#1714: Nico Haupt

Nico Haupt is a remarkably crazy 9/11 truther and something of a central figure in the truther side show (though see below). It was apparently Haupt who coined the acronyms MIHOP (“Made It Happen On Purpose”) – the idea being that 9/11 was planned and executed by the Bush administration (e.g. by planting explosives in the buildings and firing a cruise missile at the Pentagon building) – and LIHOP (“Let It Happen On Purpose), the idea that the Bush administration knew about the attacks beforehand but let them happen to garner support for the War on Terror. Haupt himself is of course a MIHOPer. In fact, he is not only a MIHOPER but a “no-planer”, one of those who claim that no planes hit the buildings at all but that holographic images were projected into the to make them appear like planes – “9/11 TV fakery” is Haupt’s preferred label.

The only people who can really be bothered to actually argue against the no-planer contingent seem to be other truthers who at least realize that the no-planers tend to undermine whatever little credibility the truther movement could conceivably have enjoyed among people who are not delusionally insane. And Haupt’s delusional paranoia, combined with his belligerence, has made him rather unpopular with other truthers (though he has a fan base as well). Indeed, Haupt has entirely predictably been accused of being an agent for a COINTELPRO operation. And Haupt has, equally predictably, been accusing the other 9/11 conspiracy theorists (“planehuggers”) of conspiring against him. And so it goes.

Diagnosis: Raving lunatic. At least he is probably hurting the anti-reason movement more than he helps it.