Featured Image Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Conspiracy Theories, Donald Trump, Politics
Joe Yates
Topics: Conspiracy Theories, Donald Trump, Politics
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to release the classified files on the assassination of JFK, but one man who's traveled to the US to explore conspiracies has hit back with reasons why the files should remain under-wraps.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy, back in 1963, is one of the biggest events in modern history. JFK was gunned down in broad daylight as he rode through Dallas, Texas, becoming the subject of numerous conspiracy theories over the years.
Conspiracy researcher Dom Joly, a comedian who has traveled to the US to look into conspiracy theories as well as recently appearing on the UK show Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted, has now questioned the motives behind the president's order.
Trump announced that he will release the JFK files and has previously spoken about doing the same with 9/11. However, Joly has claimed that for the public there is no gain, arguing that the idea is 'nonsense'.
He said: "[Trump] said he was going to release stuff on 9/11... I mean, what there is to release? Because it's just nonsense, but it's a conspiracy, as it is with JFK... I mean, [Trump] said he'd release them last time, and then he didn't.
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"So, it'd be interesting if he does. In my book [The Conspiracy Tourist: Travels Through a Strange World], I go to Dallas and I look at the JFK conspiracy and stuff. I think it'll just get more nutty really, for the next four years - 100 percent."
Joly's research into conspiracies prompted him to claim that 'conspiracy theories put [Trump] in office', at least the 'first time around', adding: "So, I think this is a victory for conspiracy theorists."
Joly went on to claim that conspiracy theories have gained strength throughout Trump's time in office, even 'chang[ing] overnight'. He says they were initially 'quite harmless', until Trump's spokesperson a few years ago, Kellyanne Conway, used the term 'alternative facts'.
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Joly continued: "We've gone from having facts to alternative facts. What that means is, in the old days, we could all disagree over something, but we'd argue around an agreed truth. Now there's no agreed truth."
"There's just one truth, and there's your truth, and then there's Trump's truth - even the idea that he set up his own Truth Social thing is just ridiculous, because Trump and the truth do not go together," Joly continued.
"So unfortunately, it's four years of complete anti-intellectualism, anti-expert. I mean, the fact that we've got to a stage where doctors are the enemy is just insane, and it's just going to get worse with Trump."
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A pretty damning review of the Trump administration - sorry, Mr President!
Celebrity Help! My House is Haunted is now available to stream exclusively on Discovery+ in the UK.