Time Travel, Brain Scans, and FBI Drop-Ins: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of a QAnon Commune

The Dangers of DeSantis • Buttigeig in the Hot Seat • UFO Fever [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( Time Travel, Brain Scans, and FBI Drop-Ins: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of a QAnon Commune Good morning from the Hive newsroom! Is QAnon a cult? You might find the answer in our latest [excerpt]( from Will Sommer’s forthcoming book, Trust the Plan, which chronicles the checkered past of Austin Steinbart, a then 29-year-old who built a commune on the notion that he was the movement’s next messiah. The group was “a cult in the classic 1970s sense,” Sommer writes, “complete with a compound, guns, bitter internal feuds, and showdowns with federal law enforcement.” Elsewhere, as Ron DeSantis fires up his campaign engine for what appears to be a presidential bid, Molly Jong-Fast [discourages]( reporters from normalizing the governor’s despotic approach to politics. “To call DeSantis a culture warrior dangerously understates what the man is capable of,” she writes. “He is the Genghis Khan of social issues, using every opportunity to target and demonize groups that have already been targeted and demonized throughout history.” Meanwhile, Joe Pompeo [muses]( on all the media chatter around UFOs as US intelligence officials report more inexplicable aerial shenanigans. Eric Lutz has [the latest]( on the disastrous train derailment in Ohio, which has backed Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg in a corner. Plus, with Dianne Feinstein retiring by the end of next year, Abigail Tracy [catches]( the senator’s potential successors challenging each other’s progressive bona fides. Thanks for reading! [Time Travel, Brain Scans, and FBI Drop-Ins: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of a QAnon Commune]( By [Will Sommer]( [Austin Steinbart lured in roughly a dozen dedicated disciples with a messianic story of his past, living a life “complete with a compound, guns, bitter internal feuds, and showdowns with federal law enforcement,” Will Sommer writes in his forthcoming book, Trust the Plan, a stranger-than-fiction account of a fame-driven QAnon leader.]( [Read more button](   [Ron DeSantis Shouldn’t Be Covered Like Just Another Republican]( By [Molly Jong-Fast]( [Florida’s wannabe autocrat and possible 2024 contender isn’t Trump, but he’s as dangerous to democracy.]( [Read more button](   [“This Is Not an Invasion of the Aliens”: How UFO Mania Went Mainstream]( By [Joe Pompeo]( [Mysterious aerial phenomena have been generating serious news coverage for the past few years. With unknown objects now being shot down from the skies, the latest headlines are out of this world.]( [Read more button](   [The Ohio Railroad Disaster Is Forcing Pete Buttigieg Into the Hot Seat]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The Transportation secretary has defended his department’s work on rail safety while claiming that freight companies have prioritized efficiency over safety.]( [Read more button](   [The California Senate Race Begins With a Scuffle Over Candidates’ Progressive Bona Fides]( By [Abigail Tracy]( [Adam Schiff wants to be in the Progressive Caucus, Katie Porter isn’t having it, and Barbara Lee has made her entrance as Dianne Feinstein’s retirement announcement heats up the contest.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe](newsletter=vf) Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2023 Condé Nast