Donald Trump appeals to the paranoid fantasies of the ‘FEMA camps’ crowd
NEWSWEEK
20 AUG 2016 AT 08:35 ET
When Donald Trump says he expects this presidential election (the one he looks increasingly likely to lose) will be rigged, hes not just throwing out an empty phrase: The Republican is actually dog-whistling to a deeply paranoid subset of his supporters.
Paranoia is nothing new in American politics, but some in the current paranoiac generationweaned on The X-Files and distrustful of institutions like the U.S. government (with many having nothing better to do with their gun collections than take aim at the occasional rabbit)seem to be taking their beliefs to new heights. According to them, President Barack Obama soon will institute martial law and cancel or nullify the election in November, after which his Federal Emergency Management Agency will disarm and herd all the anti-abortion, religious-right, gun-owning, home-schooling folks into secret FEMA camps that his administration has spent years preparing.
Obamas election in 2008 led to an explosion in hate groups spouting such ideas, and as their numbers have swelled some of their beliefs have gone mainstream, stoked by broadcasters like Michael Savage, Alex Jones and Glenn Beck; right-wing filmmakers; and a host of websites featuring screaming headlines such as: UPDATE: All Armed Americans to Be Detained in FEMA Camps Starting In 2017!??!
Taking their cue from the popularity of such thinkers and theorists, some American politicians cant resist adding their official encouragement to the discussion. Among those joining Trump is Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who last year gave credence to the rumor that the Department of Defense was preparing to invade his state during a training exercise called Jade Helm.
It is now possible to meet Americans who have made major life decisionssuch as leaving homes and jobs and yanking children out of schoolbased on the belief that it is only a matter of time before their own government comes to get them. A Florida radio host has been exhorting people to join colonies of conservatives in Central America before the U.S. government rounds them up. At the Republican Convention in Cleveland, I met martial law conspiracy theory believers who were convinced that only Trump stands between them and one of the secret FEMA camps, those with the electronically operated turnstiles that rotate in, not out.
-snip-
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/donald-trump-appeals-to-the-paranoid-fantasies-of-the-fema-camps-crowd/