Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in the Age of Trump

This book focuses on the constant tension between democracy and conspiratorial behavior in the new global order. It addresses the prevalence of conspiracy theories in the phenomenon of Donald Trump and Trumpism, and the paranoid style of American politics that existed long before, first identified with Richard Hofstadter. Hellinger looks critically at both those who hold conspiracy theory beliefs and those who rush to dismiss them. Hellinger argues that we need to acknowledge that the exercise of power by elites is very often conspiratorial and invites both realistic and outlandish conspiracy theories. How we parse the realistic from the outlandish demands more attention than typically accorded in academia and journalism. Tensions between global hegemony and democratic legitimacy become visible in populist theories of conspiracy, both on the left and the right. He argues that we do not live in an age in which conspiracy theories are more profligate, but that we do live in an age in which they offer a more profound challenge to the constituted state than ever before.

Makes the case that Trump's presidency demands that conspiracies and conspiracy theories be taken more seriously by political scientists and academics, not simply discarded as social paranoia

Argues that conspiracies are connected in important ways to fake news, political corruption, surveillance of citizens, and other threats to democracy in the age of Trump

Finds paranoid conspiracy theories are as likely to be peddled by elites as by populist movements

Autorentext

Daniel C. Hellinger is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Webster University, USA. He has previously published: Paranoia, Conspiracy, Hegemony in American Politics in Transparency and Conspiracy: Ethnographies of Suspicion in the New World Order (2003) and Conspiracy Theory and the Paranoid Style in American Political Culture: An Encyclopedia (2015), and co-authored The Democratic Façade (2nd edition, 1991). His most recent books are Comparative Politics of Latin America: Democracy at Last? (2014), Global Security Watch: Venezuela (2012), and, as co-editor and contributor, Bolivarian Democracy in Venezuela: Participation, Politics and Culture (2011).

Inhalt

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Introduction: Conspiracy Theory versus Theorizing Conspiracy

Return of the Paranoid Style in American Politics

What We Know from Survey Research

Conspiracy and Conspiracy Theory Defined

The Paranoid Style and Populism

Trumpian Conspiracy Theories An Outline of the Book Chapter 2 Paranoia, Conspiracy Panic, and the Regime of Truth

I'm Not a Conspiracy Theorist, but

The Shadow of Hofstadter

The Regime of Truth

Fake News

Historians, Social Scientists and Proving Conspiracy Theory

A Typology of Conspiracy Theories

JFK, 9/11 and the Regime of Truth

Consequences and Summing Up

Chapter 3 Trumpism, Fake News and the New Normal

Populism, Paranoia and Celebrity

Fake News

Mueller's Conspiracy Theory and the Media Conspiracy Theory, Fusion, and the Alt-Right ****Conspiracism and Threats to Democracy

Chapter 4 Suspicious Minds, the 2016 Election and Its Aftermath

Reading Voters' Entrails

Populism and Election 2016

****Fake News and Russian Intervention in Election 2016

The Year of Voting Dangerously

Partisan Conspiracy Beliefs

Social Immobility and Unresponsive Elites

Globalization, Economic Distress and the Vote

Suspicion and the Vote

Chapter 5 Globalization, Populism, Conspiracism

Suspicious Minds in the New World Order

Immigrants, Nativism, and Trump

Wall Street and Monassen PA

Transnational Capitalism and the Nation State

Nationalism, Economic Discontent, Geographical Stress in Election 2016

Populism versus Transnational Capitalism

Conclusion: The Great Disrupter

Chapter 6 Dark Money and Trumpism

Money, Politics and Trump

Dark Money and Billionaire Cabals

Show us the Dark Money Trail

Conspiracy Panic and Muckraking

Corruption in a Republic of Money

Dark Money as a Sphere of Conspiracism

Conspiracy or Just Plain Old Interest Group Politics?

Chapter 7 The Deep State, Hegemony, and Democracy

****What is the Deep State? What is it Not?

Parapolitics The Conspiratorial Roots of National Security and Institutions Donald Trump and the Deep State

Conspiracy Fiction, Conspiracy Reality

Parapolitics and Blowback

Parapolitics, the Deep State and Russiagate

Chapter 8 Conclusion: Conspiracy Theories and Political Decay

Needed a New Regime of Truth

What We Can Learn from Conspiracism Abroad

A Research Agenda

Last Words: No Time to Panic