THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM

Political analyst Sexton traces the current wave of know-nothing radicalization over centuries of world history.

By this occasionally wandering account, there’s a straight line between QAnon beliefs and the book of Revelation. One tenet of apocalypticism, writes the author, is that when they were in control of the narrative, “Christians believed they were engaged in an active and dire war against the literal personification of evil,” as opposed to the Jewish view of Satan as a metaphor. As such, evil people had to be dispatched, as when Charlemagne ordered the beheading of 4,500 Saxons who refused to convert to Christianity. The differences multiplied: Antisemitism flourished, Protestants hated Catholics and vice versa, and bizarre ideas became mainstream. For example, during the administration of Woodrow Wilson, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, updated to blame the communist revolution on a partnership between Bolsheviks and a ‘secret Jewish society’ working to ‘have the whole world…in their grip’ and destroy Christianity,” enjoyed broad circulation. Later, Henry Ford’s version of that strange screed became must reading for right-wingers, with the added layer that changes in baseball rules and jazz broadcast on the radio were instruments of Jewish mind control. It’s a small stretch to get from there to the belief that the basement of a pizza parlor was the locus for a pedophilia ring that only a Bible-worthy savior could oust given that “many Americans were primed to believe in anything, no matter how ridiculous or supernatural.” Thus Trump, Bannon, Orbán, and the like are ascendant or waiting for a new moment. “Forces are hard at work to try to rewind time and reinstall theocratic, authoritarian rule based on weaponized faiths that once ruled the world,” writes Sexton. Against this, he urges, it’s up to the reality-based community to combat the big lie and its many tentacles.

A diffuse but sharp argument against the countless dangers of too much belief in the unproven and unseen.