Candace Owens, Real Conspiracy Theorist

Conspiracy thinking is as old as politics. The state names an enemy inside its own house — real or invented — and uses the accusation to discipline or crush dissent (e.g. McCarthyism, the Palmer Raids, the Alien and Sedition Acts). The suspicion travels downward. This is not a “culture” though. It’s a reflex of power, and every government has reached for it at one time or another.