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Citing a Russian talking point that a chemical weapons attack in Syria was a false flag, the alt-right is begging President Trump to lay off Syriaand even bombarding White House phone lines to do it.

President Donald Trumps most fervent far-right and alt-right supporters began to publicly turn on the administration on Thursday, angry or in denial at the administrations apparent refusal to believe a Russian talking point that a chemical weapons attack in Syria was a false flagor didnt happen at all.

On Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova passed off the severity of the attack as totally fake information in reply to a proposed United Nations resolution condemning Syrias government for the strike. The Russian Ministry of Defense then redefined its position on Thursday, saying that Syrian jets bombed an arms depot where chemical weapons were stored.

But before Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled that military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government may be on the horizon, some of Trumps most ardent defenders were already questioning whether the attack was a false flag, some even positing that the photos of dead children were staged with prop blood.

Creator of Dilbert and noted Trump supporter Scott Adams called the attack a fake war crime.

Im going to call bullshit on the gas attack. Its too on-the-nose, as Hollywood script-writers sometimes say, meaning a little too perfect to be natural, Adams wrote. This has the look of a manufactured event.

On Tuesday morning, WikiLeaks tweeted While western establishment media beat the drum for more war in Syria the matter is far from clear, then linked to a YouTube video titled False Flag Chemical Attack in Syria?

Mike Cernovichone of the main drivers of the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy about a nonexistent child sex ring involving Hillary Clinton and a series of pizza shops in Washington, D.C, and a separate conspiracy alleging that Clinton was dying of a litany of fatal diseases during the campaignencouraged fans to help #SyriaHoax trend on Twitter. At press time, it was the No. 2 trend in the United States.

#SyriaGasAttack was sponsored by deep state, he wrote late Wednesday night.

One day prior, Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted of Cernovich: in a time of unbiased journalism, hed win the Pulitzer.

Conspiracy website InfoWars published several articles and videos claiming the attacks had ties to Democrats or Hillary Clinton, including one titled REPORT: SOROS-LINKED GROUP BEHIND CHEMICAL ATTACK IN SYRIA.

But by Thursday night, when it became clear the Trump administration had for the first time broken from Kremlin foreign policy talking points questioning any gruesome footage coming out of Syria, that same website began to turn on the president.

Substitute Al-Qaeda for ISIS and were in the same position as 2013, wrote InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson. Watson had spent Thursday writing that the White Helmets, a rescue group that has been accused by Assad apologists (and some moderates) of having questionable ties to rebel groups and jihadi groups, somehow committed the aerial bombing.

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The Internets largest pro-Donald Trump community, Reddits r/The_Donald, appeared to be in denial about Trumps turn away from pro-Assad rhetoric. The most upvoted entry on Thursday was a screenshot of a post from 4chans /pol/ board, which is a troll board with a fervently pro-Trump bent.

/pol/ is working around the clock to determine if the Syrian gas attack was a false flag designed to manipulate President Trump into war, the post reads. Two other top ten posts blame the deep state for manipulating the president.

One newer post with more than 1,100 upvotes at press time still did not believe Trump to be serious about his threats to take out Assad. CONCERN TROLLS, it reads. Our glorious leader did not maneuver through 16 candidates, 1 spawn of moloch and a rigged media all while under surveillance only to be duped by this chemical attack

By late Thursday, however, even Cernovichwho received public support both from the presidents son and advisor Kellyanne Conway this weekwas urging Trumps alt-right base to bombard the White House phone lines with condemnation of airstrikes in Syria, between retweeting users who claimed the chemical weapons attack that was a false flag.

Fake news is forming a pro-war media narrative in real time. #SyriaHoax They want war and will attack people who want peace, Cernovich tweeted.

This is not the first time that Russian talking points, as readily repeated by websites like InfoWars, aimed to push blame for an atrocity in Syria away from Assad, or questioned whether anyone was truly killed in a bombing. In December, RT anchors and Russian government-backed viral news sites used the burgeoning buzzword fake news to describe the shelling of Aleppo.

Foreign Policy Research Institute fellow Clint Watts, who testified in front of the Senate about Russias disinformation campaign last week, told The Daily Beast at the time that this is a long-held Russian strategy to deflect blame through propaganda, and cause even viewers of disturbing footage taken from the attacks to question an objective reality.

Its not just an information war on Americaits a war on information itself, Watts said. The point of it is that you cant trust anything. Then theres no baseline. You can say and do whatever you want, and then deny it ever happened.

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Wielding a Russian Talking Point, Alt-Right Demands President Trump Lay Off Syria - Daily Beast