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Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Competing conspiracy theories consume Trump's Washington
'There seems to be a natural human tendency to reduce complex reality by seeing masterminds behind every bad thing,' Michael Nelson, a presidential scholar at Rhodes College in Tennessee, said. 'Trump has always played to that and now the Epstein scandal is rebounding on him.' Indeed, Trump brought much of this on himself by encouraging dark views of the government that he derides as the 'deep state,' views that prove hard to dispel now that the supposed deep state answers to him. The administration's flip-flopping on whether it would release the Epstein files has fuelled talk of a cover-up, not only by Trump's critics but by his own allies. Conspiracy theories have a long place in American history. Many Americans still believe that someone else had a hand in killing President John F. Kennedy, that the moon landings were faked, that the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job or that the government is hiding proof of extraterrestrial visitors in Roswell, New Mexico. Sixty-five per cent of Americans told Gallup pollsters in 2023 that they think there was a conspiracy behind Kennedy's assassination. Some conspiracy theories do turn out to be true, of course, or have some basis. But presidents generally have not been the ones spreading dubious stories. To the contrary, they traditionally have viewed their role as dispelling doubts and reinforcing faith in institutions. President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Warren Commission to investigate his predecessor's murder specifically to keep rumours and guesswork from proliferating. (Spoiler alert: It didn't.) Trump, by contrast, relishes conspiracy theories, particularly those that benefit him or smear his enemies without any evident care for whether they are true or not. 'There have been other conspiratorial political movements in the country's past,' Geoff Dancy, a University of Toronto professor who teaches about conspiracy theories, said. 'But they have never occupied the upper echelons of power until the last decade.' During the 2016 Republican primaries, Trump tied the father of one of his rivals, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, to the Kennedy killing, citing a photograph with Lee Harvey Oswald. During Trump's hush money trial in New York last year, his one-time compatriot David Pecker of The National Enquirer acknowledged under oath that the whole thing was made up to damage Cruz and elect Trump. Unrepentant, Trump stuck to his false assertions about Obama's birthplace for years, only grudgingly admitting late in the 2016 campaign that his predecessor was, in fact, born in the United States. Trump nonetheless went on to falsely accuse Obama of spying on him, among other unfounded assertions. At one point, Trump spread the claim that Osama bin Laden was not actually dead and that Obama and Biden had the Navy's SEAL Team 6 killed. He likewise casually accused a television anchor of murder. 'The president's repeated discussion of multiple conspiracy theories, most recently about the 2016 election, has no parallel in American politics,' Meena Bose, the director of the Peter S. Kalikow Centre for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University, said. 'Presidential allegations that have no factual basis undermine public confidence in the political system and present dangerous challenges to constitutional principles and the rule of law, particularly if they are not subject to checks by other institutions.' Conspiracy theories are not the exclusive preserve of Trump and the political right. Around the time of last month's anniversary of the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, some on the left once again advanced the notion that the whole shooting episode had been staged to make the Republican candidate into a political martyr. Some Democrats have now dived into the Epstein fever swamp head-first, suddenly exercised by a closed case that had hardly been on the party's priority list just weeks ago, as they pile on Trump and maximise his political troubles. After Roy Black, who was Epstein's defence lawyer, happened to die at age 80 this past week at the height of the furore over the case, some on the left saw suspicious timing. America's conspiracy craze has also drawn in foreign allies in recent days. President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte, this past week filed a defamation lawsuit in Delaware against Candace Owens, a far-right YouTube commentator known for antisemitic rhetoric, for repeatedly claiming that the French first lady is actually a man. Trump, however, has stirred the plot pot more than any other major political figure. In the six months since retaking office, he has remained remarkably cavalier about suggesting nefarious schemes, even as he heads the government supposedly orchestrating some of them. He suggested the nation's gold reserves at Fort Knox might be missing, resurrecting a decades-old fringe supposition, even though he would presumably be in position to know whether that was actually true, what with being president and all. 'If the gold isn't there, we're going to be very upset,' he told reporters. It fell to Scott Bessent, the decidedly non-conspiratorial Treasury secretary, to burst the bubble and reassure Americans that, no, the nation's reserves had not been stolen. 'All the gold is present and accounted for,' he told an interviewer. Trump has played to long-standing suspicions by ordering the release of hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to the assassinations of Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., an act of transparency for historians and researchers that may shed important light on those episodes. But Trump has gone beyond simple theory floating to make his own alternate reality official government policy. Some applicants for jobs in the second Trump administration were asked whether Trump won the 2020 election that he actually lost; those who gave the wrong answer were not helping their job prospects, forcing those rooted in facts to decide whether to swallow the fabrication to gain employment. Trump has likewise claimed that Biden was so diminished toward the end of his term that his aides signed pardons without his knowledge using an autopen. Biden was certainly showing signs of age, but the autopen story was conjecture. Asked if he had uncovered proof, Trump said, 'I uncovered, you know, the human mind. I was in a debate with the human mind and I didn't think he knew what the hell he was doing.' The past week or so has seen a fusillade of Trumpian conspiracy theories, seemingly meant to focus attention away from the Epstein case. Tulsi Gabbard, the president's politically appointed intelligence chief, trotted out inflammatory allegations that Obama orchestrated a 'years-long coup and treasonous conspiracy' by skewing the 2016 election interference investigation – despite the conclusions of a Republican-led Senate report signed by none other than Marco Rubio, now Trump's secretary of state. She also claimed that Hillary Clinton was 'on a daily regimen of heavy tranquillisers' during the 2016 campaign. Relying on this, Trump accused Obama of 'treason,' suggesting he should be locked up and going so far as to post a fake video showing his predecessor being handcuffed in the Oval Office and put behind bars. The idea of a president posting such an image of another president would once have been seen as a shocking breach of etiquette and corruption of the justice system, but in the Trump era it has become simply business as usual. For all that, the conspiracy theorist in chief has not been able to shake the Epstein case, which reflects the rise of the QAnon movement that believes America is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles. Most of the files, the ones that his attorney-general told him include his name, remain unreleased, bringing together an unlikely alliance of MAGA conservatives and liberal Democrats. Loading It was well known that Trump was friends with Epstein, although they later fell out. So it's not clear what his name being in the files might actually mean. But Trump is not one to back down. Asked last week about whether he had been told his name was in the files, Trump again pointed the finger of conspiracy elsewhere. 'These files were made up by Comey,' he told reporters, referring to James Comey, the FBI director he had fired more than two years before Epstein died in prison in 2019. 'They were made up by Obama,' he went on. 'They were made up by the Biden administration.'
The Age
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Competing conspiracy theories consume Trump's Washington
'There seems to be a natural human tendency to reduce complex reality by seeing masterminds behind every bad thing,' Michael Nelson, a presidential scholar at Rhodes College in Tennessee, said. 'Trump has always played to that and now the Epstein scandal is rebounding on him.' Indeed, Trump brought much of this on himself by encouraging dark views of the government that he derides as the 'deep state,' views that prove hard to dispel now that the supposed deep state answers to him. The administration's flip-flopping on whether it would release the Epstein files has fuelled talk of a cover-up, not only by Trump's critics but by his own allies. Conspiracy theories have a long place in American history. Many Americans still believe that someone else had a hand in killing President John F. Kennedy, that the moon landings were faked, that the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job or that the government is hiding proof of extraterrestrial visitors in Roswell, New Mexico. Sixty-five per cent of Americans told Gallup pollsters in 2023 that they think there was a conspiracy behind Kennedy's assassination. Some conspiracy theories do turn out to be true, of course, or have some basis. But presidents generally have not been the ones spreading dubious stories. To the contrary, they traditionally have viewed their role as dispelling doubts and reinforcing faith in institutions. President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Warren Commission to investigate his predecessor's murder specifically to keep rumours and guesswork from proliferating. (Spoiler alert: It didn't.) Trump, by contrast, relishes conspiracy theories, particularly those that benefit him or smear his enemies without any evident care for whether they are true or not. 'There have been other conspiratorial political movements in the country's past,' Geoff Dancy, a University of Toronto professor who teaches about conspiracy theories, said. 'But they have never occupied the upper echelons of power until the last decade.' During the 2016 Republican primaries, Trump tied the father of one of his rivals, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, to the Kennedy killing, citing a photograph with Lee Harvey Oswald. During Trump's hush money trial in New York last year, his one-time compatriot David Pecker of The National Enquirer acknowledged under oath that the whole thing was made up to damage Cruz and elect Trump. Unrepentant, Trump stuck to his false assertions about Obama's birthplace for years, only grudgingly admitting late in the 2016 campaign that his predecessor was, in fact, born in the United States. Trump nonetheless went on to falsely accuse Obama of spying on him, among other unfounded assertions. At one point, Trump spread the claim that Osama bin Laden was not actually dead and that Obama and Biden had the Navy's SEAL Team 6 killed. He likewise casually accused a television anchor of murder. 'The president's repeated discussion of multiple conspiracy theories, most recently about the 2016 election, has no parallel in American politics,' Meena Bose, the director of the Peter S. Kalikow Centre for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University, said. 'Presidential allegations that have no factual basis undermine public confidence in the political system and present dangerous challenges to constitutional principles and the rule of law, particularly if they are not subject to checks by other institutions.' Conspiracy theories are not the exclusive preserve of Trump and the political right. Around the time of last month's anniversary of the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, some on the left once again advanced the notion that the whole shooting episode had been staged to make the Republican candidate into a political martyr. Some Democrats have now dived into the Epstein fever swamp head-first, suddenly exercised by a closed case that had hardly been on the party's priority list just weeks ago, as they pile on Trump and maximise his political troubles. After Roy Black, who was Epstein's defence lawyer, happened to die at age 80 this past week at the height of the furore over the case, some on the left saw suspicious timing. America's conspiracy craze has also drawn in foreign allies in recent days. President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte, this past week filed a defamation lawsuit in Delaware against Candace Owens, a far-right YouTube commentator known for antisemitic rhetoric, for repeatedly claiming that the French first lady is actually a man. Trump, however, has stirred the plot pot more than any other major political figure. In the six months since retaking office, he has remained remarkably cavalier about suggesting nefarious schemes, even as he heads the government supposedly orchestrating some of them. He suggested the nation's gold reserves at Fort Knox might be missing, resurrecting a decades-old fringe supposition, even though he would presumably be in position to know whether that was actually true, what with being president and all. 'If the gold isn't there, we're going to be very upset,' he told reporters. It fell to Scott Bessent, the decidedly non-conspiratorial Treasury secretary, to burst the bubble and reassure Americans that, no, the nation's reserves had not been stolen. 'All the gold is present and accounted for,' he told an interviewer. Trump has played to long-standing suspicions by ordering the release of hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to the assassinations of Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., an act of transparency for historians and researchers that may shed important light on those episodes. But Trump has gone beyond simple theory floating to make his own alternate reality official government policy. Some applicants for jobs in the second Trump administration were asked whether Trump won the 2020 election that he actually lost; those who gave the wrong answer were not helping their job prospects, forcing those rooted in facts to decide whether to swallow the fabrication to gain employment. Trump has likewise claimed that Biden was so diminished toward the end of his term that his aides signed pardons without his knowledge using an autopen. Biden was certainly showing signs of age, but the autopen story was conjecture. Asked if he had uncovered proof, Trump said, 'I uncovered, you know, the human mind. I was in a debate with the human mind and I didn't think he knew what the hell he was doing.' The past week or so has seen a fusillade of Trumpian conspiracy theories, seemingly meant to focus attention away from the Epstein case. Tulsi Gabbard, the president's politically appointed intelligence chief, trotted out inflammatory allegations that Obama orchestrated a 'years-long coup and treasonous conspiracy' by skewing the 2016 election interference investigation – despite the conclusions of a Republican-led Senate report signed by none other than Marco Rubio, now Trump's secretary of state. She also claimed that Hillary Clinton was 'on a daily regimen of heavy tranquillisers' during the 2016 campaign. Relying on this, Trump accused Obama of 'treason,' suggesting he should be locked up and going so far as to post a fake video showing his predecessor being handcuffed in the Oval Office and put behind bars. The idea of a president posting such an image of another president would once have been seen as a shocking breach of etiquette and corruption of the justice system, but in the Trump era it has become simply business as usual. For all that, the conspiracy theorist in chief has not been able to shake the Epstein case, which reflects the rise of the QAnon movement that believes America is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles. Most of the files, the ones that his attorney-general told him include his name, remain unreleased, bringing together an unlikely alliance of MAGA conservatives and liberal Democrats. Loading It was well known that Trump was friends with Epstein, although they later fell out. So it's not clear what his name being in the files might actually mean. But Trump is not one to back down. Asked last week about whether he had been told his name was in the files, Trump again pointed the finger of conspiracy elsewhere. 'These files were made up by Comey,' he told reporters, referring to James Comey, the FBI director he had fired more than two years before Epstein died in prison in 2019. 'They were made up by Obama,' he went on. 'They were made up by the Biden administration.'
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Daily Mail
US hiker disappears in Spanish Pyrenees mountains sparking frantic search
Spanish authorities are frantically searching for an American hiker who went missing in the Pyrenees mountain range more than a week ago. Cole Henderson, 27, vanished nine days ago in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park in northern Spain long the country's border with France. The last time anyone heard from the Rhodes College alumni was on July 9 around 2pm, just before he embarked on his precipitous solo hike. He texted his friend that he parked his car in Torla, the town near the entrance of the national park. Henderson noted he was going to put his phone on airplane mode to save its battery before starting his mountainous trek, according to a statement from his friend, Max Senoff. Henderson was believed to have been wearing a bright orange backpack when he went missing. His phone's last ping was in Torla, likely because this is where he turned on airplane mode. His loved ones realized something was wrong when he never boarded his return flight to the Netherlands, where he had been living and working, on July 12. Henderson was officially reported missing on July 14, sparking a rampant search for the lone traveler the same day. Rescue teams and Air Service helicopters have been scouring the area, looking for signs of the man, who is believed to have been hiking up Mount Perdido, according to The New York Times. His car was also found in Torla, as he told his friend. Mount Perdido is the third highest peak in the Pyrenees. The hike up the mountain is known to be a strenuous one, but is typically able to be completed in a day. Senoff told the New York Times at the time Henderson disappeared, he was approaching the end of his Spain vacation and was previously visiting Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls Festival. He described Henderson as an avid traveler and a meticulous planner, having shared his Spain trip itinerary with his friends before he left. 'He is great at bringing people together and very social guy,' Senoff told the outlet. A website has been established, detailing the latest updates in the search for Henderson. On social media, his friends and family members have been sharing photos of the frequent tourist. 'My nephew, Cole Henderson, a 27-year-old American, has gone missing while hiking in the Pyrenees,' his aunt, Lisa Henderson, shared on Facebook. 'Search efforts are underway, but we're desperate to spread the word. If you or someone you know is in the area—or recently hiked near Ordesa—please share this or reach out with any info. Even the smallest detail could help.' It is unclear when Henderson moved to the Netherlands, but based on his social media pages, he went to high school in Delaware and studied computer science at Rhodes College, which is in Tennessee.
The Herald Scotland
17-07-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Young American engineer missing in rugged Spanish mountains for a week
Although it's unclear where Henderson grew up, he has strong ties in Delaware, where he went to high school, and Tennessee, where he graduated from the Rhodes College, according to his social media profiles. His former employers include software companies in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and San Francisco. "Cole is an experienced traveler, a kind and curious soul, and someone who means the world to me," friend Eric Simon said in a Facebook post asking for help finding Henderson. Here's what to know about Henderson, the area where he was hiking and what's being done to find him. Where was Cole Henderson hiking? Henderson parked his car in Torla, Spain, before he was to embark on a long hike from there, through the Ordesa Valley, to a mountain hut known as Refugio de Pineta, where friends believe he was going to catch a ride back to his car. It's unclear how long Henderson expected the hike to take or whether he was planning on attempting any peaks in the area along the way. But friends said he had planned to do some camping while in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, located in the Pyrenees Mountains on the border between northern Spain and France. Hikers reported dangerous weather in the area on Thursday, July 10, the day after Henderson began his hike. Hikers said there was rain and severe thunder, and reported that they re-routed from the possible route Henderson was on, where there is limited to no cell service. Loved ones realized Henderson was missing after he missed a flight on July 13 to Amsterdam, where he has been living, according to Simon. What do the search efforts entail? The Guardia Civil of Huesca launched a search for Henderson. The Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (known as GREIM for its initials in Spanish) and an air unit have joined, according to the local newspaper El Diario de Huesca. Henderson's loved ones are also asking people to share his photo and the details of his disappearance on social media, in hopes that someone in the area recognizes him and may have a better idea of what his last location was. "We're coordinating with the mountain rescue patrol, American embassy, Spanish authorities and local search and rescue teams," Simon wrote. "But we're also asking for help online -- from travelers, hikers, locals, or anyone who might have been in the area or seen Cole in the last week." What do we know about Cole Henderson? Henderson's social media posts show he was a world traveler and adventurer, from trekking along the famed Tour du Mont Blanc through Switzerland, Italy, and France, and skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado, to hiking in South Dakota's Badlands National Park and volunteering in Costa Rica. His LinkedIn profile says he's an engineer "building today's AI for tomorrow's power" at Dexter Energy and that he graduated from Rhodes College with honors with a degree in computer science. He describes himself as an avid backpacker.
USA Today
17-07-2025
- USA Today
American hiker missing in rugged Spanish mountains for a week: 'A kind and curious soul'
Twenty-seven-year-old Cole Henderson is a world traveler and adventurer who is working as an engineer in Amsterdam after graduating from Rhodes College in Tennessee. He was last heard from on July 9. A young American man has been missing in Spain's rugged Pyrenees mountains for more than a week, setting off a frantic search by Spanish authorities and desperate social media posts from his loved ones. Cole Henderson, 27, was last heard from on Wednesday, July 9, when he texted a friend that he was about to go on a solo hike in Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park and would put his phone on airplane mode to conserve power, according to a website dedicated to finding him and updating the search efforts. Although it's unclear where Henderson grew up, he has strong ties in Delaware, where he went to high school, and Tennessee, where he graduated from the Rhodes College, according to his social media profiles. His former employers include software companies in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and San Francisco. "Cole is an experienced traveler, a kind and curious soul, and someone who means the world to me," friend Eric Simon said in a Facebook post asking for help finding Henderson. Here's what to know about Henderson, the area where he was hiking and what's being done to find him. Where was Cole Henderson hiking? Henderson parked his car in Torla, Spain, before he was to embark on a long hike from there, through the Ordesa Valley, to a mountain hut known as Refugio de Pineta, where friends believe he was going to catch a ride back to his car. It's unclear how long Henderson expected the hike to take or whether he was planning on attempting any peaks in the area along the way. But friends said he had planned to do some camping while in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, located in the Pyrenees Mountains on the border between northern Spain and France. Hikers reported dangerous weather in the area on Thursday, July 10, the day after Henderson began his hike. Hikers said there was rain and severe thunder, and reported that they re-routed from the possible route Henderson was on, where there is limited to no cell service. Loved ones realized Henderson was missing after he missed a flight on July 13 to Amsterdam, where he has been living, according to Simon. What do the search efforts entail? The Guardia Civil of Huesca launched a search for Henderson. The Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (known as GREIM for its initials in Spanish) and an air unit have joined, according to the local newspaper El Diario de Huesca. Henderson's loved ones are also asking people to share his photo and the details of his disappearance on social media, in hopes that someone in the area recognizes him and may have a better idea of what his last location was. "We're coordinating with the mountain rescue patrol, American embassy, Spanish authorities and local search and rescue teams," Simon wrote. "But we're also asking for help online — from travelers, hikers, locals, or anyone who might have been in the area or seen Cole in the last week." What do we know about Cole Henderson? Henderson's social media posts show he was a world traveler and adventurer, from trekking along the famed Tour du Mont Blanc through Switzerland, Italy, and France, and skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado, to hiking in South Dakota's Badlands National Park and volunteering in Costa Rica. His LinkedIn profile says he's an engineer "building today's AI for tomorrow's power" at Dexter Energy and that he graduated from Rhodes College with honors with a degree in computer science. He describes himself as an avid backpacker.
