If you’re feeling confused and disoriented by the stunning success Donald Trump has achieved in the American elections; by the level of hate displayed by his supporters, by the paranoid nature of the allegations he flings (like “the elections are rigged”), and the way he paints his rival Hillary Clinton as “the devil”, then don’t fret, help is at hand. This story is for you.
Donald Trump and his campaign are tapping into the fear, anger, and distress of a large and fast-growing group of Americans – conspiracy theorists. You cannot explain both the stunning success and the serious limitation of his campaign without grasping the specific family of ideas he taps into.
Trump’s penchant for conspiracy theories isn’t just a quaint aspect of his personality. In this election, it appears to be critical to his success. The audience he’s playing to have a wide and varied number of concerns – and the campaign is pushing their buttons with finesse.
So what’s the evidence that Trump is drilling for electoral oil in the deserts of conspiratoria?
Let’s Start With the Word “Globalist”
This is a charge the Trump campaign and his supporters have thrown around with surprising frequency, to the extent that syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro was forced to write an essay on it (see link 2 of the sources listed at the bottom).
Trump has used the word often in speeches and interviews, and referenced it in his GOP nomination acceptance speech (link 3), as have his senior campaign staff and supporters. Here are a few examples:
Trump on the “false song of globalism”:
The Trump campaign’s national spokesperson:
Trump’s campaign manager:
Alex Jones, radio host and Trump supporter:
Trump is a shrewd businessman and a sharp politician, having bested 16 of his rivals in the Republican primary to everyone’s astonishment – so why do he and his campaign use the word with such frequency? And importantly, why has it seen such resonance among his supporters?
Shapiro tried to grapple with just this question without ever coming close to its real meaning. He, like a rational human being, surmised that ‘globalist’ is just a slur for those who champion free trade and want the US to be part of global multilateral institutions – something that Trump supporters perceive as undermining the US’ freedom to act in its own self-interest.
But Shapiro doesn’t get half of it.
‘Globalist’ is a key word among these conspiracy theorists; it is a dog-whistle for an entire complex of ideas that make up the conspiracy theory known as the New World Order (NWO). If you’ve ever watched Zeitgeist, you’ll remember this phrase. For these conspiracy theorists, a ‘globalist’ is a member of an international cabal of mostly Jewish bankers, financiers, politicians and all manner of world leaders who are conspiring to bring about the NWO. What the hell is a ‘New World Order’? Buckle in, here’s where it gets interesting.
The NWO is believed to be a global movement orchestrated by the globalists with the goal of world domination. The endgame is to prune the world’s population down to a manageable 10% of its current size; to enslave the people through a campaign of manufactured wars, false-flag terror attacks, artificially created pandemics, and poisoned drinking water to keep the masses dumbed down and pliable; a global LGBT movement to discourage reproduction, etc.
These globalists are devoid of morality and humanity, conducting ritualistic child sacrifices and depraved orgies at seemingly prestigious gatherings like the Bilderberg Conference – a private gathering of about 150-200 of the world’s political, academic, financial and industrial elite. No less than secretive and mega-rich families like the Rockefellers and the Rothchilds – American and French industrial families – are involved in the orchestration of these schemes. If all of this sounds kind of familiar, it’s because it’s the same anti-Semitic, Jews-are-out-to-take-over-the-world blood libel that has been levelled at Jews for aeons – just repackaged and rebranded (a tweet by Trump depicting Hillary Clinton with the Star of David on a pile of cash was widely decried as anti-Semitic and has since been deleted; link 4)
This new version of an old trope has found a ready audience because it explains many of the problems the world faces today: the explosion (pun not intended) of terror attacks, the unending wars, the waves of immigration seen as threatening American and European ways of life, the proliferation of new and frightening diseases. It is believed that all of these have been orchestrated by the globalists, and the mainstream media (MSM) is firmly under their control – nothing you hear or see on the news is true, and the MSM is the primary way in which globalists seek to manipulate and deceive.
To find out how popular this particular conspiracy theory is among Trump supporters, Demographics Pro, a social media analytics firm, crunched the numbers from July 18-31 2016:
Trump Can’t Really Believe This... Can He?
The short answer? Yes, he can.
Here’s the long one:
Alex Jones, a Texas-based radio host (whose show in 2010 reached 8 million listeners per month), runs two websites called InfoWars and Prisonplanet.tv. These two combined attract 4 million unique views per month. His YouTube channel went from 350,000 subscribers in 2013 to 1.5 million at last look (link 5). He is one of the loudest and most aggressive proponents of this conspiracy theory.
Now, Jones is no small fish. After achieving Republican frontrunner status, Trump appeared on his show for an interview. He told Jones he had an “amazing reputation”, and upon being informed that 90% of Jones’ listeners were Trump supporters, said, “I won’t let you down.” (link 6)
Roger Stone, Trump’s erstwhile senior policy advisor, has been a regular on Alex Jones’ radio show.
Here is a stunning glimpse into the kind of rage that lurks behind the ‘globalist’ charge. If you watch no other video in this story, watch this:
And here is an illuminating sample of the kind of things Jones has to say about the world:
- That GMOs are one of the tools the New World Order is using to decimate and control the human population (link 7).
- That governments are putting fluoride in the drinking water to reduce fertility and testosterone levels (link 8).
- Childhood vaccines are being administered as part of a conspiracy by Big Pharma and the UN to sterilise populations (link 9) and spread autism.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is just some frothing at the fringe. A Washington Post article references a study in the Harvard Business Review exploring why almost a third of US parents (link 10) believe vaccines cause autism!
Lou Dobbs, a former CNN anchor and now a radio host at the Fox Business Network – who commands a following of 571,000 on Twitter – buys into much of this ‘globalist’ conspiracy hook, line, and sinker, and is dutifully spreading the word.
So when the Trump campaign’s national spokesperson Katrina Pierson says “tens of thousands” of US soldiers were killed in the Iraq war and “one million” were wounded (real numbers: 3,481 and 31,925; link 11), when she tweets suggesting that 9/11 was an “inside job”, she is not trying to mislead you; she is simply channelling the distrust of mainstream ‘facts’ common to the campaign.
When Trump calls Hillary ‘the devil’, he is not being figurative; he is being literal. In the imaginary world of more extreme conspiracy nuts, the globalists are the descendants of the “fallen angels” who herald the Biblical ‘end of times’ – hence “devil” is the right way to describe them.
The logical question to ask at this point is; Is Trump a conspiracy theorist, or is he just milking the passions of this group for all they’re worth? The answer is probably both.
Studies have shown that if a person believes in one conspiracy theory, they are also more likely to believe in others (link 12). From being a prominent ‘birther’ against Barack Obama (insisting that Obama was not really born in America and was therefore ineligible when he was running for President), to believing that vaccines cause autism (link 13), to the suggestion that Bill Clinton’s former White House aide, Vince Foster –who committed suicide in 1993 (link 14) – died in ‘fishy’ circumstances (implying the Clintons were involved in his death), Trump’s record of espousing conspiracy theories is extensive.
But we don’t need to dig into ancient history to find proof; more recently, his campaign and his followers have suggested that the election will be rigged (link 15), and that global warming is a Chinese conspiracy to hurt American manufacturing (link 16).
Alex Jones himself has reportedly said that Trump has been “what you would call a ‘closet conspiracy theorist’ for 50 years” and a “chameleon in the system” who “now sees the time to strike” (link 17).
And Suddenly, Trump’s Worldview Makes Sense
Now is ‘the time to strike’, because a large section of blue-collar America is facing economic distress as manufacturing slumps, and they want an explanation. Trump has one ready. This mother of all conspiracy theories covers everything from suspicion of GMOs, to mistrust of the media, to fears about global pandemics, to the spread of terrorism, and much more. It is a surprisingly sophisticated system of belief that provides a neat explanation for a number of current global issues.
So:
Why does Trump have such antipathy towards multilateral engagements?
Because global institutions are simply the means by which the New World Order seeks to exercise global control. Cooperation is capitulation.
Why does Trump appear to have such a casual disregard for facts?
Because our ‘facts’ are given to us by the MSM, who are in the pocket of the globalists. We cannot depend on them, and must treat them with great suspicion.
Why does Trump talk about rigged elections?
Because Hillary Clinton, beholden as she is to the New World Order, has ‘made a deal with the Devil’ and the powers that be will ensure she wins at all costs, as they have always done.
Why are his supporters so angry?
You’d be angry too if you thought the system was rigged against you, that this cabal of powerful influencers was manufacturing wars, orchestrating mass immigration, killing children, spreading deadly diseases, and manipulating world populations for their own sinister ends.
When your experience is that of disenfranchisement, and of a world in flux with no easily digestible explanation, everything that Trump endorses and stands for feels like a breath of fresh air.
So when you hear the Trump campaign or its supporters using the word “globalist”, remember that it is a codeword for a specific conspiracy theory; one that paints Hillary Clinton and the establishment as responsible for (at worst) and complicit in (at best) many of the world’s most intractable problems.
For the first time, it looks like the ‘Leader of the Free World’ – the United States – could have its nuclear codes and mammoth military in the hands of an out-and-out conspiracy theorist with a persecution complex.
Sources:
1. New York Times
2. The Daily Wire
3. Real Clear Politics
4. Politifact
5. Forbes
6. The New Yorker
7. InfoWars
8. YouTube - Alex Jones
9. @RealAlexJones
10. The Washington Post
11. CNN
12. Time
13. @RealDonaldTrump
14. The Washington Post
15. Vox
16. Politifact
17. The New Republic
18. Demographics Pro
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