Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in the Age of Trump

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

   PDF

2. Introduction: Conspiracy Theory Versus Theorizing Conspiracy

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 1-37

3. Paranoia, Conspiracy Panic, and the Regime of Truth

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 39-77

4. Trumpism, Fake News and the “New Normal”

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 79-103

5. Suspicious Minds, the 2016 Election and Its Aftermath

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 105-139

6. Globalization, Populism, Conspiracism

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 141-184

7. Dark Money and Trumpism

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 185-219

8. The Deep State, Hegemony, and Democracy

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 221-274

9. Conclusion: Conspiracy Theories and Political Decay

   • Daniel C. Hellinger

   Pages 275-285

10. Back Matter

    Pages 287-300

    PDF

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.

• paranoid style
• Trumpism
• paranoia
• conspiracism
• global order
• populism
• conspiratorial behavior
• populist
• suspicion
• hegemony
• decline
• Deep State
• Cold War
• security
• regimes of truth
• fear
• us politics

• International Relations, Webster University, St. Louis, USA

  Daniel C. Hellinger

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 (2^nd 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).

Policies and ethics