As politics have become more divided over the past five years, conservative grifters have risen in position. Once nothing more than conspiratorial cranks, they are now major political actors. These individuals exist in prominence not because they are great intellectuals that offer philosophy unfound elsewhere, but opportunistic con-artists that inhabit a space created by societal shortcomings.
One of these grifters, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, tried to visit Eugene recently but, after being kicked out of five venues, found himself in a dilapidated country club in Creswell speaking about Critical Race Theory. While I enjoy seeing bigots run out of town, it is a temporary solution. They can only be removed from public discourse permanently by fixing the systemic harms that allow them to exist.
You should not view these grifters as ideological gladiators, but inconsequential con artists with a non unique platform. If Kirk disappeared he would be replaced by the weekend with another oil-industry funded shill spouting the same drivel.
Joseph Lowndes, a professor of political science at UO that specializes in right-wing populism, calls the messaging “episodic”: “Five years ago it was Sharia Law; now it’s Critical Race Theory. They recognize at the moment this is the winning strategy.”
This strategy is popular because it blends America’s love for conspiracy with fears for the future of the republic.
“Kirk is a savvy organizer,” Lowndes said. “He knows how to use rhetoric that will open the wallets of wealthy right wing donors and strike fear into the hearts of conservative voters.”
While the message changes often, it is irrelevant whether they truly believe it, for it brings in rich donors. Yet it also inspires violence among the supporters that buy into the propaganda.
On the same tour that left Kirk stranded in Eugene’s outskirts, a member of the crowd asked, “When do we get to use the guns; when do we get to kill these people?”
These grifters radicalized confused and angry Americans who felt left out of politics. They offer an appealing critique of society and a counternarrative that explains away the structural harms of the status quo. Of course, their critique is bullshit and relies on the same bigoted otherizing that conservative politics have used for a century, yet it still speaks to genuine populist complaints.
It is not wrong to point out that material conditions have been declining for years. The cost of living has increased 5.4% over the past 12 months according to the Bureau of Labor, while wages lag behind. For if the minimum wage rose with productivity since 1968 it would be $24 an hour today. Of course, the grifters offer no real solutions to their followers besides a new group to hate and a place to send donations.
However, they are the only cultural outlet for these widespread problems since 2016. When Hillary Clinton ran for president at the culmination of the eight year long liberal establishment under Obama and Pelosi, Americans still faced the same social and economic woes as they had when Obama took office. Nonetheless, less than 25% of Clinton’s ads mentioned any policy she would institute to fix these problems. This is not to be reductionist and ignore the stigma and sexism she faced, nor were the systemic issues uniquely hers to solve. Rather, to no small extent did the failure to address real societal problems allow for the mainstreaming of conspiracy narratives by grifters under the then unthinkable Trump administration.
The American Psychological Association’s Karen Douglas is adamant that conspiracy theories come from an “existential” fear: “They refer to people’s needs to be or to feel safe and secure.”
Thus, grifters are impossible to untangle from issues like unemployment, wages and healthcare.
“People who do feel powerless and disillusioned do tend to gravitate more towards conspiracy theories,” Douglas said.
These individuals and their dangerous rhetoric can not be removed by cultural shaming because it represents real societal discomfort. Conspiratorial carpetbaggers only exist because they inhabit a space created for them. If those in power actually addressed the issues with economic reconciliation then the grifters will be forced to move on.
If we continue to think of Charlie Kirk and the rest of the pseudo-fascist fleecers as nothing more than bigots that need to be banned from Twitter, in five years they will be more prominent and will be preaching the next conspiracy. These grifters are a threat to our democracy insofar as our democracy fails to correct problems a majority of our population faces.
I want a world where conservative grifters do not even get a venue at a run-down country club because there are no more people marginalized from politics left to con.