Following the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Donald Trump has added a new wrinkle to one of his baseless conspiracy theories.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
Republicans looooove a good conspiracy theory. In fact, they also love really bad ones… as long as they support whatever narrative Donald Trump has cobbled together.
One of the former president’s favorite conspiracy theories is the one where the Department of Justice (DOJ) is “weaponized” against him.
And that makes sense. Not only is his personal interest at stake, but, after largely getting away with crimes for decades (apart from sexual abuse, fraud, defamation, and a smattering of others), it must seem weird to Trump that, all of a sudden, accountability looms for a bunch of stuff he did in and out of the White House.
Who is to blame?
Certainly not the dude who attempted a coup, obstructed justice, falsified documents, hoarded classified materials, etc.
That’s why Trump invented the “weaponized justice system” conspiracy theory.
That certainly sounded plausible to his supporters, who barely heard about these indictments because Fox News “forgot” to cover them in depth. But, boy, did they cover the $#!+ out of that “weaponization” nonsense.
Like brave little Trump troopers, they even stuck with it when it became more and more implausible that DOJ was targeting Republicans.
For example, when DOJ decided not to charge Trump with the crime that he was later convicted of in state court; or when his congressional ally Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wasn’t charged after a sex trafficking investigation.
That’s not to say that DOJ did not prosecute high-profile politicians (or their family members)… like the president’s own son, a powerful Democratic senator, a senior House Democrat, and now the mayor of New York City who is, you guessed it, a Democrat.
In other words, if DOJ really were “weaponizing the justice system,” then it would be historically bad at it.
So, what to do if you are Trump or another right-wing conspiracy monger?
Easy enough: You simply pretend that some of these indictments are actually part of Biden’s nefarious “weaponization” plot.
Like that of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
See, according to this revised conspiracy theory, he was targeted for speaking out against the Biden administration’s immigration policies last year.
Is there any evidence for this? Nope.
Is there plenty of evidence to the contrary? Absolutely.
So, who would buy into such a baseless accusation? We give you one guess.
“I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them. And I said: You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year. And I was exactly right,” Trump said. “Because that’s what we have — we have people that use the Justice Department and the FBI at levels that have never been seen before.”
Of course, this conspiracy theory quickly made its way to Fox News and Maria Bartiromo, who suggested that the indictment is part of the DOJ’s imaginary “lawfare.”
Keep in mind that the indictment is the result of a lengthy investigation that began in 2021. To buy into this conspiracy theory, you’d have to believe that DOJ somehow anticipated that Adams would criticize Biden’s immigration policies a couple of years later. Then, to punish him, DOJ’s brilliant plan would have been to indict him right before an election in which New York plays a crucial role in deciding control of the House of Representatives.
That only sounds plausible to complete imbeciles or corrupt politicians trying to save their own skins… like Adams, who has used the conspiracy theory to cast doubt on the corruption charges.
That, in turn, will allow Fox News and the rest of the right-wing propaganda machine to now cover his statements as news.
And that, folks, is how the conspiracy theory machine works.
