Trafficking of minors, leniency granted to a rich and powerful man, questions that have remained unanswered: if the Epstein affair raises so much anger, it is because it contains its share of disturbing elements. But also because the deceased financial is at the heart of well -established conspiracy theories, and their followers had a large conspiracy on Donald Trump.
“A large part of Qanon’s idea, which is an important part of the Trump base, is that Donald Trump is this sacred Savior who will dismantle all these high-level secret pedophile networks led by Democrats,” explains Alison Meek, an aggregated professor in the King’s University College History Department, in Ontario, who is interested in conspiracy theories in the United States.
Reuters Archives Photo
Jeffrey Epstein
The president never officially supported Qanon, but took up some of the ideas of this movement, which officially saw the light of day during his first mandate. A person identifying with the letter “Q” and alleging having access to highly classified information had started to broadcast cryptic and prophetic messages on the web in October 2017 – “anonymous” meaning “anonymous” on the site where they were put online. The publications were perceived as so many pieces of puzzles launched to members of the virtual community to allow them to discover a hidden truth.
Coalition
“Q” has ceased his messages, but the idea that an all-powerful elite manipulates the public and hides information has remained well present, even passing through the general public sphere with the return of Trump and the arrival of acolytes defending loud and clear the notion of a large conspiracy. The American president himself conveyed conspiracy theories and has surfed on his popularity in these particularly suspicious circles of institutions.
“Essentially, what Trump has done was to use a lot of conspiracy theories to attract people who already had these beliefs to his coalition,” said political scientist Joseph Uscinski, from the University of Miami.
“Now that he does not provide them with the evidence he has promised to provide, that he does not bring to light all the criminal activities they believed, they are upset by him,” added the co -author ofAmerican Conspiracy Theories.
Pedophile networks
One of the main stories conveyed by Qanon conspirators is that there is a large cabal of the rich and powerful to attack children. It is far from being a new theme, and he has adapted over the years with, in the role of the aggressor, the enemies perceived of the time. Jews drinking the blood of children, for example, a story used to feed anti -Semitism. Satanic groups attacking young people in the 1980s. And the “pizzagate” in the heart of Qanon, in which the Democrats were accused of exploiting a network of pedophilia in a pizzeria.
“This whole Epstein saga is particularly powerful for Qanon, because it challenges a real file, with a truly accused person, who was part of the elite, so they see it as proof of their theory,” said Art Jipson, of the University of Dayton, in Ohio.
Photo Alex Wroblewski, Agence France-Presse Archives
Protesters ask for the publication of Epstein files in front of the White House on July 18.
The death of Jeffrey Epstein in prison in 2019 also gave birth to suspicion, both right and left, questioning the authorities’ conclusions on his suicide.
Favorable context
The businessman also benefited from the leniency of a judge in Florida in 2008. Images of him with powerful figures like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew fueled his image as a member of a powerful elite.
“It is true that there are injustices in the United States, based on gender, race, socioeconomic conditions,” notes Mia Bloom, from the State University of Georgia.
And there is this perception of a two -speed system, in which the poor will not get justice and the very rich can escape it. And it gives oxygen to conspiracy theories.
Mia Bloom, from the State University of Georgia
The reasoning of followers of these theories “comes from a way of explaining the complexity of the world in a way that works for them”, underlines the co -author of Pastels and pedophiles: inside the mind of qanon.
The theories of conspiracy proliferate particularly in a context of uncertainty or great stress, specifies Eric Olivier, attached to the University of Chicago, which has been studying the question for twenty years. As we saw during the Cavid-19 pandemic.
The refusal of the administration to make public all the elements of the Epstein affair raises a certain cognitive dissonance among the most fervent supporters of Trump, who bet on him to prove their beliefs.
“I think we see the beginning of a kind of crisis, with people who say that Trump has been compromised, and who are trying to find a new interpretation of the events to justify their history,” says Eric Olivier.
