The distinguishing thing about the paranoid style is not that its exponents see conspiracies or plots here and there in history, but that they regard a "vast" or "gigantic" conspiracy as the motive force in historical events. History is a conspiracy, set in motion by demonic forces of almost trancendent power, and what is felt to be needed to defeat it is no the usual methods of political give and take, but an all-out crusade.
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Citation
Hofstadter, Richard. "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." Harper's Magazine, Nov. 1964.
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