Of course conspiracy theories have surfaced their ugly heads for generations but in the era of TFG and the internet, they have become more dangerous and unhinged than ever. Salon compiled some of this year’s most unhinged conspiracy theories that the most unhinged people believe and repeat.
- Voting as late as possible on Election Day will “stop the steal”
- Toni Shuppen, an ally of Doug Mastriano (Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate), tried to convince voters that if they voted late in the day on election day 2022, they would help “stop the steal” by overwhelming the system and preventing hackers from allegedly altering votes. Doug Mastriano lost the election and Josh Shapiro will become PA’s next governor. (Need a Kleenex, Penix?)
- This ‘brilliant’ plan also was also proposed in El Paso County, Colorado. The GQP county clerk said voters wanted to vote as late as possible in the day to “overwhelm the system” and “expose the algorithm.”
- In the minds of some of the most unhinged people in this country, voting late in the day would somehow “derail Democrats’ plans to commit fraud, since they wouldn’t be sure how many ballots they would need to win elections. “
- A campaign aid to Michael Peroutka, the Republican candidate for Maryland state attorney general, told rally attendees to o arrive at the polls in the last two hours before they close. “Vote on Nov. 8 as late in the day as possible. If everyone could stand in long, long lines at 6 o’clock, that would actually help us.”
- Peroutka lost the AG race to Anthony G. Brown, a three-term Democratic congressman and two-term lieutenant governor. Brown will become Maryland’s first black AG.
- The “great replacement” makes it to the mainstream
- The most unhinged of the unhinged believe that “liberal elites are deliberately driving high levels of immigration in order to “replace” white Americans — or even to kill them off.”
- Fox News’ Tucker Carlson had mentioned replacement theories more than 400 times on the air before the deadly mass shooting that killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket last May.
- Senator Ron Johnson, Rep. Lauren Boebert, and several U.S. Senate candidates in 2022 also endorsed the conspiracy theory to varying degrees,have also repeated this debunked and dangerous conspiracy theory.
- Adults who support equal rights and access to care for LGBTQ youth are “groomers”
- Fox News host Laura Ingraham claimed on her show, for example that public schools that accept or embrace gay, lesbian, bisexual, nonbinary and trans youth have become “grooming centers” where “sexual brainwashing” takes place.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, Christina Pushaw, tweeted:
- Then there’s this idiot:
- 4. The attack on Paul Pelosi was fake
- Far right ‘news’ outlets (Shitholes) and some GQPers suggested that the person who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi was his secret lover. Hey, it’s San Francisco afterall and in the warped minds of these unhinged individuals, everyone is gay.
- These conspiracy theories spiraled out of control after a local TV news reporter tweeted that the attacker was clad only in his underwear at the time of his arrest. The reporter later deleted the tweet after police said it was untrue.
