Conspiracist delegitimation frames electoral defeat as existential national transformation

Evidence

A second delegitimating charge is more elusive: the opposition party conspires to subvert foundational values to a degree that alters national identity. The charge is that the party’s covert goal is to deny America as a Christian nation, depreciate America as a white nation, empower “takers and suckers,” and cede sovereignty to the “new world order.” The claim is simple: an entire group—Muslims, “liberals,” Jews, African Americans—harbors ambitions to seize control, and the opposition party uses the electoral process to ally with them to create a rival society, an alien nation. The opposition is said to be nothing less than an existential threat. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 206

Categorization

• DEFINE: Maps out the second charge of delegitimation — the opposition as existential threat altering national identity.
• XREF: connects to: Right-wing conspiratorial resentment centers on a felt loss of America — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 65; Voter suppression becomes delegitimation when fused to fraud conspiracy claims — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 209; Conspiracist delegitimation rejects the normal cycle of alternating party power — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 208

Broader Connections

• Conspiracist delegitimation rejects the normal cycle of alternating party power #corroborates (0.92) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 208
• Voter suppression becomes delegitimation when fused to fraud conspiracy claims #expands (0.78) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 209