Many of them have tried to capitalize cynically or sincerely – how to know? – on the “democracy of the gullible” which began to point its nose in the 2010s. Applications as diverse as that of a François Asselineau or a Florian Philippot failed miserably as soon as they sought to federate the voices conspiracy in France. Other figures have stopped in the same way on the difficulty of giving an electoral body to representations of the world, however common on social networks.
As such, the journey of Martine Wonner, who was first deputy La République en Marche and sank on the occasion of the Pandemic of Covid, is exemplary. Easily, in 2017, of the 4ᵉ district of Bas-Rhin, it was swept away with only 5.38 % during the next election as soon as it came to a conspiratorial coming out. The case of Olivier Rohaut is no less uninteresting because it could not gather more than 4 % of the voters when it had been one of the historical figures of the yellow vests. A remarkable social movement but one of the characteristics of which was to be self-propelled: all the leaders who emerged from it were discredited almost immediately, and sometimes in a violent way, by the very people who had propelled them to the summits of the notoriety . These people broke their teeth because these audiences are reluctant – by nature – to the ambition in general and to those who seek power in particular.
Elite more or less imaginary
However, we would learn too rapid if, from the above, we concluded that conspiracy stories are always harmful to those who seek power. It is at least a blatant counterexample: that of Donald Trump. Why did the 47th President of the United States have not been swallowed by the autophagic jaw of the beliefs he promotes? It is all the more surprising that it is not his first mandate: he exercised power. Consequently, Derechef, how is it that his presidency did not discredited him as a hero of conspiracy?
The answer is that he managed to make believe that he was not really in power, or, more precisely, that we prevented the exercise of his mandate when the people had chosen him. Who then? The deep state. What is it? This term, which has been used in many ways in the history of the 20th century, has become a standard for conspirators who imagine that power is, in fact, administered by a secret hierarchy composed in particular by civil servants who are not subject to political alternation. Although the leaders can change, this caste would perpetuate its power over time. Donald Trump and his supporters made it a leitmotif. He found an explanation for all his failures and thus diverted the anger that has gripped in the conspirators against all those who exercise power. The staging of a more or less imaginary elite is a good mirror with larks. Trump also made the fight against this secret and malicious state his electoral workhorse, drawing inspiration from the recommendations of the “2025 project” of the very conservative Heritage Foundation. Many of the decrees taken up by Trump since January are in fact the staging of the fight against the supposed grip of this deep state.
External enemy
Under these conditions, the 47th president may long make believe that he is not really in power when he continues, on the contrary, to exhibit in the face of a dumbfounded world Libido Dominandi ? Perhaps not, but there are many ammunition to continue manipulating the conspirators, for example by transmuting this supposed “inner enemy” into an external enemy.
Thus, we saw him decide sanctions against members of the International Criminal Court which makes a good provisional scarecrow. There is more: he also ordered the declassification of the assassination of the assassination of John F. Kennedy when 65 % of Americans declare that they do not join the official version – yet another bone to be gnawing for conspirators. The rope may wear out after a while but recognize that it skillfully uses the lark mirror.
Gérald Bronner is a sociologist and professor at the Sorbonne University.
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