Distrust, immobility, and fear of outsiders conspiratorialize American politics

Evidence

That sense of fragility and distrust are particularly noticeable again in the mid-2000s: huge swaths of people feel locked out of the political process, not even bothering to vote out of a belief that it won’t make much of a difference. We have a stunning and increased lack of social mobility, a profound distrust of “elites” and those in power, as well as a persistent fear of “outsiders” and “others” taking what we see as limited resources. Combined with deep inequalities of race and class, all that makes for an environment that’s conspiracy-saturated in a way that’s unusual outside of repressive countries with authoritarian regimes and state-run media. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 59

Categorization

• XREF: Outsider-taking-resources framing connects to vault claims on scarcity-driven prejudice and majority-group threat perception; repressive-country comparison ties to authoritarian-mechanism material. — connects to: Stress and institutional distrust drive Americans toward conspiracy explanations of unwelcome reality. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 54; Right-wing conspiratorial resentment centers on a felt loss of America — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 65; State-adjacent leaks elevate fringe figures and erode public epistemic trust — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 120 (+1 more)