Conspiracism and populism are separable forces with independent effects

Evidence

It is tempting to identify conspiracism with populism. The combination is seen in Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s narrative of an attempted coup against his government constituted a full-blown conspiracy theory that he leveraged to justify cracking down on opposition parties. In the United Kingdom, the populist revolt against the European Union in the Brexit referendum was associated with conspiracism. Conspiracism and a populist style come together as they do in Trump, but it is a mistake to see them as inextricably tied. There are important differences. And conspiracism is an independent force with its own distinctive effects. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 151

Categorization

• XREF: Disentangling conspiracism from populism parallels analytical separation moves found in trust literature (confirmation bias vs. institutions). — connects to: Conspiracy theories often stem from legitimate populist suspicion of elites — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 66