U.S. Representative and presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbardâs most successful internet fundraiser, political vlogger Niko House, has clapped back at the Huffington Post over a story labeling him âa conspiracy theoristâ who believes the Las Vegas mass shooting was a set-up, that Bill Cosby was âframed,â and that âPizzagateâ was a thing.
After House won a lunch with Gabbard by attracting 716 new campaign contributors earlier this month, HuffPo looked into his other online activity and revealed a complicated set of beliefs. In the piece, writer Charles Davis calls House âa prolific conspiracy theorist who argues the mass shooting in Las Vegas was an intelligence operation meant to distract from the Harvey Weinstein scandal.â House was among the speakers at a Tulsi 2020 event on March 30 in L.A., although heâs based in Miami.
Once a progressive firebrand, Gabbard has seen her star dim in recent years. Her unlikely support of using the phrase âradical Islam,â hawkish outlook on terrorism, and off-putting relationship with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad alienated early supportersâand that hasnât been doing her any favors on the campaign trail. Of the 22 Democrats currently running for president, Gabbard is one of 11 with approximately 1 percent voter support, according to the Morning Consult.
But sheâs also attracted a motley and fervent group of enthusiasts. (In an unfortunate turn of events, she had to reject the endorsement of former KKK grand wizard David Duke.) As the Huffington Post put it, âGabbard, while struggling to register in most polls, has attracted a good deal of support from the fringe of both the left and right, especially onlineâŚThe campaign hasâŚembraced some of its lesser-hinged fans.â House among them, point being.
Having reviewed the dizzying array of videos linked in the article, it might be more fair to call House a âconflate-istâ than a conspiracy theorist. While he makes a reasonable, albeit rambling, case that Hillary Clinton and the DNC stole North Carolina from Bernie Sanders in 2016, he makes other cases as well. For instance, he doesnât quite say that the Vegas murders were a Weinstein cover-up. Instead, he seems frustrated that many different things seem to happen all at once.
In one video, House wonders why a security guard who witnessed the shootings appeared on Ellen DeGeneresâs talk showâas did anyone who was following the case. But then he points out that many news events are happening âat the same time.â He connects the killings to internet rumors that the CEO of Mandalay Bayâs parent company sold â90 percentâ of his stock âthree weeksâ before the shooting. He argues that the average person wouldnât question media coverage of the murders âbecause theyâre so distracted by Harvey Weinstein, by pedo-gate HollywoodâŚâ
âWhen you start seeing patterns,â House says, âyouâve got to start asking questions.â
House comes off far worse when discussing the Cosby case, criss-crossing his bid to buy NBC with his rape conviction, among other things. âThe first time he tried it, his son was randomly killed by the side of the highway. The next time he tried it, this happened.â
He also sees a matrix behind the fact that attorney Lisa Bloomââa staunch Hillary supporterâârepresented both Harvey Weinstein and some of Cosbyâs accusers. âDo you think she knew about all the sexual assault Harvey committed?â he asks. âProbably.â He then adds that Bloom âworked to create a panel of women who all accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault.â
As for Pizzagate, House does say that the language used in hacked Clinton campaign emails, âjust so happens to be code for pedophilia and human trafficking.â
One statement attributed to House in the HuffPo story is not linked to, however. It concerns accusations that Tulsi is a supporter of Syrian dictator al-Assad, an allegation that the Rep hotly denies: âGabbard, House said, is the only Democrat âsaying that Assad is innocent.ââ
Three days before Houseâs online fundraising success was announced on May 16, Tulsi appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, a favorite of Houseâs.
Addressing her alleged support of al-Assad, Rogan asked, âIs that one of those things people just say in order to defuse you, in order to categorize you as a ridiculous person right off the bat where no one can take anything else you say seriously?â
âItâs the usual tactic of trying to smear or vilify me and my campaign, and what I am advocating for,â Tulsi said.
In his October, 2017 video on the Vegas massacre, House summed up his problem with the mainstream media: âThey know weâre distracted by things we canât do anything about.â
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