The Made-Up Conspiracy

Jonathan Rauch: “Above all, the Republicans’ challenge is part of an information-warfare campaign. They are using a classic propaganda tactic that might be called ‘conspiracy bootstrapping.’ First, you introduce a false idea, spreading it by every available means. Then, once people are talking about it, and some believe it, you cite its prevalence as evidence that it might be true—an epistemic sleight-of-hand by which propaganda validates itself.”