If you’re wondering what Ted Cruz’s definition of “American exceptionalism” is, it’s this: Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones just received close to $8 million in a bitcoin payout a week before yet another mass shooting at an elementary school claimed 19 lives.
Let’s back up a bit. Jones has been battling a defamation suit in court brought by the victims of those Sandy Hook students after the InfoWars host built a massive following and a streaming empire on the BSconspiracy theory that the massacre at Sandy Hook was all a hoax. Jones lost that suit after he “called in sick” to a deposition in order to host a new episode of his show. He would have likely been forced to pay the families damages but he decided to declare bankruptcy in order to avoid having to cough up his own money. Since then, Jones has been begging his viewers for donations, referring to his court battles with grieving parents as “a war” and urging his supporters to “attack” them by giving him money.
“To prosecute a war, we need prayer, word of mouth, and money. Money is a symbol that the enemy has used against us, and is bringing us down with. You must use that money to attack,” Jones said on a May 18th taping of his show. “If you don’t go to infowars.com forward-slash crypto and donate…then you have abdicated and signed over your rights. Because God gave you champions that will fight. God gave you people that will not back down, who will never give in, who do not have it in their DNA to submit to Satan. But if we do not have your backing, we cannot take this on, and we will be subjugated, and you will be destroyed.”
And it seems at least one anonymous donor took that battle cry to heart. According to Hatewatch, Jones received a $6 million bitcoin donation just one day after the May 18th episode of his show aired. The crypto payout came from the same donor who gave him $2 million in bitcoin earlier this year. This windfall comes as Jones continues to sow doubt amongst the public about the mass shooting epidemic the country is facing.
Following the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Texas, Jones called the event “very opportunistic.” And more, via Newsweek:
“I don’t want to say this was staged, but we have specifically said, with two years of our leading mass shootings, that with all the pre-programming, that mass shootings are coming, terrorists are going to attack and we have got to take the guns. Then I’m like, well I would predict a lot of mass shootings right before elections and like clockwork, it is happening. To me, it is just very opportunistic what is happening.”
The only bit of good news to come from this is that, by Jones asking for donations and receiving such a large one, a judge has ruled that his suit should be removed from bankruptcy protection so that the court can determine how much he’ll need to pay the victims families. Since, you know, he has the money to do so now.