‘Replacement Theory’ and Violence at the Capitol

Conspiracy theories were a driving force behind right-wing violence at the Capitol last week. Here’s one conspiracy theory you might not have heard of.

The term ‘conspiracy theory’ has worked its way into common discourse due mostly to our Snake Oil Salesman in Chief Donald Trump’s efforts to convince the public (or maybe just himself) that he really won an election that he so clearly lost.

The violence on Wednesday at the US Capitol was a manifestation of Trump’s conspiracy theory, but also the culmination of years of conspiracy theories invented and propagated to assuage mostly white voters of what they see (not entirely falsely) as their declining influence in American culture and politics. To understand the violence, we need to name the ideologies behind it.

One of these conspiracy theories is called ‘replacement theory.’ Replacement theory argues that due to their low birth rates, whites will eventually be demographically overtaken by people of color and immigrants, who will ‘replace’ the white population and lead, inevitably, to white oppression. In its most banal forms, replacement theory is a baseless interpretive leap from the very real demographic changes happening in the United States. Its more violent and extreme forms include outlandish claims that the demographic transition is being funded by…