:51] Other forms of propaganda [18:52] we can talk about are advertisements [18:53] that have been documented, [18:55] asking people to give information [18:57] to Israeli intelligence units. [18:59] So there is this effort of propaganda [19:01] to say that, you know, [19:03] we are on your side against Hezbollah [19:05] as if Hezbollah is not a part [19:07] of the Lebanese society. [19:09] The Israeli government [19:10] is trying to press on divides [19:12] in Lebanese society [19:13] through the rhetoric. [19:14] We continue to attack [19:15] with respect to Hezbollah [19:16] and we will not stop [19:17] until we will give you the security. [19:20] When Netanyahu says [19:21] that they are trying [19:23] to expel Hezbollah for Lebanon [19:25] or he calls on the Lebanese people [19:28] to rise up against Hezbollah [19:29] to save themselves, [19:30] it's a means of trying to isolate [19:33] the Lebanese Shia community [19:35] away from their own government [19:36] and from the rest of society. [19:39] You also saw it [19:40] when the Israelis warned villages [19:41] in southern Lebanon [19:42] not to host Shia Muslims. [19:45] So they told them [19:45] don't host displaced people. [19:47] It's not just don't host [19:47] Hezbollah people [19:48] or Hezbollah fighters. [19:50] It told them [19:50] don't host anyone from that sect. [19:53] The Israelis have tried regionally, [19:56] not just in Lebanon [19:56] but in Syria as well [19:58] and elsewhere, [19:58] to create this sort of culture [20:00] of divide and conquer, [20:01] of cutting people up [20:02] based on their sectarian affiliation. [20:05] Hezbollah is probably [20:06] at an all-time low [20:07] popularity-wise [20:08] amongst the Lebanese population. [20:10] There are internal divisions. [20:12] There are people [20:12] who want to push [20:13] for better relationships [20:15] with the Israelis [20:15] or at least some kind of peace deal [20:16] because they feel that [20:18] the current status quo [20:19] is not sustainable. [20:20] At the same time, [20:22] most people do not trust [20:23] that the Israelis are working [20:24] in Lebanon's best interest. [20:26] So as much as the Israelis [20:27] are trying to potentially [20:29] cultivate allies, [20:30] I don't think that [20:31] there is much of an appetite [20:34] for it amongst [20:34] the Lebanese population. [20:42] The Israeli technology [20:43] has reached such a level [20:44] that their attacks [20:45] can be incredibly precise. [20:47] They've also hacked [20:48] through a number of systems [20:49] to the point that [20:50] they know almost everything [20:52] about every movement [20:53] that goes on in the country. [20:55] Hassan Nasrallah, [20:56] the late leader [20:56] who was killed [20:57] about a year and a half ago, [20:58] had told Hezbollah's members [21:00] to stop using cell phones [21:02] because the thought [21:04] was that they had [21:04] been infiltrated. [21:06] So right now it's quiet, [21:07] but the drone was out [21:08] earlier this morning [21:08] buzzing over our heads. [21:11] If you go down this way, [21:12] down the coordination, [21:13] head up to a central part [21:15] of Beirut, [21:15] you have areas like Basta, [21:17] Nuayri, Khanda. [21:19] These areas are where [21:21] apparently Hezbollah [21:22] had asked to shut down [21:24] security cameras [21:25] because they were worried [21:25] that they were being accessed [21:26] by the Israelis. [21:28] So these are the different ways [21:29] that this kind of [21:30] technological warfare [21:31] is going on [21:32] at the same time, [21:33] using things like drones, [21:35] AI, hacking, [21:36] these sort of tactics [21:37] to make the Lebanese [21:40] turn on each other [21:41] or to go after [21:43] Israel's enemies. [21:45] Israel has acted [21:46] with total impunity, [21:48] of course in Gaza [21:49] and now in Lebanon as well. [21:52] They've killed medics [21:53] and first responders regularly. [21:55] They've targeted them [21:56] in double and triple [21:57] tap strikes. [21:58] We've seen journalists killed. [22:01] It started off [22:01] with the killing [22:02] of Aysam Abdullah, [22:03] in early 2023, [22:04] right after the start [22:05] of hostilities. [22:07] That led to a change [22:08] of calculation [22:09] of how journalists [22:10] in Lebanon work. [22:12] Killing the truth [22:13] is one of the first things [22:14] that leads to [22:15] owning the narrative. [22:17] And so when you've killed [22:18] a journalist right away, [22:20] suddenly the calculus [22:21] of what risks [22:22] journalists will take changes. [22:24] Just last week, [22:25] a Lebanese journalist, [22:26] Ahmad Khalil, [22:27] was killed [22:28] in a double tap strike [22:29] when Lebanese first responders [22:32] from the Red Cross [22:33] tried to reach her. [22:34] The Israelis prevented them [22:35] from getting close to her [22:36] and she ended up dying. [22:38] Ahmad Khalil, [22:39] Ali Shaab, [22:40] these were people [22:41] who were regularly [22:42] on the front line. [22:44] So what Israel has done here [22:45] is erased a reference point [22:48] for so many people. [22:49] That's where you can follow us [23:03] for updates from the show.