This discussion features Dr. Michael Phillips, a historian specializing in racism and eugenics in Texas, and Steven Monacelli, an investigative reporter focused on political extremism. They explore Texas's rich history of conspiracy theories, from the Alamo to QAnon, revealing how such beliefs provide emotional comfort to adherents. The conversation highlights the dark financial roots of McCarthyism in Texas and the historical context of extremist ideologies, framing these elements as pivotal to understanding contemporary far-right politics.
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Jade Helm Conspiracy
Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist, sparked panic in Texas with the "Jade Helm" theory.
This theory falsely claimed that a military exercise was a plot to impose martial law and seize guns.
insights INSIGHT
Texas and Conspiracies
Texas has a history of outlandish conspiracy theories.
Distrust of liberal elites is a profitable business, as seen with Alex Jones's $270 million fortune.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Post-Revolution Paranoia
After the Texas Revolution, white Texans feared Mexico and enslaved African Americans.
This fear fueled conspiracy theories, including suspicions of planned slave rebellions and arson.
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The book, written by John Owen Beaty, a former Colonel of the Military Intelligence Service, presents a conspiracy theory that an immigrant group and its descendants have seized control of America's political parties, cultural, and educational organizations. It denies the Holocaust, promotes the Khazar hypothesis, and accuses Jews of being behind various global ills. The book was widely criticized for its antisemitic content and has been described as 'violently anti-Semitic'[1][3][4].
The Turner Diaries
William Luther Pierce
The Turner Diaries is a novel that depicts a fictional white supremacist revolution in the United States. Written by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, the book is presented as a diary kept by the protagonist, Earl Turner. The narrative details Turner's involvement in a violent uprising against the U.S. government and other perceived enemies of white supremacy. The book has been widely criticized for its extremist and racist content.
The Purifying Knife
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Michael R. Phillips
White metropolis
race, ethnicity, and religion in Dallas, 1841-2001
Michael R. Phillips
Since before the fall of the Alamo, Texas has served as an incubator for unhinged conspiracy theories about the motives behind the Texas Revolution, feared rebellions by the enslaved, Mexican plans to retake Texas, the supposed plot by Franklin Roosevelt to impose communism in the United States, why water is being fluoridated, who killed Kennedy, and the various fever dreams of the QAnon movement. In this episode, we explore what makes Texans, and Americans in general, particularly susceptible to conspiracy theories and what emotional comfort these ideas give believers.
It Could Happen Here 
