Leah Feiger: This is so good.
David Gilbert: Then this conspiracy took a slightly darker turn, unfortunately.
Leah Feiger: Oh no.
David Gilbert: I’ve never seen Gwen Walz before, but she does bear a certain resemblance to Hillary Clinton.
Leah Feiger: Why is she short and blonde?
Donie O’Sullivan: It is permanent.
David Gilbert: I guess.
Leah Feiger: Guy.
David Gilbert: In the world of conspiracy theories, that means that it’s not actually Gwen Walz, but Hillary Clinton, and that she has killed the real Gwen Walz. This is her secret way of getting back into the White House and that she will ultimately 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 it all.
David Gilbert: He made me laugh.
Leah Feiger: There are body snatchers in this one. Oh, this is a good one!
David Gilbert: Yeah.
Leah Feiger: That was really good, David.
Donie O’Sullivan: I’m worried about David.
Leah Feiger: This is what you see on the Internet every day. Sometimes you go online and say, “Did you see this?” I ask you, “Why? Why would I see this? In what universe?”
Donie O’Sullivan: Well, I’m not going to talk about JD Vance and the couch.
Leah Feiger: Yes. Give us yours, Donie.
Donie O’Sullivan: It’s not often that you get to have an experience where you come across the subject of conspiracy theories. But I work with Anderson Cooper at CNN. He’s from Vanderbilt. There’s a whole Qanon world around him, etc. A lot of it is scary, and some of it is just absurd and funny. But yeah, sometimes when I meet people who are really deep down the rabbit hole, they’ll ask me, “Oh, you’re from CNN? Okay, yeah. Do you work with Anderson Cooper?” Yeah, I see him sometimes. I do reports on his show. “Have you seen him in person?” Yeah. “Up close?” Yeah, I’ve been on a TV set with him. At least one, maybe two people have asked me very seriously, “Can you see the mask? Can you see?”
Leah Feiger: No.
Donie O’Sullivan: Yes, yes. “Can you see the mask?”
Leah Feiger: No.
Donie O’Sullivan: “Because I can see it.” Yeah, I get told that quite often. Obviously, I’m like, “Yeah, that’s crazy. The mask…” No.
Leah Feiger: Wait. What’s the theory? Who is it?
Donie O’Sullivan: David probably knows this better than I do. There are people who take on other identities, masks and all that. Some people believe… Last year we did a documentary about how some people believe that Trump is JFK Jr. in disguise and all that kind of stuff.
Leah Feiger: Well well.
Donie O’Sullivan: It takes me to a pretty dark place. But at that moment, of course, when someone asks me in all sincerity, “Have you seen the mask?”, yes. For me it’s almost like an out-of-body experience, in the sense that I’m like, “Wow, this is like all the worlds colliding.”
