On March 24, the Paris-based offices of Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild were raided by French police. Officials were searching for evidence of wrongdoing for an investigation into possible corruption by a former UN diplomat turned employee who is mentioned dozens of times in the Jeffrey Epstein emails. Current head of the bank Arianne de Rothschild, who is also in the Epstein emails exchanging messages with Epstein himself, was present for the raid, which was part of a long-running investigation.

Yes, she is one of those Rothschilds: the 200-year old European banking dynasty claimed by conspiracy theorists to run all of the central banks in the world, hold $500 trillion in assets, and fund both sides of every war. Those Rothschilds are linked on multiple levels to Jeffrey Epstein, and in an email to fellow billionaire Peter Thiel, Epstein claimed to “represent the Rothschilds.”

Unsurprisingly, the conspiracy theory community was excited about the raid, seeing it as validation of their long-held views of the Rothschilds as part of a power elite that was no longer untouchable. A guest on Alex Jones’ show the day after the raid extolled it as “a small victory” in the fight against globalism. It would appear, then, that the idea of the Rothschilds being involved in the dark deeds of the global oligarchy is not a conspiracy theory, but just a conspiracy. It’s a vast and evil plot, carried out in secret, and only exposed by the diligence of truth-crusaders on the internet.

Or is it? What if Epstein’s link to the Rothschilds was neither a conspiracy, nor a conspiracy theory. What if it was just one of the countless connections many wealthy people have to each other, with their deeds difficult for outsiders to understand and mostly carried out through the banality of electronic communication?

The Edmond de Rothschild investigation isn’t actually about the bank, but someone who worked at the bank. And Ariane de Rothschild might be linked to Epstein, but she’s not currently under investigation for any crimes. So if there is a conspiracy, what exactly is it?

This is when the difference between “conspiracy” and “conspiracy theory” becomes crucial to understand.

As a journalist and author, I’ve spent the last decade exploring the connection between conspiracy theory beliefs and current events, including writing two books, testifying to Congress, and giving hundreds of interviews. The world seems more chaotic and complicated by the day, and we are all searching for patterns and easy answers to help us make it make sense. Conspiracy theories excel at filling this void, giving us signal in noise, and scapegoats for what seem like random events. 

Conspiracism and paranoia have become principle drivers of American politics, commerce, culture, and medicine. What was once relegated to the fringes of late-night radio and street corner pamphlets about fluoride is now so mainstream that the president regularly shares memes about QAnon, quantum healing medbeds, and George Soros and the aforementioned Rothschilds (no, I am not related to the legendary banking family) funding the Democratic Party. In TPM’s Rough Edges, I’ll be working to untangle the truth from the theories, debunk the lies, and bring context........

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