Podcast Summary: Conspirituality Episode 273: "Trump Will Die"

Date: September 4, 2025
Hosts: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

Overview

In Episode 273, the Conspirituality team investigates the persistent rumors, fantasies, and psychic projections around the health and possible death of Donald Trump—a figure idolized and mythologized within the QAnon and broader conspirituality communities. The episode explores the allure and social function of such death fantasies, dissects the role of tech surveillance in wellness culture, and offers a deep dive into Julian Jaynes's theory of the bicameral mind to understand the fascist and cultic dynamics at play in modern America. The conversation weaves together media trends, shifting political strategies, and the psychological implications of pseudo-religious, leader-centric movements.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rumors of Trump’s Demise and QAnon Mythology

[02:06 – 03:07]

• Hosts open by addressing the continued wishful thinking and obsession over Trump’s possible death.
• They interrogate what the anticipation of "the death of a king" means within these communities and allude to the fantasies and schadenfreude this stirs.
• They preview a later deep dive into Julian Jaynes’s "bicameral mind" theory and its resonance with modern cultic thinking.

“A lot of folks are really excited... maybe that's testimony to the allure of the fantasy that he really is powerful... but if he drops dead, we won't wake up to a different world.”
— Matthew Remski ([02:06])

2. The Wellness Tech–Surveillance Complex: Oura Ring & Palantir

[03:07 – 14:09]

• Wearable Tech as Wellness Grift: Derek reviews the Oura Ring, a popular biometric tracker, and outlines both its enthusiastic user base and serious scientific/ethical criticisms—information overload, accuracy issues, and “nocebo” effects.
• The intersection of “naturalism” and “optimization” in wellness culture is flagged as a paradox: a longing to unplug, paired with obsessive self-monitoring, echoing broader rejection of public health and collective solutions.

“It's like the confessional right on your finger.”
— Matthew Remski ([08:37])

“It's as if this somehow is a way of staving off disease... we're not going to need all of the agencies and all of the medical care and that kind of stuff.”
— Julian Walker ([07:24])

• Military/State Use of Wellness Tech: The Oura Ring’s parent company is partnering with the US military, expanding from fitness devotees to a $20M+ government contract, integrating with Palantir’s data infrastructure.
• Palantir’s role is unpacked as a data aggregation contractor—providing backend infrastructure to military, ICE, and other agencies—stirring fears about centralized, potentially unaccountable surveillance.
• The deep irony of anti-surveillance crusader RFK Jr. now helping enable this surveillance apparatus is highlighted.

“Giving one company this much access to data increases the risk of large scale government surveillance... makes it much easier for the government to profile citizens.”
— Derek Barris ([12:10])

• Conspirituality Tie-In: The hosts point out this is a case where “conspiracists aren’t wrong”—surveillance tech is encroaching, just in different forms than the fevered vaccine paranoia of the COVID moment.
• They acknowledge individual consumer agency is limited; unplugging is the only real escape.

3. Political Symbolism and Social Media—Q Memes, Newsom vs. Trump

[24:23 – 29:43]

• Analysis of a viral pro-Trump “Q+” meme and Gavin Newsom’s social media trolling response.
• Discussion of Newsom’s ambiguous political reputation—at times politically opportunistic, but more confrontational and savvy in new media spaces compared to Democrats of old.
• The current online “ground war” is identified as crucial for influence.

“This ground war is extremely effective... the fight is happening on these platforms.”
— Derek Barris ([28:30])

4. The “Shifting Target” of Right-Wing Online Nonsense

[29:43 – 36:33]

• Recent Republican/conspirituality online distractions are catalogued—including outrage over Cracker Barrel’s logo change and obsessed nitpicking over a left politician’s bench press.
• Despite past QAnon focus on the Epstein files, right-wing influencers have rapidly moved on, leaving survivors and the deeper issues forgotten.
• The variety and dispersal of right-wing content is noted; each figure “occupies their own lane” in the digital attention economy.

5. Julian Jaynes & the Bicameral Mind: Ancient Psychology and Modern Fascism

[37:23 – 63:14]

• Jaynes’s Theory: Matthew explains Julian Jaynes’s “Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind,” arguing that ancient humans experienced externalized, hallucinated divine commands rather than introspective consciousness.
• This structure enabled stability but shut down self-reflection—mirrored today in authoritarian followings and certain religious/cultic experiences.

“Historians describe the core feature of fascist movements as a neurotic nostalgia for a lost golden age.”
— Matthew Remski ([38:57])

“In the early Homer of the Iliad... Achilles never introspects; he hears an internal voice as if out of the Old Testament or as if from the dais on January 6, saying, you shall kill them.”
— Matthew Remski ([41:57])

• Literature and culture changed with the rise of introspection, seen in the evolution from the Iliad to the Odyssey, and similarly in Indian and Biblical traditions.
• Modern-day channelers, oracles, and QAnon leaders are described as “bicameral throwbacks,” providing archaic authoritarian certainty.
• Trump’s illness, the rumors surrounding his wellbeing, and followers’ anxious speculation parallel ancient communities' response to the “death of the god-king”—from clinging to prophecy and symbolism to literal preservation of the dead body.

“When the God dies in the bicameral world, Jane says that the person has to figure out how to keep the hallucinated voice alive.”
— Matthew Remski ([56:54])

• The hosts prognosticate that, should Trump die or be incapacitated, the community will fracture, seeking new oracles and proxies, with potential for chaos.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Wearables as “Personal Confessional”:
  “It's like the confessional right on your finger.”
  — Matthew Remski ([08:37])

• RFK Jr.’s Double-Speak:
  “We need to stop trusting the experts... trusting the experts is not a feature of science, it's a feature of religion, and it's a feature of totalitarianism...”
  — Julian Walker channeling/talking about RFK Jr. ([19:08–19:18])

• Modern Surveillance Anxiety:
  “Giving one company this much access to data increases the risk of large scale government surveillance... makes it much easier for the government to profile citizens.”
  — Derek Barris ([12:10])

• Fascist Nostalgia & Ancient Mindsets:
  “Historians describe the core feature of fascist movements as a neurotic nostalgia for a lost golden age.”
  — Matthew Remski ([38:57])

• Bicameral Mind Parallels:
  “Odysseus is suddenly half having all of those secret thoughts... something happened around the Axial age transition... that ultimately means that these two books evolved from literally different species of human.”
  — Matthew Remski ([44:16])

• Unchangeable Nature of Fascists:
  “There’s no benefit in arguing with fascists... The only real thing to spend time on, I think, is building the kind of society that won’t drive people into regressions or to seek authorities that can’t solve their problems.”
  — Matthew Remski ([63:18])

Important Timestamps & Segments

• [02:06] – Addressing Trump death rumors and wishful thinking
• [03:07–09:38] – Critique of the Oura Ring, obsession with tracking, pseudoscience in wellness tech
• [09:38–14:09] – Expansion into military use and Palantir partnership; surveillance and data centralization concerns
• [24:23] – Analyzing Trump/Qanon memes, Newsom’s trolling and political media strategies
• [29:43–36:33] – Right-wing influencer distractions; Epstein file silence; dispersal of content
• [37:23] – Introduction to Julian Jaynes’s bicameral mind and its relevance to contemporary cult/fascist movements
• [56:17–63:18] – Death of leaders, psychological aftermath, and bicameral regression in cults and society

Conclusion

The Conspirituality hosts argue that the intense fixation on Trump’s mortality within conspirituality and QAnon spaces reveals deep psychological, cultural, and technological roots. They show how wellness tech, media mythmaking, and ancient patterns of collective cognition all feed into today's authoritarian and conspiratorial movements. As speculations continue about Trump’s health and the future of his movement, the hosts warn of the psychic and social turbulence unleashed when such "god-king" figures are removed, and call for building resilient democratic cultures to counter these atavistic regressions.