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Report: Republican congressional candidate pushes bizarre conspiracy theories on Sandy Hook, Pizzagate, Seth Rich

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Illinois

[Rock Island County Republican Chairman Drue Mielke] is supportive of most Republican candidates running in the November election, including 17th Congressional district candidate Bill Fawell, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline.

“We support Fawell,” Mielke said. “I know he’s a Constitutionalist. In talking to him, I’ve heard him focusing on the issues of our district. There are a lot of things Bill Fawell could do for our district Cheri Bustos is choosing not to.”

* We discussed this guy Fawell back in May…

The Republican nominee for a US House seat in Illinois has said the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job and that singer Beyonce Knowles has ties to the Illuminati.

* It turns out, however, Fawell is a whole lot more bizarre than that…

Media Matters reviewed Fawell’s main Facebook page and found that he also pushed conspiracy theories about mass shootings in Newtown, CT; Orlando, FL; San Bernardino, CA; and Aurora, CO. He has also promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and claimed late Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was assassinated “for giving 44,000 DNC emails to Wikileaks.”

Fawell has repeatedly pushed conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Fawell has promoted material that claimed the shooting was a false flag and smeared late Sandy Hook Elementary principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, who died trying to protect students during the shooting. […]

Fawell has pushed conspiracy theories about tragedies including the June 2016 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, FL; the December 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, CA; and the 2012 shooting in Aurora, CO. […]

Fawell has repeatedly pushed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely holds that prominent politicians have trafficked children through the Washington, D.C., restaurant Comet Ping Pong. In December 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch went to the restaurant and fired a shot inside; he was later sentenced to four years in prison.

Fawell has said that there’s “nothing fake about Pizzagate” and the shooting at Comet was an “inside false flag job on a real live (sic) story the MSM is trying to cover up.” […]

Fawell has claimed that former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was assassinated for “giving 44,000 DNC emails to Wikileaks” and that former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chair John Podesta “ordered the hit.”

They’ve got the screenshots, so go take a look if you can stomach that sort of thing.

Despite all this, he’s backed by several county party organizations in his district, including Peoria, Whiteside, Joe Daviess and, of course, Rock Island.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 10:56 am

Comments

This is the modern GOP, packed to the hilt with whackos. Let’s not forget that one of these kooks already caused violence by shooting up Comet Ping Pong.

Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:00 am
I’m sure he’s a devotee of the latest nutso GOP force - QAnon. This is some crazy stuff, and we’re not talking ancient history. We’re talking last year. GOP needs to purge this guy and withdraw their support.

And no, there is no corollary on the D side. We have ideological fringe folks, but nothing comparable.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:03 am
–Despite all this, he’s backed by several county party organizations in his district, including Peoria, Whiteside, Joe Daviess and, of course, Rock Island.–

Even in these interesting times, I don’t understand how this is possible. Have you all lost your minds?

Here’s an obvious question of simple logic: If you truly believe that 9/11 was an “inside job” pulled by W and Cheney, why would you remain a Republican? Are you so far gone that you can’t see how crazy that is?

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:05 am
Anyone that still calls themselves a Republican in 2018 owns all these Alex Jones/QAnon nutbags.

In the 2000s, Dems shut down and purged any “inside job” element that tried to exist within the party.

They could afford to do so because Dems actually have policy ideas to offer the public.

All Republicans have to offer to voters is crackpot conspiracies, resentment of Democrats amd the media, and Trump idolatry.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:07 am
Your 2018 GOP!

Yikes…

Comment by So_Ill Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:07 am
This ‘new’ GOP reminds me of the adage “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” As soon as you snuff out one source (Alex Jones), another pops up (QAnon).

Comment by Jocko Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:09 am
This guy must add lead to his water . What is going on when people like this get support?

Comment by FormerParatrooper Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:10 am
Maybe Bill Fawell and Arthur Jones should be campaigning together.

Comment by Steve Rogers Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:11 am
Madigan always got heat for not caring about Congressional candidates as head of the DPI, but between this guy and Arthur Jones, the Rauner-owned Illinos Republican Party has proven itself to be even more derelict.

Both Fawell & Jones won their primaries unopposed, so absolutely no effort was put into recruiting candidates. This shows that even if a seat isn’t really winnable, the parties should find candidates for every seat just to avoid embarrassments.

Comment by Grand Avenue Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:12 am
Lie down with the dog, wake up with the fleas.

Comment by TKMH Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:13 am
I’m old enough to remember when the Republican Party was run by rational, even tempered adults and were supported by same. Too bad about the Nazis and white supremacists and kooky conspiracy pushers taking over. So weird that the dems have become the party of normal people.

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:14 am
===Despite all this, he’s backed by several county party organizations in his district, including Peoria, Whiteside, Joe Daviess and, of course, Rock Island.===

Because of course Republicans are supporting this guy. What he is saying is mainstream GOP thinking, the cray-cray is strong in the GOP grassroots.

Unless and until any so-called leaders of the Republican Party want to stand up and disavow this garbage, including some of the nuggets of crazy coming from the president’s phone, all Republicans own this garbage.

I’ve been waiting, and except for some very brief, isolated moments of political courage, very very few Republicans call out this kind of crazy nonsense, and fewer still call out President Trump’s horrible, un-American rhetoric.

Silence on these issues is the enemy of the people.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:16 am
When the phenomon of normal people believing and spouting the nonsense blared at them non stop as breaking news on “Fox News” as gospel nothing surprises me anymore.

Comment by DeseDemDose Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:19 am
A few mile posts back, we passed the “this isn’t the GOP” and now we are in “meet the GOP”

As a Republican who repudiates this, unequivocally, and was, is, remains, a “no Trump, never Trump”, the party “of my youth” is the party of Trump, and falsehoods, myths, lies, purposeful deception, and a blind eye to the honesty of facts.

The GOP refuses to reject, as a party in its existence now, candidates of these ilks.

I don’t know if the GOP will recover and be what it once was.

I know I am not aligned with these mores, beliefs, or politics.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:24 am
These nuts have been infiltrating the GOP for years. Sad thing is, nobody is stopping it.

Comment by Glengarry Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:29 am
Alex Jones makes me sick, he is a total charlatan as we learned from his court case, he is an infotainer plain and simple. Yet the dupes who believe him like Fawell continue to forward clearly false and harmful “stories”.

Wow, the GOP is really becoming a fringe organization. Sad to see.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:39 am
Yeah, the 17th is considered safe Dem, so the Republicans were just looking for somebody, anybody. It’s a bad tactic, but it’s not unknown.

Still, it’s pretty hard on sane Republicans who will be forced to contemplate voting for him.

Comment by dbk Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:40 am
The Rock Island County endorsement is a product of Bill Broom driving the RICO GOP into the ground. Who knows if it can ever recover.

Comment by RI County Dem Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:40 am
===These nuts have been infiltrating the GOP for years. Sad thing is, nobody is stopping it.

There have been nuts in the GOP (and Dem Party) for years. My grandmother, who I loved dearly, was one of them just to the left of the Birchers. However, they didn’t get any power until recent years.

Comment by Archpundit Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:42 am
Let this post serve as a reminder that we as voters and Americans must be extra vigilant in believing in objective truths and driving conspiracism back to the fringes.

Illiberal countries thrive in tandem with conspiracy theories. Go to Russia, and all ills are a ploy by NATO and America to undermine it. Go to the Middle East, and everything wrong (down to the weather) is Israel’s doing. Conspiracy thinking, and the public’s widespread acceptance of it, is a common denominator in the degradation of public trust in institutions and warped, antidemocratic politics.

We must remain vigilant.

Comment by TKMH Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:45 am
Precinct Captain - Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:00 am:

This is the modern Democratic Party, packed to the hilt with whackos. Let’s not forget that one of these kooks already tried to assassinate the entire US Congressional Republican Party leadership, nearly killing the Party Whip.

Nutty candidates are in both parties.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:45 am
If 9/11 was an inside job, as Fawell claims, that makes Bush 43 complicit. I wonder how many Republicans buy that conspiracy?

Comment by anon2 Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:46 am
“Despite all this, he’s backed by several county party organizations in his district, including Peoria, Whiteside, Joe Daviess and, of course, Rock Island.”

I can’t help but wonder what the long-term fate of the Illinois Democratic Party would have been had it backed the LaRouche conspiracy nuts who captured two of their nominations in 1986.

I’d advise the IL-GOP to ponder that as well.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:48 am
Party before country, state, county…anything. That is the only explanation here. And it is not unique to this race.

Comment by anon, not Q Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:48 am
Hey, it’s the party that allowed the racist birth certificate conspiracy thing to be proclaimed in the very open. This isn’t some isolated incident or outlier.

Comment by Albany Park Patriot Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:50 am
–Let’s not forget that one of these kooks already tried to assassinate the entire US Congressional Republican Party leadership, nearly killing the Party Whip. Nutty candidates are in both parties.–

What Congressional seat was he the nominee for, and were all the county organizations backing him?

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:51 am
The former national security advisor General Michael Flynn used to post or forward the pizzagate items. The pizzagate items were a creation of the Russians Russian Bots.

Comment by lost in the weeds Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:51 am
==Hey, it’s the party that allowed the racist birth certificate conspiracy thing to be proclaimed in the very open. This isn’t some isolated incident or outlier.==

And then nominated and elected the leader of the Birther movement president.

What a sick joke.

Comment by So_Ill Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 11:58 am
GOP led the groundwork for this a while back ever since it rejected evidence-based decision making (Gingrich) and started believing its own Laffer Curve nonsense. (Reagan)

Comment by Deadbeat Conservative (TBB) Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:09 pm
==What Congressional seat was he the nominee for, and were all the county organizations backing him?==

Poor vanilla man. You know times are hard when he’s reduced to a pretzel-like shape trying to play a game of “this thing is exactly like this other thing”, and failing miserably at it.

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:09 pm
He does sound like a nut. Of course if he pushed the equally nutty Trump-Russia hoax I’m sure he would be celebrated as a hero on here.

Comment by GOPgal Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:11 pm
==He does sound like a nut. Of course if he pushed the equally nutty Trump-Russia hoax I’m sure he would be celebrated as a hero on here.==

Really? This is the spin you decided to go with?

Comment by Nacho Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:15 pm
Modern conservatives are not reality based. From Macroeconomics to climate change, a significant segment is not rational….but he really lost me going after Beyoncé…..

Comment by Anotheretiree Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:17 pm
The GOP leaders in the 17th did recruit a creditable candidate. Unfortunately He withdrew after filling his petitions. As a GOP committeeman, I will not support this candidate.

Comment by VPlena Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:19 pm
Conspiracy theories are so last year. The Virginia GOP is into the trendy Bigfoot erotica per the NYT.

Comment by A Jack Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:23 pm
Which Illuminati? The singing group or the fashion designer.

Comment by Southside Markie Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:26 pm
He does sound like a nut. Of course if he pushed the equally nutty Trump-Russia hoax I’m sure he would be celebrated as a hero on here.=

Yeah, that Trump-Russianthing is kooky, right? I mean none of Trump’s close associates have any Russian ties or meetings and they have been incredibly candid throughout and none of their stories have changed almost daily. /s

And that is the only standard here.

In other news- victim much?

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:28 pm
you can believe that it’s impossible for this fringe/Q stuff to go mainstream. But remember when over and over everyone thought this is the Trump action that will end his candidacy because he’s so extreme that he can’t be mainstream? Well the Republican party has proven over and over that they are mainstreaming the extreme and the fringe. Call this nonsense out at every turn. Resist.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:31 pm
Left-wingdings still blaming their 2016 loss on a Russian conspiracy hoax can spare us the drama over a Right-wingding.

Comment by just an fyi Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:55 pm
===still blaming their 2016 loss on a Russian conspiracy hoax===

I think a large handful blame the loss on Russia. I disagree with them.

But all US intelligence agencies have said for a very long time that there was a Russian conspiracy to interfere with our elections. So, that part is no hoax. And you should go take a nap after doing some legit Googling.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 12:57 pm
==Russian conspiracy hoax ==

That the same one our president just admitted to being true this weekend, even though he told you that the story was not true for two years? Must be a different hoax you’re talking about, because Chris Wallace of Fox News told me trump admitted on the twitter that this “hoax” was actually not a “hoax” yesterday morning.

I for one will be very sad when the president’s son goes to jail because his dad told him to lie to a congressional committee. I hope y’all will join me in sending out thoughts and prayers.

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:21 pm
Candidates like this are what you end up with when you sell your party to the highest bidder and dont worry about the consequences or about who will be leading the party a few years down the road. The Republican Party has been damaged so much that why would a new bright, shining star want to attach themself to this outfit? This is also why so many former staunch Republicans now will only consider themselves conservative independents. It will take many years to rebuild the party to what it once was. If it can be done. Look around. After Rauner is defeated this year, who will run for Governor in 2022? Until you can recruit smart honest candidates you will not be able to move forward.

Comment by SOIL M Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:21 pm
Combined with the holocaust denier this is a really great cast of creatures.

Comment by Boone's is Back Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 2:40 pm
Anybody in the party apparatus supporting this guy should be ashamed of themselves. Disavow the guy and yell to the high heavens that he has no place in the party. Ever.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 4:45 pm
You folks just aren’t old enough. We’ve had nutty Fawells around forever.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 4:49 pm
Discussion of Russian efforts. Pizzagate. My previous post misidentified the source of pizzagate items-americans started pizzagate. It was General Michael Flynn’s son that posted supporting the pizzagate conspiracy.

ttps://www.c-span.org/video/?447455-1/after-words-malcolm-nance

Comment by lost in the weeds Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 5:54 pm
In above posted video start watching at 41:30 minutes about the DNC hacks and the aims for it.

Comment by lost in the weeds Monday, Aug 6, 18 @ 6:05 pm
==Russian conspiracy hoax ==

For crying out loud, Trump’s whole national security and intelligence crew was at the White House podium last week outlining the past and continuing Russian attacks.

Are they in on “the hoax,” too?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/08/03/trump-sees-russias-attacks-on-our-democracy-as-a-public-relations-problem/?utm_term=.04ffe0b54b39

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 7, 18 @ 8:43 am