I made my newest Patreon piece about the midterms free for everyone. The reaction that right wing influencers are having about 2026 is very different than any other Trump-era election, and I think this piece provides some pretty reassuring context. patreon.com/MikeRothschild/p…

For @TPM, I wrote about how the flailing "Grand Conspiracy" probe is a more legal eagle version of QAnon - a massive scheme involving countless villains that nobody can quite articulate or prove actually exists. talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/h…

Even with Musk shoving the scale down, the "Talarico nut house" hoax failed to break containment from X, and already seems to have fizzled out in a haze of retractions. It was too much too soon, simultaneously low effort (they couldn't even get the days right) and maximum effort (it was pushed WAY too hard too fast.) You've got to have build up w/ hoaxes. It can't just be everywhere all at once, it has to start small and keep adding detail. You get people hooked and asking for the next twist, rather than bombarding them, then claiming more "proof" is dropping when it never does. That just turns people away. There's an art to bullshit. Say what you want about QAnon, but it was a well-constructed hoax, building tension and anticipation through wild twists and bizarre veers. It didn't hit you all at once, it but took weeks to lay the groundwork. Maybe the next desperate Senate ratfucking hoax can hire those guys to do it right.