Does Roseanne Barr believe the loony conspiracy theories that come out of her mouth? To hear her spout them, with the vigor she does, one can only conclude yes. The latest example was an on-stage appearance with an online conspiracy influencer (conspfluencer?) Tucker Carlson.

During an appearance on Carlson’s cross-country tour, Barr insisted that “they” — as always, it’s never quite clear who “they” are, but one assumes given the context she means Democrats — “eat babies,” and “love the taste of human flesh, and they drink human blood.”

Perhaps sensing that her QAnon-adjacent takes would find skepticism in an audience of even Tucker Carlson supporters, she added, “That is not bullshit! It’s true!”

Carlson, who really does know better, treated the insane comments as valid. He invoked another conspiracy theory, this one about Haitian migrants in Ohio, cracking: “So it’s not just the dogs and the cats. Not just the pets.”

Barr quadrupled down in an unhinged rant that was shared widely by progressive online influence Ron Filipkowski. And by the way, this screed presented by Barr as a get-out-the-vote effort on behalf of former President Donald Trump because, of course, it was!

Her rant:

It’s not just the dogs and the cats. There are full-on vampires, and everybody still thinks I’m crazy. But I’m not crazy. They’re full-on vampires. They love the taste of human flesh, and they drink human blood. They do. By the time we go in to vote for Trump, that he will open up everybody’s eyes and they will stop pretending to be asleep. You know what they say. You can’t wake people up that are pretending to be asleep. But I pray to God, please wake up. Even those who are pretending to be asleep with the irrefutable truth of what the worst people on this planet are really up to. They are really up to that. They’re doing it.  There are so many victims. There are so many victims!

Perhaps the most unnerving aspect of this sordid affair is not that Barr is on a stage instead of getting help, or the fact that Carlson has descended to the point of being a freak show carnival barker.

No, the most unsettling part is the loud applause from the crowd in attendance, which can be heard cheering on Barr’s insane rant, either because they believe it to be true or love that she’s willing to say something so crazy.

No doubt this crowd is composed of ordinary people. They have families, they have jobs, they live in communities. Yet here they are, sitting in seats they paid for, cheering on a woman screaming about the elites that are eating human flesh and drinking human blood and chewing on babies.

Carlson and Barr are both in a similar position — former TV stars who have turned to the absolute fringes of American politics to maintain some final grasp on an audience. That strategy may work in the short term, but the long-term damage to their reputations is irreversible.

But allow me to go back to blood-drinking and flesh-eating and mull over this some more.