Vincent Fusca And The Return of JFK Jr. - A Conspiracy Theory For Our Times
A presidential assassination or an attempt at one is jet fuel for conspiracy theories and the term itself arose in the wake of the 1963 JFK assassination.
Essentially it pits two apposing paradigms against one another, to whit: the 'Lone Gunman' theory vs a 'cabal of conspirators.' If the former holds sway, then the story ends there. Next morning you wake up in your bed and continue your life as you had before. If the latter, then there is no telling where this rabbit hole will end. The world changes its plasticity and suddenly anyone or group is a potential tentacle on the conspiratorial octopus. Mick Jagger voiced the ultimatum in this scenario, singing: "I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys?' / Well, after all, it was you and me."
As reported by CNN, former President Trump had barely been grazed by a bullet on Saturday when the internet flared up with rumors, misinformation and conspiracy theories.
We live in a social media matrix and here we have the first assassination attempt of a U.S. presidential candidate in the age of social media. How is it going? As well as one would expect. Imagine a roller coaster ride on the Matterhorn of reality. Within an hour of the shooting, the term "staged" began trending on X (formerly Twitter), meaning that the shooting was a "false flag," or a show put on for manipulating the public.
A user with 250,000 followers posted on X: “Everyone here seems to be having a good time, laughing and smiling for the cameras.”
A democrat and Tik Tok user with 4 million followers posted a video saying, “I mean it’s a little weird that this is America, and shooters don’t miss unless they are hired to.”
From the other side of the political field, Trump supporters are claiming on social media that the shooting occurred because of negligence from the Secret Service and going so far as to suggest that Joe Biden or his administration where somehow implicated in the assassination attempt.
For my money though, the best conspiracy theory to emerge in these weird times has to do with a man named Vincent Fusca and his role in the John F. Kennedy Jr. is NOT dead theory.
This theory, it turns out, has been around for some time, but some of us, myself included, have just been made aware of it as of this past Saturday.
Two weeks earlier, on the 4th of July, Rolling Stone magazine published a story about a conspiracy theory which claims that John F. Kennedy Jr. is not really dead but is in fact alive and well and has been hiding in Pennsylvania for the past two decades. According to the claim, J.F.K. Jr. is going by the name of Vincent Fusca and lives in Pittsburg. What's more, he is an avid Trump supporter.
Let's recap what we know. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. was born on November 25, 1960 to President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was an attorney, a magazine publisher and a journalist. In July 1999, he died in a tragic plane crash somewhere off the shores of Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. J.F.K. Jr. was piloting the plane and on board were his wife Carolyn Bessette and his sister-in-law Lauren. A few days later all three bodies were recovered from the bottom of the ocean by the Coast Guard.
The main exponent of this conspiracy theory comes from QAnon. QAnon is considered a far-right American conspiracy theory and political movement centered around claims made by an anonymous person known only as "Q." These claims are in turn circulated and discussed in online forums. Its central theme is that a cabal of Satan worshippers are conspiring against Donald Trump whose mission it is to bust up the "deep state" and send its members to Guantanamo Bay.
Around June of 2018 , word started spreading on QAnon forums that J.F.K. Jr. had faked his death to avoid being assassinated by the deep state and was in fact the mysterious Q in the flesh.
In 2018, during an interview with vlogger Jenny Moonstone, right-wing conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin stated, “The way that Q talks about JFK Sr. in the posts, it is with such love and passion, it makes me think that it is someone that is close to him . . . If JFK Jr. faked his death and was alive, it would make sense that he was Q.”
QAnon supporters have cited a quote by J.F.K. Jr, stating, “If my dear friend Donald Trump ever decided to sacrifice his fabulous billionaire lifestyle to become president he would be an unstoppable force for ultimate justice that Democrats and Republicans alike would celebrate.” To this date, quote remains unconfirmed.
Vincent Fusca however, remains an ardent Trump supporter and in fact appears standing behind and to the left of Trump on the bandstand as the assassins bullets rang out, slicing off part of the former president's ear.
References:
Donie O’Sullivan, Brian Fung, Marshall Cohen
Ej Dickson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Jr.
Andrew K. Arnett is a writer and producer. He has been published in Paranoia Magazine, New Dawn, Nexus, Konbini and Alien Buddha Press. He lives in Brooklyn, NY and hunts ghosts with the Brooklyn Paranormal Society. Find him on Twitter: @AndrewArnett
