The Paranoid Style in American Politics 1964.

American politics has always been this way. It's simplistic to blame it all on Faux News, or the Civil War or a vague over generalized "racism." The paranoid style even predates the American Revolutionary War. You can draw a straight line from the anti-Mason and anti-Catholic populist movements from the 1800's to QAnon amd Antifa today. It's the exact same narrative, paranoid about vast and powerdul malevolent conspiracies being run by a cabal of the most powerful. The coup plotters names and methods of attack may change, but the structural narrative remains the same.

The Paranoid style it's in our blood, it's a unique trait that defines us as Americans. Therefore I don't knock it and I hope we never lose it.