The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything
Its messaging can seem cryptic, even nonsensical, yet for tens of thousands of people, it explains everything: What is QAnon, where did it come from, and is the Capitol insurgency a sign of where it’s going next?
On October 5th, 2017, President Trump made a cryptic remark in the State Dining Room at a gathering of military officials. He said it felt like “the calm before the storm”—then refused to elaborate as puzzled journalists asked him to explain. But on the infamous message boards of 4chan, a mysterious poster going by “Q Clearance Patriot,” who claimed to be in “military intelligence,” began the elaboration on their own.
In the days that followed, Q’s wild yarn explaining Trump's remarks began to rival the sinister intricacies of a Tom Clancy novel, while satisfying the deepest desires of MAGA-America. But did any of what Q predicted come to pass? No. Did that stop people from clinging to every word they were reading, expanding its mythology, and promoting it wider and wider? No.
Why not? Who were these rapt listeners? How do they reconcile their worldview with the America they see around them? Why do their numbers keep growing? Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in conspiracy theories, has been collecting their stories for years, and through interviews with QAnon converts, apostates, and victims, as well as psychologists, sociologists, and academics, he is uniquely equipped to explain the movement and its followers.
In The Storm Is Upon Us, he takes readers from the background conspiracies and cults that fed the Q phenomenon, to its embrace by right-wing media and Donald Trump, through the rending of families as loved ones became addicted to Q’s increasingly violent rhetoric, to the storming of the Capitol, and on.
And as the phenomenon shows no sign of calming despite Trump’s loss of the presidency—with everyone from Baby Boomers to Millennial moms proving susceptible to its messaging—and politicians starting to openly espouse its ideology, Rothschild makes a compelling case that mocking the seeming madness of QAnon will get us nowhere. Rather, his impassioned reportage makes clear it's time to figure out what QAnon really is — because QAnon and its relentlessly dark theory of everything isn’t done yet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Rothschild is journalist, author, expert witness, and authority in conspiracy theories, antisemitism, fringe beliefs, and how social media influences extremism. In particular, he wrote the first mainstream book to examine the QAnon conspiracy theory, provided crucial expert witness testimony in multiple high-profile court cases related to conspiracy theories, and has testified to Congress on the harm of election disinformation.
With hundreds of media appearances, including dozens of hits on live TV and radio, Mike is one of the foremost pop communicators on how conspiracy theories spread and why people believe them. He has written hundreds of articles, appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the BBC; and been interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, the New Yorker, Vice, the Daily Beast, and dozens of other news outlets and podcasts.
His newest book "Jewish Space Lasers: the Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories" was called "quite timeless in how it elegantly untangles fact from fiction" by the Washington Post, and "a patient and painstaking invalidation of antisemitism that also highlights its perniciousness" by Publishers Weekly. And his previous book, "The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything" received dozens of positive reviews and features.
Mike has also provided written testimony to the January 6th Committee, spoken at numerous conferences, and has consulted on a variety of media projects related to conspiracy theories.
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