(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
CNN debunks bonkers Musk-Rogan conspiracy about Trump shooting [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-03-03
Conservative podcaster Joe Rogan and Trump financier Elon Musk discussed and promoted an easily disproven conspiracy theory about CNN during their interview released last Friday.
The two men, who have an extensive history of furthering conspiracies, discussed the shooting that occurred at Trump’s 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“You also know that CNN streamed it live, which I do not believe they did for any other rally—and certainly not for a rally that’s in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Like, there’s a lot of weird shit,” Rogan said.
Video of the exchange later circulated on Musk’s social media service X.
Among those who pushed the clip were billionaire Trump backer Bill Ackman who wrote, “What are the chances @CNN was tipped off to stream the Butler rally? Why isn’t this worthy of an investigation? It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who orders the coverage and why.” A few months ago Ackman pushed a false story that Vice President Kamala Harris received advance debate questions and was highlighted in an Axios story about “America’s gullibility crisis.”
Fox News host Joe Concha also weighed in to support the conspiracy, describing it as “100% accurate.” Concha later scrubbed the post from his X account.
CNN debunked the conspiracy in a post from the network’s communications department.
“CNN provided live coverage of President Trump’s Butler, PA rally in anticipation of news about his pick for Vice President. Any suggestion contrary to that fact is completely false.”
The Trump rally in Butler was the subject of intense media focus because it was widely expected that he would announce his running mate at the event. Multiple outlets carried it live because it was the only campaign rally scheduled for Trump before the Republican National Convention. It received intense attention precisely because Trump and his team designed events to occur that way.
Contrary to the Rogan narrative, CNN has in fact received ample criticism over the last decade for carrying endless hours of Trump rallies on air without fact checking or context. The network’s airwaves have been frequently used by Trump to further his own conspiracy theories, racism, misogyny, and nonsensical babbling. The network has even offered up defenses for bending over backward for Trump.
Rogan’s reality-free monologue is symptomatic of the style of media that makes up the world of conservative/MAGA content, consisting frequently of easily debunked conspiracies that can harm the public. It is no coincidence that Rogan endorsed Trump in the final stretch of the campaign after Trump defended him years earlier for using the racist “n-word.”
Musk’s involvement makes perfect sense as well. Under his leadership and often with his explicit blessing, X has become infested with conspiracy theories that are often shared and circulated by the site’s considerable population of racists and antisemites.
CNN is not innocent, but this accusation against the network is false. It is what happens when Musk and Rogan get together, both empowered by their affiliation with Trump to flood the zone with nonsense.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/3/2307609/-CNN-debunks-bonkers-Musk-Rogan-conspiracy-about-Trump-shooting?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_6&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
