The Right Is Still Pushing Election Denial—and Pillows

Leah Feiger: This is so good.

David Gilbert: Then it took a bit of a darker turn, this conspiracy, unfortunately.

Leah Feiger: Oh, no.

David Gilbert: I hadn’t ever seen Gwen Walz before, but she does bear a bit of a resemblance to Hilary Clinton.

Leah Feiger: Because she’s short and blond?

Donie O’Sullivan: It’s the perm.

David Gilbert: I guess.

Leah Feiger: Guys.

David Gilbert: In conspiracy world, that means that this is actually not Gwen Walz, that this is actually Hilary Clinton. And that she has killed the real Gwen Walz. This is her secret way of getting back into the White House. And that, ultimately, she’s going to kill everyone and take over as president.

Leah Feiger: I love this theory. I love this theory. How can you not love this theory? This has everything.

David Gilbert: It made me laugh.

Leah Feiger: This has body-snatchers. Oh, this is a good one.

David Gilbert: Yeah.

Leah Feiger: That was really good, David.

Donie O’Sullivan: I’m worried for David.

Leah Feiger: This is what he sees on the internet, every single day. Sometimes he logs on and he’s like, “Did you see this?” I’m like, “Why? Why would I have seen this? In what universe?”

Donie O’Sullivan: Well, I’m not going to talk about JD Vance and the couch.

Leah Feiger: Yeah. Hit us with yours, Donie.

Donie O’Sullivan: It’s not often you get to have an experience where you’re with the subject of conspiracy theories. But, I work with Anderson Cooper at CNN. He a Vanderbilt. There’s a whole Qanon world about him, et cetera. A lot of it is scary, and some of it’s just absurd and funny. But yeah, sometimes when I meet people who are very down the rabbit hole, they’ll ask me, “Oh, you’re CNN? Okay, yeah. Do you work with Anderson Cooper?” Yeah, I see him sometimes. I do stories on his show. “You’ve seen him in-person?” Yeah. “Up close?” Yeah, I’ve been on a TV set with him. I’ve had at least one, maybe two people just ask me really seriously, “Can you see the mask? Can you see?”

Leah Feiger: No.

Donie O’Sullivan: Yeah, yeah. “Can you see the mask?”

Leah Feiger: No.

Donie O’Sullivan: “Because I can see it.” Yeah. I get that quite a bit. Obviously, I’m like, “Yeah, it’s crazy. The mask …” No.

Leah Feiger: Wait. So what’s the theory? Who is this?

Donie O’Sullivan: David would probably know better than me, in terms of what. There’s this whole thing about people taking on other identities, and masks, and everything else. Some people believe … We did a doc last year on how some people believe that Trump is JFK Jr in disguise, and all this sort of thing.

Leah Feiger: Right, right.

Donie O’Sullivan: It leads to a pretty dark place. But in that moment, of course, when somebody asks me in all sincerity, “Have you seen the mask?” Yeah. It’s just an out-of-body experience almost, for me, in that I’m like, “Oh, wow. This really is just all the worlds colliding.”