The cocaine conspiracy

Here we go. Again.

(Cocaine)

FACT: On Sunday, White House officials found a small bag of cocaine in a highly trafficked area of the West Wing.

Which is interesting!

After all, the White House is, presumably, one of the most secure places in the country so it’s more than a little odd that someone was able to get cocaine into it. And a ridiculously ballsy move by whoever did it.

The likeliest explanation is that someone on a tour of the White House — the substance was left in an area near where the tours start — either dropped or accidentally left the cocaine.

Which, again, interesting!

But not, I would say, obviously nefarious. And it’s there that I would part ways with the former president of the United States.

Here’s Donald Trump on the cocaine:

And, a little bit more:

To be clear, Trump is suggesting that:

1. The cocaine is for the use of Hunter AND Joe Biden

2. The media, which uncovered the story, is in the process of covering it up — somehow

3. If not the Bidens, then special counsel Jack Smith might be the one using the cocaine because “he looks like a crackhead to me.”

Look, I get it. It’s Trump. By this point, to the extent you are paying attention to this stuff at all, it’s probably for comedic relief. This latest episode may have evoked an eye roll — nothing more.

But, like, the former president of the United States is suggesting that the current president and his son are using cocaine! And he’s doing so with zero evidence — I guess beyond the fact that Hunter Biden once had a drug problem?

And, what’s worse — and more worrisome — is that lots and lots of people will believe him. No evidence required! Sight unseen!

There have always been conspiracies swirling around the body politics. And some fringe-level of people who believe and propagate them. 5G causes cancer! 9/11 was a hoax! Mass shootings are false flag operations!

The problem now is that the leading contender to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 not only traffics in conspiracy theories but serves as an origin for some of them.

Trump has built his brand on the fundamental idea that the average person in America is being lied to and deceived by some shadowy elites who don’t have their best interests at heart.

Remember that Trump said the quiet part out loud in 2018:

“Stick with us. Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. … What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

The danger in this viewpoint is apparent — and significant.

Take January 6th, 2021 for example. Despite mountains of evidence that suggested that a) Joe Biden had won and b) there wasn’t any sort of widespread voter fraud, thousands of people showed up in Washington to “stop the steal.”

So convinced were they that the election had been stolen that they marched to the U.S. Capitol and stormed the building — in an attempt to stop the counting of the electoral college votes.

Five people died that day. Hundreds of police officers were wounded. Thousands have been subsequently charged with crimes.

The repeated embrace of conspiracy theories has a deleterious effect on the idea of facts. If you are constantly being told that what you are seeing isn’t what’s happening, some of you are going to start believing it.

I give you this:

Let’s go back to the cocaine incident. And what we know.

Like the fact that Joe Biden (and Hunter Biden) weren’t even at the White House when the cocaine was found. (The president was at Camp David, and didn’t return until Tuesday.)

Or the fact that security cameras are very unlikely to have captured who brought the cocaine in unless that person was flaunting it around —which, unless they are an idiot, seems unlikely.

Trump will ignore these facts because they aren’t convenient. And, even if the person who brought the cocaine to the White House is ultimately identified, Trump will allege a cover up — unless the person is Joe or Hunter Biden. (Or Jack Smith, I guess.) He will insist that the real story is somehow being covered up.

And no facts will be able to disprove those claims. Because the power of facts are greatly reduced in a society in which we are so ready to believe that EVERYTHING is a conspiracy.

This is how irresponsible people with no sense of the consequences of their actions behave. Which is unfortunate when it’s just a member of the general public but outright dangerous when it’s someone, like Trump, who is in a position of power.

Today it is about cocaine in the White House. Which might seem — in the grand scheme of things — relatively minor. But, the erosion of facts and trust is a much bigger deal than this one incident. And it bodes very poorly for the election to come.