The World’s Greatest Conspiracy

What if the world’s most famous conspiracy theory is built entirely on myths, misquotes, and a pamphlet from 1846? In this episode of Fascinating Nouns, host Daniel J. Glenn sits down with author Mike Rothschild — yes, that Rothschild — to dig into his book Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories, and trace the Rothschild myth from a Frankfurt Jewish ghetto all the way to Jewish space lasers and Alex Jones.

Mike Rothschild — former conspiracy theory researcher, debunker, and author of The Storm is Upon Us about QAnon — walks through the real history of the Rothschild banking family: how a family living in a walled ghetto used a loophole in medieval Christian lending law to build one of the most powerful financial empires in European history, how they helped finance the defeat of Napoleon, and how a fictional pamphlet from 1846 invented the story that Nathan Rothschild manipulated the London Stock Exchange after Waterloo — a story that became the foundation of nearly every modern anti-semitic conspiracy theory.

They also get into Art Bell and Coast to Coast AM, Alex Jones and his pivot from folksy truth-seeker to conspiracy profiteer, the Iraqi dinar scam, why the Kitty Genovese myth matters, QAnon’s debt to 19th century pamphlets, Bohemian Grove, Jekyll Island, and why the real power brokers aren’t secret at all — they’re hiding in plain sight.

*BONUS* Albert Belmont, Jewish Space Lasers, and Secret Sex Parties

In this bonus episode, we discuss the Albert Belmont, the 1800’s version of George Costanza, how the sex party in Eyes Wide Shut was actually based on a real Rothschild ball, and the origins of Jewish Space Lasers.