Barkun cited in Mere Orthodoxy article on insurgency in America

January 28, 2021

Mere Orthodoxy

Michael Barkun

Political Science Department

Government

Political Parties

U.S. Elections

United States

Mere Orthodoxy

Michael Barkun

Professor Emeritus Michael Barkun's research on extremism and conspiracy theories was cited in the Mere Orthodoxy article, "A Homegrown Christian Insurgency." In 2017, Barkun predicted that former President Donald Trump’s "mainstreaming of the fringe" would likely wash away customs, practices and norms that served as crucial protections of democratic culture in America. "Should formerly fringe forces substantially weaken the informal rules and practices that historically kept violence at bay," Barkun wrote, "the stability we now take for granted would become, for the first time in our lifetimes, problematic."