This page is part of a resource collection on far right extremism.

Books

Thomas Milan Konda: Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America.

Anna Merlan: Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power.

Ryan M. Milner & Whitney Phillips: You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape.

Russell Muirhead & Nancy L. Rosenblum: A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy.

Kathryn S. Olmsted: Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11.

Joseph M. Parent & Joseph Uscinski: American Conspiracy Theories.

Joseph Uscinski:

• Conspiracy Theories: A Primer.
• Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them.

Recovering from Conspiracy Theories

Bristol Cable: The Conspiracist in Recovery: A short documentary.

Marlene Halser: Immune therapy against conspiracy myths: Extremism is booming and, in many countries, threatening democracy. The good news is that you can train resistance to propaganda and disinformation.

Right Wing Conspiracy Theory News: 2024

January 5.   Mack Lamoureux: It’s Not Even a Week Into 2024 and There’s a School Shooting Conspiracy: Conspiracy theorists think that a shooting that killed a sixth grader was really a coverup to protect Democrats from the recent Jeffrey Epstein revelations.

January 9.   Anna Merlan: Hidden Passageway Beneath New York Chabad Building Drives Chaos and Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories: As “tunnelgate” circulates on Twitter, the far right and the broader conspiratorial universe seize on an irresistible combination of words.

February 6.   Tess Owen: The ‘God’s Army’ Convoy Was an Unholy Union of the Far Right: The rallies at the U.S.-Mexico border drew a mix of Christian nationalists, MAGA influencers, Jan. 6 rioters, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and paramilitary groups.

February 6.   Tess Owen: Tennessee Man Plotted to Bring Guns and Explosives to the Border, FBI Says: The grievances and conspiracy theories that motivated the man’s violent plot are the same ones that brought the “God’s Amy” convoy to the southern border last week.

February 9.   Odette Yousef: The border crisis is helping to mainstream a dangerous conspiracy theory.

February 21.  Payton Armstrong: Alabama Supreme Court chief justice spreads Christian nationalist rhetoric on QAnon conspiracy theorist’s show.

February 24.   Ben Goggin: Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies.

March 6.   David Gilbert: He Promoted an Election Conspiracy Film. Now He’s Headed for Congress. Brandon Gill, a far-right 2020 election denier who helped promote the debunked 2000 Mules film, just won his Texas primary.

March 15.   David Gilbert: New Far-Right Conspiracy Claims Boeing’s Accidents Are Intentional:Following a series of incidents involving the company’s planes, some conspiracists are baselessly alleging that Boeing is failing on purpose as part of a global plot to bring down Western civilization.

March 27.   Tess Owen: Online conspiracy circles galvanize to proclaim Baltimore bridge collapse a ‘black swan event’: The phrase, which conspiracy theorists use to describe public distractions from nefarious plots, was trending online following the collision.

March 27.   Anna Merlan: Transvestigation: What to Know About the Bizarre and Transphobic Conspiracy Theory.

April 5.   David Gilbert: The Solar Eclipse Is the Super Bowl for Conspiracists: Far-right conspiracy theorists are claiming that “elites” will use the eclipse to control humanity, sway the presidential election, and everything else under the sun.

May 31.   Tom Dreisbach: Publisher of ‘2,000 Mules’ election conspiracy theory film issues apology.

July 14.   NPR: Conspiracy theories surge following the assassination attempt on Trump.

July 23.   Brandy Zadrozny: How the ‘second shooter’ conspiracy theory spread after the Trump assassination attempt: The FBI says the gunman acted alone, and the Secret Service says there’s no evidence of a second shooter. That hasn’t stopped the speculation online.

July 23.   Matt Shuham: QAnon Broke Families Apart. One Journalist Spent Years Documenting The Fallout. Jesselyn Cook’s “The Quiet Damage” offers an intimate portrait of conspiracy theory believers ― and loved ones desperate for answers.

July 28.   Eli Saslow: Racked by Pain and Enraptured by a Right-Wing Miracle Cure: With Patriot Party News, Michael Chesebro found a sense of community, and a place where conspiracy theories could become real in the form of the “medbed.”

August 1.   Jordan Green: Texas sheriffs engage conspiracy theorist who created Trump enemies ‘target list’.

August 7.   Isaac Stanley-Becker & Beth Reinhard: JD Vance in texts with far-right figure: Profane and off-the-cuff. Private messages show Trump’s running mate entertaining conspiracy theories and scorning the late Sheldon Adelson.

August 7.   Isaac Stanley-Becker & Beth Reinhard: JD Vance in texts with far-right figure: Profane and off-the-cuff. Private messages show Trump’s running mate entertaining conspiracy theories and scorning the late Sheldon Adelson.

August 8.   Ben Makuch: Far-right online attacks against Tim Walz focus on conspiracy theory: Users of online platforms spread conspiracy theory that he changed Minnesota flag to mimic Somalia’s.

August 8.   Anna Merlan: Can Elon Musk Really Sue People for Not Wanting to Be Seen With Him? A lawsuit claims that corporate advertisers avoided X as part of a vast left-wing conspiracy.

Older News

Hannah Allam: Jan. 6 papers detail infighting, ‘chaos’ among extremist organizers: Newly released documents zoom in on the role of far-right militants and conspiracy theorists.

Shane Burley: Book Review: Jewish Space Lasers. The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories.

Elaina Plott Calabro: A Star Reporter’s Break With Reality: Lara Logan was once a respected 60 Minutes correspondent. Now she trades in conspiracy theories that even far-right media disavow. What happened?

Marlene Halser: Immune therapy against conspiracy myths: Extremism is booming and, in many countries, threatening democracy. The good news is that you can train resistance to propaganda and disinformation.

Christopher Mathias: The ‘Perfect Anti-Semitism’ Of Tucker Carlson’s Latest Trip To Hungary: The Fox Nation host goes all-in on the white supremacist conspiracy theory that George Soros is waging “demographic war — on the West.”

Cynthia Miller-Idriss:

• Tucker Carlson is the No. 1 champion of this leading far-right conspiracy. How Tucker Carlson revived and supercharged the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy.
• The racist theory that allegedly motivated the Buffalo shooter suspect, explained: The conspiracy theory is so powerful because it can easily be directed toward any demographic group seen as a threat to white people.

David Neiwert: Trump’s meltdown on Truth Social rips away façade as he embraces QAnon conspiracy theories.

Tess Owen:

• Neo-Nazis and the Far-Right Are Trying to Hijack Pro-Palestine Protests: Neo-Nazis are showing up at protests in an attempt to push antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes into the mainstream.
• ‘Get Armed While You Can’: Far-Right Midterm Rhetoric Has Experts Alarmed: Conspiracy theories about election fraud, some being pushed by influential Republicans, have experts worried about the possibility of political violence.