Amid Own Custody Battle, Austin's InfoWars Radio Host Alex Jones Hints Obama's Kids Aren't His

AUSTIN, TX — Alex Jones, the bombastic radio show host of InfoWars—a nationally syndicated program offering rhetorical firebombs and conspiracy theories targeting progressives—in in the midst of a bitter battle for custody of his own children in a divorce trial.

But even that hasn't stopped him from continuing to attack the family of former President Barack Obama, a longtime favorite target of his for whom he still aims, even with his political hero, Donald Trump, now in office.

On his InfoWars radio show on Friday, Jones had a spirited discussion with another conservative activist on the eve of tax day, when thousands of protesters demanding Trump release his tax returns gathered at the state Capitol. The march was one of several that took place in cities across America on Saturday (See: "Trump Should Release Taxes, Texas Capitol Marchers Demand," April 17).

"The word is those aren’t even his kids," Jones casually told his guest during a Friday airing of his InfoWars show, as reported by First Reading, a political blog of the Austin American-Statesman, which, in turn, referenced a report on the show by Media Matters. The two men were discussing the Obama's being in French Polynesia, presumably (to a reasonable mind, that is) vacationing.

But in the minds of Jones and his followers, Obama is there plotting the overthrow of the Trump administration, he and his guest suggested. Kind of like Napoleon in exile at Alba, it was suggested.

Bereft of factual evidence, such pronouncements are nothing new for Jones, who has built an Austin-based media empire with such bombast. What's more, in energizing his like-minded and robust base of listeners, Jones has never let facts get in the way of a good story (more on that later), consistently illustrating a zeal for firing off such rhetorical Molotov cocktails with the ease of saying "would you please pass the salt?" at the dinner table.

But what's most striking about the recent comments to many observers is that they come on the eve of Jones' own custody battle for his three children ranging in ages from 9 to 14.

As reported by the Austin American-Statesman, Kelly Jones is seeking to gain sole or joint custody of her three children with Jones, with a jury selection begun for the upcoming trial begun on Monday. Jones' attorney, Randall Wilhite, told state District Judge Orlinda Naranjo that his client's InfoWars persona is that of a "performance artist," likening it to the Joker character on Batman.

"He's playing a character," the lawyer said, as quoted by the Statesman.

But his ex-wife begs to differ: "He's not a stable person," she told the judge, citing other on-air pronouncements of the man she divorced in 2015. "He says he wants to break Alec Baldwin's neck. He wants J-Lo to get raped."

She added that she fears the influence this may have on the mental state of her children, who often are present when Jones launches the fiery rhetoric that has earned him an enthusiastic following of fans, who are legion: "He broadcasts from home," his ex-wife said. "The children are there, watching him broadcast."

For those unfamiliar with Jones' work and his infamous rants, the concern of the ex-wife could only be viewed in the abstract. But for even the most hardened observers, Jones has a penchant to leave a listener breathless with disbelief even against the standards of the so-called "shock jock" industry.

Among the conspiracy theories Jones promotes are the ideas that the Sandy Hook massacre of 20 innocent children by a crazed, isolated teenager was a hoax by those wanting gun control.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. claimed the lives of 20 children between the ages of six and seven and six adult staff members when Adam Lanza, 20, went on a shooting spree. Jones believes this never happened, that the whole thing was a hoax, and has devoted substantial air time to promote his theory.

Jones also believes that the attacks on 9/11 were an inside job, done as a pretext to increase spying operations on entire populations.

The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks consisted of four coordinated terrorist actions by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda that ultimately claimed the lives of 2,996 people and injuries to more than 6,000 others. In accomplishing their destruction, terrorists commandeered four commercial airliner jets, two of which were crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; another crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Va., killing 343 people; and the fourth steered initially toward Washington, D.C. but crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when passengers overtook the terrorists, a courageous maneuver that spared untold lives but killed all 72 aboard the plane.

The world changed after that attack, and people continue to be affected by the events that took place then. For Jones, the incidents have proved a rich fodder continuing to this day on his popular radio show, yielding a rich vein on which to capitalize commercially.

Such talk has resonance with millions of listeners and readers of the free magazine expounding on his views that is distributed at restaurants throughout Austin and beyond. According to Quantcast, his radio show airs on about 150 stations and the InfoWars website had 7.6 million global unique visitors between March 16 and April 14, the Statesman reported. Quantcast, which measures web audiences, ranked InfoWars 387th among all U.S. websites, not far behind MLB.com and PBS.org, according to the report.

Moreover, the Alex Jones YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers and more than 1.2 billion video views, the report further noted.

Jones has ingratiated himself with his fans by going beyond the expected line of discussion on a number of fronts, all professed to be backed up by facts. Rather than relying on evidence to back up his claims, Jones is known for attributing his pronouncements to unverifiable sourcing.

On one show, Jones claimed Obama and Hillary Clinton are demons, attributing the claim to unnamed "people who are in protective details." As "evidence," he points to footage of flies landing on them during talks, yielding evidence they both smell of sulfur given their supposed demonic status.

Such is the quality of Jones' reportage. Yet such bombast has earned him the admiration of millions.

The most prominent fan happens to be the president of the United States. In December 2015, Trump appeared on Jones' show via Skype. "Your reputation is amazing, Trump told Jones. "I will not let you down. You will be very, very impressed, I hope."

He didn't. During his populist presidential campaign, Trump utilized themes either originated by InfoWars or popularized by the outlet, as the Statesman and numerous other media outlets have reported. The red-meat issues effectively energized Trump's base, fueling his political rise: Hillary Clinton should go to prison; she is gravely ill; Bill Clinton is a rapist; millions of undocumented immigrants voted illegally in the general election; terrorist attacks are covered up by the media; etc.

Jones is also credited with giving Trump the effective talking point that news stories of a critical nature by media outlets aren't factually based, but "fake news." Stories contradicting Trump's claims are relegated as such to this day, a trope originated by Jones with a tactic he continues to further to this day.

In tandem with that belief, Jones posits that conservative media continue to be censored by some sort of vast conspiracy masterminded by officials at Google.

While his ardent fan base has made Jones a wealthy man given their admiration of his views, potential jurors for his child custody battle don't share the same favorable view of the broadcaster. Jury selection begun on Monday is already proving difficult, the Statesman reported, with 20 from the pool of roughly 60 potential jurors saying they have a negative impression of him. More than a dozen said they would find it hard to be unbiased for Jones, who's own lawyer called a "provocateur."

But remember, his lawyer insisted, this is "performance art," on the part of Jones. It's performance art that is "powerful and aggressive and strong and takes strident positions on controversial issues," the lawyer insists, as quoted by the Statesman.

Jurors may not realize, however, that Jones isn't shy about showing his emotional, softer side. When Jones, believed Hillary Clinton would win the election given the preponderance of polls suggesting this would happen, Jones broke down in tears.

Of course, even in the midst of his emotional meltdown and through tears, Jones still managed to croak out that Hillary Clinton is a "freakin' demon" with a "shark face." So, maybe showing the emotional side might not work with jurors. "We're going to have President Linda Blair, people! And I'm not going to go along with!" he screamed while sobbing.

Potential jurors aren't buying it, and finding a jury that can be both dispassionate and fair is probably going to be a long, hard slog given Jones' reputation and reach. But one thing is certain: Even as Jones fights for custody of his kids, he won't let the challenge of finding an unbiased jury to muzzle him anytime soon.

>>> Photo of Alex Jones via Twitter