How an antisemitic conspiracy theory made its way to a state capitol
4/29/202628 min
A New Hampshire Republican. A German Holocaust denier. A suspicious bottle of baby oil. An NPR investigation reveals how the alarming rise of antisemitic conspiracy theories reached a state capitol.
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This episode was reported and produced by Tom Dreisbach, with help from Karen Zamora. It was edited by Barrie Hardymon with help from Monika Evstatieva, Bob Little, and Kristian Monroe. Audio engineering by Jimmy Keeley.
Tony Cavin is NPR’s Managing Editor for Standard and Practices.
Legal support from Johannes Doerge.
Thanks also to Dan Barrick and our colleagues at New Hampshire Public Radio.
Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJuana Summers· Host0:00
It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today...
Tom Dreisbach0:05
Antisemitic bigotry has no place in a civilized society, it has no place in our universities, and it has no place in the United States of America. No place.
Juana Summers· Host0:16
[clapping] President Trump says his administration is committed to fighting antisemitism, but a growing number of pro-Trump commentators are warning about hatred of Jews on the political right.
Matt Sabourin Deshawnier· Guest0:27
From charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle, but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.
Juana Summers· Host0:34
The podcaster Ben Shapiro says he's been shocked to see people he once worked with, like Candace Owens, promote antisemitic conspiracy theories. Dan Bongino, Trump's former deputy FBI director, calls antisemitism a cancer on the MAGA movement.
Germar Rudolf· Soundbite0:49
This portion of people who claim to be part of our movement and our cause, who think it's edgy or cool to talk about how much they hate the Jews.
Juana Summers· Host0:59
Now, an NPR investigation reveals the story of how a state Republican official tried to turn a conspiracy theory into law, and how it all connects with a bizarre criminal case involving a German Holocaust denier and a suspicious bottle of baby oil. Consider this: how antisemitic extremists took their ideas from the fringes to the halls of a state capitol. From