Terminal Empire Hallucinations feat. Mike Rothschild (E357)
Travis and Jake are joined by journalist Mike Rothschild to discuss the second time that the federal government has killed someone in Minnesota then smeared them as a terrorist, the growing paranoia on the right that opposition to occupation by federal agents constitutes an “insurgency,” the White House manipulating photos using AI, Kash Patel treating the FBI like his personal Hype House, and alleged time travel by the late Charlie Kirk.
Thank you for being a supporter of QAA.
Mike Rothschild
https://bsky.app/profile/rothschildmd.bsky.social
Mike Rothschild's Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/cw/MikeRothschild
Check out our new podcast series network Cursed Media and binge the entirety of our exclusive shows Science in Transition by Liv Agar and Truly, Tradly, Deeply by Annie Kelly
Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme
Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)
QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
Comments (112)
Jake, as a person who also has mental health issues, I completely understand you disision to not own a gun. There are so many more ways to support than just the armed resistance, in reality thats like 10-15%. There is so much need for coms, first aid, and support lines. I totally believe you could do any of those in your own community. You can help install a mesh network or many other things. Most of the revolution will be done by people without guns.
It’s very refreshing to hear Jake talk about feeling radicalized by all of this. I feel it every day.
I agree! As someone who loves Jake but agrees with Julian, it really makes me happy? to see Jake de-lib himself.
The green beret twitter guy rant is such a rich, unintentionally revealing text. Classic "No, it's the children who are wrong" stuff.
"Replace ICE agents with occupying coalition forces and the structure maps perfectly" "I spent years dismantling this kind of apparatus, now pieces of it are in American cities enabled by local government and civil society" This isn't because Minnesotans and Afghans share the terrorism gene, it's because your distinction between grassroots activism and "low-level insurgency" is phony and exists solely to excuse war crimes against civilians.
Why is no one discussing a general strike?
sorry man Mike sounds so much like Steve carrell it's insane. his retch in reaction to the Kirk-Owens ship at 48:01 sounded like a drop.
Nature abhors a vacuum; Julian's absence has left Jake to be the radical one saying stuff that needs bleeped
How would Scully and Mulder be doing in the FBI right now?
Investigating actual crimes lol
Welp I guess Qanon was right
Wait, hold on. Qanon actually was a psyop but it was created by Epstein and Moot to shitcoat stuff that was actually happening but steer the narrative in a way that was pro-MAGA? This is absolutely insane. I feel like I'm in a dream state
I thought Civil War was numbingly stupid, but I forgot that we live in a stupid enough society that Garland might be our new Sorkin-prophet. On another note, I’m surprised they’re so worried about an ineffective FBI. This is probably the safest we’ve ever been from that org.
Me too Jakey, fuckin’ me too.
I miss Julian.
Jake ♥️
Screaming “Pelennor Fields” at my phone
Unless you’re talking Helm’s Deep after Wormtongue leaves Theoden
Just wanted to point out that there are now AI misinfo videos of the Pretti shooting claiming to be phone footage from the scene showing him reaching for something, resisting more violently, etc... I think we can expect those kinds of videos to come out sooner and sooner following events like this to the point where no one will be able to know what version is the real one... Anyway I've never commented before but seeing one of your episodes pop up truly makes my day, so thank you. Also- loving Jake's new deranged energy
I was going to write how we need to focus our efforts on two lines of fighting disinfo but I’ve realized I’m out of gas, completely, I hate this current world so much, and the people, and it’s time to get more dogs and disassociate all the way
"The Sumerians were of course known for glassmaking" No they weren't the sumerians don't seem to have had much glass at all.
Great episode. That said, I truly hope the crew at QAA has an incredibly boring (but still profitable) 2026, but... looking ahead (after news re: FBI, Georgia and- of all people, Gabbard) I think only one of those two is likely. Also, a tip: When you start doing live events again, partner w/local orgs which address mental health- like animal therapy. I think things are about to get really weird...
Travis with the calm, quiet "Stephen Miller, top ranked draft pick for the wall."
I ❤️ radicalized Jake
Jake Rockatansky: radicalized by basic human decency ✊
jakey i think ur talking about denethor losing it in minas tirith but yr confusing it with theoden getting wormtongued (also Trump's wormtongue is def miller)
It is absolutely bigger than Trump. Once he is gone, the threat will only increase. He is their figurehead and is actually the ultimate distraction to all that lurks beneath the public surface.
I’ve been wondering, if you all could cast the QAA crew in the wind in the willows, who would be which character?
Not sure about the main characters, but Brad’s my Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Jake is a good reluctant death threat guy IMO
The US is now governed by the chans indeed. I thought it before Jake said it. I wonder what Brennan thinks now. I discovered you guys through that HBO QAnon documentary.... and this situation terrifies me now.
That was quite possibly the most deranged auto-q i have ever heard. The script from the matrix was stolen!? From who? What does that even mean....?
I think time traveling satanist Sumerian grave robbers would do a lot more interesting things than being the "deep state." What does that term even mean at that point
The angrier Jake gets, the more his Illinois accent comes out.
Was Charlie trying to profess his love for Candace, but she instead took it literally? Lol
Charlie writing romantic texts to Candace only to realise she has no sense of metaphor or playfulness is very funny.
The use of Ai to deceive people wanting to be deceived to a certain direction has been one of the easiest to predict things about modern times. Absolute no brainer for those in power when we have like no way of dealing with it yet. The internet has become so easily accessible that even the most technology illiterate person can get swayed by fake images and videos. Real coooool. Thanks ai companies and social media on cell phones and other devices that don't require like any thinking to use. At least Candace talking about time travelin' Kirk is funny as shit
“pretty wretched” is my new “not ideal”
"Say what you will about national socialism, at least its an ethos!"
Message to Jake: Podcasting may feel pointless right now, but I think we all feel that way about our jobs at the moment. As someone living in the Twin Cities, it’s really nice to hear the support and righteous anger coming from people so far away. Seeing a new QAA in the feed always makes my day a little brighter ❤️ In spite of the dark shit going on here, it needs to be said that we’re also seeing regular people standing up for their neighbors in ways I didn’t think Americans were capable of. There is real hope here, and we will fight for it ✌️
“I think Kash Patel should go on as many helicopter rides as possible” 🤣
I screamed
Honestly, surprised no one here is soying out over Mike’s Putin comment.
https://youtu.be/aI0euMFAWF8?si=i8dSMjwm_k_0QUJI gotchu Jake
The thing about LAPD is a little ridiculous. Theyre not horrified my man. LAPD has deputy gangs that deal drugs, do human trafficking and where you have to murder someone to get in. Cops are just as stupid and bloodthirsty as any ICE guy.
Also, as to the pont of them being "untrained"- the man who shot Good had been working there for 7 yrs and the one who shot Pretti 8. They are not just untrained morons, they are racist, violent murderers
I have so much to say I can’t text it all. I too am becoming radicalized and I’m quite a but older than you guys. I am woman hear my blood curdling scream!
First episode I had to stop listening… y’all are talking about this as if it’s a Trump only problem, with zero context on the political violence that has been waged since the Indigenous genocide as this colonial government was established. It’s like listening to high school bros… y’all are usually better than this but you’re just upholding this violent system by pointing fingers only at Trump. So cringe to talk about police as if they are somehow better or any different than ICE. Let’s not get politically left behind, y’all - keep up.
I hear you, and it's something to think about when discussing this topic. Someone needs to note that indigenous people have and are experiencing things like this to this day. Expressing revulsion and anger over ICE is legitimate - and we need to acknowledge this stuff is happening now to others. It is systemic and a single focus will not address the overall issue. # Justice for Colten Boushie.
I constantly need to remind myself that Candace is an antisemitic, transphobic monster. The shit she says is so wonderfully bonkers and it appears to be causing real fractures within the right and it’s just hard not to feel a little love. (Same with Kash. Such glorious incompetence.)
When Trump kicks the bucket, we're getting a USA version of The Death of Stalin in real time
“top ranked draft pick for the wall” goes crazy, thanks travis
😂 I am glad no one heard the sound I made when Travis said that.
I heard the doomsday clock is closer to the apocalypse, so there’s that
I turn to this podcast when something terrible happens because it offers catharsis and confirmation that I’m not overreacting. What you do matters. Thank you for showing up and for making fun of Greg Bovino.
Do you know how bad things have to be for Travis to say something like "top ranked draft pick for the wall, Stephen Miller."?
Back during the civil rights era, the Black Panthers started carrying automatic weapons and the Republicans were like, "Whoa! Hang on a second!" They don't want their victims to be able to fight back.
Ugh, I feel you, Jake. It's so frustrating and demoralizing. I want the future we were promised as kids in the 90s, with flying cars and neon hoverboards... not reality tv fascists and AI making csam.
Curious to have access to such technology and yet not being able to foresee and prevent the eventual destruction of their empire…. Typical Sumerians😏
Jake… I’m 100% with you, my friend! I’m a mental health therapist serving vulnerable populations, who runs a local activist group and a PAC to educate those in my city about their non-partisan local candidates. PLUS… my parents are fully cooked and have been since 2020. I hope you’re finding a way to allow yourself just to be… to lean into however you need to feel (in a healthy/helpful way) Personally, due to being fairly dissociated from what I feel on a somatic level, I told my husband I wanted to take a bath and have no one disturb me… like… I don’t want to hear fucking breathing unless it’s my own. I then sat in a scolding bath, alone, in the pitch black, listening to Sarah McLachlan and crying for close to an hour. It was glorious and exhausting. I’ve never committed on here before but please know… to all of you… you have been my saving grace so many times!!! I see a new episode and it brings such joy and connection to like minded people. Thank y’all for everything. 💚 you’re recovering “Southern Baptist, homeschooled, Fox News childhood indoctrinated” fan
RSB, I feel Jake's pain, too. I was married (11 years) to a person who was my opposite in MANY ways: he was a Republican, of Anglo-Saxon descent, and a Conservative (though not a religious one). I thought we'd be fine as long as we avoided talking about politics and/or social issues, but then the 2016 Presidential election came along and ruined my feelings for him. We hung on for 6 more years bur we finally divorced in 2022. I've told my ex this, that our differences over the 2016 election in which he voted for Trump was the beginning of the end for me, but I don't think he believes me. He would accuse me of being "too emotional" a lot during our marriage, but feelings count and must be validated. I've felt freer and more authentic since the divorce. Thanks for sharing your own story, RSB. 🥰
Thank you for this and all episodes. I know it’s depressing as fuck but hearing it in your familiar voices and reasonable tones honestly helps. It also helps distract me from my dissertation which is on basically this topic and yet somehow a podcast about the same topic is soothing? I’m probably not well but if it works it works man.
Anybody who isn't radicalized at this point is sus as fuck
Anyone who is a centrist at this point is a Nazi sympathizer at best.
The lib wine moms aren’t the antifa super soldiers we deserve, but they are the ones we need right now
They just need to add a range day and a ten point program to their meticulously organized to-do list
It’s definitely not pointless to podcast right now. I live in the south and am surrounded by MAGA bootlickers constantly. This podcast/parasocial relationship keeps me going sometimes!
That so bleak Jesus. Solidarity from "commiefornia'" (we are also cooked lmao Gavin Newsome is a psychopath)
“Top ranked draft pick for the wall” Travis is getting uncomfortably based folks
Yes… hahaha…. Yes!
QAA is so important, never hopeless.
The battle of Minas Tireth
Ackshually: The Battle of Pelennor Fields
Not important but Wormtounge was with King Theodin of Rohan, and the person who three themselves from the parapet in Gondor was the Steward Denethor (Boromir’s father). You *may* be mixing the battle of Helms Deep with the battle in the Return of The King where Mordor empties out to fight against all free men. Ok, Autism out.
It's not hopeless to podcast right now. You guys are like ICU workers for people's brains and sense of solidarity. Never stop. What we're seeing right now is cargo cult fascism aka performative authoritarianism. It's ugly and disgusting and it harms people, but it's incredibly performative and can be defeated.
When will Travis get radicalized?
Didn't you hear the "top ranked draft pick for the wall"?
When I saw the title of this episode, my heart sank. I'm not from the US, I don't live in the US, but seeing US news fills me with absolute dread. A part of me just wants to shut it off and live in ignorance. I've unsubscribed from pretty much all podcasts, I've even considered walking away from QAA, which is nuts, as it's my favourite, but conspiracy theories really aren't doing my mental health any good, I'm surrounded by them in my real life. Yet, having said all that, I came away from this episode in a better state than I thought I would. At least there's some sort of hope that something might actually happen now, that there'll be some sort of effective fight back in America... right? It did sound like Jake was close to the edge of losing his mind by the end of this one though, which was hard to listen to. Jake's one of my all-time best people I've never met. If you read this Jake, I hope you're doing OK and continue to do so!
🫂
Hi I’m a Minneapolis mom and I love that we are being compared to trained intelligence when we are a bunch of parents with whistles and vests trying to protect our children and neighbors 😅
I’m an Australian farmer in a real small town. Cannot get over the images of 3000 heavily armed goons in your city. How chaotic is it?
No way did Rothschild compare the ICE raids to Stalin in the THIRTIES ffs😞 what a fckin lib.
Thank you for researching and recording these kinds of episodes. Community and group processing (even para-socially) is so important in times like these
Prayers for Jules
Candace Owens is so cool. “Yeah you know those evil guys at the CIA who think they’re so smart but they’re actually dumb, and evil, and they lie all the time, and they do everything in their power to control us? Well they said they have a magic time machine and it’s 100% true. Why would they lie?”. Prime entertainment for the American stupid. Peak “really makes you think” content. We should be nuked.
*Fascism happening in the US* “What is this, the USSR??” 🤢
Tired of hearing comparisons of fascist US to Stalin’s USSR when there was a legitimate risk of existentially threatening political enemies in the USSR in the 1930’s (Anyone ever heard of the 5th column ffs?).
I’d also have to disagree that local/state cops are a relative good as compared to ICE. Police departments as they exist today also serve to terrorize citizens, inflict violence, incarcerate and escalate tense situations etc. A good cops who, in theory, have good intentions doesn’t override a system in where there’s such a power differential a combative relationship with ‘certain’ communities that are served. It’s always been fucked up, what we’re seeing now is just a new mutation of something that has always been in the bones of the American people
Thank you for saying so. It's driving me a little nuts how people are talking up the cops compared with ICE when the cops have been doing the exact same type of shit to black and brown people since forever. What ICE is doing is nothing new. It's just new to see our government openly executing innocent white people.
“Where is the outrage from the Democrats?” Oh Jake, your first problem was to put any faith in the Democratic Party
Dude, am *I* Charlie Kirk?
The “Left” is ok with guns and free speech, it just includes respect for everyone’s civil rights. MAGA lies or exaggerates so, they control the narrative. It’s more the perception (I hope) that’s changing …we’ll see. Maybe people are Woking up 😶
Free speech expression has always been valued more by liberals than by people on the right. The right has it so twisted a lot of people are forgetting that. The right's spreading of misinformation and acting like it is against free speech if people aren't allowed to spread it on every platform actually undermines free speech by polluting the information space so much it's difficult for people to spread real information. Besides misinformation the only other speech they defend is hate speech. In any case, their mask is off now.
Before I jump into the ep, I feel like I need to get something off my chest: out of all the chaos, carnage, hate, discrimination, and fear brought upon by this administration, the murder of Alex Pretti as hit me the hardest. I’m also a male RN and see some aspects of Alex in myself even though he was 10 years older than me. He cared. A lot. He clearly was more than willing to put his life on the line for the most vulnerable, total strangers. I have family who are Hispanic and clearly Hispanic in appearance. One is my brother who just had a baby. He called our mom this weekend, telling her he doesn’t know what to do if he is pulled over with my niece in the car with him. I’ve been scared since 2015 but this has made me hit a new level of fear I didn’t think a privileged white dude like me thought I would ever have. All that being said, I see Alex Pretti as a fucking hero and I hope I can emulate his bravery someday. Thank you, Julian, Liv, Jake, Travis, and all the other contributors of this show too. I don’t think I’d be able to laugh during these god awful times if it weren’t for your work. Now that I’m all finished rambling, im gonna shed some more tears before i start this episode.
Jake radicalization arc is incredible, follow your heart sir
Love when Mike guests!
Jake going full Julian on the beeps 😁
cheating and reading comments as I hit play and i’m so excited for this
What a heavy episode. I have also been getting more radicalized and hopeless/helpless (and afraid)… such a difficult combination. I hope that all of you are getting affirmation for your work (I for one truly appreciate the podcast and everyone who makes it) and support for the hard stuff that you might be going through❤️🙏🏼
The Jake stocks are up and climbing invest now if you haven't
Jake’s absolutely right. Someone is gonna do it. Also it is pretty not good.
Mike Rothschild 's back ! Yay !! ❤️ There is hope 🙌
Can't we use those space lasers on these ICE " agents" ?! 😜
Top ranked draft pick for the wall. God damn Travis cook
I don't have a pick for the past, but Annie is the ghost of suckfest present and Mike is the ghost of suckfest future.
<3 to you all, hope Julien is doing alright since it has been a minute.
For the best… his last episode and the few before that were unbearable
USA is neither free nor brave. Hopefully the grannies with whistles protest stops the fascists, cuz nobody else will.
Mr Rothschild
Yay I can take a break from listening to old episodes and listen to a new one instead!
First
Liv Agar