Profs & Pints DC: Conspiracy Entrepreneurs

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Conspiracy Entrepreneurs,” a look at how promoters of conspiracy theories have upended American politics and enriched themselves along the way, with Matthew Dallek, political historian and professor of political management at George Washington University’s College of Professional Studies.

Conspiracy theories have been staples of U.S. political culture since our nation’s earliest days, but the degree to which they influence today’s politics would have been tough for the founding fathers to imagine. The far right has used them especially effectively but hardly holds a monopoly on them. The leading independent party presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is best known for his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and many on the left espouse conspiracy theories of their own. Once confined to the fringes of politics, assertions that shadowy forces plot against us now permeate the political mainstream.

How did the United States become known globally for politics based…