Did Lane, Garrison, and Stone, et al., help put Trump in the White House?

[Tom Graves]

Sorry, you're making connections that don't add up. A Gallup poll from 2023 shows that the percentage of Americans who believe there was a conspiracy has actually gone *down* over the past few years. It was much higher before particularly in the 1990s. I suspect the Stone movie was behind most of that rise. And 1973 was the peak for conspiracy belief. I suspect the Vietnam War, Watergate and the revelations about CIA abuses (the "Family Jewels") caused that. Sure, anti-government views and conspiracy belief are probably linked, go hand-in-hand. But I don't think the conspiracy charlatans were the cause of that. Or Moscow either.

So if you believe conspiracy promotion by Lane, Garrison et al. has contributed to greater anti-government views by the public we should have had an outsider, a Trump like person, elected president in the 1990s? That didn't happen.

Yes, Moscow was involved, not only in spreading and encouraging "The CIA Did It" JFKA CTs, but stuff like "HIV/AIDs was created by the evil, evil CIA," "The rock cocaine epidemic in 'The Ghetto' was caused by the evil, evil CIA," and "One of the main reasons for the Vietnam War was so the evil, evil CIA could make a lot of money trafficking in opium / heroin"?

Regardless, what about the 2016 election, itself?

You don't think the Kremlin was instrumental in Trump's "victory"?

Some people think Putin-loving Mike Flynn is "Q".

Seems plausible to me.

[Tom Graves]

If you believe conspiracy promotion by Lane, Garrison, et al., has contributed to greater anti-government views by the public, we should have had an outsider, a Trump-like person, elected president in the 1990s.

The JFKA is "The Mother of all Conspiracy Theories," and it gave impetus to others that came later, wouldn't you agree?

I mean, I mean, I mean (to use a James DiEugenio turn of phrase) can you think of a larger, more influential one?

Geraldo didn't show the stolen copy of the Zapruder film on national TV until 1975.

These things take time.

How about voter apathy?

Has the percentage of eligible voters who actually vote been rising, falling, or staying the same over the past 61 years?