MAGA Unleashes Its Wildest New Jersey Drone Conspiracies
By: Meghan Markle (The Daily Beast)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
BUCKLE UP
From staged alien invasions to foreign threats, here are some of the wildest theories floating around.
Yasmeen Hamadeh
Night News Reporter
Published Dec. 15 2024 7:43PM EST Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
A government PSYOP. An alien landing. A foreign military threat. A complete hoax.
As a swarm of East Coast residents continue to report drone sightings in the night sky, a number of conspiracy theories, spread by right-wing pundits and influencers, have erupted online in response to the mysterious phenomenon.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the first drone sighting occurred on Nov. 18 near Morris County, New Jersey, and sightings have since been reported in five other states including New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
In a joint statement Thursday, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said that there is “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
However, some internet sleuths are convinced that there’s a secret, sinister plot at play—while others are latching onto more outlandish theories.
Comedian Roseanne Barr stepped off the deep end by connecting the sightings to a conspiracy championed by Infowars founder Alex Jones called “Project Blue Beam.”
The decades-old conspiracy posits that the government will stage a fake alien invasion as a way to create mass panic and institute authoritarian controls over society.
Jones and others have argued that the staged events will occur in phases—with the government beginning by using holograms to trick the American people. Barr, for her part, seems to believe the mystery drones above New Jersey and the eastern seaboard represent the beginning of this bogus plot.
“Now you see why I mention Project Blue Beam every week on my podcast,” the comedian wrote on X on Saturday.
Jones also vouched for the accuracy of Project Blue Beam last week.
The longtime right-wing conspiracist welcomed ufologist and retired physician Dr. Steven Greer onto his Infowars show to discuss the phenomenon.
“They all have this agenda to want to control the world through one calamity after the other, and the big one they’ve been planning is the hoax of an alien threat from outer space,” Greer said.
Georgia congresswoman and prolific conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Green, for her part, is also convinced that the government is aware of what’s going on—but is refusing to tell the nation about any of it.
In an X post published Saturday, Green wrote: “The government is in control of the drones and refuses to tell the American people what is going on. It really is that bad.”
On Sunday, Greene seemingly agreed with another X user who detailed their theory that the drones belonged to the U.S. military and were flying over highly populated areas as part of a training program for the next generation of drone warfare.
“I also think this could be true,” Green wrote in response. “However the government needs to come clean and tell the American people what is going on. That’s the most infuriating part to me. The government lies and hides everything while the people have to pay for it all.”
The prospect of the aircraft being extraterrestrial in nature was also floated by Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh over the weekend.
Others believe that the drones are coming from a real threat on this earth. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican, claimed they’re coming from an Iranian “mothership.” He also accused the Pentagon of hiding the truth about the drones’ foreign origin.
“We aren’t being told the truth,” Van Drew told Fox News last week. “They are dealing with the American public like we’re stupid.”
The Pentagon denied Van Drew’s claims that the drones were part of a foreign operation, with spokesperson Sabrina Singh saying, “There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States.”
As the drones continue to remain a mystery, pressure on federal authorities from local officials is also rising in tandem.
“This has gone too far,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement on Saturday. “Last night, the runways at Stewart Airfield were shut down for approximately one hour due to drone activity in the airspace.
“The Biden Administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surrounding region,” she added. “To ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also announced on Saturday that he had asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to deploy a “special drone-detecting” system in both New Jersey and New York.
“I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings,” Schumer wrote in a statement. He also told reporters Sunday that it was “remarkable” that “we have more questions than answers.”
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This may not be the mass hysteria we want, but it is the mass hysteria we deserve.
Roseanne Barr, aka frequent Maralago guest.
They're equipped with Jewish Space Lasers.
Everyone knows that they are Jewish space laser and Bernie is having a hell of a laugh.
Reminds me of the movie 1941.
I have the drones all figured out. The drones are just Santa's advance team doing a recon on all the bad girls and boys (Trump voters) so he can make sure to have enough lumps of coal on hand for the big night coming up.
It seems like we are a couple days from a 1938 "War Of The Worlds" type panic.