[Tuesday afternoon I will be in London on a panel at the NIESR, with Roger Farmer.]
My views are much more consistent than people assume. I now have almost the exact same view of Trump, and Trump voters, as I had 6 months ago. Commenters often think they spot inconsistencies, because they read more into a post than is actually there. (No, I never said Trump = Hitler).
One area where I am especially consistent is in my skepticism of conspiracy theories, concocted by both the left and the right. I always thought that right wing conspiracy theories of Obama being born in Kenya, or secretly being a Muslim, were utter nonsense (in the latter case I’d add that it wouldn’t matter if he were a secret Muslim.) I don’t believe that global warming is a Chinese conspiracy (as Trump claims–or used to claim). Nor do I believe any of Trump’s other nutty conspiracy theories. BTW, a president with his finger on the nuclear trigger who believes bizarre conspiracy theories? What could go wrong?
I am also skeptical of talk of widespread cheating in elections, which the right uses to justify tighter voting regulations (and which tend to reduce minority turnout.)
Unfortunately, now you have Paul Krugman engaging in the same sort of conspiracy theorizing as he used to mock:
And this:
To his credit, he doesn’t say the conspiracy theories are necessarily true, but he gives them far more credence than they deserve.
Of course this stuff has a long history in American politics. When I was young, people frequently claimed that Nixon lost in 1960 because Mayor Daley delivered lots of phony votes to Kennedy. This is simply a lie. Not that there wasn’t cheating in Chicago, but rather the claim that this is why Nixon lost. He would have lost the election even if he had carried Illinois.
Conspiracy theories almost always turn out to be false. When conspiracies do occur (the 1972 break in at the Watergate Hotel, the 1991 Russian coup attempt, the recent Turkish coup attempt) they tend to be clumsy and ineffective. All three ended up hurting the plotters. It would be very foolish for one political party to try to steal a national election. The conspiracy would have to involve lots of people, and when that occurs the secret almost always leaks out. It would end up hurting the party that attempted to steal the election far more than the other party.
HT: Caroline Baum