Epstein, QAnon, and the Conspiracist in Chief
The Mother Jones Podcast
Mother Jones
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2019
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Just hours after financier Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent death by suicide, President Donald Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory alleging the Clinton family’s involvement in killing the accused sex trafficker. So what better time to bring you this in-depth conversation with writer Anna Merlan, whose book "Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power" has only become more and more relevant as the conspiracist in chief amplifies yet another sinister lie. Merlan has spent years diving deep into the world of conspiracy theories. The result is a meticulously researched firecracker of a book, documenting incidents as early as the burning of ancient Rome, and as recently as the many conspiracy theories that bedeviled the 2016 election. Our assistant news editor Becca Andrews talked to Merlan to understand the roots of this increasingly powerful phenomenon, and discuss how inequality and racism beget conspiracy—and why empathy is important when writing about true believers.
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Mother Jones podcast. I'm Jimmy Licking in New York. |
| 0:04.4 | On today's show, the United... |
| 0:12.4 | On today's show, the United States of Conspiracy, the Maddening descent into a post-truth world. |
| 0:20.6 | From Jeffrey Epstein's recent death to Hillary Clinton's pizza parlor, conspiracies now define our national politics, |
| 0:28.0 | spread by the conspiracist and chief himself, Donald Trump. |
| 0:32.0 | Today, a chat with a journalist who tells us how conspiracy theories |
| 0:36.1 | have become more destructive than ever before. |
| 0:38.8 | We have created such efficient pipelines and it's hard for the pipelines to carry only fresh |
| 0:42.4 | water and not also |
| 0:43.4 | garbage and sewage. Why they're so enticing. I came to see conspiracy theories |
| 0:47.7 | as much more akin to religion that I had previously. And how the chaos of |
| 0:52.1 | Trump's presidency is making them deadly. |
| 0:55.0 | Stick around. |
| 0:57.0 | Jeffrey Epstein. That's a name you've probably heard a lot recently. He's the |
| 1:07.0 | billionaire hedge fund manager who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bill |
| 1:10.4 | Clinton and Donald Trump, all while allegedly trafficking and sexually |
| 1:15.1 | abusing young girls for decades. After one lenient prosecution back in 2008, and |
| 1:21.9 | then, more recently, the threat of a much harsher one |
| 1:25.0 | Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell over the weekend. |
| 1:28.7 | Jeffrey Epstein's death is raising troubling questions about how such a high profile suspect could apparently take his own life while in custody. |
| 1:37.0 | The cause of death? An apparent suicide. |
| 1:41.0 | But it's also raising some conspiracy theories. |
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