Legislator promoted conspiracy theories
Staff writer
Newly appointed State Representative Greg Wilson promoted misinformation and conspiracy theories on two public social media accounts.
Both accounts list Abilene as Wilson’s place of residence, use his full name, and include pictures of him and family members.
One account began posting in March, 2020, and was active until Nov. 11, 2021.
The other dates back to 2014 and is still used as Wilson’s personal account.
Coronavirus appears to be a favorite topic.
Throughout the pandemic, Wilson promoted the idea that billionaire Bill Gates used vaccinations as part of a plan to depopulate the earth, that ivermectin (which treats intestinal parasites) was a valid treatment for the virus, and that the United Nations planned a “new world order” with mandatory vaccinations and microchipped civilians.
One post incorrectly claims that because of a 2013 Supreme Court ruling, vaccinated Americans “are now owned and have no more access to human rights.”
More recently, Wilson posted a fake newspaper clipping asserting that 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz was hospitalized after drinking horse semen and a picture of “the shooter at the KC Chiefs parade the press won’t show you.” (Multiple men have been charged in connection with the shooting.) He referred to the black man in the picture as a “thug” in the comments section.
His posts frequently are blurred by Facebook for missing context or misinformation, which Wilson sometimes objects to in the comments section.
“Partly false means mostly true,” he wrote in one comment, accompanied by an American flag emoji.
Wilson did not respond to Facebook messages requesting comment on his posts.
A farmer outside of Abilene, Wilson and his wife, Marcia, joined 22 others at Sunday’s Patriots for Liberty meeting in the county lake hall.
State Senator Scott Hill, who Wilson replaced as representative, also attended the first 10 minutes of the meeting before departing for Wichita to meet with Senate President Ty Masterson.
Masterson announced later Sunday he was running for governor.
Hill gave a goodbye speech to the Patriots, though he assured them he’d be back.
“I’ve loved every minute of coming down here,” Hill said. “Marion County is a really important part of the 70th District. It’s important because you guys are solid conservatives. You’re people we can relate with. You have a lot of common sense. Greg’s going to do a fantastic job of representing your interests.”
Wilson gave a speech at the start of the meeting and spoke with constituents afterward.
“I’ll guarantee you, I am a conservative vote, every vote,” he said. “If it’s not constitutional, and it’s not common sense, it won’t pass my muster.”
Wilson said he was working on printing business cards, and until then constituents could reach out to him on social media.
“I’m on Facebook,” he said.
After the meeting, Wilson said he planned on attending more Patriot events in the future.
Asked whether he would work to restore state and federal funding for commodities programs in Marion County, Wilson said he hadn’t heard of the cuts.
“I don’t personally know that yet,” he said. “Trump is taking care of his farmers, which he did the first time he was in office. But I don’t know about that. … We’ll visit if we have the parameters.”