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| In Donald Trump, Conspiracy Fans Find a Campaign to Believe In | In Donald Trump, Conspiracy Fans Find a Campaign to Believe In |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| KENNER, La. — “What the government tells you is rarely the truth, and it’s never the complete truth,” proclaimed Roger Stone, the veteran political operative and longtime confidant of Donald J. Trump. | KENNER, La. — “What the government tells you is rarely the truth, and it’s never the complete truth,” proclaimed Roger Stone, the veteran political operative and longtime confidant of Donald J. Trump. |
| To the approving hoots of several dozen audience members on Sunday in a conference room at the Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport Hotel, Mr. Stone went on to contend that his candidate was no tool of the elite power brokers at the Trilateral Commission or the Bilderberg meetings — and then he asserted paternity cover-ups within the Clinton family, declared that one group supporting Hillary Clinton was a “criminal-based money-laundering operation” and promised “devastating” revelations among hacked emails yet to be released. | To the approving hoots of several dozen audience members on Sunday in a conference room at the Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport Hotel, Mr. Stone went on to contend that his candidate was no tool of the elite power brokers at the Trilateral Commission or the Bilderberg meetings — and then he asserted paternity cover-ups within the Clinton family, declared that one group supporting Hillary Clinton was a “criminal-based money-laundering operation” and promised “devastating” revelations among hacked emails yet to be released. |
| And, in a brief detour, he explained that Lyndon B. Johnson helped orchestrate the assassination of John F. Kennedy. | And, in a brief detour, he explained that Lyndon B. Johnson helped orchestrate the assassination of John F. Kennedy. |
| The last part, while hardly the focus of Mr. Stone’s speech, was what had brought him, for the second year in a row, to the annual Lee Harvey Oswald Conference, a gathering of conspiracy amateurs and prolific authors that is timed around Oswald’s birthday (Oct. 18). The conference is dedicated to the proposition, as the conference organizer explained in his introductory remarks, that “Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy and that it was a coup d’état that happened and we lost our country.” | The last part, while hardly the focus of Mr. Stone’s speech, was what had brought him, for the second year in a row, to the annual Lee Harvey Oswald Conference, a gathering of conspiracy amateurs and prolific authors that is timed around Oswald’s birthday (Oct. 18). The conference is dedicated to the proposition, as the conference organizer explained in his introductory remarks, that “Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy and that it was a coup d’état that happened and we lost our country.” |
| At a time when talk of having lost the country is very much in vogue, along with deep suspicions of a powerful and secretive elite, the symposium seemed remarkably of the moment. | At a time when talk of having lost the country is very much in vogue, along with deep suspicions of a powerful and secretive elite, the symposium seemed remarkably of the moment. |
| In between the dissections of events from 53 years ago, the proceedings repeatedly came back to the current election. Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, who for years raised doubts about whether President Obama was born in the United States, has charged that the election is “one big fix” and has accused Mrs. Clinton of meeting secretly with global financial powers “to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty,” all while intelligence officials warn of covert Russian attempts to manipulate the vote. | In between the dissections of events from 53 years ago, the proceedings repeatedly came back to the current election. Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, who for years raised doubts about whether President Obama was born in the United States, has charged that the election is “one big fix” and has accused Mrs. Clinton of meeting secretly with global financial powers “to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty,” all while intelligence officials warn of covert Russian attempts to manipulate the vote. |
| The idea that political figures are at the whim of shadowy forces is a core principle of the conference. The notion that elections have always been rigged was echoed by at least one presenter: Sean Stone, the son of the director Oliver Stone, whose 1991 film “JFK” is effectively one of the conference’s founding documents. There was also extensive and generally favorable discussion of claims put forward by Mr. Trump that Senator Ted Cruz’s father had played a role in a conspiracy behind the Kennedy assassination. | The idea that political figures are at the whim of shadowy forces is a core principle of the conference. The notion that elections have always been rigged was echoed by at least one presenter: Sean Stone, the son of the director Oliver Stone, whose 1991 film “JFK” is effectively one of the conference’s founding documents. There was also extensive and generally favorable discussion of claims put forward by Mr. Trump that Senator Ted Cruz’s father had played a role in a conspiracy behind the Kennedy assassination. |
| But the Oswald conference is not easy to classify politically. If there was any “party” loyalty, it was with Oswald, considered an honorable patriot manipulated and impugned by conspirators, and with Kennedy, described by one attendee as among the country’s great conservatives and by one speaker as a “kind of better-looking Bernie Sanders.” | But the Oswald conference is not easy to classify politically. If there was any “party” loyalty, it was with Oswald, considered an honorable patriot manipulated and impugned by conspirators, and with Kennedy, described by one attendee as among the country’s great conservatives and by one speaker as a “kind of better-looking Bernie Sanders.” |
| Kris Millegan, an amiable publisher of conspiracy books and the chief organizer of the conference — and a self-described “Bernie man” — said the politics here flouted the usual labels. | |
| “When you get people from the far left and far right, they’re really kind of saying the same things,” he said. | |
| Still, he acknowledged, some of the things they are saying have been embraced by the Trump campaign. Trust in the government began falling shortly after the assassination, surveys show, and has never been as high since. Although trust in the mass media was high in the mid-1970s, it recently reached its lowest point in decades. | Still, he acknowledged, some of the things they are saying have been embraced by the Trump campaign. Trust in the government began falling shortly after the assassination, surveys show, and has never been as high since. Although trust in the mass media was high in the mid-1970s, it recently reached its lowest point in decades. |
| A sense that some vital national essence was lost on Nov. 22, 1963, was alluded to again and again at the conference. There was also a conviction that the forces that had taken it away were still in control. | A sense that some vital national essence was lost on Nov. 22, 1963, was alluded to again and again at the conference. There was also a conviction that the forces that had taken it away were still in control. |
| “If they did that to us 50-some-odd years ago, what are they doing today?” asked the Rev. Hy McEnery, 65, a New Orleans chaplain and a committed Trump supporter who also had questions about whether the BP oil spill had been planned. | “If they did that to us 50-some-odd years ago, what are they doing today?” asked the Rev. Hy McEnery, 65, a New Orleans chaplain and a committed Trump supporter who also had questions about whether the BP oil spill had been planned. |
| In the beer garden of a biker bar on Saturday night, a celebration of Oswald’s birthday included a cake, a “Happy Birthday” singalong and live music performed by Saint John Hunt, a son of E. Howard Hunt, one of the Richard M. Nixon operatives implicated in the Watergate break-in. | In the beer garden of a biker bar on Saturday night, a celebration of Oswald’s birthday included a cake, a “Happy Birthday” singalong and live music performed by Saint John Hunt, a son of E. Howard Hunt, one of the Richard M. Nixon operatives implicated in the Watergate break-in. |
| Sitting at a picnic table, George Noory considered the political landscape. A star guest at the conference, Mr. Noory hosts a popular wee-hours radio show, “Coast to Coast AM,” on which government-funded dark sorcery and attempts by the military to hide evidence of an ancient race of giants are considered alongside stories that may have once seemed wildly improbable but come straight from the nightly news. Mr. Noory had on a guest last week to discuss Russia’s suspected role in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. | Sitting at a picnic table, George Noory considered the political landscape. A star guest at the conference, Mr. Noory hosts a popular wee-hours radio show, “Coast to Coast AM,” on which government-funded dark sorcery and attempts by the military to hide evidence of an ancient race of giants are considered alongside stories that may have once seemed wildly improbable but come straight from the nightly news. Mr. Noory had on a guest last week to discuss Russia’s suspected role in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. |
| “What we’ve been talking about for 14 years plus, about conspiracies, about the unknown, it’s proven us to be right,” Mr. Noory said. “These things are real, and they are happening.” | “What we’ve been talking about for 14 years plus, about conspiracies, about the unknown, it’s proven us to be right,” Mr. Noory said. “These things are real, and they are happening.” |
| To some at the conference, there was little to do about this but despair. The books on sale depicted forces aligned against the truth on an almost incomprehensible scale, arguing that the public was being duped about the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, the Sept. 11 attacks, the origin of H.I.V. and AIDS, the Nuremberg trials, the Federal Reserve, vaccinations, U.F.O.s and countless other matters. The idea that a vote for any candidate would make a difference, several said wearily, just seemed naïve. | To some at the conference, there was little to do about this but despair. The books on sale depicted forces aligned against the truth on an almost incomprehensible scale, arguing that the public was being duped about the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, the Sept. 11 attacks, the origin of H.I.V. and AIDS, the Nuremberg trials, the Federal Reserve, vaccinations, U.F.O.s and countless other matters. The idea that a vote for any candidate would make a difference, several said wearily, just seemed naïve. |
| But Mr. Stone’s brash confidence convinced others that this election was a chance to fight back — and when internet connectivity in the conference room suddenly dropped out during Mr. Stone’s speech, they saw it as a sign that someone saw Mr. Trump as a threat who had to be suppressed. | But Mr. Stone’s brash confidence convinced others that this election was a chance to fight back — and when internet connectivity in the conference room suddenly dropped out during Mr. Stone’s speech, they saw it as a sign that someone saw Mr. Trump as a threat who had to be suppressed. |
| Mr. Stone finished his remarks to a somewhat divided audience — some muttering their disagreement and others roaring with approval — and then began signing copies of his book on the secrets of the Bush family. | Mr. Stone finished his remarks to a somewhat divided audience — some muttering their disagreement and others roaring with approval — and then began signing copies of his book on the secrets of the Bush family. |
| A man approached and raised the topic of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February. It seemed terribly convenient, the man suggested, leaving the Supreme Court at a 4-to-4 ideological stalemate before a potentially close election, and he asked Mr. Stone if he thought the death might have been orchestrated. | A man approached and raised the topic of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February. It seemed terribly convenient, the man suggested, leaving the Supreme Court at a 4-to-4 ideological stalemate before a potentially close election, and he asked Mr. Stone if he thought the death might have been orchestrated. |
| Mr. Stone responded with uncharacteristic discretion. “I do,” he said. “But that’s just my opinion.” | Mr. Stone responded with uncharacteristic discretion. “I do,” he said. “But that’s just my opinion.” |