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In a recent episode, Tucker Carlson claimed as fact that chemtrails are real. But are they? Heck, what even are they? We break down the issue and interview Harvard professor Dustin Tingley to get answers.
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By Max Towey
When a jet flies high in the sky, giant streams of vapor trail behind it. From the ground, perhaps youβve wondered: What are they?Β
The traditional answer is boring: Those giant streams are condensation trails, or contrails. Contrails are most visible when the air is humid; if the air is dry, they evaporate quickly. The reason they exist is that the water vapor from aircraft engines freezes into ice crystals that don't evaporate (the average temperature at high altitudes is -50 degrees F). They can last for hours, spread out, and even evolve into persistent cirrus clouds.Β
This is the answer youβll get from scientists, the government, Wikipedia, and every mainstream news outlet. But itβs not the answer youβll get from Tucker Carlson and an increasingly large faction of the alternative media. They believe these trails are far more nefarious: Theyβre chemtrails, and the government is spraying them to poison the public, control the weather, and slow birth rates.
Tucker Carlson dedicated a recent episode of his podcast β the biggest show on X and third most popular podcast on Spotify β to chemtrails. It began with a vintage, AI-worthy Tucker opening:Β
Itβs always the obvious questions that are the most vigorously discouraged, and one of the questions thatβs been most discouraged over the last 30 years is: What are those lines in the sky you see trailing jets? What is that?... Itβs clearly not water vapor, so what are they?
The episode β titled βUS Government Admits Chemtrails Are Real (It's Worse Than You Think). Dane Wigington Reveals AllβΒ βΒ has received over 1M views on YouTube in its first 10 days online.
Tuckerβs guest for the episode is Dane Wigington, the founder of the obscure website Geoengineering Watch. Wigington explains the trails in the sky by claiming government planes are spraying a toxic mix of aluminum, barium, strontium, manganese, surfactants, polymer fibers, and graphene into the atmosphere for its own nefarious purposes. Tucker responded to Wigingtonβs list of chemicals with a simple: βHorrifying.βΒ
In todayβs deep-dive, we look at the chemtrail conspiracy, then interview Harvardβs Dr. Dustin Tingley for an alternative perspective.Β
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Editorβs Note
So, what do you all think: Are chemtrails real, or just a conspiracy theory? Let us know by replying here.
And if you havenβt caught up on our latest, check out our three-part series on how the Citizens United decision led to the rise of Super PACs and βdark money,β along with our other recent stories below.
Some replies to our series on Citizens United and dark money:
Dustin wrote:
Re: the dark money. I would wonder if people whoβs businesses rely on marketing (or other advertising streams) significantly suffer from this influx of money every 4 years. Say you sold a widget on Amazon/Meta ads for a living; I bet every 4 years their sales dramatically decline because their dollar spend wouldnβt compete with these SuperPAC fundsβ¦ Thatβs really tough on your standard small business ownerβ¦
Seems that argument alone (and helping the greater good succeed) would suggest capping the amount of funds these organizations can spend. But then someone would likely game the system and create 100 small funds instead of 1 large fund? Just thoughtsβ¦
Nathan said:
Sure, American billionaires favoring their side can be problematic, but we NEED to eliminate any and all opportunities for foreigners toΒ influence our elections.
And MJ from Florida wrote:
I'm not a political genius and perhaps look at the world rosier than others, but I'm stumped as to why someone would want to donate money to a politician and not support them by revealing who the donor is.Β If you really believe in your choice, tell the world and tell them why.Β It sounds like people want their candidate in so they can extort them for a favor or two without the world knowing what their intent is.Β I applaud the people who reveal their choices, even when I don't support their candidate. At least I know why they do what they do.Β I also think that if people knew that outsiders (other countries) who are not US based were supporting a candidate, then they definitely were looking for something that might not be in our best interest.
Thanks for reading and writing in. Enjoy your Saturdays.
βMax and Max
