When future scholars write the history of the administration of Donald Trump, he may end up being called among many other things the conspiracy theorist president. Trump famously began his ascent to power with the false and racist birther claim that Barack Obama was not really an American.
Trump and his followers have also legitimized bizarre conspiracy theories against Hungarian American financier and philanthropist George Soros. It now appears continued attacks toward Soros will be a part of the presidents re-election campaign.
Soros has been a punching bag for authoritarians, anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists around the world since 1992, when he became famous as The Man Who Broke the Bank of England by making more than US$1 billion by shorting the British pound.
Born in Budapest in 1930, Soros barely survived the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis. Living in New York City since 1956, he has combined a long career as a successful capitalist while doing philanthropy under the banner of his Open Society Foundations.
Attacks on Soros have circulated on the margins of mainstream politics for years, tinged with anti-Semitism and fuelled by half-truths and outright lies. Russia has always been at the heart of anti-Soros propaganda, and its now joined by China in promoting attacks, distortions and lies. Over the last few years, these conspiracies have entered mainstream debate in Hungary, Poland, Brazil and the United States.
The Trump movement attempted to scapegoat Soros as part of its Make America Great Again rhetoric. Trump supporters accused Soros, among other things, of supporting the caravan of migrants attempting to enter the United States from Central America, being behind the attacks on Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court nomination (a falsehood Trump himself tweeted about) and promoting an elitist globalist agenda that undermined American jobs and culture.
Most incredibly, in recent weeks Soros has been accused of paying Black Lives Matter protesters who demonstrated across the United States after the police killing of George Floyd.
Trump has major liabilities in his quest for re-election: his incompetent handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his polarizing opposition to protesters after the Floyd killing and the decline of the U.S. economy since the outbreak of COVID-19. Loss of support among suburban white women, members of the military elite and moderate Republicans are now a threat to his electoral prospects.
Attacking China, stoking nationalist resentments, uncritically defending the police, claiming economic competence and bashing Joe Biden will be Trumps major electoral strategy. But Republican attacks on Soros are also likely to circulate widely until the election.
Soros is a perfect foil to try to convince people that Trump stands for the average American. What better scapegoat than a wealthy, uber-liberal currency speculator who helped fund Obama and Hillary Clinton, supports abortion, gay and trans rights and gives generously to the electoral campaigns of liberal public defenders and prosecutors? In Trumpist rhetoric, Soros is soft on crime and promotes the values of cultural liberalism and global elites over the average American.
Soross history of supporting Palestinian rights and calling for a negotiated peace settlement created an opportunity for the White House to exploit. Rhetoric about big finance linked to a globalist Jewish philanthropist understandably concerns Jewish voters and others opposed to anti-Semitism, but anti-Soros rhetoric can unify evangelical Christian Zionists, pro-Israel Republicans, interventionist neo-conservatives and far-right extremists.
Attacking Soros is also part of a Trumpist appeal to conservative Black voters, now being led Candace Owens, a young media figure and Republican activist.
Prone to gaffes that expose her ignorance about history and politics, Owens has gained a massive online presence among far right-wing Trump supporters by directly challenging the mainstream Democratic Party narrative on racism, police violence and poverty in America. Shes also attacked George Floyds character. Whats more, Owens has spread anti-Soros paranoia online, giving it a cooler, hipper and younger flavour.
The core of the Trumpist scapegoating of Soros is an attempt to blame Soros for the Black Lives Matter protests and calls for defunding the police. The lie that Soros is paying for the protests that have swept through the United States and is promoting riots is deeply corrosive to American democracy.
Conspiracy theories work best when lies, exaggerations and paranoia are linked to real things in the world that can be distorted by spin. Soross recent pledge of US$220 million to support civil rights and racial equality groups like Black Voters Matter will add fuel to extremist fire.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson will play a major role in all this. During a recent segment on his show, former Missouri governor Eric Greitens attempted to link Soros to anti-police violence and made reference to a George Soros-funded prosecutor involved in the case of the couple in St. Louis who stood in front of their house with guns while anti-racism protesters marched on their street.
None of this is likely to save Trump from going down to an electoral defeat in November. While there are legitimate criticisms to be made of the role of billionaires like Soros in politics and economic life, the divisiveness of anti-Soros paranoia will take years to repair.
Read the original post:
How Donald Trump will try to scapegoat George Soros to win re-election - The Conversation CA
- North Korea Wants to Convince the World It Can Nuke Hawaii. Donald Trump Is Happy to Oblige. - The Intercept - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Does Donald Trump Have Dementia? - The Root - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump's peculiar obsession with authoritarian leaders - Chicago Tribune - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- 'South Park' Creators Skirt Donald Trump Next Season Because Monkey Running Into Wall Can't Be Made Funnier - Deadline - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump Has Been Lying About The Size Of His Penthouse - Forbes - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- This is the best news Donald Trump has had in a while - CNN - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- AFT President: Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump Are Dismantling Public Education - TIME - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- The Donald Trump Zone of Uncertainty shows up in the health-care debate - Washington Post - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump Predicts Mideast Peace Is 'Not As Difficult As People Have Thought' - Huffington Post - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Make America Great Again! | Donald J Trump for President - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Donald Trump Rage Tweets Against Media For Taking Seriously His Tweets - Deadline - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Roger Stone: I Hooked Up Nigel Farage With Donald Trump - Mother Jones - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Accused leaker Reality Winner called Trump an 'orange fascist' on Twitter - CNN International - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's Approval Rating Is Better Than Bill Clinton's at This Point in His First Term - Newsweek - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- London, Qatar, Donald Trump: Your Tuesday Briefing - New York Times - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Escalates Qatar Crisis - HuffPost - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- How Donald Trump Shifted Kids-Cancer Charity Money Into His Business - Forbes - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- No, Donald Trump doesn't have 110 million people following him on social media - Washington Post - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Donald Trump is the best 2020 recruiter Democrats could hope for - CNN - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- It's Time to Demand Donald Trump's Resignation - RollingStone.com - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- A brief history of Donald Trump's feud with Sadiq Khan, London's first Muslim mayor - Washington Post - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Donald Trump has a lot of feelings about fame - CNN - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Is Never to Blame - New York Times - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Donald Trump will do whatever it takes to distract you from the Comey hearing - CNN - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- President Trump's Approval Rating Hit Another New Low - TIME - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- The Potemkin Policies of Donald Trump - The Atlantic - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Jeff Sessions committed the one sin Donald Trump can't forgive - CNN - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- James Comey just went nuclear on Donald Trump - CNN International - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton and the true cause of Donald Trump's legitimacy crisis his own actions - Salon - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Proposes Covering Mexican Border Wall With Solar Panels - Futurism - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Tell Your Senators: Don't Let Donald Trump Take Our Cuba Policy Backwards - The Nation. - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Wrote a Cookbook - New York Times - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump is destroying America's standing in the world and may end up destroying the world - Salon - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Donald Trump hasn't tweeted in a very long time - CNN - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Experts: Trump's Comey Firing 'Possibly Lawful, But Awful' - NBCNews.com - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Karl Rove, Erick Erickson slam Donald Trump - Salon - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- The Real Scandal Is Still Russia - Slate Magazine - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- 5 times UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn slammed Donald Trump - Politico - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- 9 questions Donald Trump needs to answer at today's news conference - CNN - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- So is Donald Trump secretly recording conversations or not? - CNN - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Watch Donald Trump Throw Binders Full of Highway Environmental Reviews on the Floor - Slate Magazine (blog) - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- This week in Donald Trump's conflicts of interest: Kushner may have problems, but Trump's hotel raises lots of questions - Salon - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Donald Trump looks like Mussolini but can be overcome - Salon - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- This One Tweet May Lead to Donald Trump's Impeachment - National Review - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Fact Check: Donald Trump's Claims About Infrastructure - New York Times - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- The Worst of Donald Trump's Toxic Agenda Is Lying in Wait A Major US Crisis Will Unleash It - The Intercept - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Boy Scout James Comey is no match for Donald Trump - Washington Post - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Justice Department: Trump Can Take Payments From Foreign Governments - TIME - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Marc Kasowitz, Donald Trump's lawyer, has clients with Kremlin ties - The Denver Post - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Yes, Donald Trump is an incompetent buffoon but he's still a major threat to democracy - Salon - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Democrats bet on Trump in Virginia governor's race - Politico - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Will Donald Trump's anti-Muslim words on travel ban hurt his case? - USA TODAY - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's State Visit To The UK Now In Doubt - HuffPost - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Jr.: There's 'no ambiguity' in my father's orders - CNN - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Ivanka condemns Donald Trump's 'vicious critics' - BBC News - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Surrogate Lays Out POTUS Case For Sacking Special Counsel Robert Mueller - Deadline - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Russia, Theresa May, Donald Trump: Your Tuesday Briefing - New York Times - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump in Wonderland: Literally everything our president says and does reflects the opposite of reality - Salon - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Is Turning Young Voters Off the GOPand Maybe Forever - Daily Beast - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Trump's Own Tweets Help Kill His Government's Travel Ban, Again - Fortune - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's Approval Rating Sinks Further As Disapproval Hits Record High - Newsweek - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- When Jeff Sessions met Donald Trump: The origins of an alliance now strained - Washington Post - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump just held the weirdest Cabinet meeting ever - CNN - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Donald Trump to mayor of island sinking due to climate change: Don't worry about it! - Salon - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Trump son tweet connects shooting to NYC 'Julius Caesar' play - CNN - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Newt Gingrich, Donald Trump Jr. rush to blame Kathy Griffin and the left for baseball shooting - Salon - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Donald Trump's Biggest Mistake Might Have Been Getting Elected - Vanity Fair - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Congress Shooter Is Dead - TMZ.com - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Trump faces first big domestic moment - Politico - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Tiny mark on Melania Trump's birthday card to Donald Trump sparks wild theories - AOL - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Is Now Facing Three Emoluments Lawsuits - Slate Magazine - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Play Video - TIME - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Blocked Me on Twitter for Telling Him He's Not as Cool as Witches - Newsweek - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Senate passes Russia sanctions bill, pushing back against Trump - CNN - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Australian leader is on the hot seat for making fun of Donald Trump - Washington Post - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Flattery is Donald Trump's cocaine he's addicted to it - USA TODAY - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Moving to Scuttle Obama Legacy, Donald Trump to Crack Down on Cuba - New York Times - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Donald Trump doesn't get the special counsel investigation. And he's never going to. - CNN - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Memo to Donald Trump: The election ended 219 days ago. You won. - CNN - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Who in the White House Will Turn Against Donald Trump? - The New Yorker - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]