Originally published at: Donald Trump Became President By Appealing to Conspiracy Theorists — Now He’s Driving Them Away - TPM – Talking Points Memo
This excerpt is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. Donald Trump may not have been the first president to believe in conspiracy theories, but he was definitely the first candidate whose election was fueled by pandering to those who do. As his popularity soared among those on the fringe during…
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The fundamental nature of these conspiracy theory-mongers is very poor critical reasoning skills. That explains why they keep returning to Trump after he shows again and again that he’s a con man and they are rubes.
Sooner or later, Trump and his mouthpieces will come up with some nonsense that will placate them. Something like only his supporters will be allowed to have guns and will be able to use them freely, but not any of his enemies or opponents. It might be done as whispers or put out publicly and then referred to as a joke.
The fact is, these Reddit conspiracy idiots wouldn’t recognize a true conspiracy if I was right in front of them. They are driven by negative emotions which allowed them to see what they want to see and ignore what they want to ignore. With full knowledge of these people, psychology, and how to manipulate them, pulling off a conspiracy becomes simple. Get all your conspirators on the same page and blame it in advance on the people you know they hate. When it begins to fall apart, when those fools have a wait a minute moment, rinse, and repeat.
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MAGA came out from under their beds to vote for him and now they are scurring back under. So good-bye and good riddance.
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Some conspiracy theories have more legs than others. Some 60% of American adults believe that covid originated in a lab (and typically the Wuhan Institute of Virology). John Ratcliffe, now Director of the CIA, long advocated for the lab leak scenario, stating in 2023 that the “lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense.” Not surprisingly, he again found evidence of the lab leak under Trump 2.0. (Somewhat in form, yesterday he discontinued publication of the CIA Factbook, long a treasure trove for quick information about obscure countries). Many on the right have gone down this path, partly because of the exciting term “gain of function”, a term of art that RFK Jr and Marco Rubio love to toss around. For some reason, the natural explanation, zoonosis, of which we have many examples, just doesn’t cut it for these people. In an extractionist worldview chopping down forests and killing everything occurs without consequences.
One of the less-mentioned aspects of persecution of people, often scientists, is the harm it does to their lives and careers. In 2024, the manifest ignoramus James Comer led the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in a public hearing of EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak. Daszak and his colleagues, after 10 years eventually tracked down the origin of SARS in 2013. Daszak, a zoologist, lost his funding and was debarred by Congress in 2025. The general view even today is that covid was a spillover event from animals.
Sadly, the media dutifully report on lab leak theory, which became a sort of litmus test for Trump loyalty like “who really won the 2020 presidential election”. It’s phlogiston, mysterious, weightless, undetectable, but exists if you believe. Like a cult.
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The entire cult and conspiracy thing is deeply sad, it has gotten many people an early death.
That said, when I read the above, I could not stop laughing. The gun thing, is what did it???! They did not notice anything earlier or any other inconsistencies? This would be a great Monty Python skit if it was not so real life and tragic right now. But I confess that it brought me to tears in laughter.
I guess we have cult against cult now.
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Can’t have a conspiracy without human intervention, an ‘other’ to blame. Mother Nature just can’t compete.
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Yellow Peril.
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Can’t understand how many people, groups, companies etc get sucked into Trump’s orbit and then have him drop them and have more standing in line waiting to be destoyed.
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In 1978, Steven King wrote about a lab leak of the genetically engineered Captain Trips virus in his novel The Stand. A year later you had a real-world lab escape of Anthrax at Sverdlovsk, caused by an improper filter maintenance.
In 2001, anthrax returned again in the anthrax attacks on US soil. 2001 anthrax attacks - Wikipedia
In folklore, the narrative exists before the event and we just fit in the information that matches the narrative.
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“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.” – Antonio Gramsci
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Temporary. All any R politician has to do is say " Do you want a fellow trans hater or a communist Democrat? " and they’ll fall in line.
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For a lot of people, if they are unhappy with their life (or parts thereof), it is very comforting to be angry at some imagined wilful cause of their suffering. The anger feels good and vital AND they no longer need to do the work of accepting the situation or actively trying to change it.
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As Josh Marshall has noted in the edblog, Trump is now on the run. His popularity has been plummeting. The Epstein Files keep popping back up, in spite of his increasingly violent and crazy moves to distract the infotainment media, which made him everything he now is.
So even redditors are losing faith? Good! If lefties had any sense, they’d be on reddit encouraging the break. Bring up facts showing what a con man their great hero is and has been. Pick out the lies. Emphasize how he and his thugs are turning on gun ownership, and more importantly, against gun-flaunting (the heart of Republicanism among the non-wealthy.)
Sitting here schadenfreuding about “oh, they are SO dumb!!” and patting ourselves on the back (which our extensive yoga training makes possible) isn’t the winning strategy it may feel like.