Elite dismissal did not curb Robertson’s bestselling conspiracy book

Evidence

The Wall Street Journal dismissed Robertson’s book as “a predictable compendium of the lunatic fringe’s greatest hits,” written in an “energetically crackpot style.” Meanwhile, it climbed to number four on the New York Times Best Sellers list, selling half a million copies. Under the leadership of Ralph Reed, Robertson’s Christian Coalition quickly grew into the most powerful grassroots organization of the Religious Right, building networks in all fifty states and claiming more than one million members by 1994. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 322

Categorization

• XREF: The gap between elite/journalistic dismissal and popular commercial success is a recurring theme across her method chapters. — connects to: Pat Robertson mainstreamed an Illuminati conspiracy theory through national stature — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 294