Discursive Weaponization of Populist Conspiracy Theories

Via widespread disinformation campaigns populist politicians have weaponized a range of conspiracy theories for their own gain in recent years, leading to disruption in contemporary politics. In the US Donald Trump promoted the Deep State conspiracy theory for appealing to his supporters to act in his defence. In Russia Vladimir Putin applied anti-Western conspiracy theories as a pretext for the invasion into Ukraine. In several Western European countries, the Eurabia conspiracy theory, has been activated for stoking actions against those that are deemed being dangerous others. Studies have found conspiracy theories to be a catalyst for extremism. The rapid rise of right-wing populist political parties coincided with the simultaneous increased spread of conspiracy theories. Populism has as now gone mainstream. It can thus be argued that we have entered into the era of the populist – the conspiratorial populist. Both conspiracy theories and populism are now deeply integrated into contemporary democratic politics. Studies have shown that being exposed to conspiracy theories decreases trust in government institutions. Thus, increased spread of CTs can undermine democracy and social trust. It is thus timely to explore how populists can weaponize contemporary conspiracy theories for their own political gain.