Conspiracy theories in United States politics are beliefs that an event or situation in US politics is the result of secretive collusion by powerful people striving to harm a rival group or undermine society in general. Such theories draw from actual conspiracies, in which individuals work together covertly in order to unravel a larger system. Often, the struggle between a real conspiracy theory and a misconception of one leads to conflict, polarization in elections, distrust in government, and racial and political divisions. Many political conspiracies begin and spread from politically charged circumstances, individuals' partisan affiliations, and online platforms that form echo chambers with like-minded individuals. Belief in American political conspiracy theories applies to all parties, ideologies, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, and genders. Contributions Circumstantial fear Conspiracy theories often arise during new political or social circumstances in which one group of people feels threatened by another group that is politically, religiously, ethnically, racially, or economically different from them. Theories began as early as the European colonization of the Americas when colonizers deemed Native Americans as threats. As a result, many colonizers, including Cotton Mather, speculated that Native Americans were controlled by the devil. Some even believed in the "myth of the super-chief," in which every Indigenous attack was orchestrated by a tribal chief, who controlled thousands of Native American fighters and strived to wipe out the whites. Northern Republicans in the mid-1860s believed President Andrew Johnson was conspiring with ex-Confederates to undo the abolition of slavery. Theories also arose in response to the counterculture, feminist, and anti-war era of the 1960s. Many conservatives felt threatened and began to believe that the movements had been formed with communist motivations to undermine the U.S. government. During the 1990s, many right-wing conspiracy theorists also feared that the Clintons were involved in drug cartels and assassinations. Some have theorized that the government is planting drugs in predominately-black neighborhoods to breed a greater rate of incarceration and crime in the community. In 2020, many conspiracy theories circulated during the coronavirus pandemic partly because of the increased anxiety, larger number of people staying at home, and greater focus on the Internet and social media outlets. One such conspiracy that proliferated from the 2020 Presidential election was QAnon. Conspiracy theories exist because of fear of the other or frustration with one's own disenfranchisement. They correlate with an increase in social, political, or economic changes in society and are