A large part of contemporary conspiracism — and election denialism in particular — is rooted in cowardice; in the unwillingness of Trumpists to say what they really mean.
Let me pan back for a moment before refining that point.
I have no wish to burnish the past but certain old-neighborhood influences have crept into my current ideals. When I was 12, my father ran for Congress on the Conservative Party ticket in Queens, New York. He opposed a longtime Democrat, Lester Wolff, and a party-line Republican, Stewart Ain. Dad, a former Kennedy Democrat and Legal Aid attorney buffeted by the city’s chaos, was anti-abortion. I was pro-choice, even at age 12.
The anti-abortion point of view was unpopular in New York City, naturally. Wolff had no problem. He was proudly pro-choice, like me. Ain skirted the issue. “Abortion is the law of the land,” he said during a radio debate, “and I will uphold the law of the land.” Wolff objected: “I’ve answered the question; Mr. Horowitz has answered the question; why won’t you answer the question?”
“I’ve answered the question; Mr. Horowitz has answered the question; why won’t you answer the question?”
