Last Born In The Wilderness

[Intro: 9:22] In this interview, I speak with political commentator Jared Yates Sexton, author of the upcoming book ‘American Rule: How A Nation Conquered The World But Failed Its People.’ As I remark on in this discussion, I first became aware of Jared and his work from his analysis of the QAnon conspiracy theory. I ask him to expound on the tenets of this alarmingly popular and increasingly pervasive belief system (which we characterize as having the attributes of a pseudo-religious cult), its roots on the anonymous online forum 4chan, as well as the impacts this reality-bending narrative is having on contemporary politics in the United States. Jared states very clearly what this toxic narrative is producing right now in his recent article ‘A Cult Within A Cult: Qanon, Conspiracy Theories, and Growing Fascism’: “To fully grasp what Qanon is and what it could become, we have to break down the very essence of this cult. It is a rebranding of the New World Order conspiracy theory that has held sway over Am