Theoris in Don't Want to Talk About That.

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

CNN's John Sutter looks at some of the conspiracy theories surrounding President Donald Trump. He says there is an element of mental illness going on here, but he doesn't have a diagnosis. The president has been prone to saying things that don't mean anything, and we ascribe meaning to them because they sound like something else in his mind," writes Sutter. "I think mikhae landallik, something is just not right here"

Michael Shermer speaks with Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in conspiracy theories, about QAnon and its followers.

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?