Brian Tashman, Right Wing Watch

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump not only surrounds himself with conspiracy theorists, he has spent years pushing conspiracy theories himself, much to the delight of his supporters.

This article originally appeared on Right Wing Watch

Last month, Donald Trump appeared on “The Alex Jones Show,” where he told the right-wing pundit that he has an “amazing” reputation, unlike other journalists, whom Trump commonly refers to as “scum.” Among Jones’ many wild conspiracy theories is his belief that the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which took place three years ago today, was “staged” by the Obama administration.

Republican presidential candidates seem to be competing over who will denounce the (nonexistent) persecution of Christians in America the loudest, with Mike Huckabee decrying the supposed “criminalization of Christianity” and Ted Cruz lambasting the “atheist Taliban” and the gay “jihad” against “people of faith.”

CNBC is hosting tonight's Republican presidential debate, and the business news network is likely to press candidates on their views on fiscal and economic policy. This presents a great opportunity to raise questions about the proposals offered by the new GOP frontrunner, Ben Carson, who is leading polls among Iowa Republicans and tops the most recent New York Times/CBS News survey of Republican voters nationwide. While Carson's string of bigoted and head-scratching statements have received the most attention from the media, his fiscal plan deserve scrutiny, as it relies on pure fantasy. His policies include: