Introduction to this article from various sources:
As of 2019, the FBI has
designated QAnon: “As a domestic terror threat because of its potential to
incite extremist violence.”
What is QAnon – what does it stand for, and who is
behind it – and who does it belong to. Seems it is run by the sick brain child of the
two Watkins family members pictured above: Jim
Watkins, the father, and his son Ron). Also this about their supposed co-conspirator,
Fredrick Brennan,
the 8chan founder, or so it seems.
From the Washington Post:
The “Q”
indicates the DOE top secret SCI security clearance holder.
The “Anon”
stands for being an Anonymous person.
Their followers
and believers to support other conspiracy theories about government as well. Trump
has tacitly breathed life into these ideas.
One central QAnon
theme fits Trump’s argument that he’s an outsider being dragged down by Democratic
lawmakers who feel threatened by him and the change he brings to governing.
Many say they believed in some or most of QAnon, and a
significant portion of those who did not know the movement’s name were familiar
with its themes, especially its talk of rampant child trafficking and devil
worship among powerful elites (e.g., “Pizzagate”
run by Hillary Clinton in a basement of the “Comet Ping Pong” a
family rec center in Washington, DC – that building, BTW, that was hit
by a heavily armed QAnon lover had no basement).
Yet the movement is elastic, drawing on any number of
well-worn tropes. Even people who explicitly dismissed QAnon as lunacy often
volunteered similar conspiracy theories:
1. Talk of how the
pandemic was an outright hoax or, at the very least, being wildly overblown.
2.
Repeated racist theories about former President Barack Obama.
3. Anti-Semitic notion that the financier George Soros
controls the political system.
Though there has been little public polling, there is growing anecdotal evidence that QAnon followers now make up a small but significant minority of Republicans.
Adherents running for Congress and flexing their political muscles at the state and local levels love QAnon.
The movement’s
growth has picked up pace since the onset of the pandemic in March, and its
potency is clear on social media — before Facebook banned QAnon content earlier
this month, there were thousands of dedicated Facebook groups with millions of
members.
The phenomenon can be seen at Trump rallies, where people
wearing QAnon shirts and hats are commonplace; at one recent rally in Las
Vegas, the parents of a toddler in a QAnon shirt gamely posed for pictures with
stranger after stranger. It was on display outside Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center, where QAnon adherents gathered to support Trump after he
was hospitalized with the coronavirus. (Other QAnon adherents questioned whether the president had been hospitalized at
all.)
The Q belief: There is a “secret plot by an alleged deep state” against Trump to get him out of office.
That
theory began with an October 2017 post on the anonymous image board 4chan by
someone using the name Q – presumably an American, but probably later a
group of people – all claiming to have access to highly-classified
information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the U.S.
Q
has falsely accused many liberal Hollywood actors, Democrats in
elected office, and high-ranking officials:
(1)
Of engaging in an international child sex trafficking rings.
(2) That Trump
feigned collusion with Russians in order to enlist Robert Mueller to
join him in exposing the ring and preventing a coup d'état by Barack
Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros.
Trump does embrace QAnon conspiracies while making up his
own, plus this keeper: When
a reporter asked Trump
about QAnon, he
said: “I don’t know much about the movement, other than I understand they like
me very much, which I appreciate. They are people that love our country.”
When asked
about “His belief that you are secretly saving the world from this satanic
cult of pedophiles and cannibals,” Trump responded: “I haven’t heard that. But
is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing? I mean, you know, if I can
help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it.”
My 2 Cents: It always amazes me why conservatives
(mostly) Republican types easily fall for this QAnon type of trash talk. Are
they truly “poorly educated” – the types Trump once said: “I love the
poorly educated.” Seen here:
Republicans ever since Trump (many copy and trust
him) blast and blame Dems or anyone else who stands against them even when
faced with hard facts. They simply believe only what they choose to believe.
The late great famous Senator Pat Moynihan (D-NY) once said: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
How true that is today with the Trump influence
perhaps more than ever in our nation’s history. The post above may help to understand
that better since it is based on facts and not opinion.
Thanks for stopping by.
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