How Government Created a Nation of Conspiracy Theorists

They didn’t just lose the narrative. They lost the country.

Brian C. Joondeph | July 13, 2026

Five years ago, suggesting that COVID-19 may have originated in a laboratory rather than a wet market could earn someone the label “conspiracy theorist.” 

Discussing vaccine injuries could result in a post being removed from social media. Questioning prolonged school closures, forced masking, or vaccine mandates often led to accusations of being “anti-science.”

Today, many of those once-forbidden discussions have become part of public debate.

That doesn’t mean every alternative theory is correct.

But it raises an important question.

What happens when institutions repeatedly assure the public that they are unquestionably right, only to revise, retreat, or quietly abandon those assurances months or years later?

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The answer may be found in Rasmussen Reports’ latest survey.

Nearly half of Americans — 45 percent — now believe it is at least somewhat likely that COVID-19 was deliberately released as part of an effort to reduce the world’s population.

Pause and consider that.

Nearly half of the country.

I am not arguing that this belief is true. I have seen no evidence that COVID was part of a deliberate depopulation plan, and the Rasmussen survey does not make that claim.

But public opinion tells us something equally important.

Americans increasingly assume the worst about the institutions that once enjoyed their confidence.

In my recent Rasmussen Reports column, I argued that the greatest casualty of COVID was trust.

This new survey underscores just how profound that loss has become.

Conspiracy theories rarely flourish in societies where institutions are transparent, accountable, and willing to admit mistakes.

They flourish where information is incomplete,........

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