The Conspiracies of the US Democrats

John Gray has written a marvelous overview of the defeat of Hillary Clinton, and victory of Donald Trump, for the current issue of the New Statesman. It contains this analysis of those attempting to convince the world, and perhaps even themselves, that the Russians somehow fiddled the election for Trump.

"The function of conspiracy theories, however, is not to understand the world but to give sense to the lives of those who believe them. Paranoia is often a protest against powerlessness and a sense of insignificance. These symptoms are visible today in the liberal elites, which, against all their expectations, have been brusquely dismissed from power. In a post-election interview with Dutch television, Sidney Blumenthal, a long-term Clinton ally, described Trump's victory as 'a coup d'etat' orchestrated by 'right wing agents of the FBI.' Paranoid thinking of this kind shows a refusal to learn from experience."