Fever Dreams

Hope you didn’t get too rowdy on Independence Day — the Large Hadron Collider is about to zap us into another dimension, and July 4th partygoers will be left in the old universe. So goes the thinking in a new TikTok conspiracy theory. On this week’s Fever Dreams, host Will Sommer and guest host Andrew Kirell discuss what they’re expecting to get from the new dimension, and whether the Mandela effect is at play. Also on the podcast: MAGA supporters declare July to be “America Month,” and a Michigan secretary of state candidate gets into sexual demonology. 2020 election deniers build up their local infrastructure. Also: Reporter Baynard Woods joins to talk about his new book, “Inheritance,” an investigation of his family’s history in white supremacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Q of QAnon infamy has returned! Hosts Will Sommer and Sam Brodey talk about Q’s new posts after a nearly two year hiatus, and QAnon conspiracy theorists’ excitement about them. Sam gives an update on the pardon-crazed January 6th committee, and Will talks about the right’s obsession with a possibly fake pro-abortion rights group promising a “Night of Rage.” In this week’s Fresh Hell, QAnon believers are duped into buying bogus cryptocurrencies and lose a ton of money. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Will Sommer and Sam Brodey chat with Jessica Huseman, editorial director for Votebeat, about how folks who actively tried to subvert the 2020 election are now vying to get on ballots for positions that could allow them to influence the next presidential race. Elsewhere on the podcast, the hosts discuss the “kerfuffle at the GOP convention in Houston over the weekend” in which a “YouTube prankster” staged a dramatic confrontation with Congressman Dan Crenshaw, and wonder how many British documentarians are going to come out of the woodwork at the January 6 committee hearings. And finally, the hosts note how a drag queen named Barbara Seville busted apart Kari Lake’s anti-LGBTQ hypocrisy, and discuss how Texas Republicans are terrified that the woke are now coming for the Alamo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Proud Boys are at the center of the January 6 committee hearings — but who are they? HuffPost editor Andy Campbell, the author of an upcoming book on the Proud Boys, joins Fever Dreams host Will Sommer and guest host Sam Brodey to give. from their cereal-themed beat-in rituals and their varying self-love regiments. Sam, a congressional reporter for The Daily Beast, weighs in on the committee hearings. In other extremist news, Will and Sam discuss a botched appearance from Patriot Front white supremacists at an Idaho gay pride parade. And finally, Will takes us to a lower depth of “Fresh Hell” that was previously believed possible, exploring the right-wing manosphere’s belief that receipts somehow steal their masculinity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the newest development in the Capitol riot investigations, with Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy indictments, to Kevin McCarthy’s war with MAGA hardcore believers, Will Sommer and guest host Zachary Petrizzo break down the state of the political right in this week’s episode of the Fever Dreams podcast. As for the guest this week, the duo was joined by documentary filmmaker Brian Knappenberger who is behind the upcoming Nextix docuseries Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies, and the Internet. (Watch the trailer here.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In another wild week for right-wing Fever Dreams, Ted Cruz is all about door control now, Dinesh D’Souza has new competition from the MyPillow guy in the fight for the craziest documentary about what Democrats supposedly did to steal the 2020 election, and much more as host Will Sommer and guest host Zachary Petrizzo help navigate the madness, with an assist from “Unholy” author and Christian nationalism expert Sarah Posner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who’s the most goated pro-Trump rapper alive? Perhaps it’s Forgiato Blow, the trash-talking, Hooters-addicted “Mayor of Magaville.” Vice News reporter Tess Owen joins Will Sommer and guest host Zachary Petrizzo to talk about her recent profile of Blow. Plus: the wheels come off the trucker convoy, and Zach and Will break down the latest failed stunt from Jacob Wohl. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Pennsylvania Senate primary results are in, and the hosts discuss how insurgent right-winger Kathy Barnette’s rise was an indication of how fringe figures are now outflanking even the former president and his favored candidates. Michael Hayden from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) joins the podcast to discuss the mass shooting in Buffalo and the accused killer’s obsession with the bogus ‘great replacement’ lie. The podcast hosts also discuss a recent New York Times expose on how QAnon factions within evangelical churches are driving out conservative pastors who give “any sort of nod to any kind of social justice, any kind of nod to Black Lives Matter or treating the poor well”—and how neo-Nazis in Idaho are driving out more moderate Republicans by entrenching themselves in local politics and running vicious harassment campaigns against their enemies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A newly nominated Republican congressional candidate in Ohio claims he’s not a QAnon guy, despite appearing to own an extensive wardrobe of QAnon merchandise. This week on Fever Dreams, we revisit J.R. Majewski, the next likely candidate to join Congress’s growing Q wing. Elsewhere, hosts Will Sommer and Kelly Weill discuss a falling-out among the white nationalist America First movement, which entered a bitter feud after its former treasurer got a girlfriend (a faux pas with the movement’s celibate leader). While that racist youth movement flounders, another is quietly amassing influence. Reporter James Pogue joins us to discuss the New Right movement, an anti-liberal alliance whose star candidate J.D. Vance just won his GOP nomination for Congress. Finally, we visit a more longshot candidate, who, if elected, pledges to blow up a Georgia monument that she believes is Satanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The right has achieved a decades-long goal by successfully overturning Roe v. Wade, but all they want to talk about is finding out who leaked the opinion breaking the news. Fever Dreams hosts Will Sommer and Kelly Weill talk about the right’s leak-hunt and insistence that, somehow, the leaker is a terrorist. Meanwhile, Alex Jones gets some hefty bitcoin donations. Plus: this potential future congressman has bars! Will and Kelly discuss J.R. Majewski, the Ohio congressional candidate poised to become Congress’s third QAnon support — and its first rapper. Raw Story’s Jordan Green joins to talk about Jan. 6, and Will reviews “2,000 Mules,” pundit Dinesh D’Souza’s latest stab at proving the election was stolen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

'Groomer' panic is sweeping the nation as right-wing types turn against LGBTQ rights, and the talking points—as with the backlash against Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools—can directly be traced back to a group of anti-wokeness activists on the "intellectual dark web." As The Daily Beast's senior opinion editor Anthony Fisher notes, the 'anti-wokeness' activists have "created this groundswell that is absolutely affecting policy," with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' own press secretary is now parroting the leaders of the movement. Meanwhile, the co-hosts discuss how Elon Musk's successful bid for Twitter is galvanizing the right (and QAnon numerologists), and how two manosphere influencers in Romania have been raided in connection with an human-trafficking and rape investigation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you buddy up to a neo-Nazi for a cut of crowdfunded “patriot freedom” cash? That’s the question reportedly wracking a wing of a D.C. jail, where multiple alleged January 6 rioters are being detained. This week on Fever Dreams, hosts Will Sommer and Kelly Weill dive into the far right’s money troubles—both behind bars and outside them, as three of Alex Jones’ companies file for bankruptcy. Media Matters associate research director Nikki McCann Ramirez joins the podcast to discuss Tucker Carlson’s bizarre new “special” on masculinity, which features a guy tanning his balls on what looks like a Tesla charger. Elsewhere, Will and Kelly check in on the stinkiest new QAnon trend: not bathing due to fear of snake water. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No, passenger “Let’s go Brandon” does not need to check-in at Gate 10. It’s just the latest right-wing trend that has conservatives paging fake passengers over airport intercoms. This week, Fever Dreams brings you the bleeding edge in COVID-19 conspiracy theories (this time about snake blood), as well as dispatches from Colorado and Pennsylvania, where primary contests are revealing divides between the GOP mainstream and its growing QAnon wing. Finally, we’re joined by Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, who brings us up to speed on Republican TikTok and the battle for Gen Z viewers. The kids aren’t alright. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer have one thing on their minds: how they can score $2,500 to land spots on a bogus “grand jury” indicting Anthony Fauci. On this week’s episode, Swin and Will discuss the burgeoning trend of soaking your fans by selling them “super juror” spots on fake grand juries aimed at Fauci and Hunter Biden. Street Fight podcast host Murder Bryan joins to explore the world of right-wing shock jocks, with a focus on “Mancow” Muller. Bryan also weighs in on a QAnon referee scandal that has roiled pro wrestling. Elsewhere on the ep, Swin and Will talk about the right’s new crusade to prove that Disney is part of a groomer cabal, and Herschel Walker’s troubled Senate campaign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some of Donald Trump's lawyers have some cringe hobbies, like trying to do coup d'états. But did you know that one of them is an amateur poet, who has written verses about "THE TORONTO SUBWAY SYSTEM" and, "of life and sex and puzzled joy, a chopped up mess of Miss Playboy." In this week's episode of Fever Dreams, hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng bring you dramatic readings of the Trump "legal B-team" poetry. Elsewhere on the pod, our hosts welcome New York Times writer Elizabeth Williamson to discuss her new book on the Sandy Hook massacre, Alex Jones, and "the Battle for Truth." For those interested in plumbing the depths of Ginni Thomas's efforts to support Trump's efforts to cling to power, Sommer breaks down the wild, undeniable QAnon connections. Finally, for listeners curious about the question, "Why are Capitol Hill Republicans so furious this week about (alleged!) cocaine-fueled orgies involving 70-something year-olds?" our hosts—unfortunately—have an answer for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fever Dreams host Will returns to the pod to talk with Swin about Alex Jones’s maybe-fake illness, which conveniently struck him down right before a Sandy Hook deposition. New York Times reporter Ryan Mac stops by to talk about Republican mega-donor Peter Thiel’s plans for 2022 — what is that guy up to? Also on the agenda: the trucker convoy’s bumbling, accident-prone attempts to terrorize DC and the Ohio Senate race that nearly turned into a real-life brawl. Finally, Swin kicks off his farewell tour by announcing he’s leaving the pod and The Daily Beast for good. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is this the country’s most off-the-rails local Republican party? This week, Fever Dreams checks in on the Kootenai County, Idaho GOP, where local leaders are accused of trying to force a hostile takeover of the local Democratic party, and install an antisemitic troll as the new Democratic leader. Plus, we bring you the latest from Mar-A-Lago, where Donald Trump is making angry phone calls about his floundering social media site, Truth Social. We’re also joined by Reason reporter C.J. Ciaramella, who tells us about the FBI’s secret collection of police brutality statistics—and why those numbers might never see the light of day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

America First Political Action Conference, a white nationalist event, keeps its location secret, in part to keep the press away. This week’s guest, HuffPost Christopher Mathias, found the location anyway. He joins Fever Dreams to discuss his bizarre conversation with former ICE Director Tom Homan, who was a scheduled AFPAC speaker, but bailed out at the last minute. Elsewhere on the podcast, we check in on Donald Trump and far-right “Boogaloo Boys,” both of which have been daydreaming about conducting bizarre military stunts in Ukraine, like disguising American jets as Chinese and bombing Russia. (Trump’s suggestion.) Later, we visit the right-wing trucker convoy that attempted to encircle D.C. So far, they’re fighting a losing battle against beltway traffic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump is racking up massive Secret Service bills—and hassling those agents about their physical fitness and whether they voted for him. This week on Fever Dreams, we visit wannabe demagogues at home and abroad. In Florida, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at a Hitler-hyping white nationalist conference. Other members of her party, meanwhile, prefer to heap praise on Vladimir Putin, whom they laud as “anti-woke” as he oversees Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That attack is so large that researchers have been sounding alarm bells about Russia’s military buildup for months. This week’s guest, Daily Beast reporter Adam Rawnsley, describes how researchers have tracked Russian troop movements through Google maps and TikTok videos, bursting the Russian military narrative about the reason for the invasion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is back with a wacky new claim, this time about Fever Dreams host Asawin Suebsaeng. It’s not true—but it’s not even the weirdest conspiracy theory on this week’s podcast, where we preview co-host Kelly Weill’s new book about the flat earth movement. We check in on a flat earther who got arrested for trying to hand out flyers at a school playground, and learn why the movement even alienates some QAnon believers. Actress Dylan Gelula joins us to discuss her podcast “Lecture Hall” and why we can blame Mad Cow Disease for the rise of Dr. Phil. Elsewhere, we try to log into Donald Trump’s new social network (which is too glitchy to load) and learn about an upcoming gathering of clout-chasing white supremacists, and the politicians who support them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even though the Canadian trucker protesters have been cleared from Ottawa’s border bridge and commerce lanes with the U.S. reopened this past weekend, Canada is still struggling to contain the demonstrators—and as Fever Dreams guest and Vice writer Mack Lamoureux notes, more insidious, and even armed, groups are emerging within the greater protest. What’s more, Canada’s trucker blockade is spawning copycats far and wide. Elsewhere on the pod, co-hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Kelly Weill, and very special guest host David Roth, talk about how Super Bowl 2022 was just one gigantic ad for crypto, and how Ohio Senate primary candidate Josh Mandel—the one whose alleged sex life Trump likes to gossip about—“looks like he just hatched out of something.” The hosts also unpack how QAnon-loving Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has become a prime kingmaker in GOP political endorsements, and follow several disturbing developments in the story of the violent Denver manosphere shooter Lyndon McLeod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

t’s that time of year again for the Super Bowl halftime show and while the 2022 lineup of Dr. Dre, Snoop, Mary J. Blige and Eminem reads to most fans like a warm and fuzzy 90s nostalgia bath, “to hear certain conservative commentators describe it,” notes Fever Dreams co-host Kelly Weill, “this Super Bowl is ripe for Satanism.” It's all part of the Satanic Panic that’s been brewing in the U.S. for awhile, including the bonkers QAnon conspiracy theories around the deadly Travis Scott concert at Astroworld in December. Meanwhile, Fever Dreams reveals why President Trump has refrained from endorsing a candidate in the Ohio Senate primary race—spoiler, he thinks Josh Mandel is “fucking weird” and has been gossiping about his sex life—and the hosts discuss how Joe Rogan and Spotify have become a proxy for the larger culture wars. And The New Abnormal co-host Andy Levy brings us tales from the crypts of Fox Headquarters, where Fox News once let him host a late-night comedy show with very little supervision. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first QAnon campaign finance filing is finally here, everybody! And it’s… hilarious how much cash this congressional campaign managed to raise. “His first campaign finance filing came in, and it seems to support the idea that not too many people want Mr. QAnon himself in Congress,” Fever Dreams co-host Kelly Weill reports. Elsewhere on this episode, hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Weill interview Wall Street Journal reporter Byron Tau, who reveals how an ordinary citizen’s phone can suddenly turn its user into an unwitting spy for the U.S. military. Also, the Fever Dreams gang tries to answer one of contemporary popular culture’s most enduring, most annoying mysteries: “Why does Bill Maher laugh so much at his own jokes all the time?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Joe Biden just as bad as Donald Trump for calling attention to voting rights? The nation’s whataboutist pundits say yes! This week, Fever Dreams dives into the beltway’s favorite new talking point. Elsewhere in D.C. this weekend, anti-vax celebrity Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that he was more persecuted than teenage Holocaust victim Anne Frank because he cannot hide in an attic. (Kennedy currently has a top-selling book, so the persecution analogy falls a little flat.) Later, Jane Coaston, host of the New York Times podcast “The Argument” explains how she broaches tough conversations and forges unlikely agreements with people across the political spectrum. Finally, a hoax about separate restrooms for students who identify as “furries” has sent Michigan Republicans into a weird, anti-trans panic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The latest conspiracy theory to convulse MAGA-land does not involve COVID-19 boosters or deep-state January 6 plots, but a bit of routine construction at dear old 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—which has convinced some on the right that Biden is about to impose martial law. Meanwhile, Trump’s favorite network One America News is in trouble, and the former president is threatening to crush and “destroy” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis if he doesn’t fall in line for 2024. And finally, the co-hosts discuss the Ray Epps saga, a rightwing deep-state conspiracy about a January 6 that has made it all the way to the January 6 committee—and that has caused a spate of young rightwingers accusing likeminded boomers of “being feds”—and journalist Jonathan M. Katz joins the podcast to talk about his book, Gangsters of Capitalism, about a man named Smedley Butler who was involved in most of the U.S. invasions and occupations and wars around the turn of the century and who eventually became an antiwar activist and “blew the whistle on a fascist plot to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One surefire way to garner some extreme MAGA-cred nowadays is to get COVID-19, lie about it and say you just have pneumonia, and remain unrepentant as an avowed anti-vaxxer. But there’s at least one MAGA diehard—an associate of Steve Bannon—who has taken things a step farther. This guy has recently been vlogging (yes, vlogging) from his hospital bed—after being admitted for contracting the coronavirus. Of course, he’s talked about how thrilled he is that he never got the COVID vaccine… even though he’s been vlogging lately from a COVID ward about how much trouble he’s had breathing. Join Fever Dreams hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng, as they offer this latest glimpse into a most lethal American culture war. Elsewhere on the episode, Suebsaeng and Fever Dreams producer Jesse Cannon interview Abbie Richards, a TikTok “power user” who’s also a leading expert on how conspiracy theories wildly proliferate on TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Amanda Moore lost her job, she decided to go undercover in MAGA land, attending QAnon events and CPAC, hanging with Neo-Nazis and “blood-and-soil fascists,” and palling around with Proud Boys at Harry's Bar in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol Riot. But what her new compatriots didn’t know was that she was often recording them, and the result is a chilling portrait “of what the right looks like from the inside.” Elsewhere on the podcast, co-hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng discuss the results of a Texas election audit that “Republican officials were trying to bury”—namely because “they found basically nothing wrong with the results”—and dissect an increasingly bitter feud between two audit-fanatics that has descended into potty-mouthed doxxing. Sommer recounts his firsthand experience of being at the Capitol during the riot a year ago, and the hosts dissect the newest catchphrase to devour the far-right and the latest chaos roiling the ultra-alpha manosphere. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The year 2021 brought some major grifts in MAGA-land, as Fever Dreams hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer noted in their final podcast of the year—think Melania Trump’s NFT’s and the ‘Freedom phone,’ which was basically a “rebrand of a cheapo Chinese phone” selling at five times the price. But the Qux Box (pronounced “Cucks”) takes the prize as the pair’s “favorite dumb character of 2021.” Months after it was first promoted by its inventors—a former Infowars reporter and her husband—“I’m still trying to figure out what the Qux Box is,” Sommer notes. “Seems to be an off-brand Roku as best as I can tell.” Meanwhile, as the Omicron wave hits the United States with a vengeance, some right-wingers are convinced that the reason they’re sick is not because of the widely transmissible and near-ubiquitous new variant of COVID-19, but because of … anthrax. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some internet mischief-makers created a fake DHS website purporting to show President Biden’s plan for COVID concentration camps—and rightwing Senate candidate JD Vance fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Elsewhere on the podcast, The Daily Beast discovers the answer to whether character actor Jay Johnston—who voices the villainous Jimmy Pesto on Fox sitcom Bob’s Burgers—really did storm the Capitol on January 6. Meanwhile, the Proud Boys are teaming up with a radical Black nationalist organization called The Black Hammers, who are darlings of right-wing media for doing things like bashing Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Journalist Dick Lehr drops by the pod to discuss his new book, White Hot Hate, on a domestic terror plot to bomb an immigrant mosque in Kansas. And James O’Keefe is entertaining the crowd at rightwing conferences with songs from the musical Oklahoma. As co-host Asawin Suebsaeng notes, further proof that “failed theater kids will destroy us all.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Her name is Trevian Kutti. Is that the name of the lamest Bond villains of the Pierce Brosnan era? Or is she a Kanye West publicist who fumbled her way into a Coen Brothers-style mission to shred the democratic order and keep Donald Trump in power? On this week’s Fever Dreams, hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer are joined by Daily Beast colleague Adam Rawnsley to bring you a new deep-dive into the life and bizarre world of Kutti. Later on, our hosts welcome Dan Friesen and Jordan Holmes, the hosts of the excellent Knowledge Fight podcast, wherein “each episode, Dan and Jordan take a look at some clips from that day's Alex Jones Show and struggle to make sense of what they find.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump fanatics Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn had a secret falling-out—and it’s just the latest revelation in the ongoing civil strife that’s been engulfing some of MAGAworld’s top election deniers. On this episode of FEVER DREAMS, hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng dig deeper on some of the unreported aspects of the backstabbing and high-school-style melodramas that are throttling the once tight-knit community of far-right luminaries who tried to nuke American democracy to make Donald Trump happy. Elsewhere on this episode, writer and “Know Your Enemy” podcast co-host Sam Adler-Bell talks about his article in The New Republic on the latest “New Right” and upstart young conservative intellectuals talking up “counterrevolution.” Sommer and Suebsaeng also get into the apparently out-of-shape neo-Nazis marching around in Washington, DC, and also take a look at the latest on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ world-historically shambolic book tour. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

‘Seinfeld’ writer Dan O’Keefe is the man who gave us the holiday of Festivus—and as he reveals for the first time on Fever Dreams, its origins are pretty dark. Elsewhere on the podcast, the big MAGA civil war between Trump-loving attorney Lin Wood and former national security advisor Michael Flynn went nuclear this week and has turned into a circular MAGA firing squad. The co-hosts identify the next anti-vaxxer trend to sweep the far right internet, and it involves black sharpies. Finally, O’Keefe—who also worked on ‘Veep’—talks about how Trump’s awful presidency totally changed Selina Meyer’s story arc. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the aftermath of the contested 2020 vote, Trump’s biggest election-fraud cheerleaders—Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, and Michael Flynn—were a tight crew. But the MAGA clique’s now in trouble as they turn on each other over wild accusations and petty infighting. Elsewhere on the podcast, the hosts discuss how Trump’s hand-picked candidate in a Pennsylvania election has flamed out (possibly to be replaced by Dr. Oz), and eagerly await an upcoming Hunter Biden biopic. And scholar and activist Abdur-Rahman Muhammad joins the show to discuss the exoneration of two men accused of Malcolm X's murder—and why the FBI is “guilty as hell.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One-man YouTube brand and far-right darling Tim Pool came down with a nasty case of COVID-19—and with Joe Rogan’s help, became the latest posterboy for the dubious treatment of the virus with ivermectin. Meanwhile, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is waging war on Insider for an article that detailed his allegedly brutal sexual encounters with women. Bari Weiss’ unaccredited University of Austin is already bleeding staff members. Alex Jones lost big in court to the Sandy Hook parents. And a new, wacky Jan. 6 documentary, by character actor Nick Searcy, is coming to America just in time for Thanksgiving. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congressional dentist Paul Gosar is tweeting anime beheading videos of his colleagues and the hosts of The Daily Beast’s Fever Dreams have some questions. Namely, “who on Gosar’s staff is the meme Lord?” As host Will Sommer notes, “Not a good sign for the state of the country, or the right, to be tweeting your anime assassination fantasies.” Elsewhere on the podcast, Sommer and host Kelly Weill discuss the FBI raid on Project Veritas, and the proliferation of TikTok Satanist conspiracies around the deadly Travis Scott concert. And The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona appears on the pod to talk about Tucker Carlson’s new Jan. 6 documentary, in which he warns the leftover the prospect of more violence from what he sickeningly calls “legacy Americans.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Will JFK Jr. rise from the dead and proclaim himself QAnon King in a Dallas press conference this week? Probably not. But that hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from gathering in Texas to meet the long-departed lawyer. This week on Fever Dreams, Will Sommer and guest host Kelly Weill discuss the nuttiest legal battles on the far right, from conspiratorial attorney Lin Wood accusing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of stiffing him $5,000, to neo-Nazis representing themselves in a trial over the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. NPR correspondent Tim Mak joins the podcast to discuss his new book MISFIRE: Inside the Downfall of the NRA, which delves into the secrets of the powerful gun lobbying group and its downright weird leader. Plus, Will gives a harrowing cautionary tale from the metaverse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jesus—aka actor Jim Caviezel—has “emerged from his chrysalis as a QAnon butterfly” and is now spending his days making videos about adrenochrome and appearing at Q conferences to quote from Braveheart. Meanwhile, Sean Hannity and other right-wing types are in a gleeful tizzy over MAGA rap songs, while Gen Z is falling in love with some pretty crazy conspiracies—5G, Scientology, and old-school Pizzagate—over on TikTok. And a civil court case against the deadly organizers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville could have big implications for the January 6 rioter trials. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did Dennis Prager deliberately catch Covid-19, or is he just embarrassed now that he did? Will Sommer and guest host Kelly Weill discuss the talk radio host’s coronavirus hunt, plus Laura Loomer’s intense memoir about getting PTSD from a Twitter ban. Author Amanda Montell joins to talk about her new book, Cultish, an investigation of real cults like Heaven’s Gate and quasi-cults like Crossfit. Audit fever hits never-before-seen heights. Plus: Will and Kelly talk alleged QAnon operator Ron Watkins’s bumbling congressional bid and MAGA lawyer Sidney Powell’s rap-heavy legal defense. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As far-right efforts to “audit” the 2020 election fizzle, some of the movement’s biggest names have accused each other of being communists, FBI informants, and “homewreckers.” Meanwhile, other right-wing figures have more pressing concerns: namely, how to launch their own airlines for pilots and passengers who refuse to be vaccinated. And hosts Kelly Weill and Will Sommer dish on the dumbest new t-shirt slogan that’s about to take off with Trump fans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hosts of QAnon Anonymous dropped by this week to talk about the latest Q conspiracies involving the Facebook outage and the annoying fact that Joe Biden remains in the White House. Plus: Trumpcoins are flooding Telgram via fake celebrity accounts, Corey Lewandowski’s police report is a must-read, and the Sandy Hook parents are finally victorious over Alex Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the Arizona audit in chaos after confirming Biden won, the boys are joined by Arizona Mirror reporter Jerod MacDonald-Evoy to talk through the aftermath — and the audit-enthusiast civil war. Kelly Weill joins to talk about the new book bans. Plus: the rise of “vigilante medicine” urging COVID patients to stay out of the hospital, and a consideration of rising Gen Z Republicans Gunnar Thorderson and Morgonn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ron Watkins, the alleged mastermind behind QAnon, is getting in on the NFT game by selling Trump retweets. And Tiffany Trump and the Krassenstein Brothers aren't far behind...Meanwhile, Eric Trump is headlining an anti-vaxxer conference that also features the Q. yoga crystals lady—so, sounds prestigious. And Fever Dreams hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer chat with director Joe Carnahan about his latest movie, Copshop—including the post-production drama that led Frank Grillo to slam the film's editors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A former InfoWars reporter is pushing a hot new gadget on the right-wing electronics market: the Qux… Yes, it’s pronounced “cucks.” No, no one knows what it does. But for $99, it promises to free Donald Trump’s supporters from the tyranny of Big Tech! Elsewhere on the pod, Fever Dreams hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng welcome on filmmaker and horror-comedy auteur Josh Ruben, director of “Werewolves Within” and “Scare Me.” Ruben dishes on his as-of-yet unproduced horror-movie script—inspired by a true story of a woman enraptured by the cult of Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over $8 trillion spent, and almost a million dead bodies. The U.S.-led war on terror absolutely devastating over the last two decades. The wars also led to Donald Trump’s rise to power, irreparably degraded our culture, and made our far-right conspiracy theorists somehow even dumber. On this episode of FEVER DREAMS, hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng bring on national-security reporter and ‘REIGN OF TERROR’ author Spencer Ackerman to break down how, thanks to the War on Terror, “[what’s] QAnon today,” is likely “going to be the Republican Party on Capitol Hill in however many years.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Conservative talk radio hosts keep dying of COVID-19, after voicing skepticism about vaccines. Meanwhile, at the top of the conservative news food chain, Fox News hosts face backlash if they’re even perceived to promote vaccination. Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters joins Fever Dreams to discuss how right-wing media is falling prey to its own COVID talking points. Later, hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Kelly Weill discuss the GOP’s new thirst for invading Afghanistan, the wannabe-Rambos invading school board meetings, and the disappearance of a lawyer tied to a number of conservative causes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is something wrong when your local police department warns you about marauding ‘Antifa buses’ coming to your town to hurt your grandmother. It’s even worse when the police dispatch a helicopter to hunt down the imaginary bus of Antifa soldiers. On this episode of FEVER DREAMS, hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Kelly Weill welcome NBC News reporter (and Daily Beast alum) Ben Collins to explain what happens when police departments across the U.S. start “falling down these rabbit holes.” Elsewhere on this episode, Weill and Suebsaeng dive in on how the horse paste and “sheep drench” craze among anti-vaccine COVID truthers—and to a certain extent, on Fox News—is getting so out of hand… that the FDA had to spend part of its weekend telling people to knock it off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

*** CONTENT WARNING - On this weeks episode after the ad break at 27 minutes we start an interview that has a graphic description of a child being murdered by a Q-Anon follower. If you wish to skip this content we give warning after the ad break and you can skip to the 33 minute mark in the podcast if you would like to avoid it. ****Hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Kelly Weill and guests David Roth and Jared Holt discuss Mike Lindell’s hilariously chaotic Stop-the-Steal conference, a QAnon murder, and why the MAGA crowd thinks ‘woke generals’ are to blame for the disastrous Afghanistan exit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Remember when hydroxychloroquine was the "it girl of the conspiracy verse"—a supposed COVID miracle pill touted by Donald Trump and the Demon Sperm Doc? Those days are over and there's a new drug blowing up the unhinged corners of Facebook and the internet. As our Fever Dream host Asawin Suebsaeng, and guest hosts and Daily Beast reporters Kelly Weill and Adam Rawnsley, explain, the drug—called ivermectin—is sometimes used by humans for parasites and fungal infections. Elsewhere on the podcast, Rawnsley discusses how Russian trolls—not the GRU guys, kind of a clumsier, knockoff version—are trying and failing to make Americans and Europeans believe that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines will turn us into chimpanzees. Weill walks us through the latest audit clown showdown in Virginia, where State Senator Amanda Chase really hopes you'll give her $$$$ to retally her state's not-even-close election. And guest Cameron Joseph, a senior political reporter at Vice News, breaks down the simmering cold war between Mitch McConnell and Trump for control of the Republican party and its candidates during the midterms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Trump tried to subvert American democracy, he told DOJ officials that they were not “following the internet the way I do.” He was referring in part to ultra-rightwing conspiracy site Gateway Pundit—run by the so-called “dumbest man on the internet.” This week’s episode of Fever Dreams goes inside how the habitually wrong website so influenced the president that he carried print-outs of its articles around the West Wing as he pushed the Justice Department to declare a fraudulent election. (One official says he threw the printouts in the trash. Or maybe recycled them.) Hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng also break down how new restrictions on anti-vaxxers are convincing some of them to finally get the jab, and how ISIS militants have infiltrated the alt-right’s new social media network Gettr. Elsewhere on the episode, Daily Beast reporter Kelly Weill talks about how all those conspiracies about Trump retaking power in August are now imploding, and reporter Steven Monacelli breaks down how a flyer purportedly from Black Lives Matter groups making the rounds in Texas—which asked white parents to pledge to not send their kids to Ivy League schools—was in fact the work of a conservative PR firm and was amplified by the right-wing media ecosystem.. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’ve ever wished the kids’ books you read your small children included more references to the “cabal” at Jeffrey Epstein’s island, then we have some news for you! On this episode of FEVER DREAMS, hosts Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng delve into the wild and bafflingly lurid world of a new series of conservative children’s books, which include adorable foxes teaching your kids not to embrace communist ice cream. Elsewhere on the episode our hosts interview ‘New Republic’ staff writer Alex Pareene on why Democrats suck at “propaganda,” as compared to their Republican opponents, and how the future of the mainstream GOP was accurately (and depressingly) spelled out for us—among the marchers in Charlottesville in 2017. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices