Donald Trump and InfoWars host Alex Jones

Spending much of his Saturday on Twitter, Donald Trump defends far-right activists and conspiracy theorists barred from social media platforms — and says it is leading outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN who should be banned.

Facebook and Twitter have begun to act against accounts pushing disinformation, racism, anti-semitism, and hate speech. Among those who have been banned on Facebook are Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, InfoWars host Alex Jones and his site, far-right provocateurs Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, and white supremacist Paul Nehlen.

Also removed is the alt-right polemicist and InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson, who has pushed conspiracy theories such as “PizzaGate” — the virulent lie that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was involved in a pedophilia ring run from a Washington DC pizzeria — and often posted Muslim-phobic attacks.

Twitter has locked the account of actor James Woods, whose angry posts vilify the “left” and other groups. He is suspended from further tweets after he referred to the Trump-Russia report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller with the hashtag #HangThemAll”.

Trump began his campaign on Friday:

He began Saturday with the claim that Diamond and Silk — two women who have achieved celebrity status by shouting at a webcam about how much they love Trump — have been “treated horribly” by Facebook.

Then Trump elevated Watson and Wood to intellectuals who are being persecuted by social media platforms: “So surprised to see Conservative thinkers like James Woods banned from Twitter, and Paul Watson banned from Facebook!”

Later in the day, he turning the cases into an attack to discredit the media and political opponents:

Without any sense of irony, Trump called for the censorship of media outlets whom he dislikes:

Promoting Extremists

Trump has had a close relationship with some on the far-right for years. His own conspiracy theories have intersected with those on the political fringe, such as his promotion of the lie that Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

During his Presidential campaign in 2015, he appeared on Infowars and praised Alex Jones. “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.” Claims circulated in the early months of the Trump Administration that Jones, using a pseudonym, visited Trump in the White House.

In August 2017, Trump bolstered white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia —- former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke said Trump’s views had enabled the movement — and defended them after their violent marches, including the killing of Heather Heyer and injuring of dozens when a car rammed into a group opposed to the rally.

Trump repeated the defense in late April: “If you look at what I said, you will see that that question was answered perfectly.”

In November 2017, Trump retweeted fake and distorted Muslim-phobic videos posted by the far-right group Britain First, whose leader has been convicted of stirring up hatred.

Still on Twitter, Watson took little solace from Trump’s support. He complained late Saturday about being called extremist:

I’ve tried to meet with people on the left and they always pussy out because they’re generally cowards….The offer is open for me to meet with any of you, but you don’t really seem to support dialogue. You just smear us from your banal ivory towers.