Alex Jones admits he's only joking & should not be taken seriously

[Rev. Rye]

So by that logic, we're all susceptible to being completely taken advantage of by someone who can simply manipulate our predictable 'ticks.' We're just lucky enough that we have not run into such a conniving, intelligent conman.

I'm sure you don't believe that.

It seems to me that there's a very small portion of the population that would actually fall for stuff like that. Though I am much more willing to use the word 'victim' for a cult type situation than something like people buying merch off of infowars without knowing that Alex Jones has been putting on an act for years.

It's called politics, Ace. That's kind of what politicians do.

In all seriousness, it seems that people have different ticks, and some are a lot easier to manipulate than others. Remember, Trump ran for and won the highest office in the land (and by extension, the world) using an election platform built on faerie dust and an impossible 2000-mile wall, and stubbornly refusing to go away. And he got so far because he managed to manipulate some people with some very sensitive and very predictable ticks.

And if they really find themselves trusting you after they've manipulated you, it can be shockingly easy for them to get you to believe anything, even if they've had a history of being totally full of shit.

Of course, this could be coloured by my being on my second History of the Third Reich book this month, but I don't think he's totally wrong. He might not be totally right, but he does have a point.