One in three adults believe that an effort is under way to replace native born americans with immigrants for electoral gains. In one place, you can find replacement theory the most popular show on cable news, tucker carleton to night. The version that you will hear on tucker carleson to night is significantly different than the version you will see on the manifestoes of mass shooters in the us. It does not blame replacement on jews. But at its core is the same beating heart which is the sphere of demographic changes that are happening mostly naturally and putting a conspiracy behind the change.
Over the weekend, an 18-year-old man livestreamed himself shooting 13 people and killing 10. Within hours it became clear that the shooter’s intent was to kill as many Black people as possible. The suspect wrote online that he was motivated by replacement theory — a racist idea that white people are deliberately being replaced by people of color in places like America and Europe.
What are the origins of this theory, and how has it become simultaneously more extreme and more mainstream?
Guest: Nicholas Confessore, a political and investigative reporter for The New York Times.
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