#2587: Peter Boyles (?)

Peter Boyles is a recently retired radio talk show personality operating in the Denver area and a persistent wingnut (typical Boyles fare) conspiracy theorist. He gained national notoriety for his decade-long persistent obsession with – and a string of conspiracy theories and false accusations surrounding – the death of JonBenét Ramsey, and later got some attention for his firm commitment to birtherism and his claim that “Barack Obama’s life story is a fabrication”, a topic to which he deployed his by-then trademark level of reason and sensitivity to evidence, facts and reality. Among other things, Boyles promoted the tales of birther hero Terry Lakin.

 

When explosive devices were sent to Democratic Party figures and progressives who had criticized President Donald Trump in 2018, Boyles was one among the many wingnut radioshow hosts who immediately concluded that it was a false flag operation based on, well, absolutely nothing apart from wishful thinking: “My personal belief at this time: This is a false flag, this is a Reichstag fire,” said Boyles.

 

To his credit, though, Boyles did indeed, at the end of his career, try hard to get wingnut representative Patrick Neville to give up his promotion of Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. One cannot help but wonder whether he grew tired of the intense amount of bullshit he has been mired in for decades – Boyles was apparently surprisingly reasonable when it came to matters related to COVID-19 and vaccination, too. Hence the question mark at his entry.

 

Diagnosis: Well, who knows. What’s clear, is that Boyles has been polluting the airways with conspiracy theories for decades, and deserves an entry for that. If he’s come to his senses (somewhat): good for him. But he is also off the air now, and his legacy is overall likely to be a terrible one.