Capitolo 1
America's Conspiratorial Heart: Truth, Lies, and the Power of Belief
Have you ever wondered why your uncle believes the moon landing was faked, or why your college roommate is convinced the government is hiding alien technology? You're not alone. In a country where 60% of adults believe in at least one conspiracy theory, America's relationship with truth has always been complicated. Anna Merlan's "Republic of Lies" takes readers on a journey through America's conspiratorial landscape-from UFO hunters to anti-vaxxers, white nationalists to Deep State theorists. What makes this exploration particularly timely is how conspiracy thinking has moved from society's fringes to its very center, with figures like Alex Jones gaining unprecedented access to power. The book has become required reading in journalism schools nationwide, praised by The New York Times as "a clear-eyed guide through the muck," and has only gained relevance as conspiracy theories continue shaping American politics, culture, and even public health responses.
Capitolo 2
The Perfect Storm: Why Conspiracy Theories Thrive in America
America has always been fertile ground for conspiracy theories. They flourish during times of rapid social change, providing explanations for unwelcome realities and reflecting our national insecurity about our institutions. Like religion, conspiracy theories frame events in terms of good versus evil, offering both an enemy to blame and a path to salvation. Studies show conspiracy thinking increases among threatened populations facing economic instability.
In our current environment of political disenfranchisement, limited social mobility, and deep inequalities, conspiracy theories thrive in ways typically seen only in authoritarian regimes. They give form to hard-to-define anxieties, particularly for groups that sense their power and influence slipping away.
The psychology behind conspiracy belief is complex. Research suggests some individuals have a stronger innate predisposition toward conspiracy thinking-a combination of "political socialization" and psychological factors. We tend to believe theories that reinforce our existing worldviews, engaging in "motivated reasoning" where partisan goals trump accuracy. Studies show people who believe one conspiracy theory likely believe others, even contradictory ones.
Modern communications have made conspiracism more intimate and dangerous-social media enables targeting individuals like school shooting victims or pizza parlor owners with harassment campaigns. Early American conspiracy theories focused on "alien subversion" by outside groups (Jews, Catholics, Freemasons), but the 20th century shifted focus to the government itself as the conspirator, particularly as military and intelligence bureaucracies expanded.
This suspicion wasn't entirely unfounded. Actual government conspiracies include the CIA's overthrow of foreign governments, COINTELPRO's harassment of civil rights groups, radiation testing on unwitting subjects, and MKUltra's drug experiments on civilians. These real conspiracies, combined with the growing secrecy of national security agencies, have destabilized public perception of truth and possibility.
Capitolo 3
Historical Trauma and Racial Conspiracy Theories
While popular attention focuses on conspiracy theories believed primarily by white Americans, studies show conspiratorial beliefs have historically been more common among Black and Latinx communities. Unlike Richard Hofstadter's pathologizing of conspiracy thinking as a "paranoid style," many Black conspiracy theories stem from documented injustices and abuses.
The relationship between conspiracy theory and actual conspiracy is more direct for Black Americans, rooted in generations of genuine injustice. During the 1960s, the FBI secretly plotted against Black activists, with Martin Luther King Jr. receiving an anonymous letter urging him to commit suicide-later proven to be from the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover's direction. The FBI's COINTELPRO campaign systematically undermined civil rights leaders and organizations like the Black Panthers, using disinformation and informants to create division.
Beyond surveillance, state conspiracies against minority communities included medical experimentation. Forced sterilization occurred in 32 states throughout most of the 20th century, disproportionately targeting Black, Latinx, and Native Americans. Some women unknowingly had reproductive organs removed during C-sections or faced threats of losing welfare benefits if they refused sterilization. The infamous Tuskegee experiment left hundreds of Black men with syphilis untreated for decades to track the disease's progression, even after treatments became available.
These documented abuses have created deep distrust between Black Americans and government institutions. Dr. John L. Jackson disputes the theory that Black communities are growing less conspiratorial, citing Obama's presidency as evidence of continued racial tensions. The racist "birther" conspiracy targeting Obama reinforced for many Black Americans "the impossibility of being accepted."
Hip-hop has become a powerful medium for expressing and exploring conspiracy theories in Black America. The genre functions as "a voice, mirror, and social conscience" for African Americans, with artists like Canibus covering mind control, brain implants, and Masonic presidential control in songs like "Channel Zero." Scholar John L. Jackson explains that rap operates on multiple levels, making it ideal for conveying conspiracy narratives: "It's a way to talk about the real world and experiences that don't get thematized," while using dense metaphors and vernacular that create "latent levels of meaning" only fully understood by those deeply familiar with the culture.
The underlying message across these expressions is that Black Americans have earned their right to reasonable suspicion of government. As journalist Michael Harriot summarizes: "A weird thing about being black is some of it is true and some of it is not. But none of it is crazy."
Capitolo 4
Pizzagate: When Internet Conspiracies Turn Deadly
In March 2017, Pizzagate believers gathered near the White House, demanding that government officials "beg for forgiveness" for their alleged involvement in child trafficking. The rally represented the culmination of a conspiracy theory that had exploded online just months earlier, claiming that Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in DC was the center of a child sex trafficking ring connected to Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta.
Pizzagate began with a Facebook post by Missouri attorney Cynthia Campbell in October 2016, who claimed NYPD sources had discovered evidence of "an international child enslavement and sex ring" on Anthony Weiner's laptop involving both Clintons. Campbell wove together various online threads, including claims about Bill Clinton's documented flights on Jeffrey Epstein's plane. The story spread rapidly through conspiracy networks, with Douglas Hagmann appearing on Alex Jones' InfoWars to amplify the claims. Online sleuths combing through Podesta's hacked emails decided that references to food items were code words for child abuse, ultimately focusing on Comet Ping Pong as the operation's headquarters.
Within five weeks, Pizzagate had been shared 1.4 million times online. The viral spread culminated in Edgar Maddison Welch, a 28-year-old North Carolinian, driving 350 miles to "investigate" Comet Ping Pong. Convinced he was "defending the next generation of kids," Welch entered the restaurant armed with an AR-15, pointed it at an employee, and fired a shot through a locked door. Finding no children or basement as the conspiracy claimed, he surrendered to police, later telling the New York Times, "The intel on this wasn't 100 percent."
By 2017, Pizzagate had morphed into "Pedogate," expanding from a localized conspiracy to a supposed global network of child molesters embedded throughout government, police, military, and international organizations. The theory found fertile ground in America's historical susceptibility to religiously-tinged hysteria involving children and sexual horror.
Even within the Pizzagate movement, paranoia bred further paranoia. At the DC rally, conspiracy podcaster Nathan Stolpman accused other attendees of being "controlled opposition," while they in turn suspected him of being a plant sent to discredit their movement. The crowd nearly turned violent when surrounding Stolpman after Seaman pointed him out. This fracturing revealed how conspiracy communities often turn their suspicions inward, creating ever more elaborate webs of distrust.
The staff at Comet Ping Pong endured horrific threats-"I'm going to chainsaw you in your sleep," "I'm looking at your house"-with gay employees facing particularly vicious harassment. When Edgar Welch arrived with his gun, general manager Bryce Reh frantically called employees to warn them away while staff evacuated customers and warned neighboring businesses. Most heartbreaking was Reh's concern for a staff member's daughter whose innocent photo of having her hands taped to a table as a joke was being monetized by conspiracy theorists on YouTube-"She will grow up with that photo of her associated with the word 'pedophilia.'"
Capitolo 5
False Flags and the Anatomy of Crisis Denial
Americans harbor deep suspicions about hidden government manipulation, fearing both overt control and more subtle forms of influence. This paranoia fuels conspiracy theories about mind-controlling fluoride, subliminal messages in media, and educational brainwashing. But most significantly, it drives "false flag" theories-the belief that mass casualty events are government orchestrations designed to consolidate power. Since 9/11, and intensifying after Sandy Hook, conspiracy theorists have claimed that victims are actors, evidence is doctored, and witnesses are government plants.
The concept of false flags has historical precedents. The term allegedly originated from pirate warfare tactics of feigning distress before revealing their true colors. Notable historical examples include the 1933 Reichstag fire (possibly staged by Nazis to consolidate power), the 1999 Russian apartment bombings (potentially orchestrated by the FSB to aid Putin's rise), and the 1898 USS Maine explosion (which precipitated the Spanish-American War). The 1962 Operation Northwoods proposal-where the CIA would commit terrorist acts against Americans and blame Cuba-though vetoed by Kennedy, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident's fabricated second attack that helped escalate the Vietnam War, demonstrate that government deception for military justification isn't merely theoretical.
9/11 conspiracy theorists divide into two camps: those believing the Bush administration allowed the attacks (LIHOP) and those believing they orchestrated them (MIHOP). Polling shows these beliefs grew substantially over time-from fewer than 10% in 2002 to one-third of Americans by the five-year anniversary believing the government either facilitated or permitted the attacks to justify Middle Eastern wars. The 2005 film "Loose Change" crystallized these theories, particularly that the Twin Towers fell by controlled demolition.
Research by Kate Starbird's team at the University of Washington revealed how false flag theories proliferate online through a network of alternative media sites sharing identical or near-identical content. These sites typically exhibit hostility toward mainstream science and media, while promoting anti-globalist, anti-vaccine, and anti-GMO views. The repetition of identical stories across multiple platforms creates an illusion of source diversity, reinforcing the credibility of these theories for believers.
While most false flag theories don't reach global significance, they devastate mass casualty survivors through relentless harassment. The concept of "crisis actors" gained national attention after the 2018 Parkland shooting when articulate teenage survivors advocating for gun control were accused of being government plants. The term originated after Sandy Hook, when conspiracy blogs misappropriated a press release from Visionbox, an acting studio offering performers for active shooter drills. This fueled theories that Sandy Hook victims were fabricated, leading conspiracy theorists like James Tracy and Wolfgang Halbig to torment grieving families, particularly Lenny and Veronique Pozner, parents of six-year-old Noah.
The internet enables a "global network of village idiots" to find each other and amplify their theories, as Lenny Pozner described it. Formerly interested in harmless conspiracy theories himself, Pozner's life transformed after his son's murder when he attempted to reason with deniers, only to become their target. His efforts to combat conspiracy content led him to create the HONR Network, fighting particularly toxic forms of conspiracism that harass victims' families.
Capitolo 6
The Seth Rich Conspiracy: Political Weaponization of Tragedy
Seth Rich was shot early on Sunday, July 10, 2016, near his apartment in northwest Washington, DC. The twenty-seven-year-old DNC voter-expansion data director was found by police with evidence of a struggle, but though nothing was taken from him, police suspected a botched robbery. The perpetrator was never caught, and within thirty-six hours, his death morphed from tragedy into conspiracy fodder.
Rich's murder became a textbook case of conspiracy entrepreneurship, where self-interested actors profited from his death by promoting narratives that served their political ends. His case illustrates how conspiracy theories gain legitimacy through a feedback loop: fringe speculation gets amplified by political actors, inspiring "self-investigation" that generates more supposed evidence, creating an alternate reality that serves specific political purposes.
The conspiracy began the very day Seth died. His brother Aaron watched in horror as news headlines elevated Seth from "DNC staffer" to "top DNC official." By the next day, Reddit threads were filled with speculation linking his death to Hillary Clinton. Three days after Seth's death, the fringe site WhatDoesItMean.com claimed he was on his way to testify against Clinton before the FBI when he died, providing conspiracy theorists with a framework for their suspicions despite the site's own disclaimer about fictional content.
The conspiracy gained mainstream traction when Julian Assange implied Seth had been a WikiLeaks source who leaked DNC emails. WikiLeaks offered a $20,000 reward for information about Rich's murder while carefully avoiding explicit confirmation. This narrative conveniently distanced WikiLeaks from allegations they were a conduit for Russian-hacked information, despite the intelligence community's assessment that the DNC emails came from Russian-backed hackers.
A parade of attention-seekers latched onto the case, with Fox News becoming the biggest amplifier in spring 2017. Sean Hannity devoted increasing airtime to Rich conspiracies, even planning to interview Kim Dotcom who dubiously claimed knowledge about Rich and WikiLeaks. The timing coincided with Robert Mueller's appointment to investigate Trump-Russia connections, suggesting the story served as a deliberate distraction.
Beyond the conspiracy entrepreneurs stood an army of online "self-investigators" who became the lifeblood of these theories. These internet sleuths found purpose and excitement in "solving" the Rich case, organizing under hashtags like #WhoKilledSethRich and dismissing the family's pleas as irrelevant or suspicious. Writer Caitlin Johnstone exemplified this mindset, claiming the Rich investigation transcended the family's feelings because "the life of every single living organism on earth may depend upon" exposing the truth.
Social platforms became powerful amplifiers of conspiracy theories, with algorithms that promoted sensational content and interfaces that made dubious sources appear as credible as established news. The Rich family faced relentless online harassment with every public statement triggering new waves of vitriol as their son's death became incorporated into ever-expanding conspiracy narratives that eventually merged with Pizzagate. Despite the family's retreat from public speaking, self-appointed investigators continued their pursuit, with Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman funding the "Profiling Project" that concluded Rich's death was the work of a serial killer or hitman.
Capitolo 7
Medical Conspiracies: From Anti-Vax to Hidden Cures
Medical conspiracy theories have resurged dramatically, causing real harm while generating enormous profits. A 2014 University of Chicago study found 37% of Americans believe the FDA suppresses natural cancer cures, 20% think corporations hide cell phone-cancer links, and 20% believe doctors knowingly administer dangerous vaccines. Nearly half of Americans believe in at least one medical conspiracy theory, affecting their health behaviors-they're less likely to get flu shots or consult doctors, and more likely to seek alternative treatments.
Andrew Wakefield, a former British gastroenterologist, published a now-discredited 1998 Lancet paper suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism based on just twelve children. Despite the paper's cautious wording, Wakefield publicly declared he could no longer support MMR vaccination, triggering widespread panic. Vaccination rates plummeted in the UK and later the US, where Jenny McCarthy became the movement's celebrity face. Measles cases surged-from 56 cases in England and Wales in 1998 to 1,370 by 2008, with the first child death in over a decade.
Opposition to vaccines is almost as old as their invention. After Edward Jenner developed the first smallpox vaccination in 1796, vaccine objectors' leagues emerged in England by the early 1800s, motivated by religious concerns, distrust of animal-derived treatments, and misunderstandings about disease transmission. Their protests led to the 1898 Vaccination Act allowing conscientious objections. The movement quickly spread to America, where the Anti-Vaccination Society formed in 1879 after a visit from Manchester businessman William Tebb, who argued mandatory vaccinations violated bodily autonomy.
Modern anti-vaccine activists routinely downplay disease outbreaks. Naturopath Sherri Tenpenny dismisses measles as merely "a rash, fever and desquamation" while claiming 1940s doctors saw the infection as "important to long term health." In reality, 134,000 children died worldwide from measles in 2015. That same year, a Disneyland outbreak infected 147 people across seven states and into Canada and Mexico-the largest since 1991-fueled partly by unvaccinated children.
Fear of government control extends beyond vaccines to fluoridated water, which some conspiracy theorists claim originated in Nazi concentration camps to make prisoners "submissive." Holocaust historians find no evidence for this claim, which has morphed over decades-from a Communist plot in the 1950s to an environmental concern in the 1960s to a cause of AIDS in the 1980s.
Yet government medical abuses have occurred. From 1944 through the 1970s, federally funded scientists secretly irradiated thousands of prisoners, terminally ill patients, and disabled children. At Massachusetts' Walter Fernald State School, MIT and Quaker Oats researchers fed radioactive iron and calcium to children without proper consent, disguising it as a "special diet" for a "science club."
The CIA's MKUltra program rivaled the most paranoid conspiracy theories. Launched in 1953 with $300,000 to counter supposed Communist mind-control drugs, it encompassed 149 projects testing LSD and other substances on unwitting subjects. Sidney Gottlieb, the program's overseer, covertly dosed FBI agent Frank Olson with LSD, triggering a mental breakdown that ended with Olson's suicide nine days later.
Capitolo 8
Sovereign Citizens and the Financial Conspiracy Mindset
The Mortons-Sean and his wife Melissa-represent a strange corner of conspiracy culture: redemption theory, a subset of the sovereign citizen movement. In April 2017, they faced trial for conspiracy to defraud the government, filing false claims, and creating fictitious financial instruments-potentially facing over 600 years in prison each.
Redemption theory rests on the belief that the government secretly deposits $630,000 into an account when each citizen is born, creating a "strawman" persona used as collateral after America abandoned the gold standard in 1933. Practitioners believe they can access this money through obscure legal maneuvers and the Uniform Commercial Code.
The sovereign citizen movement has approximately 300,000 adherents who believe they aren't subject to federal law. Their tactics include creating their own identification, forming private police forces, and filing pseudo-legal documents. While redemption theorists sometimes distance themselves from sovereigns, they share ideological DNA rooted in America's long tradition of tax protest.
The movement traces back to Arthur Julius Porth in the 1950s and William Potter Gale, founder of the racist Ministry of Christ Church and Posse Comitatus. Roger Elvick developed redemption theory itself, selling "The Redemption Package" to desperate people facing financial troubles. Despite consistent legal failures and prison sentences for its founders, redemption theory persists online through YouTube videos, DVDs, and seminars promising debt elimination through arcane legal procedures.
Sean David Morton's involvement with redemption theory around 2006 marked a disastrous turn from his previous focus on celestial matters. Born in 1959, Morton came from a family steeped in fringe beliefs-his mother Maureen Kennedy Salaman was a natural health advocate who fought for laetrile availability, while his parents were devoted John Birch Society members.
After losing his SEC case in 2013 and being ordered to pay $11.5 million, Morton didn't comply but instead sent the government an IOU for $50 million, instructing them to withdraw the money from the Federal Reserve-a classic redemption theory tactic. He then plunged deeper into these theories after attending a lecture by Brandon Adams at a Los Angeles New Age bookstore.
Morton justified his actions as fighting "gross injustice" and helping people crushed by debt, particularly students with loans. He remained confident the case would never go to trial-a prediction that proved spectacularly wrong. Despite his claims of helping people, evidence showed Morton charged desperate families $2,500 to free loved ones from prison using his bond scheme, which never worked. After just two hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty.
Capitolo 9
From the Fringe to the White House: The Mainstreaming of Extremism
In April 2017, white supremacists gathered in the green foothills of southeastern Kentucky, where Matthew Heimbach, founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party, sought to unite disparate racist groups. Heimbach, barely twenty-five, chubby with a beard, lived in a trailer with his wife and child. His TWP combined white nationalism with surprising policy positions - opposing climate change while supporting healthcare for poor white regions.
The white nationalist movement thrives on conspiracy theories, with antisemitism forming the rotten core of extremist ideology. While hatred targets many groups, Jews remain the consistent focus, accused of controlling governments and financial systems worldwide. As one National Socialist Movement speaker claimed, "The Jew never sleeps. He works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to eradicate us."
The 2016 election saw the meteoric rise of the "alt-right," a nationalist movement with varying degrees of open racism. Richard Spencer, its most prominent figure, sought mainstream acceptance while promoting a white ethno-state. Despite carefully veiled antisemitism, Spencer built international connections with European white supremacists through his Altright Corporation, partnering with Arktos Media and Red Ice to "displace the conservative movement."
How far are these racist ideas spreading? An ABC News/Washington Post poll found just 9 percent of Americans considered neo-Nazi views acceptable, though University of Alabama research suggested about 11 million white Americans hold beliefs consistent with the alt-right worldview.
More concerning is how formerly fringe ideas have edged closer to mainstream politics. Trump's "America First" slogan echoes the antisemitic America First Committee that opposed entering World War II. The Republican Party's immigration rhetoric often mirrors white nationalist talking points about "mass migration." Once-marginal anti-immigrant groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) now influence policy through White House connections.
Beyond the Trump White House, 2017-2018 saw an uptick in white supremacists running for office. Paul Nehlen, an unapologetic anti-Semite, ran to replace Paul Ryan. James Allsup of Identity Evropa won a Republican precinct position in Washington State. Steve Smith from skinhead group Keystone United held a similar position in Pennsylvania. Corey Stewart, whose main issue involved preserving Confederate symbols, won a Republican primary despite connections to Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler.
While many attributed white supremacist thinking to economic anxiety, researcher Chip Berlet found this explanation overly simplistic. He pointed to the KKK's growth during the economic boom of the 1920s, when their newspapers obsessed over Jews supposedly taking over America. "It wasn't economic. Most people were doing well," Berlet explained. "It was the fear of falling... The middle class is always afraid of falling down the economic, social or cultural ladder" - or perhaps losing one's place to someone seen as inferior.
Capitolo 10
The Truth Is Out There: UFOs and American Identity
UFO culture represents a deeply embedded conspiracy tradition in American life. While eclipsed by newer conspiracies like birtherism or false flags, belief in extraterrestrial life remains remarkably widespread-with polls showing between 30-80% of Americans believing the government conceals knowledge about alien contact. The Chapman University Survey found more Americans believe in UFOs than in natural selection.
At the annual Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) conference-America's oldest UFO research organization dating to 1969-tensions erupted when respected researcher Richard Dolan suggested Corey Goode might be a liar or government plant. Referencing COINTELPRO, Dolan hinted at possible government interference in UFO organizations, highlighting the growing factional divisions within a community already struggling with questions of credibility, acceptable standards of proof, and potential infiltration.
In conspiracy subcultures, self-proclaimed whistleblowers inevitably emerge claiming insider knowledge. While Bob Lazar was the most famous early UFO whistleblower, claiming to reverse-engineer alien spacecraft at Area 51's S-4 facility, newer figures like Goode, Andrew Basiago, and Randy Kramer make far more extravagant claims about space travel and alien contact. Author Michael Salla promotes these accounts through "exopolitics," even embracing Goode's claims about Special Forces arresting a "Satanic pedophile group" of government officials despite no evidence.
UFO mythology began in 1947 Roswell when ranch foreman William "Mac" Brazel discovered strange debris. After military officials initially announced recovering a "flying disc," they quickly changed the story to a "weather balloon." Public interest faded until 1978 when researchers began suspecting a cover-up. The 1980 book "The Roswell Incident" claimed the government concealed an alien spacecraft crash to study extraterrestrial technology. By 1991, new "witnesses" described alien autopsies and child-sized caskets. In 1994, an Air Force report revealed the debris was likely from Project MOGUL, a top-secret surveillance program, while a 1997 report suggested "alien bodies" were actually crash-test dummies from high-altitude balloon tests.
The history of UFOs perfectly illustrates how genuine government secrecy feeds citizen paranoia. The Air Force's admission about Project MOGUL confirmed for UFO researchers that other cover-ups existed, including the alleged Operation Majestic-12 (MJ-12) program supposedly formed by President Truman in 1947. Though the FBI deemed MJ-12 documents bogus, some enthusiasts remain convinced.
In December 2017, the New York Times revealed the Pentagon's secret $22-million Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program that investigated unidentified aircraft from 2007-2012. The program included study of "metal alloys" supposedly recovered from aerial phenomena and people who claimed physical effects from encounters. While some UFO researchers viewed this as validation, others like Dolan suspected it was "damage control" by the government, reluctantly acknowledging something they could no longer hide.
Capitolo 11
Conspiracy Goes Mainstream: Russiagate and the Deep State
The first year of Trump's presidency revealed how conspiracy thinking can become thoroughly mixed with mainstream politics and media. While most conspiracy theories focus on specific incidents, both major political parties embraced grand theories about democracy being undermined by enemies - either Russian interference or a shadowy "Deep State" working against Trump. These fears reflect the genuine fragility of American democracy, vulnerable to outside influences like dark money and voter disenfranchisement.
In January 2017, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow highlighted two suspicious incidents: a power outage during Mike Pompeo's CIA confirmation hearing just as Senator Warner mentioned Russia's election interference, and C-SPAN's broadcast of Maxine Waters being interrupted by Russia Today. Maddow ominously told viewers, "Welcome to your whole new world," implying sinister meaning despite both incidents being quickly explained by mundane causes - planned electrical work and a technical malfunction.
While liberals worried about Russian interference, right-wing media developed theories about a "Deep State" - unelected power brokers within the federal government working to undermine Trump. The speculation reached extreme proportions, with Alex Jones suggesting government actors were drugging Trump's Diet Cokes. Both Russiagate and Deep State theories represent familiar American fears about subversive elements seizing power. The key difference was that Russian election interference had substantial evidence, while the Deep State conspiracy did not.
The concept of a "Deep State" isn't new - it refers to permanent power structures operating outside democratic accountability. In countries like Turkey, it's been linked to organized crime and extrajudicial killings. In America, it traditionally described the military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned about, or the revolving door between government agencies and corporations. Writers like Mike Lofgren characterized it as a "hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies" functioning independently of elected officials. But under Trump, this concept morphed from legitimate concern into weaponized paranoia, with right-wing figures claiming Obama was running a "shadow government" to undermine the administration.
The left developed its own paranoia, with anti-Trump "resistance" seeing Kremlin agents everywhere and embracing intelligence institutions they historically distrusted. Overnight conspiracy stars emerged: Eric Garland gained fame from a 127-tweet thread beginning "Time for some game theory" about Russian election interference, which earned praise from legitimate journalists. Seth Abramson claimed Trump "has been and continues to be a Russian asset." The conspiracy mindset even produced false flag accusations, with one popular Twitter account suggesting the Las Vegas mass shooting was staged to prevent Trump's impeachment.
The Russiagate mania raised concerns about a return to McCarthyism. Masha Gessen warned it was "promoting a xenophobic conspiracy theory in the cause of removing a xenophobic conspiracy theorist from office." Both Deep State and Russiagate conspiracies ultimately benefited conspiracy sellers by creating an environment where nothing was certain and no information source could be trusted-exactly what Trump celebrated when he told reporters, "The public doesn't believe you people anymore."
