We sit with longtime QAnon reporter Will Sommer of the Daily Beast to discuss Baby Q's weird cult, the rise of QAnon over the last few years, the hunt for Q's identity, and the Q-man Centipede. We also touch on the latest internal Fox News messages that reveal their eagerness to platform lies about the election even when they didn’t believe those lies themselves. Will Sommer's book is 'Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America'.
 
Subscribe for $5 a month to get an extra episode of QAA every week + access to ongoing series like 'Manclan' and 'Trickle Down': http://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous

Will Sommer: https://twitter.com/willsommer
Will's Book 'Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America': https://www.harpercollins.com/products/trust-the-plan-will-sommer

QAA's Website: https://qanonanonymous.com

Music by Max Weber. Editing by Corey Klotz.

Episode 220: Baby Q Rising feat Will Sommer

"I Was A Teenage Conspiracy Theorist," The Atlantic magazine playfully titled a 2020 essay. "Choose your reality: Trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise," reported The Associated Press in 2022. "Do You Know Someone Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories? We Want to Hear About It," wrote The New York Times last year.

Fears of "conspiracy theories" are a common trope in the U.S. media, a worry that's grown more acute with the rise of QAnon, anti-vaxx sentiment, anti-semitism and a host of other dangerous theories that unduly rot brains throughout the country. To a great extent, this understandable: Many ideas that meet the definition of "conspiracy theories" are, indeed, baseless and dangerous and can direct people's political energy and resources into wasteful, racist, and downright stupid rabbit holes.

But that fact shouldn't delegitimize or foreclose all skepticism of those in power, but too often the term "conspiracy theory" is used to do just that. Repeatedly, media lump together so-called conspiracy theories, regardless of their accuracy, rationale, and ideology: at once, UFO chasers, QAnon, and the Black Panther Party being subject to FBI disruption are somehow placed in the same category of paranoid kooks. At the same time, unproven, and often debunked ideas advanced by media that also meet the definition of "conspiracy theories" — such as Saddam Hussein being behind 9/11 or so-called Havana syndrome — are treated as unassailable, meriting ongoing investigation, limitless resources, and of course, utmost solemnity.

On this episode, we detail the double standards applied to conspiracy theories inside and outside of the realm of U.S. corporate media. We’ll examine the development of the concept of conspiracy theories and the media's selective invocations of the term to discredit real grievances directed at American power and the U.S. government, and moreover, how power-friendly conspiracies — namely those focused on Enemy States like the Havana Syndrome narrative — are permitted to fester and grow without pushback because their red yarn dot connecting implicates the right lists of Acceptable Bad Guys.

Our guest is Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic.

Episode 180: Havana Syndrome and the Power of Mainstream, Acceptable Conspiracy Theories

We cover some breaking 17th century news and look at the race car driving heir to the House of Habsburg, as well as the coronation of King Charles III, for a little modern-day Hell on Earth. Then, keeping with the theme of gratuitous puff-pieces in the Times, we look at “Liz” Holmes attempt to rebrand herself as a gee-shucks everyday mom and family woman ahead of her sentencing for medical fraud. Finally, we catch up on the ever-mounting corruption in the Supreme Court, and what our elected officials will fail to do about it.

The piece about heart transplants Felix mentions in this: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/opinion/heart-transplant-donor.html
New merch, including Hell on Earth designs and re-stocked Zapata Oil hats, available for order through May 24th here: https://represent.com/store/chapo-trap-house

Chapo Trap House

730 - The Man Who Would Be King (5/8/23)

We interview Oswaldo Zavala (twitter.com/Oswaldo__Zavala), the author of Drug Cartels Do Not Exist (vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/9780826504661/drug-cartels-do-not-exist/), about images, stories, and realities of drug cartels in Mexico and beyond. Plus parasites, stories, violence, the State & much more.

Also by Oswaldo Zavala: La Guerra en las Palabras (penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717742/la-guerra-en-las-palabras-una-historia-intelectual-del-narco-en-mexico-1975---2020--war-put-into-words-by-oswaldo-zavala/)

Episode 290: The Beast

Topics: White House Plumbers show, Gulf war trading cards
Matt Christman goes off live on http://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse

Grill Stream

251 - Mrs. Pibb 05.25.23

We examine a pair of Twitter spaces, one successful (TrueAnon & frazzledrip), one a disaster (Ron DeSantis & Elon Musk). Plus Bill Gates blackmailed by Epstein and explosive allegations in the USVI lawsuit.

patreon.com/TrueAnonPod

Episode 294: Bodies And Spaces

Today we’re joined by Professor Corey Robin, author of "The Reactionary Mind" and "The Enigma of Clarence Thomas," for a conversation all about one of the most powerful reactionaries in the world: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. We discuss the origins and contours of his conservative ideology, and how they reflect the development of race, class, law, power, conservatism and liberalism over his lifetime.

You can pick up "The Enigma of Clarence Thomas" here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781627793834/theenigmaofclarencethomas

738 - They Smile In Your Face feat. Corey Robin (6/5/23)

We sit down with author Jim DiEugenio to chat about his work on the Oliver Stone films JFK Revisited and JFK: Destiny Betrayed, chasing down assassination leads for thirty years, what Hollywood and the media get wrong, and much more. 

Check out Jim’s work at: www.kennedysandking.com
Listen to our previous JFK coverage: patreon.com/TrueAnonPod?filters[search_query]=jfk

Episode 298: James DiEugenio

Today we’re joined by journalist Ben Terris, who’s been sort of shadow-programming the show recently with his pieces on Sean McElwee, Diane Feinstein’s staff, Tommy Tuberville’s advisors and questions about Tim Scott’s virginity.  We discuss Trump’s federal indictment over the “boxes hoax,” and the growing feeling that ol’ Donny might possibly maybe finally be kind of fucked. Then we talk to Ben about his new book “The Big Break,” and learn more about all the McElwee-esque DC creeps, weirdos and gamblers he’s come to know investigating the world of post-Trump Washington. 

You can find Ben’s book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ben-terris/the-big-break/9781538708057/?lens=twelve

740 - Crank About Creeping feat. Ben Terris (6/12/23)

Frustrated with the current state of popular film, the boys pitch “Pixar’s Sodas”.

Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes!
www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

743 Teaser - Pixar’s Sodas

The boys look at the Wagner Group failed(?) coup(??) of Russia(???) over the weekend(????). Then, some more on the submarine disaster, RFK Jr. and the people who believe current events as a factor of time’s linear progression are, in general, a “psyop”.

TORONTO: tickets still available to our show there Thursday, August 17: https://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/10005ED4F0FB3932

Our friends Steven Donziger and Chris Smalls in association with Little Secret LA are going on tour this summer, find dates and tickets here: https://www.littlesecretla.org/hotlaborsummertour