WASHINGTON β A week before Alabamaβs high-stakes Senate special election, Republican nominee Roy Moore is fueling a conspiracy theory that Democratic billionaire donor George Soros is trying to meddle in the election.
βSoros is certainly trying to alter the voting populous,β Moore said in a Tuesday interview on American Family Radio, per a Fox News producer who tweeted about the exchange. βHeβs pushing an agenda. And his agenda is sexual in nature.β
The Alabama Republican said he wishes he could tell Soros that heβs going to hell.
βNo matter how much money heβs got, heβs still going to the same place that people who donβt recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going,β said Moore, who is facing allegations of sexual misconduct by nine women. βAnd thatβs not a good place.β
Itβs not the first time Moore has suggested Soros is targeting him in his race against Democrat Doug Jones. He tweeted a Breitbart story in September about a βGeorge Soros-backed organization attacking Roy Moore.β The story was actually about the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal group thatβs received funding from Sorosβ son, filing a complaint against Mooreβs foundation for violating laws relating to charities.
Mooreβs comments fit with ongoing, unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories about Soros being a ringleader of a secret radical left agenda. Many of the theories are grounded in anti-Semitism and are being circulated by far-right sites like InfoWars. Former Fox News host Bill OβReilly has described Soros as βoff the chart dangerous.β
Just last week, Breitbart, a conservative website that serves as a platform for white nationalists, posted a story titled βSoros Army in Alabama to Register Convicted Felons to Vote Against Roy Moore.β In reality, the story was just about the American Civil Liberties Union helping register felons to vote in Alabama. Felons in the state recently regained a legal right to vote.
The conspiracies are clearly affecting Mooreβs supporters, some of whom told HuffPost last week that they think Soros is paying women to accuse Moore of sexual misconduct.
βI do not believe the allegations,β said Edna Bogue, 72, of Henagar. βItβs George Soros.β
There is zero evidence that Soros has anything to do with Mooreβs Senate race. A spokesperson for Sorosβ philanthropic organization, Open Society Foundations, had only this to say when HuffPost asked whether he is, in fact, paying the women accusing Moore of sexual misconduct: βNo.β