Elements of modern conservative movements such as the Tea Party have been compared to the infamous John Birch Society, but no comparison is needed when actual Birchers are involved.
Despot-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget spoke at a Birch Society gathering earlier this year.
In July, [Rep. Mick Mulvaney] spoke at a dinner held by a local chapter of the group, which has long been exiled from mainstream conservatism. Founded in the 1950s, the outfit promoted a paranoid obsession with communist infiltration. It declared President Dwight Eisenhower "a conscious agent of the communist conspiracy." It opposed the civil rights movement as a communist plot. Ever since William F. Buckley Jr., the intellectual godfather of modern conservatism, felt compelled to disavow the John Birch Society in the early 1960s, most mainstream conservatives have dismissed the organization as an embarrassment for the right. But the group still exists and continues to emphasize the communist threat. [...]
His July speech was billed as an address on "the Federal Reserve's role in bailing out Europe."
If you're familiar with the story, you're probably aware that claiming the Federal Reserve bailed out Europe is just another riff on the idea that Jewish bankers secretly rule the world.
Given the wide breadth and sometimes contradictory array of conspiracy theories Trump's cabinet picks believe in, bigotry may be the only thing that binds them all together.
That probably shouldn't come as a surprise given that Trump's chief strategist is the chief bigot of Breitbart, Steve Bannon.