Thread by @JYSexton

Let's talk about America's long, weird history of conspiracy theories, how they're gateways to fascism and fueled by white supremacist paranoia, and why Trump's shrinking cult poses an incredible threat.

Here's what I learned writing AMERICAN RULE.

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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…

Today on The Muckrake I wrote about the sad little world that the American Right lives in, how it's full of madness and degenerating and getting crazier and crazier by the day.

The truth is, we're drowning in a white supremacist paranoia.

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themuckrake.com/main/shrinking…

This constant propaganda that the Right Wing peddles is so sad and pathetic, with rich and powerful men lamenting that they're not richer and powerful and blaming conspiracies for all of it.

But under that sadness is full-blown fascistic appeals.

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You cannot understand Trumpism until you realize it is a movement based on fear, paranoia, and personal insecurity.

All fascistic movements work this way and display shows of force and cruelty as a means of hiding a really pathetic nature that drives them to violence.

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I want to start with a book called Behold A Pale Horse, one of the main texts that helped establish the modern conspiracy theory environment.

It is...deranged, but something I read in it really crystallized for me what these conspiracy movements are all about.

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William Cooper, one of the most influential conspiracy theorists, begins his book by saying he KNOWS there are conspiracies in the world because if he had power he would, himself, form conspiracies to keep that power.

It is projection. It stems from a paranoid need.

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One of the defining conspiracy texts is the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a supposed history of how Jewish cabals have dominated history and manipulated world events.

This spurred fascism in the 20th century, inspired so much hate and violence.

But it was fake.

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The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a forgery that was actually plagiarized from the text of a play about Machiavelli and Montesquieu, two white men, manipulating the world.

It was actually a criticism of the conspiracies white supremacists use to control power.

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It didn't matter that the Protocols were forgeries, it inspired paranoid madmen like Adolf Hitler to call out the "conspiracy" as a reason to claim power, murder innocents and carry out genocide.

That projection of his own worst tendencies created a conspiracy to fight.

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Here's something we don't talk about: fascism isn't about strength. It's about weakness.

Fascist movements are about insecure men being terrified of losing power and embracing shows of strength and cruelty in order to hide their own insecurities.

It's a facade.

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Fascists aren't actually competent. They're incredibly incompetent and insecure. They demand worship from their followers and pit them against one another in contests of love and devotion.

It creates stability and always, always, always fails.

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But these fascists, who are incompetent, always rely on conspiracy theories as an explanation of why they fail.

It's not that they're incompetent. It's that they're fighting a "traitor" or a "conspiracy," that they're being attacked from within.

This is the main strategy.

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Make no mistake though, fascism wasn't relegated to Europe. America has long had fascist movements, including the America First movement headed by Charles Lindbergh, who blamed Jews controlling society for our wars and called for white supremacy alliances.

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The Confederate States of America was formed on white supremacist paranoia and conspiracy theories.

They believed shadowy cabals were trying to end slavery, and so they seceded after their leadership drowned in the paranoia.

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The real heritage of the Confederacy is white supremacist paranoia and conspiracy theories being weaponized to provoke violence and distrust.

The same conspiracy theories that led to the CSA have been present in America and are still plaguing us to this day.

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The general conspiracy theory that animated the Confederacy claimed that a shadowy alliance of outsiders were constantly working with traitors and people of color to provoke the demolition of white supremacy.

Unfortunately, that's been a consistent belief in America.

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One of the foremost standard bearers for this paranoid, delusional reality is the John Birch Society, which poisoned the American Right with the belief that America was being overtaken by traitors and that, for America to survive, those traitors must be rooted out.

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One of the founders of the John Birch Society was Fred Koch, the father of the Koch Brothers, who themselves, using their fortunes, have continually created conspiratorial efforts to achieve their goals.

Again. White supremacist paranoia based on projection of plans.

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The Koch Brothers, in a conspiracy that mirrored what the John Birch Society warned of, created a fake movement in the Tea Party that pushed their policy goals and political pursuits.

It was an infiltration, this time of the Republican Party and mainstream discourse.

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This isn't unlike the Right's claim that education is being infiltrated by indoctrinating teachers and Leftist revolutionaries in order to brainwash American students.

In fact, it's just a projection of the Right's efforts to rig education to push their talking points.

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Again, another wealthy Republican, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, has been a chief critic of these "Left Wing conspiracies" in education, but has funded illusory movements like the "Reopen Protests" in order to control discourse and politics.

Projection. Over and over.

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Another misunderstood Right Wing conspiracy movement is the McCarthy investigations.

While McCarthy lied about conspiracies and Soviet infiltration, he worked with the Right to use the conspiracy to purge liberals from the government.

Projection. Pure and simple.

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Of course, it's no coincidence that at McCarthy's side during this weaponized conspiracy theory was Roy Cohn, Donald Trump's mentor and personal lawyer.

Trump is playing the same song and dance that McCarthy did, projecting his own machinations on his enemies.

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And then there was Richard Nixon "ferreting out corruption" while becoming one of the most corrupt politicians in American history.

He played the role of reformer standing in front of a conspiracy while crafting a massive conspiracy that would overwhelm him.

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As president, Nixon raged against conspiracies being perpetrated by Jewish people, liberal traitors, people of color, demanding that extralegal and fascistic means by used to undermine them.

Believing in this conspiracy meant he needed a conspiracy of his own.

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Nixon and J Edgar Hoover both believed these conspiracy theories and so, together, they entered into conspiracies to fight the conspiracies.

It was a projection of their paranoia and worst instincts, and so they were "forced" to break the law and use any means necessary.

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Our narrow concept of Watergate undermines the truth that Nixon created, to combat his paranoid conspiracy theories, his own personal intelligence organ.

By fearing these illegal conspiracies he then animated his own illegal conspiracy.

Projection.

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In recent decades, the American Right has raged against "the New World Order," or the satanic narrative that globalism is evil and corrosive.

Here's the thing though: globalism was the project of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and the GOP.

Again. Projection.

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The story Fox News sells its viewers is that New World Order conspiracy theory with a veneer of deniability.

It's a story of a white America that's under attack by outsiders, liberal traitors, and manipulated people of color.

Again. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

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In the Age of Trump, however, the New World Order conspiracy theory has grown to the point where it's become an omnipresent threat.

The Deep State is the idea that the NWO has won and only Donald Trump can defeat it.

This is a traditional fascist narrative playing out.

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Because the "Deep State," or the New World Order/Jewish conspiracy is so widespread, the Right is arguing that everything Trump does is necessary and any failure he has is because of the conspiracy.

It creates an infallible messiah figure and a fascistic environment.

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Whatever Trump needs to do, in this paranoid reality, is completely necessary.

That means purges. Arrests. Extralegal means. Executions. Trials.

It gives him absolute power as long as the emergency of the Deep State exists.

They are traitors, after all.

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In this reality, Trump is facing one coup attempt after another.

The building threat means that literally anyone who questions him, be it politicians, government officials, the intelligence community, anyone, including former allies, can be a treasonous traitor.

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A perfect example of this paranoid reality and fascistic progression happened yesterday, when Lou Dobbs reacted to the Supreme Court decision against Trump by saying the Supreme Court has been infiltrated by the Deep State.

Here's the problem: Trump has two justices there.

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Gorsuch and Kavanaugh both voted against Trump's case, meaning the men he fought to get on the court are now...traitors.

An entire wing of the government, according to these people, has been overtaken a treasonous operation that intends to perform a coup and destroy America

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This conspiracy theory means that anyone who fails to properly worship Trump or fall in line with his every whim or desire is more or less purged from the party and branded a traitor.

This is how authoritarian and fascistic states work. It creates fealty and subservience.

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It is no coincidence that Trumpism has led to a fascistic cult like Qanon, where believers are calling for fascist tactics, extralegal arrests, trials, executions, assassinations, and lone wolf terrorist attacks.

This is the white supremacist paranoid cult evolving.

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And it's not just random crazy people on the internet. Former adviser and VP consideration General Michael Flynn has dove deep into Qanon, even swearing allegiance to the fascistic movement and encouraging others to do it.

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Qanon candidates believing there is a satanic conspiracy against America that relies on liberal traitors who murder and need executed are running for office.

There's a very real possibility we'll have people in Congress who believe in this paranoid fever dream.

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It needs mentioned that as Trump's conspiracy theories grow in size and scope, the believers dwindle.

After all, fascist cults of power turn on their followers, accusing anyone who questions them of being traitors and conspirators.

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Trump's dwindling cult is following the same trajectory as other fascistic movements because they are fueled by paranoia and constantly cannibalize themselves.

The paranoid leader turns his suspicion on everyone until there's only person left: himself.

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Make no mistake, this crisis with the pandemic and our economy is part of this death cult mentality.

We are suffering because Right Wing, white supremacist paranoia has created a dangerous movement in this country.

We have to recognize how we got here in order to get out

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