[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-591884-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-591884-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","conspiracy-in-america-recognizing-and-confronting-assaults-on-our-democracy","Conspiracy in America - Recognizing and Confronting Assaults on Our Democracy","","Explores how fantastical conspiracy narratives—such as “Pizzagate,” “rigged elections,” “birtherism,” and “deep state”—turn political opponents into symbols of pure evil and drive demands to retaliate rather than deliberate. Traces how claims about stolen elections evolve from earlier messaging and become tools that distort institutions and enable intimidation and violence. Shows how conspiracy thinking spreads into classrooms by casting educators as covert actors and motivating efforts to microregulate teaching content, culminating in proposed “loyalty” requirements in state legislatures.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/conspiracy-in-america-recognizing-and-confronting-assaults-on-our-democracy/591884/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/conspiracy-in-america-recognizing-and-confronting-assaults-on-our-democracy/591884.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Mabel","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What purpose do conspiracy narratives serve in current American politics?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"They convert legitimate political opponents into embodiments of “pure evil,” making punitive action seem justified rather than requiring evidence-based evaluation.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the “rigged election” claim connect to efforts around election certification?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"An account links the stolen-election conspiracy charge to attempts by a former president to prevent certification of Electoral College votes, making conspiracy allegations a key enabling element.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How are educators and schools affected by conspiracy allegations?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Teachers are portrayed as members of a “deep state” cabal undermining national values, leading to demands for microregulation of what teachers say and proposed laws enforcing “loyalty” in classroom teaching.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},591884,1792307839,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":102,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7971474920318,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000ee537e6b0ca360?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1788430171632181674","Conspiracy inAmerica  \nRecognizing and Confronting Assaults on Our Democracy  \nSHAY HORSE / NURPHOTO VIA AP  \nBy Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum  \nW  \natching the spread of fantastical narratives like Pizzagate, which charges Hillary Clinton with running a child sex trafficking ring out ofa pizzeria in Washington, DC, we grew concerned. Although  \nthe story is outlandish, some believe it—such as Edgar Welch, who was sentenced to federal prison for firing his assault rifle in the pizzeria because he was sure children were being held captive in the basement.1 Many others did not take the conspiracy charge literally, but still eagerly shared it on social media. Why? Pizzagate converted a legitimate partisan opponent, Hillary Clinton, into someone who represents pure evil, so that the only appropriate action is to “lock her up.” This is one example of how today’s conspiracies assault democracy. These conspiracies—“rigged elections,” “birtherism,”and “deep state,” for instance—come from the Right, but there is nothing about conservatism or the Republican Party that makes the Right the natural or only carriers of conspiracism.  \nOur 2019 book, ALot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, is our effort to make sense of the startling appearance of conspiracy charges enveloping American politics. Here, we expand on that discussion of the ways  \nRussell Muirhead is the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics at Dartmouth College. He also serves in the New Hampshire StateHouse of Representatives. He is the author of The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age and Just Work, on the moral meaning of work in democracy. Nancy L. Rosenblumis the Senator JosephS. Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government emerita at Harvard University and coeditor of the Annual Review of Political Science. Her books include Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America and On the Side of the Angels: An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship. They are coauthors of ALot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy.  \nconspiracy allegations threaten our democracy, and we describe the essential role of educatorsin helping students learn to critically evaluate such claims.  \nThe most important example of current conspiracies is the“rigged election.” The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol provided a comprehensive account of the connection between the stolen election conspiracy charge and attempts by the former president to prevent the certification of the Electoral College votes in the 2020 election. Conspiracy charges were the necessary element in this, the first and only attempt in American history to prevent the peaceful, democratic transfer of power. Congresswoman Liz Cheney put it best:“Washington set the indispensable example of the peaceful transfer of power. What President Reagan called nothing less than a miracle. The sacred obligation to defend this peaceful transfer of power has been honored by every American president except one.”2  \nThe stolen election conspiracy charge of 2020 did not come out of the blue. Donald Trump invented“rigged” in 2016 to explain why he lost the popular vote and he resorted to it again in 2018 when his party lost control of the House. And it is alive today, stalking the upcoming elections of 2022 and 2024. It is motivating efforts in the states to rewrite—and corrupt—the administration of elections.3  \nConspiracy charges have distorted our politics and degraded the institutions that make our democracy work. The damage goes further, for they have also opened a path to threats, intimidation, and violence. And they know no bounds. Conspiracy charges spillover from Washington, DC, to state and local politics, workplaces, neighborhoods, and families and friends.  \nConspiracies have even come to the classroom. Like civil servants in federal agencies who are cast as members ofa “deep stat","cbCaid9B6hB7IgRs","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaid9B6hB7IgRs","pdf",589993,"English","# How today’s conspiracies assault democracy\n## Why conspiracies spread and distort politics\n## The stolen election narrative and its origins\n## Spillover into institutions, workplaces, and families\n## Conspiracies in the classroom and pressures on educators","[{\"question\":\"What purpose do conspiracy narratives serve in current American politics?\",\"answer\":\"They convert legitimate political opponents into embodiments of “pure evil,” making punitive action seem justified rather than requiring evidence-based evaluation.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the “rigged election” claim connect to efforts around election certification?\",\"answer\":\"An account links the stolen-election conspiracy charge to attempts by a former president to prevent certification of Electoral College votes, making conspiracy allegations a key enabling element.\"},{\"question\":\"How are educators and schools affected by conspiracy allegations?\",\"answer\":\"Teachers are portrayed as members of a “deep state” cabal undermining national values, leading to demands for microregulation of what teachers say and proposed laws enforcing “loyalty” in classroom teaching.\"}]","Conspiracy in America - Recognizing and Confronting Assaults on Our Democracy | PDF",1792073404,15]