The anonymous internet account known as Q, the force behind the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, published its first cryptic online post in October 2017 making the fascistic conspiracy theory that has shaped American politics for the worst one of the Trump eras longest-lasting legacies.

At its heart, QAnon asserts that a satanic, pedophilic cabal made up of Democratic politicians and media and financial elites controls the world, and that former President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against them. The movement anticipates The Storm, or the moment when the tides will turn for Trump and his supporters, and the cabal will be overthrown and either killed or imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.

QAnon followers, desperately chasing the nonsense breadcrumbs left by their unnamed leader and interpreted by a grifter class of influencers and media personalities have squandered thousands of dollars , committed heinous crimes , and put their faith in snake oil medical cures due to their beliefs about Qs prophecies. In addition to the execution of their political enemies, some have taken Qs posts as signs of forthcoming debt forgiveness, or the release of hidden cures.

The movement has slipped from headlines recently thanks to repeated failed prophecies and disappointments with Trump, along with the monthslong disappearance of Q, but it is very much alive, most visibly in Republicans obsession with targeting trans people.

Multiple followers of the conspiracy theory have been elected to public office including Congress and Trump has recently embraced the movement openly, posting QAnon memes on his Truth Social account .

As long as there has been a QAnon, the Daily Beasts Will Sommer has reported on it. His new book, Trust the Plan, is one of the most anticipated releases in the field in years (along with HuffPost alum Jesselyn Cooks forthcoming work , The Quiet Damage). Sommers book offers a tour through the biggest conspiracy theory rabbit hole in America, with extensive firsthand reporting to back it up.

I spoke with Sommer about the comfort people find in conspiracy theories, the uniquely American combination of biases and paranoia that fuel QAnon, and whats next for the superconspiracy that hijacked American politics.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Two major banks recently collapsed within 48 hours of each other. This sort of thing strikes me as a time when conspiratorial thinking can be comforting and reinforcing. Can you explain how followers of QAnon digest troubling breaking news when things feel scary and uncertain?

Yeah, this is a sort of classic moment, particularly with these elaborate financial systems collapsing, thats really ripe for conspiracy theorists. And this isnt just QAnon people, but already were seeing the right say, Oh, well Silicon Valley Bank had a [diversity, equity and inclusion] coordinator, or, The head of risk in their British office was using social justice language, so thats what caused it! But when you look at the QAnon bit, conspiracy theories often appeal to people in these really chaotic moments, when events are happening that are combinations of various systems and very complex causes.

The obvious example here was the pandemic, where suddenly you have something thats really unprecedented in modern memory, and its affecting people at a personal level: Somebody you know might not have a job anymore, or somebody you know died. And then the question is, Is it globalization, or maybe it was the wet market? or do you just say, George Soros and Bill Gates did it? For some people I think thats appealing because it gives you someone in particular to blame.

For QAnon, I think dread is the currency. That feeling of uncertainty and dread that makes people go, I want to reach for whatever feels solid and stable.

That sense of dread and hopelessness, I talk about it in the book. QAnon gives people who feel marginalized and helpless whether rightly or wrongly this sense of, Im not just being tossed around by events and people far more powerful than me, Im a digital soldier working for this Great Awakening.

Theres one person who said, Its like I know the news before it happens. You look at your neighbors and think, Those doofuses, they dont know what it signifies when it rains a lot that means the pedophile tunnels are being flooded, things like that.

I want to talk about QAnon in material terms, because that was a substantial part of the book, and of your coverage: people who spend life-changing amounts of money, or who withhold medical treatment, because they think everythings gonna be OK. They have the sense that once The Storm comes, once the right people are in control, then theyre going to release cancer treatments or have a debt jubilee.

A sentence in your book about this really stuck out to me. You said, While QAnon is a conservative movement, the post-Storm world it promises is far to the left of anything that Bernie Sanders could imagine: the destruction of major pharmaceutical companies, the cancellation of all personal debt, and renters inheriting the property they live in, among other things. Why isnt that part of our broader understanding of this movement?

Yeah, thank you for noticing that because I feel like the promise of the world we would live in after The Storm, I think people often miss.

Sort of the NESARA aspect of it, which is so weird, and in our broader consciousness, people dont know what NESARA is supposed to be. [Note: Modern-day NESARA believers and hucksters alike assert that a private citizens 1990s economic proposal, which initially failed to gain steam until it was repackaged by conspiracy theorists, will erase debts and eliminate the IRS and Federal Reserve.]

And so I think often they miss that utopian aspect of QAnon. It appealed to people on such a personal level to say, Oh, is your car at risk of getting repossessed? Well, dont worry. Because in a couple months there will be this Storm and all of your debts will be abolished. Just like we were talking about people turning to conspiracy theories because of these catastrophic financial or global events, I think QAnon is often a way for people to cope with recognizing that theres something wrong with our current capitalist, neoliberal order, but not being willing to be liberal or being progressive. These are people who consider themselves Republicans, free-market types. But then they look at the world and theyre like, Well, you know, its kind of screwy that I have this disease and I cant afford to get medical treatment for it. But rather than say, you know, Americas screwed up in this way, they have to create this fantasy world to explain why theyre in trouble.

And this is not just a QAnon thing, right? This is sort of a broader right-wing populist thing. I think about [one QAnon believer featured in the book] who had a disease and was rejected for disability and he then decides, Im gonna become a Trump guy, then Im gonna become a QAnon guy, because in this roundabout way, this is how I will achieve some sort of agency.