Donald Trump Supporters' Confused Conspiracy Ramblings, 'When You Know, You Know'

At recent Donald Trump rallies, some attendees have struggled to coherently explain the conspiracy theories they claim to believe in when pressed by pranksters. Davram Stiefler and Jason Selvig of the prank duo The Good Liars have been attending Trump events and interviewing his supporters. The exchanges reveal the stark detachment from reality among some of the former president's most ardent followers.

One woman in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania warned Stiefler that shadowy "foreigners" with special phones would attack when given approval, though she couldn't elaborate further. Another supporter, a professed fan of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, bizarrely cautioned Selvig about someone named "Joseph Starling." A third claimed the deceased John F. Kennedy Jr. would impossibly return as vice president, insisting "it's happening now" but offering no meaningful explanation beyond "when you know, you know."

The ideas get more outlandish from there. One man declared top Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer to be "illegal politicians" who were simply "appointed" rather than elected, despite Schumer winning his Senate seat in 1998. When pressed, the supporter could only attribute it vaguely to the "deep state" bogeyman. The pattern reveals Trump devotees clinging to fringe conspiracy theories but unable to substantiate them beyond regurgitating unsubstantiated online claims, as per Huff Post.

This detachment from evidence and facts presents a challenge for Trump himself as his hush money trial proceeds. Trump appears out of touch with why his supporters rallied around him originally. They were never drawn to him as a avatar of moral purity, but celebrated his willingness to defiantly break rules and norms. His legal team has been pushing wild conspiracy narratives, such as claiming he never had an affair with Stormy Daniels despite the $130,000 hush payment. Legal experts view this strategy as counterproductive for convincing a jury. Even the defense lawyer Todd Blanche claimed in his opening statement that Daniels' account is a "false claim of a sexual encounter" with Trump, which she fabricated as part of an extortion plot, as per Salon.

In stark contrast, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) recently said to reporters, "You don't pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you." Furthermore, years before to the pay-off plan, Daniels was receiving threats from Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer. This wouldn't have been the case if Daniels had made it all up to intimidate a 2016 presidential contender. In addition, Karen McDougal, Trump's other mistress, supports the notion that Trump was not against adultery.

More likely, all this work of saving trump aims to give a base of an alternate reality to cling to if he is convicted. However, even many die-hard Trump supporters seem unwilling to embrace some of the more outrageous theories coming from his defense. Major right-wing outlets have shied away from amplifying claims he never slept with Daniels, focusing instead on whataboutism and attacks on the prosecutors' motives.