A senior writer at the liberal explainer site Vox got the left and right to unite in laughter and mockery, as they dunked on his claim that Democrats have nothing like QAanon and have done better with their conspiracy “nuttery.”
“Conspiracy theories typically flourish among parties out of power,” Zach Beauchamp tweeted on Thursday. “Yet Democrats mostly contained the Louise Mensch-style nuttery while a QAnon devotee is going to Congress.”
Beauchamp was referring to a Republican candidate for Congress who just won a primary and was an admitted fan of the vague, pro-Trump conspiracy movement. It did not take long for pundits from all over the political spectrum to point out the stunning lack of self-awareness at work.
“A supermajority of Democrats state the belief that Russia tampered with voting machines to install Trump in power. That is a classic conspiracy theory and it’s 100 [percent] mainstream,” noted journalist Michael Tracey.
A supermajority of Democrats state the belief that Russia tampered with voting machines to install Trump in power. That is a classic conspiracy theory and it’s 100% mainstream. But keep making yourself feel superior by pointing and laughing at QAnon crankshttps://t.co/YEIWmXADZg
Grayzone reporter Aaron Mate simply posted a photo of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow with one of her headlines reading “Russians May Be Controlling Our Government.”
https://t.co/AmNHA5OnJ7pic.twitter.com/oOqOOfWop2
Sean Davis, publisher of the conservative Federalist, also offered some screenshots of Russiagate madness.
“Democrats mostly contained the Louise Mensch-style nuttery” https://t.co/WDvtbTKIuZpic.twitter.com/uDN7C4AWLu
Conspiracy theories “have been fully mainstream in liberal precincts,” noted Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept in a thread, pointing out that Mensch was featured in the New York Times and praised by leading liberal voices on cable TV. He called Beauchamp’s claim “complete historical revisionism.”
Claiming that Louise Mensch — along with similarly deranged conspiracy theorists like Eric “Game Theory” Garland and Seth Abrahmson — were relegated to the fringes by decent liberal society is complete historical revisionism:https://t.co/QYMlf5IEAX
Many ordinary netizens replied to Beauchamp’s tweet along the same lines, bringing up the Steele dossier – the notorious fabrication funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign that birthed Russiagate and was used by the FBI to spy on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“Russian collusion dominated our political discourse for over 3 years, every day,” said one user.
“Please tell me this statement is meant to be satire,” said another, adding that Democrats have been working off “deliberately engineered conspiracy theories given credence by a party controlled press” ever since Trump got elected.
The New York Times editorial board did argue Wednesday that the newest Senate Intelligence Committee report proved Russiagate was basically true.
The simplicity of the scheme has always been staring us in the face: Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign sought and maintained close contacts with Russian government officials who were helping him get elected https://t.co/tjHIEwogfe
“Nothing is our fault. People like us. The Russians did it. We don’t have to change a thing,” is how another comment described the beliefs of Democrats, calling conspiracy nuttery “the defining feature of the party.”
Others pointed out that, while Mensch may have been quietly sidelined in recent months, other Russiagate pushers are still on air, and have even been promoted, so the notion they have somehow been “contained” is ridiculous.
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