Will Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 American presidential election be an additional springboard for conspiracy theories? The Republican candidate's proximity to the complosphere worries lecturer Tristan Mendès France.
A second term and twice as many conspiracy theories? Donald Trump was elected on Tuesday, November 5, the 47th president of the United States, eight years after his first victory. The campaign was however marked by numerous fake news carried by the Republican candidate: migrants eating dogs, immigrant votes for Kamala Harris and even assassination attempts by the deep state.
“This conspiratorial rhetoric even contributed to his electoral success”deplores Tristan Mendès France, associate lecturer at the University of Paris Cité and specialized in digital cultures. The co-producer of the Complorama podcast discusses for franceinfo the risks in the conspiracy sphere of a victory for the Republican candidate.
franceinfo: Is this victory for Donald Trump a victory for conspiracy?
Tristan Mendès France: Quite spectacularly, the coup of conspiratorial lies was almost zero for Donald Trump. The rhetoric that he pushed well before 2020 around electoral fraud, resulting in the riots of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol, cost him absolutely nothing politically. We could even consider that this conspiratorial rhetoric contributed to his electoral success.
Have the Democrats also given in to conspiracy theories?
The Democratic camp has also been contaminated, in part and on the fringe, by this conspiratorial rhetoric, notably during the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump. But to be completely fair, this Democratic conspiracy absolutely did not have the same virality as the theories pushed by Trumpists.
What are your fears after the results of this American election?
There is already an American and international complosphere which exults at the idea of seeing a figure arrive at the helm of the leading world power who is in some way a sort of pope of the international complosphere.
“The worry we can have is that this will clearly give a spectacular dynamic to all the complospheres, both American and international.”
Tristan Mendès France, lecturerat franceinfo
Another fear lies in the potential role of an Elon Musk in this Trump administration and that of a Robert F. Kennedy Jr at the head of health issues in the United States. These two acolytes of Donald Trump have a significant conspiratorial footprint and address and stimulate different conspiratorial communities. On Robert F. Kennedy Jr's side, it's all about health conspiracy. For Elon Musk, it is a kind of libertarian, anti-media and anti-system conspiracy that is quite in tune with Donald Trump. Except that Elon Musk is at the head of one of the main social networks on the planet. He has an obviously crazy capacity to influence American public opinion and which, due to his proximity to Trump, will see all the constraints that weighed on him under the Biden administration lifted.
The QAnon movement was notably driven by Donald Trump's first term, what can this future presidency bring?
That's a real question. Donald Trump's first term actually saw the birth of this QAnon movement which has contaminated the entire planet. For me, there is little doubt that this symptom will resurface in another form, but probably even more harmful due to the fact that Donald Trump arrives with a second term stronger than he was in 2016. He has more support from the Republican apparatus and far-right intellectuals. The Supreme Court is favorable to him and he will be able to benefit from a Congress likely won over to his cause.
“He is in a position that is even more favorable to him than in 2016. So there is little doubt that there is a risk that a sort of QAnon 2.0 movement will surface and be exalted by this new Trump mandate.”
Tristan Mendès France, lecturerat franceinfo
Are we in France safe from this type of conspiratorial movement?
Today we are in a global market of disinformation and conspiracy. We have seen the contamination of the American QAnon movement on the European continent. There is no informational boundary. The power of the American complosphere will clearly radiate onto the European complospheres. They will feel like they are growing wings and supported by this American model. Unfortunately, there is no doubt that this American conspiracy tsunami will inevitably have an impact in the European Union in the weeks or months to come.
