Conspiracy theories: the future of elections

“Conspiracy theory” is a phrase allegedly authored by the CIA sixty-odd years ago, to describe some of the bizarre beliefs about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The expression caught on after that, because conspiracy theories did, too.

There are harmful conspiracy theories, and ones that aren’t. Harmless ones include: the moon landing was faked, the Earth is flat, Paul McCartney is dead, and flying saucers and aliens are being kept at Area 51 in Nevada.

Harmful conspiracy theories are more numerous: 9/11 was an inside job, Covid-19 wasn’t real, the Sandy Hook massacre was staged, the Holocaust was a “Holohoax,” Jews control the world (along with the Illuminati and Freemasons) and on and on.

The most enduring conspiracy theories – the ones with often fatal consequences – concern Jews. Conspiracy theories about Jews have been around almost as long as Jews themselves. As I note in my forthcoming book The Hidden Hand, one of the earliest conspiracy theories can be traced back to Twelfth Century England, when the Bishop of Norwich popularized the notion that a boy had been stolen by Jews and drained of blood to use in secret rituals.

Pre-Internet, the Bishop of Norwich and his ilk promoted conspiracy theories by word of mouth, grimy leaflets and self-published manuscripts. But since the mid-Nineties, the world wide web has been the main breeding ground for dangerous conspiracy theories. Simultaneously, the Internet has been the main source of political power, too.

For politicians like Donald Trump – who is arguably the most-effective manipulator of online conspiracy theories in modern times – the Internet has been a godsend. Barack Obama “birther” claims; false election fraud claims; Pizzagate; Ted Cruz’ father assassinated JFK; Hunter Biden’s laptop; Biden was a robot; Justin Trudeau was the secret son of Fidel Castro; and – most recently – that only Democrats are found in the Epstein files. These Trump-inspired or Trump-promoted conspiracy theories clearly haven’t hurt him in twice securing the most powerful office on (the not-flat) Earth.

Given how successful Trump has been, it’s inevitable that other politicians will make use of conspiracy theories to grasp power. It’s happening a lot, now, because it works.

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