The Coming Storm podcast

The Coming Storm

America through the looking glass - enter a world where nothing is as it seems. As America heads into a presidential election, Gabriel Gatehouse dives back into the labyrinthine rabbit warren of American conspiracy culture. Whilst liberals across the world worry about a possible return of Donald Trump, millions of Americans are convinced that their democracy has already been highjacked - by a sinister Deep State cabal. How did this happen? And who is behind it? That's the story that Gabriel Gatehouse is investigating in this series of The Coming Storm. The search for the origins of this story takes Gabriel inside a paranoid political group that tried to build its own Deep State during the Cold War, now back in fashion in the conservative backwaters of western mountain states. Gabriel meets the January 6 rioters running for office who see their detention as political imprisonment in gulags, and the militia men convinced the CIA and FBI are working against the American people. In the background lurk the tech utopian ideologues, using their vast wealth and power to fund conspiracy flavoured content as they work to create sovereign states free of all government control. And online, amateur finance bros foment distrust of government, central banks and giant financial institutions to millions of followers. What were once fringe ideas have burst into the mainstream. Conspiracy theories have become central planks of Trump's Republican Party, while Democrats run on dark warnings about the end of democracy. With both sides convinced the other is an existential threat, what are the prospects for the survival of the American political system?

America through the looking glass - enter a world where nothing is as it seems. As America heads into a presidential election, Gabriel Gatehouse dives back into the labyrinthine rabbit warren of American conspiracy culture. Whilst liberals across the world worry about a possible return of Donald Trump, millions of Americans are convinced that their democracy has already been highjacked - by a sinister Deep State cabal. How did this happen? And who is behind it? That's the story that Gabriel Gatehouse is investigating in this series of The Coming Storm. The search for the origins of this story takes Gabriel inside a paranoid political group that tried to build its own Deep State during the Cold War, now back in fashion in the conservative backwaters of western mountain states. Gabriel meets the January 6 rioters running for office who see their detention as political imprisonment in gulags, and the militia men convinced the CIA and FBI are working against the American people. In the background lurk the tech utopian ideologues, using their vast wealth and power to fund conspiracy flavoured content as they work to create sovereign states free of all government control. And online, amateur finance bros foment distrust of government, central banks and giant financial institutions to millions of followers. What were once fringe ideas have burst into the mainstream. Conspiracy theories have become central planks of Trump's Republican Party, while Democrats run on dark warnings about the end of democracy. With both sides convinced the other is an existential threat, what are the prospects for the survival of the American political system?

 

#24

Live at Hay Festival

Gabriel Gatehouse and producer Lucy Proctor were on stage at the Hay Festival in May 2025.... more

02 Jul 2025

1 HR 02 MINS

1:02:34

02 Jul 2025


#23

S2: Inauguration - Live Q&A

Gabriel Gatehouse is joined by the BBC’s US Digital reporter Mike Wendling to answer liste... more

20 Jan 2025

39 MINS

39:22

20 Jan 2025


#22

S2: Inauguration - Bonus Episode

Over two series this podcast has followed a cast of characters who propelled Trump into th... more

19 Jan 2025

40 MINS

40:05

19 Jan 2025


#21

S2: 8. The Last Election…?

Gabriel Gatehouse, producer Lucy Proctor and Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democrat... more

30 Oct 2024

54 MINS

54:29

30 Oct 2024


#20

S2: 7. Wonderland

In the 1990s a group of futurist thinkers meet on one of the world’s first email lists. Th... more

23 Oct 2024

39 MINS

39:48

23 Oct 2024


#19

S2: 6. Kompromat

In series one of this podcast we spent months investigating QAnon, a crazy conspiracy theo... more

16 Oct 2024

33 MINS

33:48

16 Oct 2024


#18

S2: 5. The Photocopier

Gabriel Gatehouse is on holiday with his family when he gets an invitation to an exclusive... more

09 Oct 2024

36 MINS

36:56

09 Oct 2024


#17

S2: 4. The Jump

In the summer of 2023 a small budget thriller becomes a smash hit. Sound of Freedom is bas... more

02 Oct 2024

35 MINS

35:03

02 Oct 2024


#16

S2: 3. The Enemy Within

A prank about pizza is the moment members of the Republican Party in Idaho realise the con... more

25 Sep 2024

38 MINS

38:29

25 Sep 2024


#15

S2: 2. Flight 007

America through the looking glass - enter a world where nothing is as it seems. As Gabriel... more

18 Sep 2024

36 MINS

36:52

18 Sep 2024


#14

S2: 1. The Yogi

America through the looking glass - enter a world where nothing is as it seems. As America... more

18 Sep 2024

40 MINS

40:29

18 Sep 2024


#13

S2: Welcome back to The Coming Storm

A vast new conspiracy movement has gripped America. That weird story we were looking into ... more

04 Sep 2024

02 MINS

02:59

04 Sep 2024


#12

S1: The Louis Theroux Interview

Louis Theroux interviews Gabriel Gatehouse about the aftermath of the 2021 Capitol riots, ... more

17 Nov 2022

54 MINS

54:40

17 Nov 2022


#11

S1: The Mid-Terms 2. The Regime

When Gabriel Gatehouse is reporting on the aftermath of the presidential election in 2020,... more

13 Nov 2022

55 MINS

55:23

13 Nov 2022


#10

S1: The Mid-Terms 1. Groomers

As America goes out to vote for the first time since the tumultuous aftermath of the 2020 ... more

06 Nov 2022

42 MINS

42:26

06 Nov 2022


#9

S1: 8. Epilogue

QAnon and the plot to break reality... Gabriel Gatehouse has something to confess. Through... more

22 Feb 2022

38 MINS

38:16

22 Feb 2022


#8

S1: 7. Welcome to the Future

QAnon and the plot to break reality... The Q Shaman, the man with the furs and horns who s... more

04 Jan 2022

37 MINS

37:25

04 Jan 2022


#7

S1: 6. The Usual Suspects

QAnon and the plot to break reality... Donald Trump’s fantasy about a vast conspiracy to s... more

04 Jan 2022

42 MINS

42:16

04 Jan 2022


#6

S1: 5. Blowback

QAnon and the plot to break reality... A British spy is hired to dig dirt on Donald Trump’... more

04 Jan 2022

34 MINS

34:13

04 Jan 2022


#5

S1: 4. Q Drops

QAnon and the plot to break reality... In Oct 2017 Donald Trump says something weird in a ... more

04 Jan 2022

35 MINS

35:33

04 Jan 2022


#4

S1: 3. The Basement

QAnon and the plot to break reality... A severely disabled boy from upstate New York is sh... more

04 Jan 2022

31 MINS

31:53

04 Jan 2022


#3

S1: 2. Sex, Lies, and… a Videotape

QAnon and the plot to break reality... Gabriel Gatehouse discovers a real conspiracy calle... more

04 Jan 2022

34 MINS

34:59

04 Jan 2022


#2

S1: 1. The Dead Body

QAnon and the plot to break reality... When a mob storms the Capitol in Washington DC, rep... more

04 Jan 2022

33 MINS

33:58

04 Jan 2022


#1

S1: Welcome to The Coming Storm

QAnon and the plot to break reality. A year on from the Capitol Insurrection in Washington... more

20 Dec 2021

02 MINS

02:50

20 Dec 2021