57 % of republicans still believed that Bidens election was illegitimate in August 2023. These are Trump’s hard core of voters. To win the next election, Trump had to maintain the support from these conspiracy theory believers. But the number of conspiracy theory believers would not be large enough to win an election by focusing solely on them. See chapter 10 for tactics used to win the middle ground voters.
By sending repeated messages that the investigation after the Capitol Siege was a “witch hunt” and that the convicted felons were “hostages” and “political prisoners” Trump sends a message of support to the conspiracy theory believers. At the same time he can to distance himself publicly and legally from the attempt to overthrow a legal election. For the ones that are not in the hard core of conspiracy theory believers, these meme phrases may be explained away as jokes. And it is ok to not be politically correct and boring.
Some of the undecided are interested in politics, but disagree with both of the big parties. But many of the middle ground are people who sit on the fence and have not decided where to cast their votes. Many of them are probably not politically interested. They do not use a lot of energy searching for verifiable or falsifiable facts, or checking the fact content. Some memes trying to slander talks to this group. The slander memes spread slander without basis in facts or reality. But the slander normally contains the dramatic story of people who has a personality that represents a risk. If your main information about politics and about a politician is that she or he is an immoral “crook” or “communist”, maybe you believe it ? No smoke without a fire ?
The memes that are used by the alt-right refer to conspiracy theories and other wandering stories. The word meme originates from the greek word mimime, meaning to imitate.
A meme is a short piece information in form of an idea, phrase or short text, image or video or combination of the mentioned, that is spread from person to person. The child rhyme “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” is a meme.
Before the Internet, memes were spread by leaflets, pamphlets and posters. Memes today spread mainly peer to peer or on social media platforms on the Internet. These ways of spreading messages have in common that there is no fact check.
Memes are easy to replicate and spread easily. They can be spread and shared with a click or two. Memes are easy to remember because of their short message. The combination of image/text make a conceptual link that make them them stick to your brain.
Memes can be spread to millions of people in short time.
The majority of memes are not political. Most memes are innocent and fun. Since memes contains an idea, they normally refer to a context.
They can be used to spread meaning. Memes are ideal for spreading conspiracy theories. Memes used by the extreme right often refer to conspiracy theories.
We are more likely to share memes consistent with our political views. Therefore the use of memes can form epistemic bubbles or social media echo chambers.
Social media platforms have become important news agents. Half of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get news from social media platforms.
Oxfords Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has found that social media has replaced TV news and news websites as the top way Americans get their news. Thie includes right wing influencers like Joe Rogan. One-fifth of Americans said they had come over “news and commentary” from Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguation. Thereof a disprortionate number of young men.
Right extreme memes refer to conspiracy theories, urban legends and other wandering stories
Memes can be used to refer to conspiracy theories and other bogus stories. You just need to hint to the story, because everybody who have heard the story will immediately understand what you mean.
Conspiracy theories, urban legends and other wandering stories give memes a context to relate to. When you see the meme, you associate back to the story you heard before.
A “dog whistle” is a message that sounds relatively harmless to most people but carries a hidden meaning for a specific group. It often refers to ideas or beliefs that only people in that group will recognise, while others won’t notice the deeper meaning. Just like a high-pitched dog whistle is only heard and instantly recognised by a dog. Memes can be used to reference conspiracy theories and other false stories. A simple hint is often enough, as anyone familiar with the story will immediately understand the reference.
Certain phrases or symbols might be used as a meme that appears harmless but carry a specific, often controversial, meaning within a certain group. For instance, the letters “AH” symbols Adolf Hitler within Neo-nazi groups, and the letters “HH” or numbers “88” is used as a code for “Heil Hitler”. In this way memes can give one meaning to the unaware general public and another to the hard core conspiracy believers. This allows for the spread of controversial messages and false impressions without facing legal consequences and public criticism.
Memes can also be used to spread disinformation by presenting symbols of controversial stories in a way that appears harmless or innocent, allowing them to circulate widely and subtly influence perceptions. Nazism is forbidden in Germany and Austria, but everybody knows what “HH” means. Or the memes can plant and strengthen stereotypes, by the combination of text and image or a video. Memes contain only short texts that contains little verifiable or falsifiable information. They can easily be easily be explained away as jokes.
The “Red pill” is a meme stemming from the movie “Matrix”, where the lead character Neo was given the option to take the red pill. The red pill would make him to understand what was actually occurring outside the illusion created by the Matrix.
The red pill to “see through” is used within right-wing movement. It symbolises “awakening”, meaning embracing the conspiracy theory world view.
Chapter 13 shows how the “Red pill” meme was referred to by one of the Norwegian Neo-nazi terrorists, describing his “awakening”.
“The Kraken”
“The Kraken” is a meme that refers to the “stop the steal” conspiracy theory.
The memes referring to conspiracy theories make an ideological foundation for the hard core of conspiracy believers, who carried out the attempt to overthrow the legal election 6. January 2020.
“The Kraken” is a sea monster from old folklore. BBC reports that it has been widely used and shared as a meme by Pro-Trump groups, including Q-Anon conspiracy theorists, using the hashtag #ReleaseTheKraken.
BBC describes how Sidney Powell, who was part of Donald Trumps legal team, described the court case she was building as “Kraken”. When it was released, it would destroy the case for Democrat Joe Biden having won the presidency.
BBC tells some of the details. “Once the documents, almost 200 pages of them, were released, it became clear they consisted predominantly of conspiracy theories and unfounded allegations that have already been widely debunked.”
Some of these claims have already been rejected in court cases, while others – such as accusations that voting machines are part of a plot originating under former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez – are not backed up with any credible evidence.”
As referred in chapter 7, former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died in 2013.
“Hillary, go to jail”
The “Hillary go to jail” meme refers to the “pizza gate” conspiracy theory, which falsely claims that the leaked emails show Clinton and other prominent members of the democratic party involving in child abduction and abuse.
The meme “Hillary go to jail” appears to be referring to Hillary Clinton being extremely careless with email communication when she was Secretary of State. This is a security break, but on the surface not an accusation of a serious crime. But to the believers of the widespread “pizza gate” conspiracy theory, Clintons leaked emails would be a “dog whistle”, indicating involvement in child abduction and abuse.
Donald Trump claimed that “Hillary Clinton should be in jail”, as quoted from The Independent. The meme about Clinton being a criminal refers to the Pizza gate conspiracy theory that was circulating at the same time, and that slandered Hillary Clinton as one of the “perpetrators” in the absurd story about child abuse.
It started in Hillary Clinton using a private email account for official information. BBC describes the facts: The account was hacked by Wikileaks, who leaked Clintons emails. Among them were emails from Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta. The owner of the Comet pizza restaurant, James Alefantis, appeared in Podesta’s emails. Alefantis, who never met Clinton, was mentioned in the emails from Podesta because he raised funds in support of the Clinton campaign.
BBC reports how this emails became the” “Pizza gate” conspiracy theory. 4 chan, a message board linked to Alt-right, neo-Nazi, groups and conspiracy theories, began posting speculation and supposed connections gleaned from internet searches. They trawled Alefantis’ Instagram feed for pictures of children and the modern art which lines his restaurant’s walls, and dreamt up a paedophile sex ring involving prominent politicians and political donors. More about the falsified Pizza gate conspiracy theory is described in chapter 4. Chapter 5 describes how a similar conspiracy theory was published in the propaganda of the old german nazi party NSDAP.
BBC explains how the Pizza gate conspiracy theory spread on Twitter under the hashtag “Go Hillary” and spread to the top list, with 300 000 tweets a day using the hashtag.
The “Illegal immigrants brought to vote” meme alligns with “great replacement” conspiracy theory
BBC cites Donald Trump saying in the presidential debate with Kamala Harris that “Our elections are bad, and a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote”. “They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in, practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them into our country” Trump said, according to NPR News.
The “Great replacement” conspiracy theory is spread among the extreme right, that falsely claims that elites intentionally plot to replace the white population of Western countries with non-white immigrants. Trump said: “They’re allowing these people into our country to get them to vote,” which is in alignment with this conspiracy theory.
Even though it is allready is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, Donald Trump and GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., claimed to tout legislation to stop something that is already illegal in America: noncitizens voting in federal elections. These media stunts put the attention of the non existing illegal voting, but Trumps claims a deliberate attempt from “these people” to let illegal immigrants into the country so that they can vote.
BBC has identified more than 100 paid advertisements on Facebook and Instagram posted by Republicans since the start of September focusing on the issue.
Brennan Center for Justice have fact checked the claim and states that “That’s false. A lie. An urban myth. Even suspected — not proven — noncitizen votes accounted for just 0.0001 percent of the votes cast.”
The recurring meme portraying Kamala Harris as the “Border Tsar” falsely suggests that she has had total control over U.S. border policy, implying she could singlehandedly stop immigration from Latin America but has not. This narrative resonates strongly with conspiracy theorists, particularly those who subscribe to ideas like the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. It aligns with their belief that government leaders are intentionally failing to protect borders to promote demographic change.
MSNBC describes how the great replacement conspiracy theory has been promoted by republican politicians and FOX news anchor Tucker Carson, and that this theory has been motive for mass shootings in Buffalo, Pittsburgh and El Paso. According to MSNBC, 1/3 of adult Americans believe in this conspiracy theory.
Hurricanes and conspiracy theories
Newsweek reports that Republican Congress Representative Majorie Taylor Greene stated in connection with Hurricane Helene that someone is controlling the weather, calling “them” “outrageous.
Greene said: “Yes they can control the weather,” Greene wrote on X last week, after Hurricane Helene swept across the Southeastern U.S., killing at least 227 people. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”
She then posted an image of Helene overlaid on an electoral map, suggesting that the hurricane’s path had been intentionally set in motion to target Republican-leaning counties. The map appeared to have been created by Matt Wallace, a crypto influencer and conspiracy theorist with over 2 million followers on X.“, Newsweek writes.
Section 10 describes other falsified stories following hurricanes “Helene” and “Milton”