I borrowed the featured image from the English language version of an anti-Fascist Hungarian web site, ATLATSZO. It comes from an article about anti-Soros conspiracy theories. It’s not surprising that a former communist country would embrace anti-Semitic conspiracies centering around lefty billionaire George Soros. It’s more surprising that they’ve taken root in the country that won the Cold War, especially among Republicans. John Foster Dulles weeps.
The first thing I read this morning was a NYT piece: Ron DeSoros? Conspiracy Theorists Target Trump’s Rival. Some MAGA maggots think that The Louse is a tool of the deep state and is in cahoots with George Soros. I suppose that anyone dumb enough to be a Trumper is dumb enough to believe that D Duce Wannabe is a deep state something or other.
To some, he is “Ron DeSoros,” a puppet of the Democratic megadonor George Soros. To others, he is “Ron DeSatan,” a vaccine-supporting evildoer. And to still others, he is “Ron DePLANTis,” a “plant” of the so-called Deep State.
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“It’s a tug of war over who is going to grab the all-important conspiracy constituency,” said Bond Benton, an associate professor at Montclair State University who has studied QAnon.
I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream over the notion of a conspiracy constituency. Additionally, I find the label conspiracy theorists troubling. Theory implies at least a modicum of thought. The conspiracy constituency are fantasists spinning grim fairy tales to explain things they hate. In a 2021 post I called them The Dingbat Right:
The Dingbat Right have always been with us but the sane among us rarely dealt with them. The internet gave them a platform and social media gave them a megaphone. It’s done the same for me but on my good days I’m relatively sane. Hopefully, this is one of those days.
Self-quotation is my jam.
Gullibility and confirmation bias are hallmarks of the Dingbat Right. They love the Kaiser of Chaos, so they hate anyone who challenges him however meekly. That’s why I expect a DeSantis candidacy to flop: he’s trying to have it both ways and isn’t willing to do what it takes to defeat Trump. BUT any opposition to the dear leader is an affront to the conspiracy constituency and must be attacked.
I don’t feel sorry for DeSantis. He’s an asshole who deserves whatever opprobrium that’s heaped on him. It is, however, worrisome how fact-free dingbattery has infected the body politic. It has lobotomized the Republican party and endangered the future of the republic from which that party takes its name.
Repeat after me: Don’t Call Them Conservatives.
The fact-free nature of Trumpism is why I think our side needs to stick to the facts. You can’t defeat lies with lies and hyperbole, only with the truth.
The existence of a conspiracy constituency proves that while artificial intelligence is growing in America, human intelligence is not.
I researched conspiracy songs and came up with Conman Conspiracies by Monk Turner. Dig these lyrics, y’all:
There’s a half-wit in a red hat
And he says the earth is flat
And he says that the news is fake
I can’t take these Con con con Conman conspiracies
There’s a woman holding a sign
And she’s shouting like she’s out of her mind
Never questioning what she hears
She believes these Con con con Conman conspiracies
The last word goes to Monk Turner:
I don’t think anyone can catalog them all, but I find it amusing to remind the dupes of the former guy’s Nitwit Brigade of some of their past loony pronouncements. Like today, asking them why they aren’t celebrating the conviction of Enrique Terrio and the other secret antifa cosplaying “tourists.”
DeSantis looks like his candidacy is going to blow up on the launch pad, but it’s possible he’ll bob up again in the backwash. When he becomes the flavor of the month again, remind the Nitwit Brigade that they once thought he was a Soros plant. Fun for the entire family.