Pizzagate
By: Elizabeth Radka
Tags: Propaganda, Hillary Clinton, Trump, Pizzagate, Leap 2

Once upon a time, the suggestion that a top United States politician could be the ringleader of a child sex trafficking scheme operating out of a pizza parlor basement would have been laughable. Indeed, to those of us with healthy critical thinking skills, it still is. In 2016, however, a large number of far-right, pro-Trump supporters convinced themselves otherwise. Hillary Clinton, they believed, had children tied up in a basement dungeon at Comet Ping Pong, a restaurant in Washington, D.C. This, they argued, was evident by the various references to “cheese pizza” that appeared in Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s Wikileaked emails. Thus, the Pizzagate conspiracy theory was born.

So, how was a connection made between the benign term “cheese pizza” and child sex trafficking? How could a large group of people possibly come to associate the best thing in the world with the worst thing in the world? While it might seem like something that happened quickly, there was actually quite a bit of priming that occurred before rabid far-right Trump supporters were ready to board the bus to Crazyville and willingly buy into the Pizzagate theory. Long before Podesta’s emails were ever leaked, Trump supporters believed that Hillary Clinton was a criminal. Chants of “LOCK HER UP” became standard at Trump rallies. In debates, he spoke of putting her in jail. Memes of Hillary Clinton behind bars flooded social media and by the time the FBI announced that no criminal wrongdoing was found, it was too late. Hillary Clinton was a criminal mastermind in the eyes of Trump supporters. Not just a criminal, mind you, but a criminal mastermind. The type of person who would chop babies up and eat them for dinner.

Those who opposed Clinton could already easily picture her behind bars; this notion had been drilled into their minds through propaganda techniques of repetition, fear-mongering, and intensifying. At worst, Clinton was careless with her use of a private email server. Had she been found guilty of wrongdoing, it would have equated to negligence. According to Trump’s rhetoric, her actions might as well have equated to premeditated, fist-degree murder. Trump’s ability to associate Clinton with a criminal mastermind provided the foundation needed for the far-right to accept the proposed reality that Clinton sex-trafficked kids. In fact, the notion that Clinton had committed crimes far more severe than those associated with the email investigation reinforced their own existing beliefs. It made sense to them that Clinton was involved with sex trafficking because they’d already made up their minds that she was completely capable of doing so. (Scary, no?)

The reason Pizzagate is so fascinating is because of how quickly the believers of this conspiracy theory were willing to bypass critical thinking and basic reasoning to jump to this nuts-o conclusion. The reason Pizzagate is so scary is because this particular conspiracy theory lead to an armed gunman storming a D.C. pizza parlor in search of kid dungeons. Though no one was harmed in this invasion, the story could easily have ended differently. Many people who believed in Pizzagate STILL believe Comet Ping Pong has a basement. With kids shackled to walls. And underground tunnels. And, nothing will ever change their minds; as is the nature of conspiracy theories, they can not be disproven.

(see video for references)