The Storm is Upon Us: How Qanon Became a Movement, a Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything, by Mike Rothschild

Expand

'The Storm is Upon Us' by Mike Rothschild

When people tell you they’ve “researched” a subject of public concern, such as COVID, chances are their internet “research” took them down the dark corridors that lead to Qanon. And they might not even know it.

Mike Rothschild’s The Storm is Upon Us is a factual (not alt factual) account of a phenomenon most Americans heard of only vaguely until the 2020 Trump campaign. Rothschild has reported on Q’s strange but not unprecedented doings for the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, CNN and other outlets and has researched the subject the way a critical thinker—not a gullible internet surfer—gathers evidence and valuates sources.

Qanon is a sponge of bad ideas, absorbing the oldest conspiracy theory of all, the Jewish plot to rule the world, along with vaccination paranoia and 911 “truths.” It builds on decades of crazy talk about homicidal Hillary and that sneaky advocate of democracy, George Soros. The looming presence of Trump gave Qanon a new angle by positing him as the Dark Knight waging covert war against a cabal of liberal pedophiles (aren’t there any conservative pedophiles?). Then there is the “deep state” pulling the wires behind our otherwise moribund political system. Of course, after November 2020, Qanon was a super-spreader of the Big Lie that Trump was somehow cheated of victory, or that he really is still the president, or that he will be “reinstated” or … Rioters in Q gear were visible among the insurrectionists of January 6.

The Storm is Upon Us is chilling for its cast of cult-like true believers but also for the cult’s lack of any discernable leader. If Q once had a Jim Jones, he checked out or became one avatar among thousands as the virus spread. It’s uncontrollable. The social network allows anyone to add to the worldwide web of delusion and paranoia. Qanon is a perverse participatory democracy of fools.

Rothschild fails to double-down on the indelible impression left by doubt over the Warren Commission, the proliferation of JFK assassination theories that opened the minds of millions of Americans to the idea that the powers that be are lying to us about fundamental issues. He remarks that many of Q’s “foundational concepts and plot points are grabbed from movies like The Matrix” but much more could be said about Q’s pop culture sources. Maybe that’s Rothschild’s next book?

Gullibility and anxiety have powered the mishmash of Q ideas. The gullibility results in part from the indifferent education received by many Americans, college grads included. As for anxiety, much of it is understandable in a world of rapid change, where giant cartels push dangerous legal drugs and the actual global elite included at least one real sex trafficker (Jeffrey Epstein). In a confused environment where genuine social ties have weakened and trust in institutions has fragmented, it’s psychologically rewarding to identify culprits and see patterns in the apparent chaos. It’s also easy to fall for disinformation if you don’t know how to discern genuine from fake.

As troubling as anything in Rothschild’s account is the way Q ideas have jumped from the radical fringe into the mainstream through mindless human “influencers” as well as the mindless algorithms of Amazon-Google. Many recipients never knew that recipes for dangerous COVID “cures” came from “those crazy people” in Qanon.

What role for Russian disinformation? According to Rothschild, “Russian trolls and domestic political operatives will amplify what’s already out there, but only Americans can create conspiracy theories that will sucker in Americans.” Trump? He may have inspired Qanon’s birth through cryptic remarks as far back as 2017. He gladly embraced Q’s support and members of his circle such a Michael Flynn and Roger Stone are implicated in Q conspiracy mongering.

The number of deaths Qanon has caused by spreading misinformation about the pandemic is incalculable. Two insurrectionists with Q ties died in the January 6 upheaval and other acts of violence have been encouraged by the movement’s inflammatory vision of apocalypse now and were carried out by its “digital soldiers,” as some of the cultists like to call themselves.

Wisely, Rothschild refrains from predicting Q’s future direction. In its short history Q has already left behind “broken families, shattered minds and a country teetering on the brink.” Its toll includes “friendships forever lost, relationships broken” and even custody battles over children as couples separate over belief or disbelief in Q. Sadly, Rothschild concludes, Q conspiracy theories “are becoming just as entrenched in conservative orthodoxy as the fake controversies over Benghazi and Hillary Clinton’s email server.”