It’s difficult to believe in a conspiracy theory these days without feeling like you’re dignifying Trump’s rhetorical tactic in which any well documented fact that doesn’t support his conspiratorial narratives is “fake news.”
In reality, if a mainstream media outlet, or per his routine accusations nearly all of them except Fox News, purposefully created fake news, that would then be a conspiracy.
What Trump is doing by bandying about the term “fake news” is doubling down on his own frequently alluded to conspiracies, such as that there is a Deep State and it is made up of liberals (because everyone knows the law enforcement and intelligence communities are super liberal), and that it has a personal vendetta against him, by stating that any fact not supporting his statement is in fact a conspiracy.
It’s a very powerful rhetorical tactic if you’re a total fucking idiot, so it’s very effective on viewers of Fox News.
For this reason, at this moment in time, right wing types are far more conspiratorial minded than those on the left.
This is because they often have little to no facts to back up their opinions, and their knight in orange makeup has taught them that this is an acceptable way of carrying on a conversation.
It’s the rhetorical equivalent of the schoolyard phrase “I know you are but what am I.” The kids who said things like that were always morons who called other kids names because they couldn’t think of any clever insults.
That was Trump, and his supporters (although many of them were also getting bullied and now want to destroy the world in retaliation.)
To state the obvious, if there were to be some vast conspiracy on behalf of the elites, it would need to be facilitated nearly exclusively by the right.
The Republican Party, much more so than the Democratic Party, has built a platform of lowering taxes on billionaires, raising taxes on the poor, opposing unions and labor rights, opposing estate taxes, giving tax breaks to corporations, outsourcing American jobs, allowing for vast environmental pollution, suppressing voter turnout, and just about any other issue you could think of that would fuck over the common person.
Here’s where they’ll probably throw out a name like George Soros, but if you ask them to look it up, and for them to realize that George Soros’ contributions to influencing politics are a Pabst in the ocean compared to the Koch Brothers, they will respond with… some unfounded conspiracy.
It seems the left has grown pretty wise to this, yet unfortunately they’re now often overcompensating, insisting your claim that Five Guys has “pretty good burgers” be vetted by Rachel Maddow.
I heard a troubling instance of this while listening to All Things Considered on NPR, when a caller suggested that Jeffrey Epstein may not have committed suicide, and host Audie Cornish shot them down stating the show would not dignify “conspiracy theories.”
Certainly there’s a difference between suggesting that Sandy Hook was a false flag event and that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t strangle himself with a cheerleader’s pom pom, or whatever the official statement.
So, people like me now find themselves in the precarious position of not necessarily trusting the mainstream media, yet not wanting to kick around far fetched theories with no factual basis and contribute to the Trumpian idea that there are facts and alternative facts and that you can say things with no proof and then when you’re proven wrong just claim everything is a conspiracy.
I have found the solution to this problem. You have to be careful, and have a vague grasp of what you’re actually talking about. This criteria would eliminate the bulk of conspiracy theories.
And so, the moment has come, in which I must state that Joe Biden’s sexual misconduct accuser, Tara Reade, is a Russian asset who is shilling for the Trump campaign.
For those unaware, Tara Reade worked as a staffer for Senator Biden for eight months 27 years ago and has accused him of some minor yet definitively inappropriate touching.
She is represented by a lawyer named Douglas Wigdor who is a Trump supporter and donor. Another attorney, William Moran, recently told the Associated Press that he was also representing Reade. It’s unclear if this is true, but if so it’s quite troubling because he is a former writer and editor for Sputnik News, which is Russian state-owned media.
Russia wanted Donald Trump to win the last election and wants him to win this one. If you deny that you are simply denying common knowledge in a conspiratorial manner.
Reade is a total weirdo who wrote a rambling poorly written manifesto professing her undying love for Vladamir Putin (whose wife does not love him) as well as her disdain for America, written quite recently, in December of 2018.
This isn’t fake news, she has taken credit for this and it’s on her blog:
“I love Russia with all my heart. I love the people, the history, the culture and even my attempts to learn the language. I could not stand to watch the deception and xenophobia that came from my own American government. It is so sad and destructive to revile another culture or country for no reason but economic gain.
President Putin scares the power elite in America because he is a compassionate, caring, visionary leader. President Putin has higher approval ratings in America then the American President. President Putin is beloved by Russia and he not going anywhere. Instead of being ensnared in the recent political intrigues (and America is trying hard to set that trap). President Putin is keeping a calm focus on his own country’s development and future, without America.”
So, this is the person the right wing media has thrown their support behind, and CNN has predictably taken the bait. I don’t know if she’s a willing shill or an unwilling tool for whom the right has embraced for their, quite literally, unpatriotic cause.
They’re willing to either support a woman who is acting on Russia’s behalf, or exploit a lunatic on Donald Trump’s behalf, as he acts on Russia’s behalf.
It’s treason. Look up the word, I know it’s heavy reading, but give it a shot. And it’s not fake news, although it is one of those conspiracies – just an actual one.