Gabriel Gatehouse house narrates, as well as investigates, why America is consumed by conspiracy theories. He weaves a red thread from the 15th century book about witchcraft, the Rees Mogs, Clinton, Trump, Qanon and includes with a question about America and the split in how it's citizens think of democracy: Republicanism where the people are sovereign under a constitution, or democracy where a government is sovereign and elected by the people. It also answers the question of why there is a claim that a satanic, pedophile, baby sacrificing cabal is in charge of America and the world. Don't ignore the weirdos!
I found the investigation, which has been updated post Trump win in 2024, fascinating. Especially how ideas are spread and grasped and how few are the number of people that keep popping up through the decades associated with the spread of ideas.
Is democracy finished in America?
Publisher's Synopsis
"Gabriel Gatehouse is a brilliant spelunker of the rabbit holes of American political culture. A spellbinding storyteller and reader of the runes of the strange times we live in." - Louis Theroux
Is this how democracy dies?
The Coming Storm is Gabriel Gatehouse's brilliant exploration of how conspiracy theories are tearing America apart. It's a story that takes you down a rabbit hole - one that both the US as a nation and he as a journalist fell through - to unpack an epochal shift in political culture that starts in the earliest years of the Clinton administration and reached a crescendo on 6 January 2021 with the storming of the US Capitol. But that event wasn't the wild finale of a chaotic Trump presidency many hoped for - it was only the beginning.
A compelling mix of research and reportage, The Coming Storm gets under the skin of these conspiracy theories to show us a radical new kind of politics emerging, a movement that has coalesced around a loose alliance of tech bros, internet trolls and white supremacists. At a perilous moment in the history of American democracy, Gatehouse tells us some dark truths about our present, and provides clues about our future. The Coming Storm marks the debut of a major new voice in political journalism.