Will Sommer

Last updated

Will Sommer
Born (1988-06-17) June 17, 1988 (age 36)
Occupation Journalist
Alma mater Georgetown University (BS)
Subjects
Years active2010–present

Will Sommer (born June 17, 1988) is an American journalist working as a media reporter for The Washington Post . [1] Previously, he worked as a politics reporter for The Daily Beast since 2018, a campaign editor for The Hill [2] and the Loose Lips columnist for the Washington City Paper . [3] In his journalism, Sommer covers right-wing media, political radicalization and right-wing conspiracy theories in the United States. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

From 2006 to 2010, Sommer studied Foreign Service and International Politics at Georgetown University, graduating with a BS degree. [1] While at the university, Sommer contributed to the student-run news magazine The Georgetown Voice . [4]

Journalism

Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman

Since their first press conference in November 2018 accusing Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct, Sommer has followed the numerous false claims made against public officials by conservative political operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman. [5] After making their debunked claims against Mueller, Wohl and Burkman went on to make similar claims against Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Anthony Fauci throughout 2019 and early 2020. Sommer himself attended these press conferences that were held on the steps of Burkman's Virginia townhouse.

An exposé by Sommer revealed the details of how Wohl and Burkman recruited a fake Buttigieg accuser by telling him that they were operating as a 'task force' set up by the Trump Administration. The fake accuser secretly recorded the conversation with Wohl and Burkman using the voice recording app on his phone and leaked the audio to The Daily Beast. [6]

Sommer has also paid attention to the legal troubles faced by Wohl and Burkman due to robocalls they made in the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York in an attempt to influence the 2020 presidential election with voter intimidation targeted towards minority voters. [7] [8] Sommer estimated that, if they are found liable in a federal lawsuit brought by New York attorney general Letitia James, Wohl and Burkman could face $2.75 million in damages for their robocalls. [9]

QAnon

Sommer has extensively reported on the promulgation of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory throughout 2020 and 2021. Sommer has described adherents to QAnon as "believ[ing] that the world, as revealed to them by Q, is run by a cabal of satanic cannibal pedophiles who torture children in satanic rituals, that these people are in the Democratic Party, in Hollywood and in banking, and that they’ve controlled the world for centuries." [10] Older Republicans are also more likely to be attracted to QAnon compared to younger ones who engage more directly with the alt-right, according to Sommer. These older Republicans are "white, probably an evangelical Christian and, frankly, more likely to fall for something on the internet". [10]

In his reporting on the movement, Sommer has highlighted the activities of QAnon at the January 6 Capitol storming [11] and during the Biden Presidency, such as the potential threats of violence posed by adherents to QAnon. [12] The potential for violence has been connected to the beliefs that Joe Biden would be arrested by Donald Trump at his inauguration [13] or that Trump would be reinstated as President of the United States on March 4, 2021. [14]

In May 2021, Sommer was ejected from a QAnon conference being held in Dallas, Texas which featured guests such as Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell. Sommer had paid for a ticket to attend and cover the event but his ticket was cancelled and he was not refunded. [15]

On June 24, 2021, Sommer reported "gleeful" QAnon chatter on the internet about their expectations to be able to punish thousands of people soon through "executions" for perceived transgressions. [16]

Sommer's book on QAnon, entitled Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped America, was published on February 21, 2023, by HarperCollins. [17] [18] He was also featured as an expert on QAnon in HBO's Q: Into the Storm and After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News. [1]

Mike Lindell

In June 2021, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told The Daily Beast that he believed it was likely that he was the inspiration for Trump to have the idea of being reinstated as president in August 2021. [19] [20]

Fever Dreams

Sommer was a co-host of the podcast Fever Dreams for The Daily Beast, first with Asawin Suebsaeng and later with Kelly Weill, during the entirety of its run from 2022 to 2023. [21] [1]

Personal life

Sommer lives in Washington, D.C. and has a cat named Hazel. [1]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QAnon</span> American conspiracy theory and political movement

QAnon is a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against president Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many different conspiracy theories and unifies them into a larger interconnected conspiracy theory. QAnon has been described as a cult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Flynn</span> U.S. Army general and former U.S. National Security Advisor (born 1958)

Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports that he had lied regarding conversations with Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. Flynn's military career included a key role in shaping U.S. counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and he was given numerous combat arms, conventional, and special operations senior intelligence assignments. He became the 18th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in July 2012 until his forced retirement from the military in August 2014. During his tenure he gave a lecture on leadership at the Moscow headquarters of the Russian military intelligence directorate GRU, the first American official to be admitted entry to the headquarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Watters</span> American political commentator (born 1978)

Jesse Bailey Watters is an American conservative political commentator and television program host on the Fox News cable television network. He frequently appeared earlier in his media career on the political talk show The O'Reilly Factor with commentator/moderator Bill O'Reilly and was known for his man-on-the-street interviews, featured in his segment there of "Watters' World", which became its own show in 2015. In January 2017, Watters' World became weekly, and in April 2017, he became a co-host of the roundtable series The Five. Watters became host of his own program Jesse Watters Primetime on the Fox News Channel in January 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Burkman</span> American lobbyist

Jack Burkman is an American conspiracy theorist, fraudster, convicted felon and conservative lobbyist. Burkman and far-right conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl have allegedly been responsible for multiple unsuccessful plots to frame public figures for fictitious sexual assaults, including in October 2018 against U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in April 2019 against 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and in April 2020 against White House Coronavirus Task Force member Anthony Fauci.

One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The Gateway Pundit (TGP) is an American far-right fake news website. The website is known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Loomer</span> American political activist (born 1993)

Laura Elizabeth Loomer is an American far-right political activist, conspiracy theorist, and internet personality. She was the Republican nominee to represent Florida's 21st congressional district in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections, losing to Democrat Lois Frankel. She also ran in the Republican primary for Florida's 11th congressional district in 2022, losing to incumbent Daniel Webster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Wohl</span> American far-right conspiracy theorist and fraudster

Jacob Alexander Wohl is an American far-right conspiracy theorist, fraudster, and convicted felon. Wohl and lobbyist Jack Burkman have been responsible for multiple unsuccessful plots to frame public figures for fictitious sexual assaults. The pair were allegedly behind plots in October 2018 against U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in April 2019 against 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and in April 2020 against White House Coronavirus Task Force member Anthony Fauci.

Chanel Rion is an American broadcaster, political cartoonist, and children's book author. She was formerly the chief White House correspondent for One America News Network (OAN), a far-right American cable channel. She is known for promoting conspiracy theories.

The Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory is a series of false allegations that Joe Biden, while he was vice president of the United States, improperly withheld a loan guarantee and took a bribe to pressure Ukraine into firing prosecutor general Viktor Shokin to prevent a corruption investigation of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and to protect his son, Hunter Biden, who was on the Burisma board. As part of efforts by Donald Trump and his campaign in the Trump–Ukraine scandal, which led to Trump's first impeachment, these falsehoods were spread in an attempt to damage Joe Biden's reputation and chances during the 2020 presidential campaign, and later in an effort to impeach him.

Sidney Katherine Powell is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and conspiracy theorist who attempted to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. In August 2023, she was indicted along with Donald Trump and eighteen others in the Georgia election case for their efforts to subvert the election outcome in Georgia and other key states lost by Trump. In October 2023, she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. She was sentenced to six years of probation and agreed to testify against the other defendants.

Ali Alexander is an American far-right activist, social media personality, and conspiracy theorist. Alexander is an organizer of Stop the Steal, a campaign to promote the conspiracy theory that widespread voter fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election. He also helped to organize one of several rallies that preceded the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Watkins</span> American conspiracy theorist and imageboard administrator

Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun. He has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, and has espoused conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8kun.

The America First Political Action Conference is an annual white nationalist and far-right political conference. Many attendees are supporters of the "America First" show, and support its creator Nick Fuentes, also known as Groypers. The conference was described by The Daily Dot as a "white nationalist alternative" to CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. The Arizona Republic has characterized it as an extremist rival of CPAC.

<i>Q Into the Storm</i> Television series

Q: Into the Storm is an American documentary television miniseries directed and produced by Cullen Hoback. It explores the QAnon conspiracy theory and the people involved with it. It consisted of six episodes and premiered on HBO on March 21, 2021. The series received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its insight into the conspiracy theory, and others finding it to be overlong and lacking in analysis of the impacts of QAnon. Some reviewers have criticized the series for not following best practices outlined by extremism researchers for reporting on extremism and conspiracy theories.

Lauren Elena Witzke is an American far-right political activist known for her anti-LGBT views and promotion of QAnon. Witzke was the Republican nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware, which she lost to incumbent Democrat Chris Coons. She is a former TV show host for TruNews.

Italygate is a pro-Trump, QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theory that alleges the 2020 United States presidential election was rigged to favor Joe Biden using satellites and military technology to remotely switch votes from Donald Trump to Biden from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The conspiracy was also rumored to involve the Vatican. Fact-checkers at Reuters and USA Today, who investigated these claims, described them as "false" and "baseless".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gettr</span> Social media platform

Gettr is an alt-tech social media platform and microblogging site targeting American conservatives. It was founded by Jason Miller, a former Donald Trump aide, and was officially launched on July 4, 2021. Its user interface and feature set have been described as very similar to those of Twitter.

Brian Krassenstein and Ed Krassenstein are American twin brothers who are writers, entrepreneurs, and social media personalities. They reside in Fort Myers, Florida, and graduated from Rutgers University in 2004 with degrees in economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of incidents involving QAnon</span>

Since the movement's emergence in 2017, adherents of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory have been involved in a number of controversial events, some of them violent, resulting in the filing of criminal charges and one conviction for terrorism.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Will Sommer joins The Post as a media reporter". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Will Sommer". The Hill. February 22, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Will Sommer". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on September 8, 2024. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Will Sommer". LinkedIn. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  5. ↑ Sommer, Will (November 1, 2018). "Mueller Smear Pushed by Pro-Trump Activists Falls Apart at Press Conference". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 2, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  6. ↑ Markay, Lachlan; Sommer, Will (August 17, 2020). "How We Busted Smear Artist Jacob Wohl" . The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  7. ↑ Melendez, Pilar; Sommer, Will (October 1, 2020). "Jack Burkman, Jacob Wohl Charged in Alleged Voter Suppression Scheme". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  8. ↑ Will Sommer [@willsommer] (October 8, 2020). "Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman appear at their felony arraignment in Michigan" (Tweet). Retrieved June 9, 2021– via Twitter.
  9. ↑ Petrizzo, Zachary (May 7, 2021). "Right-wing provocateurs Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman in more trouble over racist robocalls". Salon. Archived from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Savage, Luke (January 28, 2021). "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about QAnon But Were Too Weirded Out to Ask". Jacobin. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  11. ↑ Wendling, Mike (January 6, 2021). "QAnon: What is it and where did it come from?". BBC News. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  12. ↑ ""There is an agenda here and it is a violent one," says Will Sommer on the rise of Qanon believers in the United States". MSNBC. May 29, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  13. ↑ Kelly, Mary Louise (January 21, 2021). "What's Ahead For QAnon After Biden's Inauguration?". NPR. Archived from the original on September 8, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ↑ Sommer, Will; Melendez, Pilar (March 3, 2021). "Cops Fear QAnon Violence Thursday. Diehards Call 'False Flag.'". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on September 8, 2024. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  15. ↑ Solender, Andrew (May 31, 2021). "A Congressman, Ejected Reporters And Calls For A Coup: Here's What Went Down At The 'QAnon Conference'". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 8, 2024. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  16. ↑ Richardson, H. C., Letters from an American, Substack, June 24, 2021
  17. ↑ "Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped the World". HarperCollins. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Trust the Plan - HarperCollins". HarperCollins Publishers. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  19. ↑ Sommer, Will; Suebsaeng, Asawin (June 3, 2021). "MyPillow Guy Says He 'Probably' Inspired Trump's Idea of an August Restoration". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  20. ↑ Petrizzo, Zachary (June 4, 2021). "Does Trump really believe he'll be "reinstated" in August? TrumpWorld is a confused mess". Salon. Archived from the original on June 12, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Fever Dreams". Apple Podcasts. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
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