The MAGA Crowd Gets The JFK Assassination Conspiracy They Need
- Fred Litwin
- Jul 17
- 13 min read
JFK assassination conspiracy theories used to be dominated by the left. They badly wanted to blame elements of the right, or the military-industrial complex, or the CIA to bolster their world views. Roger Stone and Alex Jones played a big role in getting the right to embrace a JFK conspiracy so that they could blame the "deep state."
Here is an excerpt from I was a Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak: (page 24 - 36)
And, once you stop caring about the truth, it's just a short hop, skip and a jump to conspiracy theory. Warren Hinckle, editor of left-wing Ramparts magazine in the 1960s, wrote, "...conspiracy theories, unlike old soldiers, never really fade away; someone is forever coming along to give them a fresh coat of paint." Now the political right has caught on to the JFK conspiracy and they've brought out the primer. After all, they like to talk about the “deep state,” and a JFK conspiracy plays into their theories of a malignant, out-of-control government.
Lew Rockwell, Ron Paul’s Congressional chief of staff from 1978-1982 and contributing editor of many of Ron Paul’s racist newsletters, now runs a website (lewrockwell.com) that has published hundreds of ridiculous articles on the JFK assassination. No topic is too crazy for Rockwell—the strange deaths of witnesses; Zapruder film alteration; JFK’s phonied-up autopsy; JFK murder was an inside job; LBJ had JFK killed. He’ll even publish kook authors like former-wrestler-turned-politician Jesse Ventura.
Another bizarre website that has recently started running silly JFK articles is the pseudo-military veterans site veteranstoday.com. Not nearly as popular as Lewrockwell.com (ranked 19,105 in the United States), the site is virulently anti-Israel, regularly runs 9/11 truther stories, and is a partner organization to Press TV—the press arm of the Iranian government.
And Alex Jones’ InfoWars has also gone down the JFK rabbit hole. In December 2012, Judyth Vary Baker appeared as a guest to promote her book, Me and Lee. Baker professes to have been the mistress of Lee Harvey Oswald while he was living in New Orleans. She claims they were involved in a plot to kill Castro using some sort of “cocktail” that would infect his immune system. Other people involved included David Ferrie and orthopedic surgeon Mary Sherman. Oswald went to Mexico City to deliver the poison to someone who would deliver it to Cuba. The handoff never happened and the mission moved to killing Kennedy. Oswald intentionally missed Kennedy while the other conspirators killed him.
It’s a great story but the only thing missing is evidence. Baker did work at the Reily Coffee Company where Oswald worked as a laborer, cleaning and oiling the machines. There’s no evidence they even met, nor can Baker supply evidence for any other part of her story.
The dalliance of the right with the JFK assassination continued in 2016 when Presidential candidate Donald Trump charged that Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, helped Lee Harvey Oswald hand out pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans in 1963. This story initially ran in the National Enquirer and Trump repeated it on Fox & Friends. The story was just plain wrong. The man helping Lee Harvey Oswald was most probably recruited from the Louisiana State Employment Service. It’s hard to believe that he was Rafael Cruz who was decidedly anti-Castro by 1963. Of course, InfoWars ran with the story.
The confluence of conspiracy theorist-turned propagandist is not just a function of the left. Roger Stone, one of Donald Trump’s chief supporters, was probably the source of that silly National Enquirer story on Ted Cruz’s father. That was pure propaganda to help the campaign, but he has a history as a conspiracy theorist. His 2013 book, The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, argued that then Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was the mastermind behind the JFK assassination.
The only way Stone can build such a case is by relying on a series of factoids. Stone regurgitates an old story—that Lyndon Johnson told Madeleine Brown, his supposed mistress, at a party at the home of rich oil man Clint Murchison the night before the assassination that “after tomorrow those SOBs will never embarrass me again. That’s no threat. That’s a promise.” Supposedly, guests at the party included J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, former Chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank John McCloy, and H.L. Hunt, the rich Texas oilman.
Journalist Hugh Aynesworth points out in his scathing review of Stone’s book in the Washington Times that “Murchison hadn’t been in Dallas in more than two years.” He notes that “further investigation showed that on the evening of Nov. 21, 1963, Hoover was in Washington, Brown was in Houston, McCloy never left New York, and Nixon, who was in Dallas that night, was seen by several reporters near midnight at a function with Pepsi-Cola Corp. bigwigs at the Baker Hotel in downtown Dallas.” And Lyndon Johnson was in Houston until 10:00 pm that night when he then flew to Ft. Worth. A photo shows him at the Texas Hotel at 11:50 pm and Aynesworth notes that that was “at least two hours from where Murchison actually was.”
Many years ago, Aynesworth confronted Brown about her story and she told him, “I don’t care if you believe me or not. A lot of people do and I’ve sold a lot of books.”
Stone repeats many other factoids in his book. He believes JFK assassination witnesses have died mysteriously; that Johnson changed Kennedy’s Vietnam policies; that Lee Harvey Oswald knew Jack Ruby; that Oswald was a CIA pawn; that Oswald was an FBI informant; that security procedures were purposely scaled back in Dealey Plaza, that conspirators planned the motorcade route; and that Oswald was a poor shot. Stone also throws in the anti-Zionist conspiracy theory that Lyndon Johnson coordinated with the Israelis in the sinking of the USS Liberty in 1967. And, of course, the Robert Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy as well. As Hugh Aynesworth writes, “If a reader doesn’t let facts get in the way, it could be an interesting adventure.”
Stone’s story was picked up by the Daily Caller, —a conservative news and opinion website founded by Tucker Carlson. Their story was then picked up by InfoWars.
From there, Roger Stone went to Fox News and his first stop was an appearance on Fox & Friends.
Of course, Sean Hannity couldn’t resist, so Stone was a guest on his show on November 13th, 2013. He was treated with kid gloves and there was no pushback against any of Stone’s ridiculous accusations. Stone was also interviewed by Glenn Beck and Larry King (on his show Larry King Now which is carried by RT, the Russian propaganda channel).
In late 2017, when President Donald Trump decided to keep some JFK files secret, Stone knew this was because of “an effort by “deep state” policies to cover their “asses.” He went on InfoWars to plead his case with Alex Jones and they both “painted the intelligence community as part of a secret group trying to exert its authority over the government and democracy.”
Guess who agreed with Roger Stone about the “deep state?” None other than Oliver Stone. A conspiracy carved in stones
So there you have it. The left could never face the fact that a Castro-loving Marxist killed John Kennedy. Now the right can’t accept it—because it was really the “deep state.” And the left could never face the fact that an Israel-hating Palestinian killed Robert Kennedy. Now the right can claim RFK wanted to expose the “deep state” and thus had to be eliminated.
The JFK assassination has become a metaphor for politics. You can tell lies; you can spin incredibly ridiculous stories; you can make outlandish claims that are grounded in complete falsehoods; and there will still be people who believe and quote your every word.
Since I wrote that Trump has been re-elected/ Alex Jones had faded away, but Tucker Carlson has fully embraced JFK assassination conspiracy theories.
Jefferson Morley and Tucker Carlson discuss Israel.
Did the CIA give Jack Ruby cancer?
Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick were guests.
Gabbard liked Douglass's book, JFK and the Unspeakable.
Ron Paul tells Carlson the U.S. lost its government on November 22, 1963.
RFK Jr. is interviewed by Tucker Carlson and makes up some quotes.
And Congresswoman Paulina Luna has bought into all of the Morley nonsense and has held two embarrassing Congressional hearings.
Luna's second hearing -- I don't know what was worse - the silly testimony of the witnesses or the brainless questions of the committee members.
An analysis of Congresswoman Luna's Congressional Hearings
Congresswoman Luna doesn't really know much about the JFK assassination.
Have a look at the book on Luna's desk
A link to an excellent article by Michael Isikoff.
Congresswoman Luna Finds a New Witness
Here is the conspiracy witness who knows the truth.
Now, the MAGA folk are in overdrive.
Steve Bannon: It shouldn't be lost on anybody. Why was Mark Caputo on Morning Joe and saying about another reporter's story on Epstein? He was there for the Kennedy exclusive, which we now know the CIA has actively lied to you about their involvement with Oswald and everything related to the Kennedy investigation. Can't you see the irony? Actually, how many decades after President Kennedy assassinated, actually, let me change that -- murdered in broad daylight and in cold blood in Dallas, Texas, that the CIA has been lying about their involvement with Oswald before the fact, lied, that breaks on Axios. John Solomon's going to be here with all other revelations about the CIA over the weekend, with Brendan. Everything we have, if we don't take down the deep state the next three and a half years on Trump's watch, we're screwed, with all the things right there, because you look at the kinetic part of the Third World War, Ukraine, in the Middle East, at the heart of it's the deep state driving this. We have to take it apart. The Kennedy revelation is a bombshell. The CIA, which we said for years, now they admit, they admit that Angleton and all of them looked you in the eye, went to Congress, went to, went to they were under subpoena. Forget the Warren Commission. That was a crime scene itself, the Warren Commission, between the FBI and the CIA, the great institutions in this country that people depended upon, looked you in the eye and lied to you because of their actions, the covering up of their actions. This is why the devolution of the United States of America, you can take one day, 22 November, 1963 -- Boom.
Yup, the deep state killed Kennedy and we only have three and a half years left to act.
Here is a transcript:
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna: Because of my work and efforts in the previous Congress, I was charged with a task force to investigate some of the most grisly crimes in US history, starting out with the assassination of John F Kennedy. What I can tell you, and I would say that this model of transparency in the declassification of the JFK records is literally what they should be doing with Jeffrey Epstein. The Administration released tens of thousands of documents. And I will say credit due where it's deserved -- the CIA director Radcliffe was the only CIA director in US history who was able to release something called the Joannides' files. What this file proved, and it had been hidden for over 60 years was, without a doubt, and this is not my analysis, this is not my opinion, this is based on evidence that we have backings on. Without a doubt, the CIA engaged in a cover up of the JFK assassination. The CIA lied to Congress. Joannides, who was a CIA operative, did indeed have contact and was observing Lee Harvey Oswald, who, in my opinion, was a patsy and cover for multiple shooters in the assassination of John F Kennedy.
If you would have said that last year, a couple of years ago, they would have called you a conspiracy theorist. Yet, every single person in this room knows conspiracy theory is only a matter of time before it's proven correct.
Here is a short excerpt from a transcript: (7:38)
Tucker Carlson: ... that has never prohibited me from saying, "I think the CIA has done some horrible things, murdered a bunch of people, participated in the murder of a sitting U.S. President." It's got a whole trail of crimes -- that doesn't make me a disloyal American. It doesn't make me anti-American in any sense. I was born here. My family's been here for hundreds of years. I love this country. That's why I live here.
The CIA "participated in the murder of a sitting U.S. President."
Here is an excerpt from a transcript: (16:10)
Roger Stone: He has released virtually all of the documents, of videos and transcripts ,pertaining to the murder of President John F Kennedy on November 22 1963. But it is only because of the persistence and the courage of Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, that the CIA last week was forced, after six decades of denying, they had any knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald, that they were finally forced to admit that they were tracking him. They were reading all of his correspondence, and they were essentially handling him in the 48 days before the assassination of President John F Kennedy,
"Tracking" Oswald? Reading "all" of Oswald's correspondence? Handling him?
What next?
The left and right have come together in unity!
Thanks to people like Jefferson Morley, the MAGA folks now have the JFK conspiracy they so desperately need.
But talk about a house of cards!
Previous Relevant Blogs Posts on Jefferson Morley's Congressional Testimony
An analysis of Congresswoman Luna's Congressional Hearings
An FBI memo that quoted James Angleton is used by Morley to reach an unwarranted conclusion.
Morley misreads Angleton's testimony before the HSCA.
Morley believes a document proves the CIA did not believe that a lone gunman killed JFK.
Additional documents relevant to Part Three.
Morley claims that there is some connection between the suicides of Gary Underhill, Charles Thomas, George de Mohrenschildt, and the overdose death of Dorothy Kilgallen.
Morley believes that Agustin Guitart was spying on pro-Castro forces in New Orleans
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley
SpyTalk ran a terrific article by Gus Russo and Michael Isikoff.
Now that the entire personnel file of George Joannides has been released, Jefferson Morley has now published his unified theory of nothingness.
More Morley Nothingburgers on the way
Morley is requesting more documents -- they will reveal nothing about the assassination.
Morley got the headlines he wanted to a complete non-story.
Joannides did not come out of retirement to work with the HSCA.
There is no mention of an "Oswald Operation" in the Joannides' personnel file.
Morley believes that Dr. Robert McClelland's recollections provides proof of a shot from the front. Here is the truth about McClelland.
A reply by Nicholas Nalli to Jefferson Morley.
Morley suspected a redacted file would reveal major secrets. It didn't.
Several months ago, I posted an article, in association with several researchers, that showed what was contained in the redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Morley somehow knows what is in the supposed 2,400 recently-discovered FBI files.
Morley discusses Israel with Tucker Carlson.
Morley believes that the United States can never be great unless it solves the JFK assassination.
An analysis of the 13 documents Morley wants to see.
Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me.
It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley.
Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki.
He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers.
Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts.
There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination.
There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong.
Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic.
Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo.
The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination.
Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition.
There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document.
Kilgallen had nothing to tell.
An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald.
Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings.
Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot.
A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist.
A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?
There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963.
Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't.
Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong.
Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply.
W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles.
Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose.
And a response from me.
There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial.
There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case.
Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation.
An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.
Morley doesn't understand Alecia Long's arguments about homophobia and Jim Garrison.
Jefferson Morley asks why "what the CIA knew about Herminio Diaz is still off limits."
Morley misses that a lot of redactions are actually available.
Jefferson Morley's press conference presents evidence that belief in a conspiracy has dropped.
