President Trump’s Media Company Is Offering Movies About ‘Lizard People’ And Other Wild Conspiracy Theories 

Less than two minutes into the movie, the narrator makes a shocking claim. 

“The evidence we are about to present to you has the potential to rewrite thousands of years of human history. It will present evidence that suggests ancient serpent or lizard-like aliens came to earth thousands of years ago,” the narrator says. “We’ll also present evidence that these ancient aliens are still among us today.” 

This bizarre narrative echoes a paranoia about shadowy reptilians that has persisted for decades on the absolute fringes of the conspiracy theory movement. However, in this case, the story of “serpent or lizard-like aliens” who are secretly wielding influence over the human race isn’t coming from some pamphlet or dark corner of the internet. It is among the most watched films available for streaming on a service run by a multibillion dollar media company that is owned by the President of the United States. 

When they launched a streaming service last year, President Trump’s business partners at the Trump Media and Technology Group announced it would be focused on “news, Christian content, and family friendly programming that is uncancellable by Big Tech.” Yet this supposed haven for young viewers and wholesome Christian fare is also home to “Lizard People: Rulers of Time and Space,” a bizarre hour-long movie that presents claims that there is a race of “serpent-like aliens who created humans and the religious systems used to control them.” As of this writing, Trump’s company is marketing this to viewers as a “documentary” — and it’s not the only one on their platform filled with shocking statements linking Christianity and other faiths to shadowy, sinister alien conspiracies. 

These ideas are easy to dismiss as utterly and obviously ridiculous. However, they have a history of attracting troubled believers on the furthest conspiracy fringe. And, while these movies are available on other streaming platforms, in this case the sitting president’s nascent media empire is playing a role in the promotion of this extreme content. Trump’s streaming service also seems to have helped it to find an audience. On Monday and through much of last week, “Lizard People” was listed among the top 10 “most watched” programs on the streaming service. 

This service and some of its more unhinged offerings is effectively the underbelly of one of the more prominent features of the new Trump era — Truth Social. 

Throughout his second re-election campaign and first hundred days back in office, President Trump has used the Truth Social platform to issue near constant updates including policy pronouncements, personnel announcements, attacks on his political enemies, and even musings on last month’s NFL Draft. The site serves a quasi-official role with Trump’s “truths” sometimes also being distributed by the official White House Office of Communications. Truth Social was launched in early 2022 after Trump was banned from multiple more mainstream sites following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The platform is the centerpiece of Trump Media & Technology Group, a company that is majority owned by the president and that has extensive ties to his current administration. 

More recently, as Trump’s media empire has made headlines for quickly losing and raising massive sums of cash, it has expanded beyond social networking into other forms of entertainment. Now, the company’s ventures include Truth+, the streaming service with multiple films being marketed as documentaries that present wild conspiracy theories, including allegations alien beings are “manipulating world events and are using religion and other means to secretly control humanity.”

TPM reached out to TMTG for comment on this surprising fare. Spokeswoman Shannon Devine responded on the company’s behalf with a note that wove its own dramatic tale of nefarious plotting by shadowy forces.

“Having trafficked in absurd conspiracy theories for years, the partisan hacks at Talking Points Memo, at the behest of their leftwing puppet masters, turn around and demand we censor content on our free-speech platform,” Devine said.

TMTG, which is also known as “Trump Media,” has had what one analyst described to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper as a “wild ride largely fueled by Donald Trump’s political influence.” TMTG was started in 2021 by Trump and two former contestants on his reality show, “The Apprentice.” The relationship between Trump and the other founders eventually descended into lawsuits as the company underwent a merger and prepared to go public. TMTG, which trades under the symbol “DJT,” had its IPO in March 2024 at an $8 billion valuation. Since then, the stock has been on a rollercoaster ride, with prices climbing above $60 after the initial offering before coming down to, as of last week, roughly $25. 

Having a publicly traded media company means Trump, who owns a majority of the DJT shares, is in a position to rake in sums from individual advertisers and investors at a level that is unprecedented for a sitting president. After winning the 2024 election, Trump placed his stake in the company into a revocable trust solely managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also on the company’s board. The president isn’t the only official who has been in a position to cash in on the company. Other members of the Trump administration have also held shares or served on TMTG’s board. TMTG’s CEO and chairman is Devin Nunes, who is a former Republican congressman and the current chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory board.

TMTG’s high value has, thus far, been at odds with steep losses that have dwarfed the company’s revenues and totaled over $400 million last year. Stock sales have helped Trump Media offset that and close out 2024 with a $777 million cash reserve. However, even with those assets, the company appears to be searching for ways to expand its business model. Truth+, which includes a streaming service, launched last August and has been framed by Nunes as central to those efforts.

In an April 29 letter to shareholders, Nunes described several potential revenue streams from Truth+, including a crypto token and “premium features” for subscribers like a verified “red check badge.” Nunes reiterated the message that the streaming service would focus on the family and people of faith.

“We’re assessing various means of monetizing the Truth+ platform, including through advertising and a subscription package with premium content,” Nunes wrote. “Meanwhile, we are continuing our efforts to secure new programming encompassing family-friendly entertainment, documentaries, children’s shows, Christian content, and unbiased news broadcasts.”

The current slate of streamable video on Truth+ includes rebroadcasts of shows from the right-wing cable network “Real America’s Voice” and disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Along with partisan news, there are also documentaries, religious programming, and movies including some that are clearly labeled “sci fi, “fantasy,” and “horror.” Among these offerings are multiple shows that veer towards the extreme and conspiratorial.

While other Truth+ programming is categorized with entertainment genres, as of this writing, the full description on the service identifies “Lizard People” simply as a “documentary” that poses a tantalizing, troubling question: “Did ancient serpent or Lizard-like aliens come to Earth thousands of years ago to play a role in creating humanity and are they still among us today?” 

Viewers who are intrigued by this pitch and opt to watch are treated to a brief “WARNING” noting “some parts of this film may be objectionable or offensive and may contain triggers for post traumatic stress disorder, for some viewers.” The disclaimer also declares “the views and opinions expressed in this film are entirely those of its makers.” Other than that, the hour-long show contains no effort to question or downplay any of the shocking claims contained therein. Instead, the deep-voiced narrator repeatedly and authoritatively suggests the film’s claims all may be true.

“There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that alien, serpent-like creatures did come to Earth thousands of years ago and created religion, humanity, and continue to control us even now,” the narrator says at one point.

Along with the dramatic narration, “Lizard People” includes a compilation from various stock footage and image libraries along with computer animations. The “evidence” presented resists basic scrutiny, as it largely lacks citations and consists of sweeping statements about ancient art, culture, and more modern alien encounters. While the premise and bizarre presentation ensure that remotely discerning audiences would dismiss the film’s claims, they are continually presented as wholly factual research supported in part by the assertions of federal government agencies.

“With every passing day, NASA tells us that they have discovered yet another earth-like planet that could sustain life,” the “Lizard People” narrator states near the end of the show, adding, “They alter their equations on the existence of alien life on a weekly basis. Even they are growing more and more aware that soon they will discover something special. The question is, will we awaken the ancient invaders and will they return — if they’re not already here?”

Those comments directly give way to some of the more shocking imagery that appears in the climax of the hour-long film. As “Lizard People” enters its final minutes, footage plays across the screen showing grey alien figures standing over a nearly nude man splayed out on a table surrounded by machinery and tubes prodding into his flesh.

Against this backdrop, the narrator declares: “The fact is, these serpent aliens may use more than space to appear on earth. They may also use time.” The footage gives way to images of human bodies suspended in pods and a suggestion that proof for all of this lies in tales of titans in “Greek mythology,” the story of the serpent and the Garden of Eden in the “Christian Bible,” and more modern disclosures about unexplained alien phenomena. This blend of strange imagery, ancient lore, and UFOlogy transitions to the movie’s final argument. 

“In conclusion, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that ancient serpent aliens still visit earth and also use time travel,” the narrator says as the screen goes dark.

Variations of the claim that reptilian extraterrestrials have played an influential and sometimes sinister role in world history have been promoted by conspiracy theorists for well over a hundred years. Researcher Logan Strain, who has written about conspiracy theories for the Washington Post and covers the topic in depth for the podcast “QAA,” which he co-hosts pseudonymously as “Travis View,” told TPM the phenomenon can be traced as far back as the 19th century occultist writer Helena Blavatsky. 

“She wrote about ancient civilizations that influenced the modern day, and ancient lost races,” Strain explained. Blavatsky theorized an ancient race of dragon men. These claims, Strain said, “were later adopted by conspiracists.”

”But what really got it kicked off was a couple things,” he continued. “Robert E. Howard, who wrote the Conan the Barbarian series — he wrote some fiction about lizard people. This was picked up by a cult leader named Maurice Doreal.”

Doreal, Strain explained, wrote a pamphlet entitled The Mysteries of Gobi that described a civilization beneath the desert. “He claimed that there was an ancient race of lizard people,” Strain said. “So, this was like from the 1940s.” 

Strain described reptilian theories, today, as “more fringe than QAnon.”

“There are more people who believe fringe conspiracy theories about the faked moon landing and stuff than lizard people,” Strain said. “It is a very fringe, minority conspiracist belief in a land where people feel free to believe lots of wild things.”

While the number of people convinced of a dark reptilian influence may be small, Strain pointed out belief in lizard people has been linked to multiple incidents of real world violence.

“This is such a wild, out-there belief, if someone espouses this belief and sincerely believes this, it signals, usually, some kind of an instability or mental illness,” said Strain. “There’ve been multiple examples of people who promote conspiracy belief, who’ve committed violence or committed suicide in a spectacular way.” 

The lizard people conspiracy is also, as Strain put it, “very heavily intertwined with anti-Semitic tropes” and the idea Jews are among the sinister, elite forces operating behind the scenes. Strain noted that the idea that reptilians are manipulating the world was “really popularized” more recently by the prominent British footballer-turned-conspiracy theorist David Icke. While Icke denies being an anti-Semite, his past statements — including blaming Jewish groups for COVID — have led him to be banned from multiple countries and internet platforms. 

The film “Lizard People” does not include focused criticism of Jews. However, the movie and another on Trump’s Truth+ platform include bizarre and conspiratorial statements about multiple religions. In “Lizard People,” the narrator suggests the “very children of Israel” engaged in “intermarriage” with “serpent worshippers.”

“This is very revealing,” the narrator declares. “Intermarriage and worship of the serpent gods. Today, we can easily replace the word ‘gods’ with aliens.”

The movie also includes some inflammatory commentary about the Catholic Church. 

“The Vatican comes from the words ‘vatis’ for prophet and ‘can’ for serpent, making the Vatican a place of serpent prophecy,” the narrator says. “The very book of Christians across the world, The Bible, is full of the serpent.” 

Most etymologists explicitly do not agree with this interpretation of the term “Vatican.”

Another film on Truth+ delves more specifically into the idea that major religions are part of an extraterrestrial conspiracy. “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld” has also been described on the service as a “documentary.” 

“Explore the powerful, secret underworld of a shocking coalition of the human elite and advanced beings not of this world dating back hundreds of years,” the description says.

Like “Lizard People,” “Conspiracy Chronicles” is approximately one hour long and seemingly wholly made up of ominous narration set against stock footage and computer animation. It begins with a disclaimer that says “the views expressed in this film are not necessarily the views of … any other person involved in the making and distribution of this film.” There is no other attempt to downplay the claims in the movie or indicate they have no basis in reality. 

And “Conspiracy Chronicles” may be even weirder than the reptilian saga, as it includes a rapidfire smorgasbord of wild claims about everything from Freemasonry to the Jesuits to the Moon, which it contends is actually  “hollowed out” and a “base for aliens.” 

“Power cleverly shifts around, but always at the very top, the same families run the world,” the “Conspiracy Chronicles” narrator declares at one point, quickly adding, “The modern era of mind control began with the creation of the Illuminati.” 

“Conspiracy Chronicles” also goes beyond the rhetoric of “Lizard People.” Rather than simply posing religion as a tool for nefarious forces to control the populace, it suggests the Judeochristian God and other religious leaders including the Hindu deity Krishna are actually extraterrestrials themselves. 

“There are a few pieces of evidence that suggest that Jesus may have been an alien,” the narrator says before going deeper down the rabbit hole. “And what about other religious originators such as Buddha? … He wasn’t human. He was an alien. So, the next time you see a statue of Buddha, remember that he was an alien.”

The array of theories in “Conspiracy Chronicles” also include some suggesting the U.S. government is part of a scheme to cover up both UFOs and “dark ops” experiments. According to the film, this secret laboratory work includes “deliberate production of utterly abominable results such as ape-human embryos and other ungodly biological combinations.” The movie outlines an especially disturbing scenario that it links to a military base in New Mexico. 

“One of the most horrifying claims made for this installation was the presence of the so-called ‘blood lab’ where various kinds of blood, both natural and synthetic, was processed ostensibly for the consumption of the extraterrestrials who required it for their existence,” the narrator says. 

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of these claims of government involvement in unnatural experiments and alien blood sacrifice is that they are being streamed on a service owned by the president of the United States. The White House did not respond to a request for comment asking if Trump thinks this content is in line with his company’s values. They also didn’t answer specific questions about whether Trump believes in “lizard-like” aliens or if the government is covering up UFOs or human-animal breeding experiments.  

There is other conspiratorial content on Truth+ including a film on the “Illuminati” that was also, as of last week, among the services “most watched” videos. However, “Lizard People” and “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld” stand out as truly bizarre in both their claims and presentation. Alchemy Werks LLC is identified as the production company behind both films on IMDB pages that are also linked on Truth+. “Lizard People” also cites Alchemy Werks in its credits. The company says on its website that it has produced dozens of movies about aliens that it bills as “reality films.” “Conspiracy Chronicles” additionally describes itself in its credits as a production of American River Media Group, a company that also advertises THC “horse treats.” When TPM reached out to these businesses, we received a call back from a man who identified himself as Charles Thompsen, who is credited as a producer on both “Lizard People” and “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld.” 

Thompsen pointed to the disclaimers on both films, which state that the filmmakers do not vouch for the “accuracy” or “completeness” of the claims presented. The disclaimer on “Lizard People” also states that the filmmakers are “not responsible or liable for any action or inaction by a viewer of this video that is based on the content of this film.”

“I don’t know how you could take ‘Lizard People’ seriously, honestly,” Thompsen said. He went on to compare the films to “Dungeons and Dragons” and other fantasy entertainment.

“We have nothing but support for President Trump,” he said. “They should be noted that the genres are sci-fi and there’s a big base that enjoys movies about aliens and lizard people and such. They’re insatiable about it.”

Thompsen suggested he would talk with Truth+ about having his movies marked as “sci-fi/fantasy.”

“Unfortunately, they’re not being denoted as such on the Trump Media site and I’m going to have to look into that,” he said.

In the days since, the label on “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld” has been switched from “documentary” to “sci-fi” on Truth+. As of this writing, “Lizard People: Rulers of Time and Space” is still identified as a “documentary.”

Conspiracy inflected plots are, of course, not uncommon in mainstream entertainment. Films, books and television including “The Da Vinci Code,” the “National Treasure” film series starring Nicolas Cage, and “The X Files” have long included clearly fictionalized storylines that delved into elements of popular conspiracy theories. While it is more rooted in conspiracy theories than any actual evidence, the idea that aliens played a role in early human history has also spawned relatively mainstream content that straddles the line between faux news and tongue-in-cheek entertainment. Specifically, the series “Ancient Aliens” has earned meme infamy while being broadcast on the “History Channel” and Netflix. 

However, the conspiratorial “documentary” content that is popular on Truth+ is different, in part because it leans into the version of this mythos that frames the ancient extraterrestrials as “lizard-like” serpents. This reptilian take on the theme has historically been one of the most extreme versions of the belief that aliens played a pivotal role in human history. Strain, the conspiracy theory researcher, suggested it is particularly troubling to see lizard people conspiracy theories advanced on a platform owned by Trump because the presidential association could give these wild ideas momentum. He alluded to instances where Trump has engaged with followers of another popular conspiracy theory, QAnon, online and off. 

“One of the reasons that QAnon spread so far and was so adopted is because Trump and some of his close associates were willing to sort of wink and nod at the QAnon community and make no effort to denounce them or denounce their beliefs,” Strain said. “That obviously fueled a lot of QAnon believers.”

Both “Lizard People” and “Conspiracy Chronicles” are also available on YouTube, Amazon Prime and other streaming services. However, at least on Amazon Prime, “Lizard People” is clearly identified as “science fiction.”

Other movies on Truth+ similarly come from companies that have dozens of little-known productions and that also make those films available on both free and paid streaming services. The fact these movies are simultaneously available from multiple different sources at widely varying price points brings up another question: How is it cost effective for producers to make dozens and dozens of movies? What exactly are they selling if these things are widely available and, in some cases, free?

TPM reached out to Richard Rushfield, a longtime chronicler of Hollywood and columnist at the entertainment industry site The Ankler, to try and understand this business model. There are various production companies who churn out work in bulk, at a low cost, and are then able to monetize even relatively small audiences via the internet or streaming, he said. He described it as a sub-Hollywood “weird internet” world and “very sort of bottom-feedery business.”

“It’s like the mud at the bottom of the floor,” he said. “It’s like living at that level.”

TPM asked Rushfield if it surprised him to see a company owned by the president engage with this type of content.

“Three months ago, it would have,” Rushfield said with a laugh. ”I don’t know that I have the capacity for surprise any more.”