Once when asked about her name, Madonna replied, “I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name.” Although the life of a pop star and an investigative journalist are worlds apart, there are few who fit this quote as well as Mike Rothschild.
In the conspiracy community, no surname is as detested as much as Rothschild—except for Soros. There is a delicate irony that he documents conspiracies and finds himself being accused of being part of them simply because of his last name.
There’s also bravery. While he is not related to the Rothschilds of conspiracy infamy, his Twitter feed is often flooded with angry accusations from people who insist he is. So it seems rather fitting that Rothschild specializes in researching and writing about conspiracy culture and extremism.
Rothschild has been researching and writing about QAnon since January 2018—only a few months after Q Clearance Patriot first posted on 4Chan. He has been screaming into the void for quite some time, watching the ever-changing narrative evolve and devolve.
The Storm Is Upon Us is an important record of this narrative from the very beginning to the current state of disarray. Even though I am a QAnon researcher myself, I admit there were things I did not know about until I read this book, such as the Grass Valley Charter School (GVCS) incident. Located in California, GVCS became the target of wild QAnon conspiracies back in April 2019, when an innocent Tweet by former FBI Director James Comey was decoded, or “baked,” by QAnon followers.
On April 27, 2019, the hashtag #FiveJobsIveHad was trending, and Comey listed five previous jobs. QAnon followers saw it as a threat, because the first letter of each job listed spelled out GVCSF and the hashtag itself was interpreted as “five jihads.” Their conclusion was that Comey was planning an attack on Grass Valley Charter School. As for the F, they assumed this stood for “festival,” which the school was holding in May. The Blue Marble Jubilee festival had to be canceled—not because of any legitimate threat but because there was concern that the people reporting this “threat” might show up as vigilante guards.
The GVCS incident illustrates just one of the many threats that the QAnon movement poses, but it doesn’t end there. A whole chapter, “This Is Not a Game: The Many Crimes of QAnon Followers,” details the absurd, dangerous, and deluded actions that have become inseparable from the movement.
Of course, the most notable and disturbing collective QAnon crime was the insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. This was QAnon’s coming-out party. The nation watched in horror as massive violence unfolded on live TV, with many people expressing confusion or shock as this anarchy occurred.
“They shouldn’t have been shocked,” Rothschild writes, referring to the mainstream media’s reaction to the insurrection. In that one sentence, Rothschild expresses the sentiment that many QAnon researchers felt on that dark day: January 6 was a Cassandra moment; countless QAnon researchers had been warning about such events for years, but no one was listening.
Throughout the book, the pain and confusion of QAnon becomes more and more clear, nowhere more so than in the last chapter, which is perhaps the most difficult to read. “Where We Go One: How to Help People Who Want to Get Out of Q” describes the micro effects that QAnon has had on families. Lives and relationships have been torn apart by this conspiracy theory that has no evidence to back up any of its claims.
But there is an upside to this:
Most QAnon believers won’t go down the road that ends at the wrong side of a Capitol police officer’s gun. For all of the crimes and violent ideation we’ve seen, many believers truly want to play a role in making the world a better place. That they’ve chosen to do it through QAnon is a problem, of course. But it’s not a problem that lacks a solution. And some Q believers do find that solution, eventually coming to it on their own with encouragement from people on the outside that they trust.
Rothschild recounts the victorious stories of those who escaped the rabbit hole and how their reemergence has made them happier and more productive. Of course, no collection of recovery stories would be complete without mentioning Jitarth Jadeja (whom I interviewed for my article, “Life, the Quniverse, and Everything, Part 1,” in the March/April 2021 Skeptical Inquirer). Jadeja has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of QAnon after his recovery. His story stands out because he actively works to help and support those who are themselves recovering or currently dealing with family members still lost.
The Storm Is Upon Us presents the entire history of QAnon clearly and concisely. Even a casual reader not well versed in the ins and outs of QAnon can understand all the issues easily, aided by a glossary of QAnon terms.
No conspiracy movement has become as widespread and dangerous as QAnon. There are elected officials who are true believers, and their rhetoric has led to futile election audits nearly seven months after Joe Biden took office. This is an important book about an important topic. The more we educate ourselves about this threat, the less likely we are to have another January 6. It’s also of the utmost importance that we understand it could happen again—but hopefully the next time Cassandra’s cries will be heard.