The end stage of Conspiracism is when conspiracy theories cease being a means for achieving other goals (let’s impeach Trump because he colluded with Russia and usher in President Hillary Clinton) but when conspiracy theories become their own end even when they have no meaningful purpose.

Take the Melania Trump conspiracy theories.

It’s not hard to understand why they exist.

The paranoid atmosphere of the left has unleashed conspiracy theorists. And the media quickly figured out that it could get plenty of hits by catering to them. Despite the self-righteous posturing about fake news, the non-paywalled media makes it money from Trump conspiracy theories and viral content. The paywalled makes it money from Trump conspiracy theories and pretentiousness.

But Trump conspiracy theories that had an end were a gateway drug to just conspiracy theories. Forget plausibility, the Melania Trump conspiracy theories don’t accomplish anything the left wants. But they still provide the underlying satisfaction that conspiracy theories do. The satisfaction of speculation, putting together theories from random internet stuff and of hating Trump.

But that’s the Trump cult of anti-personality singularity. And it’s serious.

In Israel, the Netanyahu cult of anti-personality means obsessive and senseless defamation. It also means conspiracy theories that make no sense.

Even some lefties are calling the Melania stuff Trump Derangement Syndrome. But it’s a specific flavor of it. Having created a market for Trump conspiracy theories, the media has to go feeding it. And the source is often determined by claims that go viral. When lefty Twitter went Weighter, the media began questioning Trump’s weight. When it became obsessed with speculating why Melania Trump was absent, the media got on board.

That’s not journalism. But it is how the media works now.