Liberalism’s tragic descent into paranoia and conspiracy theories
This funny line is from The Rise of BlueAnon: How the Democrats Became a Party of Conspiracy Theorists, a forthcoming book by the political writer David Harsanyi.
The Rise of BlueAnon is one of the most important political books of the decade. It’s also one of the saddest, exploring how a once-great Democratic Party has become infected with paranoia and conspiracy theories. Harsanyi, a columnist for the Washington Examiner, calls these new liberal crazies “BlueAnon.” They are the left-wing version of QAnon, the crazy far-right conspiracy nuts. Thus, there’s no real difference between conspiracy guy Alex Jones and Russiagate hoaxer Rachel Maddow.
Harsanyi argues that while QAnon is a fringe phenomenon, BlueAnon has entered the mainstream of American culture through media, universities, and the internet. It has also become a dangerous threat to the future of American democracy.
“Over the past decades,” Harsanyi observes, “the American left and its institutions have mainstreamed a unique brand of political paranoia. The modern Democratic Party’s policy prescriptions—even what it views as our most pressing societal problems—are increasingly tethered to groundless or sensationalized anxieties, myths, revisionist histories, pseudoscientific alarmism, and outright lies.
“BlueAnon has created an environment that justifies authoritarianism,” Harsanyi concludes. “If stopping the opposition is the only way to protect the foundations of ‘democracy’ and the future of the planet, then surely anything one does to prevail can be rationalized and justified,” which he calls “extraordinarily dangerous.”
How did this happen? in his groundbreaking book, Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism, James Piereson argues that until the 1960s, liberalism was the sane and rational philosophy. It stood against the paranoia and conspiracy theories of the Right, which murmured about communists behind every bush and fluoride in the water. Liberalism was competent, patriotic, anti-communist, sane, and rational. In fact, the far Left often criticized liberalism for being too blandly reasonable.
When Kennedy was killed, Piereson argues, liberalism changed. Unable to accept that Kennedy was a martyr to the Cold War and had in fact been murdered by communists, liberals blamed Kennedy’s death on America itself. Liberalism as a coherent philosophy began to crumble, replaced by the New Left. The New Left was paranoid, conspiratorial, and anti-American. It is that Left that now runs the Democratic Party.
The greatest hits of the last few years are all in The Rise of BlueAnon: Russiagate, the denial that Hunter Biden’s laptop was real, the false claims about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) “banning books” in Florida.
Not in the book because they are so recent are the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump that took place in July. Crazy beliefs that it was staged flooded the internet almost as soon as the suspect opened fire. One person shared an old photo of Trump and claimed it was new. “The top part of his ear grew back,” reads one X post that received approximately 40,000 likes and 13,200 shares. Another X post from the time reads, “This image of Trump was taken today. There is absolutely nothing wrong with his ear, and it has zero damage, FROM A BULLET. Everything about Trump is a con or a grift.” It received around 26,000 likes and 8,600 shares.
What makes The Rise of BlueAnon so useful is that Harsanyi’s tone is not that of the admonishing conservative setting out to “own the libs.” His writing is understated and regretful. Harsanyi wants liberalism to return to sanity.
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He notes that polls consistently find that more Democrats see their fellow citizens as enemies. One 2023 Axios poll “found that 61 percent of Democrats view the average Republican as racist, sexist, and bigoted. Far more Democrats contend that they would be disappointed if a family member married someone in the opposing party. Nearly a quarter of college students wouldn’t be friends with someone who voted for the other presidential candidate—with Democrats far more likely to dismiss people than Republicans.” Seventy-one percent of Democrats wouldn’t go on a date with someone with opposing views, versus 31% of Republicans.
It’s not healthy for a major political party or for America to be home to this kind of craziness.
Mark Judge is an award-winning journalist and the author of The Devil’s Triangle: Mark Judge vs. the New American Stasi. He is also the author of God and Man at Georgetown Prep, Damn Senators, and A Tremor of Bliss.
