The Beating Heart Of Internet Politics

Conspiratorial populism gets the most engagement online

Jeffrey Epstein is back in the news after the Justice Department released the final cache of files dealing with the deceased sex pest. It displaced all other news on social media. Iran, ICE raids, the economy–all suddenly gone from the internet’s horizon in favor of Epstein. Once again, this Epstein news cycle has prompted confident predictions that Donald Trump is finished and politics will never be the same. If the past news cycles are any indication, none of that will occur.

There is news value in the recent Epstein dump, with previously undisclosed connections to the shady financier being exposed. But it’s not the most important thing in the world right now. It is, however, to the internet.

The intense interest in the Epstein case demonstrates that conspiratorial populism is the beating heart of internet politics. You can be a communist, a fascist, a resistance liberal, a MAGA chud, a libertarian, anarchist, or even a normie and find justification for your worldview in the Epstein saga. It’s an inclusive tale that doesn’t discriminate. All you need to do is believe in an evil cabal of elites that oppress the noble masses. These factions can disagree on the identity of those elites and on other issues. But what they share is an obsession with conspiracy theories above all else.

Conspiratorial populism is a simple concept. It imagines we are ruled by an evil establishment that secretly controls most human events. This means that very little happens without their involvement. A school shooting, a battle in the culture war, an injury in an NFL game, and a wildfire can all be the hidden work of this cabal. It’s up to the people to expose the truth, so they can break from their sheep-like state. The belief in conspiracies stands stronger in their worldview than any other issue.

Conspiratorial populism is not a new phenomenon in America. It animated support for the American Revolution, anti-Masonry, and anti-Catholicism. At times, conspiratorial populists recognized a serious threat to the country, such as continued British rule or communism, and added a few exaggerated, bombastic claims to their position. Americans have always had a suspicion of authority and a tendency to believe the worst things about their government. There’s a ready audience to believe that our real rulers–whether papists, communists, the Illuminati, or a host of other suspects–do horrific things behind closed doors and oppress the people.

What’s different today is the incoherence of our current crop of conspiratorial populism. Due to audience demand, there’s a need to fit all events into a conspiracy, even if it makes zero sense. See Ian Carroll’s claim Trump released the latest batch of Epstein files because he didn’t go to war with Iran. These conspiracies can even undermine people’s own stated political preferences. There are a number of right-wingers who claim to be immigration restrictionists who deride the focus on Somali scammers as a distraction from Israel and criticize ICE as an arm of the IDF. That would run counter to their supposed politics, but align with their need to conspiracize every single event. There’s even prominent voices of the Online Right who now insist Jeffrey Epstein created their movement based on a few emails. This would seem to be a self-own and undermine their own position. Yet, they rationalize this conspiracy theory by insisting it’s only the right-wingers they disagree with who were created by Epstein. The conspiracies must be followed, no matter what.

Those influencers who dare question them face the wrath of their audience. This can be seen in the reaction to those who publicly dispute the Charlie Kirk conspiracy theories and don’t accept the internet-mandated opinion about Epstein. One can make any wild opinion on the internet. But it’s treacherous to go against the sacred cows of modern-day conspiratorial populism. Influencers are far more vulnerable to audience demands than traditional media. It’s one of the reasons why they’ll go along with clearly unbelievable conspiracy theories. They can’t risk upsetting the audience.

Conspiratorial populism is common on both sides of the internet political aisle. The internet Left and Online Right are equally obsessed with the JFK assassination and 9/11 truth. Even something minor, like the death of Michael Jackson, will excite more curiosity and speculation than many things happening in the world today. This mindset is an integral part of internet politics. Everyone can find their preferred culprit at work in a story like Jeffrey Epstein. Fully buying into it may create awkward interpretations for parts of MAGA that both love Trump and subscribe to Critical Pedo Theory. But for Trump haters, it leaves more room for creative excursions.

Studies of the “Gen Z conservatives” show the prevalence of conspiratorial populism in internet politics. A 2025 Manhattan Institute survey found that “New Entrant Republicans” were far more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than traditional GOP voters. Additionally, the poll found that these Republicans held many contradictory positions, such as being more open to “racism” while also being more supportive of DEI than traditional Republicans. A study recently conducted by political scientist Eric Kaufmann found that “general conspiracism” was the most common trait among the audiences of popular right-wing podcasters, far more than white identitarianism. The study also noticed the broad array of figures and commentators, from RFK Jr. to Chapo Trap House, who espouse conspiratorial populism “The new populist-conspiracism is a big tent accommodating considerable race, gender and ideological diversity,” Kaufmann argued in his report.

Why is this the most popular form of politics on the internet? One reason is that it’s very entertaining. Going over congressional battles and complicated ideological explanations is rather dull. Talking about Satanic pedophiles controlling the world is a lot more exciting. Internet politics has a strong entertainment aspect. One can’t survive giving boring lectures about the nuts-and-bolts of the political world. It’s much better to “reveal” forbidden knowledge to the audience and turn every news event into the work of the shadowy cabal. It will bring in more viewers and make you stand out from the mainstream media. We all know CNN won’t touch how Mossad and Egypt killed Charlie Kirk. But your favorite podcaster will.

The other primary reason is that conspiratorial populism is simpler and more inclusive than ideological explanations. It paints a clear picture of bad elites and good people. Bad things happen because the bad establishment is in charge, not the good people. We need radical change to correct this state of affairs. The exact details of what these bad elites are doing is up to the individual influencer and his own political preferences. But the general picture remains largely the same. This is easier to get across than resorting to theory drawn from Marxism, libertarianism, or identitarianism. It’s just an us vs. them–and there’s a whole lot more of “us” than there is of “them.”

That makes it very inclusive. Something like identitarianism would exclude a great number of people. Conspiratorial populism, on the other hand, welcomes all, regardless if you’re black, brown, white, Asian, man, woman, gay, straight, socialist, conservative, libertarian, Christian, Muslim, or even Jewish (though that’s the most contended identity in this thinking). You just gotta believe in the conspiracy theories about the bad elite. That’s it. This allows influencers to have far bigger audiences than they would with more restrictive ideological framings.

Many influencers have a strong business mindset. Whatever brings in the most customers is the option they go with. Conspiratorial populism is a proven hit with a variety of demographics. As America becomes more diverse, especially among the youth, it makes sense some influencers decide to go with the times and adopt a political stance that can appeal to a broad array of people.

Conspiratorial populism also has a comforting aspect. Despite all the horrifying things it alleges and the unprecedented amount of power it ascribes to our rulers, it at least imagines that someone is in control. Nothing happens by chance. All we need to do is replace the people at the control panel with better folks. This is more reassuring than envisioning a world of chaos where random events can upend everything. Humans would rather think someone is behind all this craziness than accepting that this is all beyond our control.

It remains to be seen how much this will influence real-world politics. Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans have embraced the Epstein story as a way to attack the administration, but they’re not going to take it as far as the internet wants. It’s unlikely this story and other notions dear to conspiratorial politics start to dominate electoral campaigns. Offline people still care more about “boring” stuff like the economy and taxes.

It would probably undermine the appeal of conspiratorial populism if it was adopted by most politicians. It’s alluring because it’s “forbidden” and anti-establishment. If the establishment adopts it, then it’s no longer the same.

As long as the current state of the internet remains the same, it’s guaranteed conspiratorial populism will remain popular. It’s more entertaining than the alternatives.

[Editor’s note: You can now preorder Scott Greer’s new book, “Whitepill: The Online Right and the Making of Trump’s America,” from this link.]