I think he does believe it, I a few have friends who listen to Joe Rogan and those types, and they do the same thing when presenting their insane ideas. "I think it will be interesting when..." or "We will never know the truth because [insert dark shadowy organization]..." It's always speculative, so you can't really nail them on anything and they can retreat to a "Well you never know..." sort of position to defend their psyche from actually being wrong. It's intellectually dishonest and cowardly, but that's the mind of anyone who largely buys into conspiracies.
Agree on McAfee, he's just playing with fire so people will notice him. I think he knows what Rodgers brings to the conversation, and letting him wander off topic into something like Epstein is par for the course. Pat playing dumb like he has no idea what Rodgers is talking about, is just showing his selfishness and lack of concern for the slander being hosted on his platform. It's garbage shock jock content to get clicks, views, followers, etc, but I do wonder if this will result in litigation from Kimmel. He clearly has a case.