Conspiracy theories held by a president can be enacted into reality
Evidence
This is the uniqueness of presidential conspiracism: conspiracist accounts of reality can be realized. Processes ranging from information gathering to established norms of decision-making are cast aside as impediments to getting at the conspiracist truth of how things really are. Under conditions of malignant normality, what was once unthinkable becomes ordinary. And when that happens, it can become normal to assault the institutions on which democracy depends and make them look illegitimate. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 177
Categorization
- XREF: Mirrors Hofstadter’s paranoid style literature in a president actually able to institutionalize the paranoia. — connects to: Conspiracy theorists gained direct access to US federal power in 2016. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 21; Politicians deploy conspiracy theories cynically as organizing tools and focal points. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 84; Trump brought conspiratorial claims into the White House presidency itself — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 157 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Presidential politics mainstreamed conspiracy theory speech
#expands(0.80) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 449 - Presidential conspiracism functions as willful arbitrary rule
#expands(0.78) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 312 - Political actors can legitimize conspiracy theories by inspiring new investigation into them
#corroborates(0.76) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 432 - Contemporary conspiracy theories function as politically serviceable tools for right-wing ends
#expands(0.75) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 121