Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones created a minor media storm this week when he announced that he would no longer “pigheadedly” support Donald Trump.
Instead, he announced on his Infowars show that he would now be supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis saying he was “someone who is better than Trump”.
Previously Mr Jones had disagreed with the Trump administration over its Covid-19 vaccination plans but had disregarded that opposition to avoid the “nightmare scenario” of Joe Biden being elected president.
“That said, I am supporting DeSantis. DeSantis has just gone from being awesome to being unbelievably good,” said Mr Jones said on Thursday.
“I can look into his eyes on HD video, and I see the real sincerity.”
“We have someone who is better than Trump. Way better than Trump,” Mr Jones said, adding that the Florida governor is the person Mr Trump “should be like”.
However, since then Mr Jones has personally reached out with an “emergency message” begging the former president to watch his whole show after his newfound love for Governor DeSantis made headlines.
“So this is my emergency message to you, Mr President,” Mr Jones begins in a statement to the camera. “To go and actually watch the first 30 minutes of Thursday’s show … so you can see what I said in context.
“The corporate media edited it down to a 30-second clip to make it sounds like that I’m only for DeSantis and that I’ve abandoned you. That’s not true,” he continues. “It’s the contrary.
“I understand that you’re under attack, I understand you are surrounded, and I’m trying to get you to reassess the situation. I know that people like Don are telling you that you need to reassess the situation.”
The former president is of course now at the centre of an investigation following a search conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last week at Mar-a-Lago in connection with classified documents.
Despite this, Mr Trump still wields considerable influence in the Republican party.
Both the Florida governor and the former president are favourites for the Republican ticket for the 2024 presidential elections, though neither have made any official announcement yet.
This is not the first time Mr Jones has lashed out at Mr Trump for his Covid-19 vaccine policy.
In December, he warned the former president by calling him either “ignorant” or “evil” for encouraging people to take the vaccine.
According to a report earlier this month, the Jan 6 committee is preparing to subpoena Mr Jones’ texts and emails that were accidentally sent to an attorney for the Sandy Hook victims.
The far-right conspiracy theorist lost a defamation suit launched by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting for false claims that the massacre, in which 26 people were shot and killed at the elementary school in Connecticut in 2012, wasn’t real.
He has been ordered to pay $45.2m in punitive damages to the family of a victim in addition to $4.11m in compensatory damages.
