The Clinton Body Count to the QAnon Shaman: Conspiracy Theories in American Politics

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From the Clinton 'crime family' to businessman JP Morgan sinking the Titanic to kill off his rivals, conspiracy theories are rife on the internet. Dan Snow teams up with BBC journalist Gabriel Gatehouse, creator of hit The Coming Storm podcast, to unravel the journey of conspiracy theories from whispered suspicions to narratives that have shaped modern American politics. Beginning with the mysterious death of Vince Foster and Clinton-era controversies in the 1990s, this episode explores how conspiracy beliefs have embedded themselves in American culture, the psychological forces that drive people toward misinformation, and the deeper reasons these stories hold such power.

Gabriel's new book is called The Coming Storm.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's history hit. We are living in the age of conspiracy theories.
0:07.9	Whether it's the moon landings, the death of Jeffrey Epstein, COVID, Trump and the various assassination attempts made against him, Pizza Gate, P. Diddy, the Cambridges, you name it.
0:20.4	People have just lost trust in the media,
0:24.1	traditional institutions of education, the government, experts, and yes, even podcasts.
0:32.8	In 2023, there was a UGov poll, and it showed that a staggering 41% of Americans agreed that
0:38.8	there is, quote, a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world
0:44.8	together.
0:46.0	Frankly, folks, I wish that was true.
0:48.5	I think we'd be a lot less light to stumble into nuclear oblivion or climate breakdown if that
0:53.6	was in fact true.
0:55.4	We should be so lucky to have a single group of people ruling the world together.
0:59.1	Anyway, conspiracy theories have thrived in the post-in-net environment,
1:04.6	and we're all familiar with things like Q&ON and the role that conspiracy theories are playing
1:09.3	in the build-up to the American
1:10.9	election. One of the reasons we're so familiar with it is because of wonderful Gabriel
1:14.1	Gatehouse. He is a BBC journalist. He is responsible for the smash-hit podcast series,
1:18.9	The Coming Storm. He's got a new series of that out now. He's got a book out of the same name.
1:23.4	He is the man we need to help us navigate through this new world that we find herself living in.
1:28.2	There is no one better to chronicle this era, this era of conspiracy theorizing that we live in now.
1:36.1	Enjoy.
1:37.1	T-minus 10.
1:38.2	The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
	...

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