AI Summary
5 min readThe Price of a Conspiracy Movement
When David Frum says "conspiracy theories may be the price we pay for the rising level of education and information in our society," he is not being glib. He means it literally: Americans now have access to more raw information than ever before, but they lack the institutional trust and expertise to interpret it correctly. So they reconstruct reality for themselves—and unsurprisingly, they often get it wrong. This observation anchors a wide-ranging conversation between Frum and host Sarah Longwell about political violence, the information environment, and what happens when a political movement built on mistrust turns that mistrust back on its own leader.
The Democratic Faith, Properly Understood
Frum opens by correcting what he sees as a common misunderstanding of democracy. "If your democratic faith was based on the idea that the individual was well informed, paying a lot of attention, made judicious decisions as an individual, then your faith was misplaced," he says. The real foundation is different: "The individual is foolish, the species is wise." Democracy works not because each voter is a careful rational actor, but because aggregating millions of imperfect opinions produces surprisingly sound collective judgments.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (03:14) **David Frum on Democracy, Conspiracy, and the Trump Era** - Sarah Longwell brings on Atlantic writer David Frum to discuss how voters process political violence in a low-trust information environment.
- 2 (07:45) **The Bulwark's Mission: Liberal vs. Illiberal** - Longwell explains the Bulwark's shift from pure ideology to first-order principles like rule of law and free speech, opposing Trump as the paramount threat.
- 3 (14:34) **Changing Your Mind, and the Language of Violence** - Frum discusses the importance of explaining when you change your mind, using his own shifts on universal healthcare and gay marriage as examples.
- 4 (19:18) **Focus Group: Trump Voters Doubt the Shooting** - Longwell plays clips from disaffected Trump voters who do not believe the assassination attempt was real.
- 5 (23:41) **Why Voters Are Desensitized to Political Violence** - Longwell notes that not a single focus group across the political spectrum brought up the shooting organically, and asks Frum what is happening.
- 6 (29:50) **Trump's Coalition of Conspiracy Theorists Turns on Him** - Longwell observes that the disaffected Trump voters think the shooting was staged, and Frum explains why.
- 7 (31:17) **Trump's Gracelessness Undermines His Complaints** - Frum discusses how Trump's own behavior — joking about widows, exulting in the suffering of enemies — leaves him with no standing to complain when others make inappropriate jokes about him.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Usually, an assassination attempt outside a dinner with the president would be a HUGE news event. Instead, the voters in our focus groups weren't talking much about it, and when we brought it up, we heard a LOT of conspiracy theories. We also talked to some Republican voters about whether '86' is really a violent threat, as this week's indictment against James Comey alleges. Atlantic staff writer David Frum joins Sarah for a wide-ranging conversation on the week's events, voters' reactions, and keeping American democracy strong for the long haul.
By David’s wife, Danielle Crittenden: Dispatches from Grief: A Mother’s Journey Through the Unthinkable
By David Frum:
The David Frum Show
MAGA’s Strange Quiet After the Shooting
Get tickets to The Bulwark's May live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles!
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