
Trust the Plan
The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America
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Narrated by:
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Joe Knezevich
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By:
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Will Sommer
About this listen
"A story so bizarre, only Will Sommer could report it.”—Molly Jong-Fast
The definitive book on QAnon from the reporter knows them best; Will Sommer explains what it is, how it has gained a mainstream following among Republican lawmakers and ordinary citizens, the threat it poses to democracy, and how we can reach those who have embraced the conspiracy and are disseminating its lies.
The Storm is Coming. Trust the Plan. WWG1WGA. You’ve seen the letter Q on TV and in the news–it’s been everywhere from Trump rallies to the January 6th insurrection. “QAnon” used to sound vaguely familiar, somewhat ominous, but not quite mainstream. But what was once a fringe conspiracy theory has now become a household name and its symbols recognizable around the world. How did this happen, who is actually involved, what do they believe, and what do they want?
Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer has been on the ground with Q’s followers since day one, and in Trust the Plan Sommer has written the definitive book on the movement—who started it and who grew it, what they really believe is going on, and what they want to see “the Storm” accomplish on the day of its reckoning. At once a character study and a journalistic exposé, Sommer lets his cast of characters do the talking as he visits them around the world, from their makeshift compounds to the rallies they are still holding.
The great tragedy of this story is ultimately the legitimization of this ideology by mainstream politicians eager to gain access to a large and growing cohort of voters. Though 2020 brought the end of Trump’s presidency, his following within the QAnon community has simply pivoted and grown stronger. Trust the Plan shows us in granular detail who we’ll be up against for years to come, in the US and abroad. Understanding why and how something like Q happens is an indispensable exercise, and in showing us how we got here we can chart a path out.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 William Sommer (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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In 2018 Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to social media to share her suspicions that the California wildfires were started by 'space solar generators' which were funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Instantly, thousands of people rallied around her, blaming the fires on "Jewish space lasers" and, ultimately, the Rothschild family. For more than 200 years, the name "Rothschild" has been synonymous with two things: great wealth, and conspiracy theories about what they're "really doing" with it.
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Overall well done, but strays off course
- By Jeremy and Maureen Lawson on 02-17-24
By: Mike Rothschild
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They Want to Kill Americans
- The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency
- By: Malcolm Nance
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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They Want to Kill Americans is the first detailed look into the heart of the active Trump-led insurgency, setting the stage for a second nation-wide rebellion on American soil. This is a chilling and deeply researched early warning to the nation from a counterterrorism intelligence professional: America is primed for a possible explosive wave of terrorist attacks and armed confrontations that aim to bring about a Donald Trump led dictatorship.
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It's informative and frightening
- By Amazon Customer on 07-17-22
By: Malcolm Nance
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Beyond the Big Lie
- The Epidemic of Political Liars, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy
- By: Bill Adair
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Adair knows a lie when he hears one. Since 2008, the site he founded, PolitiFact, has been the go-to spot for media members and political observers alike to seek the truth in an increasingly deceitful world. Since the site’s launching, politics’ tenuous relationship with the truth has only gotten weaker—and weirder. In this groundbreaking book, Adair reveals how politicians lie and why.
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Beyond the Big Lie
- By Steve Tone on 10-22-24
By: Bill Adair
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American Psychosis
- A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy
- By: David Corn
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 17 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A fast-paced, rollicking, behind-the-scenes account of how the GOP since the 1950s has encouraged and exploited extremism, bigotry, and paranoia to gain power, American Psychosis offers listeners a brisk, can-you-believe-it journey through the netherworld of far-right irrationality and the Republican Party’s interactions with the darkest forces in America.
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Important history poorly read
- By A. Hawley on 09-16-22
By: David Corn
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Birchers
- How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right
- By: Matthew Dallek
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Matthew Dallek reveals, the Birch Society’s extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life.
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Do not recommend
- By Michael F. on 05-21-23
By: Matthew Dallek
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The Violent Take It by Force
- The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy
- By: Matthew D. Taylor
- Narrated by: Asa Siegel
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the last decade, the Religious Right has evolved. Some of the more extreme beliefs of American evangelicalism have begun to take hold in the mainstream. Scholar Matthew D. Taylor pulls back the curtain on a little-known movement of evangelical Christians who see themselves waging spiritual battles on a massive scale.
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Comprehensively Researched
- By Chuck Anderson on 09-25-24
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The Undertow
- Scenes from a Slow Civil War
- By: Jeff Sharlet
- Narrated by: Jeff Sharlet
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence.
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I'm just not feeling this one....
- By J. Richmond on 08-04-23
By: Jeff Sharlet
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Rage
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Woodward, the number-one international bestselling author of Fear: Trump in the White House, has uncovered the precise moment the president was warned that the Covid-19 epidemic would be the biggest national security threat to his presidency. In dramatic detail, Woodward takes readers into the Oval Office as Trump’s head pops up when he is told in January 2020 that the pandemic could reach the scale of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 675,000 Americans.
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Illuminating
- By Bridgette on 09-17-20
By: Bob Woodward
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Wild Faith
- How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America
- By: Talia Lavin
- Narrated by: Talia Lavin
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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From school boards to the Supreme Court, Christian theocracy is ascendant in America—and only through exploring its motivations and impacts can we understand the crisis we face. In Wild Faith, Lavin fearlessly confronts whether our democracy can survive an organized, fervent theocratic movement, one that seeks to impose its religious beliefs on American citizens.
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Rough listen
- By Nick on 12-10-24
By: Talia Lavin
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Money, Lies, and God
- Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
- By: Katherine Stewart
- Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down.
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Powerful and Important work.
- By Frank Nance on 02-28-25
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Conspirituality
- How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat
- By: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker
- Narrated by: Matthew Remski
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a disturbing social media trend emerged: a large number of yoga instructors and alt-health influencers were posting stories about a secretive global cabal bent on controlling the world’s population with a genocidal vaccine. Instagram feeds that had been serving up green smoothie recipes and Mary Oliver poems became firehoses of Fox News links, memes from 4chan, and prophecies of global transformation.
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Thorough and thoughtful
- By Lindsay Robinson on 11-16-23
By: Derek Beres, and others
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The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
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America Needs to Know the Truth and Dangers of Trump
- By Tiberius on 12-01-24
By: Joe Conason
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The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
- American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
- By: Tim Alberta
- Narrated by: Tim Alberta
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement.
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Looked forward to this a long time and wasn’t disappointed!
- By Josh Hulbert on 12-08-23
By: Tim Alberta
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Autocracy, Inc.
- The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents. But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran.
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A Triumphant Work -Puts It All Together With Laser Clarity
- By Sjhoffman on 09-19-24
By: Anne Applebaum
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The Cult of Trump
- A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control
- By: Steven Hassan
- Narrated by: Steven Hassan
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The Cult of Trump is an accessible and in-depth analysis of the president, showing that under the right circumstances, even sane, rational, well-adjusted people can be persuaded to believe the most outrageous ideas. Hassan’s audiobook is essential listening for anyone wanting to understand the Trump phenomenon and looking for a way forward.
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Tools to deprogram
- By N. Squier on 01-11-20
By: Steven Hassan
What listeners say about Trust the Plan
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- Joshua Kors
- 03-15-23
5-Star Reporting, 1-Star Narration
Strange to give a five-star review to an audiobook I stopped listening to so early, but voiceover artist Joe Knezevich's narration is just unbearable. He narrates Sommer's book like he's doing a parody of a voiceover in a 1990s-era spy thriller. "In a world where Q begins its rise ..."
My response? I stopped listening to the audiobook and immediately ordered the hard copy, so I could continue listening to Sommer's extraordinarily compelling, deeply reported, first-person perspective of one of our nation's most important and horrifying political movements.
Sommer's writing and reporting is the best of what journalism aims to be. And I wasn't going to let Knezevich's gratingly cheesy comic persona and phony dramatic pauses block me from accessing Sommer's electrically engaging narrative.
Strange, too: I heard Sommer discuss his book on "Fresh Air," and he had a beautiful voice and an easy way with the spoken word. Why he turned down the opportunity to narrate his own book is a mystery. Regardless, I'm so excited for the hardcover to arrive, so I can complete my journey through his awesome book.
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- jay maurer
- 06-04-23
Will Sommer is one of perhaps five or six journalists who understand what’s happening right now.
The current state of American political discourse often denies reality for the sake of argument or simplicity. Very few journalists will understand what’s going on in 2025 when Trump/DeSantis inevitably claim they won the 2024 presidential election. They’ll say “no one could have seen this coming” or “it was impossible to stop this” but only a handful of people - Will Sommer, Kelly Weill, Julian Feeld, Travis View, and a few others have been here from the start and know what’s happening and why.
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- Blaine
- 12-19-24
Well written, well researched. Great book
Very detailed info that I have to imagine was very hard to find. Definitely worth a read
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- Anonymous User
- 03-05-23
Insightful
Great piece dissecting the madness. Good style and incredibly direct. No frills just dense and accessible information
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- Michael Cook
- 03-16-23
makes you think
a wake call to how conspiracy theories are all not new and not going away
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- Jackson Polyp
- 03-04-23
Love it!
I love Will’s podcast Fever Dreams, and I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for a while. It did not disappoint. I thought I knew all there was to know about the Q cult, but there are a ton shocking and crazy revelations in these pages that frankly blew my mind. I don’t think I’ve experienced this many deep, frustrated sighs in a long time. Every 10 minutes I let out a “what!! Oh my god! What?” Great read, or in this case listen. Highly recommended. Narrator was fantastic as well.
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- Cynthia Montgomery
- 10-23-23
The most comprehensive to date
I don’t believe we’ve heard the last of Qanon and this book is a must read for anyone aware of its real presence, a wise one for anyone who isn’t. Well researched, first hand accounts and insights brings this strange American online cult into the light, in an easy, fascinating read.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-12-23
Great Listen
Great research and personal stories about Quanon. Gives the big picture of how Quanon spread but has personal stories of how and why it took hold in America
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- Haven
- 02-22-23
A wildly fascinating and heartbreaking ride
An important and unbelievable read from arguably the Q expert. Sommer is able to dive into the craziest parts of one of the craziest movements ever - and still treat them as mislead people who matter. It could only be better …if it were fiction.
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- Robert Marquardt
- 03-02-23
A good entry level introduction into QAnon
Not a bad book by any stretch but it feels like it could have and should have been more. it's a good first intro to QAnon, but if you've followed Will's work up until now much of it is a recap.
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