From RationalWiki

[1] such as Matt Patten.[2] Be afraid, be very afraid… when crazy people become sheriff's deputies,such as Matt Patten.

“ ” is real. Disinformation is necessary. Disinformation is real. Disinformation is necessary. —An explanation of and by QAnon on 8chan[3]

“ ” Public riots are being organized in serious numbers in an effort to prevent the arrest and capture of more senior public officials. On Public riots are being organized in serious numbers in an effort to prevent the arrest and capture of more senior public officials. On POTUS ' order, a state of temporary military control will be actioned and special ops carried out. False leaks have been made to retain several within the confines of the United States to prevent extradition and special operator necessity. —"Q Clearance Patriot" reveals secret truths and predicts chaos[4][5]

QAnon, also known as The Storm and The Great Awakening, is a conspiracy theory, popular meme,[6] and right-wing fantasy about a "deep-state" conspiracy against United States President Trump. Following on the heels of similar bullshit, such as Pizzagate (which occupies a small spot on the QAnon map below), it postulates a fantastic web of deceit that wraps up Trumpism, deep-state fearmongering, evil, satanic pedophilia-rings controlled by the Democratic Party, investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, and New World Order paranoia into a package easily and wholeheartedly promoted by internet cesspools and Alex Jones.[7][4] It originated from a series of incoherent posts on 4chan in 2017 by someone calling themselves "Q".[8] The name "Q" is likely based on the US government's top-secret Q clearance. The theories put forth in the conspiracy mirror anti-semitic tropes that conspiracists have used for centuries. [9]

In the beginning [ edit ]

The first appearance of the figure(s) now known as Q appeared on 4chan with this post:[10][2]

“ ” extradition already in motion effective yesterday with several countries in case of cross border run. Passport approved to be flagged effective 10/30 @ 12:01am. Expect massive riots organized in defiance and others fleeing the US to occur. US M’s will conduct the operation while NG activated. Proof check: Locate a NG member and ask if activated for duty 10/30 across most major cities. HRC extradition already in motion effective yesterday with several countries in case of cross border run. Passport approved to be flagged effective 10/30 @ 12:01am. Expect massive riots organized in defiance and others fleeing the US to occur. US M’s will conduct the operation while NG activated. Proof check: Locate a NG member and ask if activated for duty 10/30 across most major cities.

A post that followed soon after this first post implied that Hillary would soon be arrested, another failed prediction.[2] Notably, the first post started out with a lie — Hillary Clinton has never been extradited — and a prediction that has not come to pass after nearly 3 years — there have not been massive riots in the US.

Sure it's a fantasy, but Trump gets to be the hero (for the only time in his life).

The alleged plot [ edit ]

“ ” What is the "storm" the POTUS spoke about? it is the draining of the swamp, a giant global hurricane of veracity. —A somewhat more… lucid… description[11]

QAnon's central premise is that President Trump is secretly working to take down a global ring of elite, cannibalistic, satanic pedophiles.[12] They also believe that the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, is actually an investigation into the so-called "deep state", a cabal of evil, money-grubbing globalists, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, responsible for everything from a global pedophile ring to the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.[4]

What makes the QAnon conspiracy an anomaly is the fact that it presents an alternate world in which the "good guys" are in control of the entire government; according to University of Miami professor Joseph Uscinski, in most other theories, the shadowy conspiracy in control is malevolent.[13]

QAnon crazies also see hints in Trump's actions. According to the enlightened, when Trump awkwardly took a drink from a bottle of Fiji Water at a press conference in November 2017, it wasn't because he was thirsty; it was actually a secret signal to those in the know that the Storm of annihilation of deep state pedophiles had begun (or was about to begin). Because as everyone knows, Fiji is a hot spot for child trafficking.[14]

Q believers have a huge amount of baggage on the crazy train in the form of crank magnetism: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is actually investigating high-level Democrats, the Illuminati, the Rothschild conspiracy, "Operation Mockingbird" (an alleged 20th century CIA infiltration of the media), fascism, the hidden meaning of Francis Ford Coppola films and Christian revivalism.[15] Oh, and J. P. Morgan had the Titanic sunk to take out his millionaire rivals,[16] and "John F. Kennedy Jr. faked his death and joined Trump's secret evil-fighting organization, where he writes 4chan posts under the pseudonym 'Q'."[17]

Postings by QAnon need lots of creative "analysis" — and the chans are happy to help.

A fictional personality (or to the faithful, an "anonymous patriot") central to "The Storm" theory, going by the name of "QAnon" ("Q" supposedly standing for Q Clearance, a mid-level Department of Energy clearance that is not used by law enforcement or intelligence agencies), began posting a series of messages on 4chan's /pol/ board in a thread called "CBTS" (Calm Before The Storm) on October 28, 2017.[6] In these, Q claimed that Trump was being protected by the military because the CIA, the FBI, and the Secret Service are all corrupt. Their postings take the form of cryptic questions, each of which is supposedly a hint, clue, or riddle containing some awesome revelation that would make treasure hunter Nicolas Cage smack his forehead and yell, "Of Course!" The questions are usually the type of stuff found in grade-Z spy novels, and often contain their own obvious irony, such as this knee-slapper:

“ ” Has POTUS *ever* made a statement that has not become proven as true/fact? —"Q Clearance Patriot"[18]

The writing style is likely based on Q , a race from Star Trek, and several people who claimed to be "Q" have cited inspiration on the character, specifically the Next Generation's version of the character.[19]

Q's postings are known among aficionados as "breadcrumbs", because they're thought to be tidbits of information forming a trail that leads to… well, with a bit of imagination, you can make these random words and phrases lead anywhere.[13] And they're vague enough that they could apply to pretty much anything. Many sound like they were written by Deepak Chopra channeling Alex Jones. The phrase "down the rabbit hole" (a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ) is popular among believers who feel they are lucky participants in a great adventure where nothing is random and everything has meaning, and to "follow the white rabbit" is to be willingly led on a journey of ridiculous speculations regarding Q's postings.[18]

Like Batman, QAnon's identity is supposedly a deep, dark secret, and so the kookosphere swirls with speculation. Some name "NSA whistleblower" Thomas Drake, whose anti-Obama posture has gained him somewhat of a fanbase on the far-right.[20] Others say it's Steve Bannon. Or Trump himself. Or Donald Trump Jr. Or an artificial intelligence.[21]

Adding to the confusion, a number of "Q impostors" and fakes have appeared, as well as copycat Anons such as "MegaAnon" and "WH Anon", prompting the faithful to conclude it's all just part of a "deep state" plot to smear QAnon.[22][23]

In reality, however, the supposed deep cover agent QAnon is most likely one or more 4chan trolls, doing it for the shits and giggles. At the very least, Russian troll accounts were pushing the QAnon bullshit to idiots on Twitter before being purged.[24] As is always the case, conspiracy theorists who fell for this have never stopped to wonder if "Q" is just effing with them.

Fredrick Brennan, a former owner of the 8chan domain, believes that Q is Jim Watkins and his son Ron Watkins. The two Watkinses were the final owners of 8chan and the current owners of its successor, 8kun.[2] Brennan believes that the Watkinses knew they needed Q to attract users, though the Watkinses have denied knowing who 'Q' is.[2]

The term "The Storm" was apparently inspired by an October 2017 non sequitur, mumbled by Trump to the press during a routine photo-op with senior military leaders.[25]

“ ” TRUMP: "You guys know what this represents? … Maybe it's the calm before the storm." TRUMP: "You guys know what this represents? … Maybe it's the calm before the storm." REPORTER: "What storm, Mr. President?" TRUMP: "You'll find out." TRUMP: "You'll find out." —Trump, to puzzled reporters.[26]

Because he was surrounded by high-ranking military officers at the time, believers have interpreted his bizarre remarks to mean he was recruited by military intelligence to lead a "quiet coup" to restore "integrity" to the US government; hence, he will impose martial law and unleash a "storm" of retribution against satanic Clintonites, Democratic evil-doers, Deep State dirtbags, and RINO cucks. And this coup will succeed, according to one believer, since "deep state corruption has a heavy Jewish influence" and "the military has a very low rate of Jewish people".[27]

So, while the shit was supposed to hit the fan in November 2017 with mass demonstrations (and the suppression thereof), a military coup, and the arrest of hundreds of public officials, the fact that November came and went without any of these things happening appears to have had no effect on the theory's overzealous supporters. On the contrary, it has apparently made it even more popular.[28]

See the main article on this topic: Trump-Russia connection

QAnon sign at a Trump rally.

In March 2019, the Russia investigation officially ended, with Robert Mueller turning in his report to the Attorney General Barr.[29] There were no mentions of aliens, pedophile cults, false-flag attacks, cannibalism, or any of the other bullshit beliefs held by QAnon believers.[citation NOT needed] There's now been enough time to show that the QAnon conspiracy is still alive and well despite having one of its core tenets disproven:[30] Mueller is most certainly not using the Russia investigation as a secret means to destroy Hillary Clinton's supervillain organization. In fact, most QAnon believers hailed the release of the report as just another step taken towards Trump's endgame; the only thing they seemed to take issue with is the idea that Trump said "I'm fucked", because they can't wrap their heads around the idea that Dear Leader could express weakness and doubt.[31]

Unfortunately, this is just how conspiracy theories work, and this one is no different. QAnon had wide overlap with the conspiracy theory that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg secretly died and had been replaced by a body double, but upon seeing the theory disproven, its believers doubled down anyway.[32] In other words, despite being unfathomably stupid, QAnon is going to live in the dark corners of the internet for a long, long time.

Evidence against is evidence for [ edit ]

After more than 2 years, none of this has happened yet.

See the main articles on this topic: Falsifiability and Escape hatch

A staple characteristic of conspiracy theories is that they are impossible to disprove. After all, what would be the fun in that? QAnon goes a step further. One of Q's posts explains his various false predictions and claims by saying "disinformation is necessary."[33] Of course it is. This explanation makes QAnon into a so-called "self-sealing" conspiracy: every time it's proven false, that's just the evil cabal making it seem that way! Stephan Lewandowsky, a professor at the University of Bristol who studies conspiracy theories, noted this self-sealing nature by saying:[34]

“ ” Conspiracy theories often serve an ironic function of providing a sense of order in Conspiracy theories often serve an ironic function of providing a sense of order in chaos . People would rather believe that there are evil masterminds out there that pull strings on cataclysmic events than accept the occurrence of random events.

This also helps explain the unfortunate longevity of QAnon. This is despite the fact that there are dozens of failed QAnon predictions, the most famous of which was that July 2018 would be "the month the world discovered the TRUTH."[35]

Some failed prophecies:[36]

John F. Kennedy Jr. faked his own death and later pretended to be Trump supporter Vincent Fusca, who was supposed to reveal who he really was at a Trump rally on July 4, 2019. [37]

Austin Steinbart, whom many believe(d) to be Q, allegedly received messages from his future self using 'quantum computing'. In real life, he was charged with criminal extortion, then jailed for violating the terms of his pre-trial release for cheating on a required drug test. [38]

Hillary Clinton was supposed to have been imprisoned in 2017. Escape hatch: the Hillary that you see now is a clone and the real one is in prison.[39]

All aboard the crazy train! [ edit ]

Free the Clinton-Podesta Martian child sex slaves!

“ ” Mueller was hired to investigate Clinton, period. If my theory proves to be correct, this will go down as one of the most brilliant sting operations in history. —Liz Crokin[40]

Train conductors [ edit ]

Pizzagate promoters, such as Liz Crokin and David Seaman, have taken a very active interest in this brand-new opportunity to spread batshit insanity, with Crokin claiming that Sean Hannity is privately "on board" with the conspiracy theory. Seaman, being an old Pizzagater, has plenty of experience weaving bullshit from out of thin air. On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2017, Q apparently posted a picture of George Washington crossing the Delaware river, and Seaman claimed that the painting showed Washington in the act of "starting the American Revolutionary War" (it doesn't, the war started in Boston more than a year before), and excitedly concluded, "so in other words, the second revolution is upon us and the deep state is being taken out now."[41] (In reality, of course, the painting depicts Washington showing dangerous irresponsibility by standing up in a boat, so it might not be such a poor metaphor for QAnon after all.)

Then, of course, there's leading birther and InfoWars esteemed crackpot Jerome Corsi, who was hard at work with the stable geniuses of 8chan in an effort to "decipher" Q's crumbs.[42][43] But none can hope to rival professional insanity dispenser Alex Jones, who has enthusiastically endorsed "The Storm" crackpottery,[44] especially the part about a global Clinton-led pedophilia ring, which happens to fit in nicely with his claims that child sex slaves have been kidnapped and shipped to Mars.[45] Or well, he did, until Qanon and the merchandise around it started cutting into his bottom line and sales of nutritional supplements. Now Jones claims that QAnon is a false flag meant to make conservatives look like a bunch of paranoid schizophrenics, as if they needed the help.[46]

Alt-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec claimed on One America News Network in September 2018 that QAnon was gradually developed by two pro-Trump Twitter trolls named Microchip and Dreamcatcher in fall 2017, drawing inspiration from the 1999 Italian novel Q written by four Italian authors under the pseudonym Luther Blissett, as well as from an anonymous user with the handle FBIAnon who proliferated on 4chan at the time of the 2016 presidential election. Posobiec further claimed that at some point Microchip and Dreamcatcher left and the 8chan QAnon posts are now done by people who are in it for the money.[47][48]

Pundit Curt Schilling has promoted QAnon on his Breitbart podcast.[49]

Michael Salla, ufologist and promoter of the idea that extraterrestrials are involved in Earthly politics (exopolitics), has promoted QAnon in at least three web articles.[50][51][52]

Because she didn't look dumb enough already, TV actress Roseanne Barr promoted QAnon on Twitter in 2017 and 2018 to her 900,000 followers.[53]

Notable train passengers [ edit ]

Darren Aquino (Florida, Republican) Phil Arlinghaus (Tennessee, Republican) Mykel Barthelemy (Georgia, Republican) — lost primary Karen Bedonie (New Mexico, Republican) — lost primary Dan Belcher (Oklahoma, Republican) — dropped out Dion Bergeron (Indiana, Republican, funded by QAnon Super PAC[65]) — lost primary Michael Bluemling (Florida, Republican) — dropped out Lauren Boebert (Colorado, Republican) — won primary Jeremy Brown (Florida, Republican) — dropped out Jamie Byers (California, Republican) — lost primary Mike Cargile (California, Republican) — on general election ballot by default Erin Cruz (California, Republican) — won primary Ignacio Cruz (California, Republican) — lost primary Ron Curtis (Hawaii, Republican) Vic DeGrammont (Florida, Republican) Billy Earley (California, Republican) — lost primary Tim Fazenbaker (Maryland, Republican) — lost primary Ari Friedman (Ohio, Democrat) — lost primary Rhonda Furin (California, Republican) — lost primary Thomas Gilmer (Connecticut, Republican) Sammy Ginder (New Jersey, Republican) — write in candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia, Republican) — running in the general election, has made "racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic remarks", and is likely to win the seat in the strongly Republican district[66] Alison Hayden (California, Republican) — won primary Rich Helms (Texas, Republican) — dropped out Gary Heyer (Minnesota, independent) — dropped out Bobby Jeffries (Pennsylvania, Republican) — dropped out Patrice Kimbler (California, Republican) — lost primary Bob Lancia (Rhode Island, Republican) Tracy Lovvorn (Massachusetts, Republican) Matthew Lusk (Florida, Republican) — dropped out Andrew Meehan (Pennsylvania, Republican) — lost primary Jessi Melton (Florida, Republican) Karl "KW" Miller (Florida, independent)[67] James Mitchell (Washington, Democrat) Michael Moates (Texas, Republican) — dropped out C. Wesley Morgan (Kentucky, Republican) — lost primary Buzz Patterson (California, Republican) — won primary Jo Rae Perkins (Oregon, Republican) — won primary[68] Billy Prempeh (New Jersey, Republican) Mindy Robinson (Nevada, Republican) — lost primary Kristen Alamo Rowin (Texas, Republican) — lost primary David Schuster (Tennessee, Republican) Christine Scott (Florida, Republican) — dropped out Dan Severson (Florida, Republican) Reba Sherrill (Florida, Republican) Angela Stanton-King (Georgia, Republican) — won primary by default Danielle Stella (Minnesota, Republican) — lost primary Darlene Swaffar (Florida, Republican) Johnny Teague (Texas, Republican) — won primary DeAnna Lorraine Tesoriero (California, Republican) — lost primary Antoine Tucker (New York, Republican) — write in candidate Steve Von Loor (North Carolina, Republican) — lost primary Joe Walz (Texas, Republican) — lost primary[69] Rob Weber (Ohio, Republican) — won primary Nichole Williams (Tennessee, Republican) Samuel Williams (Texas, Republican) — won initial primary Lauren Witzke (Delaware, Republican) Daniel Wood (Arizona, Republican) Joanne Wright (California, Republican) — lost primary

A violent ride [ edit ]

Forrest Gordon Clark, suspected arsonist

In March 2018, the Reddit board for QAnon was shut down due to "encouraging or inciting violence and posting personal and confidential information", and its moderators were banned from the site.[70] In June 2018, Mathew P. Wright of Henderson, Nevada was arrested for allegedly blocking the bridge over the Hoover Dam with his home-made armored vehicle and guns; he held out a sign that was linked to QAnon.[71][72] In July 2018, Pennsylvanian Gardner Boyd was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Trump and was reported to have made several references to QAnon.[73] In August 2018, Forrest Clark was arrested for allegedly igniting a forest fire in Orange County, California; Clark had previously posted about QAnon and other conspiracy theories.[74]

Meanwhile, a charity group in Arizona called Veterans on Patrol is now patrolling the state searching for child sex trafficking operations after having stumbled onto a homeless shelter and coming to the dumbest possible conclusion.[75] Later, in May of 2019, QAnon conspiracists insanely misinterpreted a tweet from James Comey and came to the conclusion that the former FBI director was planning to launch a terrorist attack against a charter school; the school canceled a charity event out of fear that "internet vigilantes" would show up to cause trouble.[76] One of the school's event coordinators later said, "We knew the theory itself was not targeting our event and in fact, it appeared that the QAnon [followers] somehow thought they were keeping us safe. But there was concern that the call-outs to the Anon communities to 'protect the children' could entice these people to show up to our event… there was no win for the festival under these circumstances."[77]

Matthew Wright's homebrew armored vehicle used to block the Hoover Dam.

QAnon supporters are also preying on the mentally ill. In January 2020, a woman was arrested in Colorado for cooperating with QAnon crazies to kidnap her own child from the state's protective custody.[78] According to police records, the mother went "a bit crazy" after Colorado child welfare officials removed her child from her home, and she was subsequently sucked into the QAnon shitshow. She started appearing in numerous YouTube videos alleging that child protective services "has child trafficking rings in certain areas", stopped going to therapy, and allowed a heavily armed QAnon supporter to stay in her home for her "self-defense".[78] The woman was arrested and charged with felony conspiracy to commit kidnapping. According to police, they received a tip-off from the woman's own daughter alerting them to the planned raid.[79]

In May 2019, an FBI memo from the Phoenix Field Office designated several political conspiracy theories (QAnon, Pizzagate, HAARP, New World Order, Sandy Hook massacre) as domestic threats with the potential to incite violence.[80][81] As evidence, the FBI cited arrests for criminal activities associated with the conspiracy theories.[81]

In Canada, on July 3, 2020, Corey Hurren drove his pickup truck, which contained multiple firearms, through the gates of Rideau Hall , an important government building in Canada where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was living at the time. Hurren, after fleeing his vehicle on foot, was eventually arrested and charged with threatening to cause death or bodily harm to the prime minister and multiple weapons offenses. Less than an hour earlier, Hurren had posted a meme relating to the "Event 201" COVID-19 conspiracy theory to his Instagram account. He also previously posted in March a QAnon meme referencing Q, the "white rabbit", and several other hashtags linked to QAnon (such as WWG1WGA, PizzaGate, etc.) [82][83]

Due to the violence associated with QAnon, the penny finally dropped at Twitter Safety, and QAnon activity was banned as of July 21, 2020.[84]

In the Trump administration [ edit ]

Trump and his greatest fans

Trump occasionally likes to throw his most insane group of supporters a bone. At one of his rallies, he gestured approvingly towards a man with a "Q" shirt, and this happened because someone on Trump's team thought it appropriate to give the conspiracist a front-row VIP pass.[85] Trump also likes to retweet posts from QAnon accounts, which, while not directly related to the conspiracy, easily lead interested followers back to it. Most recently, he retweeted a post about Jeanine Pirro from an account that had "Q" as its profile picture.[86]

Trump's pastry chef at his Florida retreat is very vocal on Instagram, and revealed that she sought her current job so that she could serve Trump while he takes down the alleged Democratic pedophile conspiracy.[87] Her posts also suggest that she has interacted with the president's security detail on a regular basis and shows that she enjoys baking QAnon-themed pastries for Mar-a-Lago guests.[87]

Going viral [ edit ]

read? These people can

All of the dubious claims of this conspiracy theory have been easily debunked, discredited, and immediately recognized as complete and total fabrications, slander, and lies. Despite this, legions of rabid, far-right-wing extremists and conspiracists have embraced and promoted the theory in an increasingly crowded field of loonies inhabiting the cesspools of social media and YouTube.[42] A detailed analysis of the whole fetid affair is documented in a boringly exhaustive copypasta.[5][88]

In April 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented how the conspiracy theory has strangely become a hit with the sovereign citizen movement, in a stunning example of crank magnetism in action.[89] What makes this strange is that QAnon's base premise is that the government and law ultimately work. However, sovereign citizens and other antigovernment extremists believe that they know the "true" law, which has been betrayed by the normal institutions of government, and that the military and Trump will help them save this mythological "true" law.[89]

QAnon has become an all-encompassing conspiracy theory. For instance, in late May of 2019 police in small town California arrested a crazy lady for building homemade pipe bombs, and QAnon thinks that she was connected to a secret plot by James Comey to blow up a school.[90] This demonstrates that just about anything can be linked to QAnon if one happens to be creative enough.

As a show of just how far this insanity has gone, a QAnon book called QAnon: An Invitation to the Great Awakening was written by a number of anonymous authors and reached number goddamn 2 on Amazon's algorithmically generated “hot new releases” and best-sellers lists.[91][92] Among the book's highlights: claims that Democrats eat children, claims that Hillary Clinton runs a global Satanic cabal, and claims that the government created AIDS and Lyme disease.[93] Needless to say, it's a hot mess.

The hacker group Anonymous has since denounced QAnon and Pizzagate, and accused them of being created by state-backed actors and Trump supporters with knowledge of Anonymous's workings, in order to discredit their operations.[94]

Becoming a full-fledged cult [ edit ]

By 2020, QAnon had all of the markings of not just a conspiracy theory, but an outright omniconspiracy cult. Reports have surfaced that some QAnon adherents effectively cut off family and friends in order to stay with the online QAnon community.[95][96] According to one man who watched his girlfriend become consumed by the conspiracy, the social isolation and obsession displayed by his girlfriend was reminiscent of losing a loved one to drug addiction.[97] Some people describe that QAnon has effectively brainwashed people close to them into people they no longer know. Terms like "deprogramming" people from QAnon have increasingly appeared in the media.[98][99]

“ ” I look at QAnon as a cult... When you get recruited into a mind control cult, and get indoctrinated into a new belief system ... a lot of it is motivated by fear. — Steven Hassan , who as an ex-Moonie knows a thing or two about cults.[99]

In July 2019, a Reddit group called r/QAnonCasualties [100] was created to help people who have lost loved ones to the QAnon conspiracy cult share stories and advice, and possibly help drag their loved ones out of the wormhole.[101]

QAnon Goes To Washington [ edit ]

[102] Oregon Republican candidate for Senate, Joe Perkins, talks QAnon on Youtube with conspiracy monger Dustin Nemos.

On August 11, 2020, QAnon (the conspiracy theory that likes to complain about the "deep state") made significant progress in becoming part of the deep state itself when Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated John Cown in the Republican primary for Georgia's 14th Congressional District. Greene had previously praised Q as a "patriot" in a video posted to Facebook on November 2017.[103][104] As this district is one of the most Republican in the country, it is all but certain that there will be at least one representative in Congress who fully believes in this batshit insane conspiracy theory in 2021. Unsurprisingly, Greene had previously made racist ranting videos on Facebook, suggesting Islamic nations routinely commit pedophilia, equating Black Lives Matter activists to Ku Klux Klan members, defending Confederate statues, floating a conspiracy theory that the Las Vegas shooting massacre was a plot to abolish the Second Amendment, describing the election of Ilhan Omar as an "Islamic invasion", and evoking Godwin's Law by calling George Soros as a Nazi collaborator.[105] House Leader Kevin McCarthy could have done more to stop her campaign,[106] but he remained neutral. After adding 9/11 conspiracies[107] to her bat-shit beliefs, Leader McCarthy decided to endorse her fully.[108] To no one's surprise, Donald Trump sent a congratulatory tweet in response to her winning the primary, calling her a "future Republican star".[103][109] Greene earned a key endorsement in May 2020 from white supremacist Chester Doles, who is associated with a variety of skinhead movements, who stated in a post on Russian social media platform VKontakte: "Our friend Marjorie Greene is running for Congress. She’s part of the Q movement. Good friend to have."[110]

Such was a demonstration of how QAnon was slowly being normalized into Republican populism in 2020. In July 2020, a QAnon mug appeared in the background of a Fox News interview with New York police union head Ed Mullins [111] In an interview with Eric Trump on July 25 2020, Fox News host Jesse Watters said QAnon had "uncovered a lot of great stuff".[112] Social media retweets, hashtags, and memes were posted by Eric Trump, White House deputy communications director Dan Scavino, Trump's first national security advisor Michael Flynn,[111] and former campaign advisor Roger Stone.[113]

During the 2020 Republican national convention, a woman named Mary Ann Mendoza (who is an advisory board member for Women for Trump and was also involved with We Build the Wall, at the time indicted for fraud just a few days prior) was scheduled to speak about her son's 2014 death at the hands of a drunk driver who was in the country illegally. Prior to speaking, however, she tweeted a link to an extremely lengthy thread [114] from a user whose Gab account proudly proclaims it to be affiliated with QAnon.[115] The thread imagined a Hollywood-esque conspiratorial narrative using old Rothschild family and RMS Titanic tropes, implying the age-old conspiracy theory that the Jews run the world. (Among the many gems within this thread [114] are a list of supposed "Original Federal Reserve Board Members", all supposedly linked to the Rothschild family, that didn't even include the first Federal Reserve chairman, Charles Sumner Hamlin , but did for some stupid fucking reason include the Bank of England .) Although Mendoza deleted the tweet and her speech ended up being cancelled due to the ensuing uproar, Mendoza had posted other bullshit in the past (such as linking George Soros to the Rothchild family in a conspiratorial manner, to the point where ONE WORLD GOVT! was of course written in ALL CAPS!)[116] that would not be out of place in a QAnon social media thread.[117][118]

While some Republicans do distance themselves from QAnon when confronted with the movement's most egregious behavior,[119] other Republicans appeared to be willing to wink and nudge at the movement... or even outright re-tweet QAnon posters. In particular, Donald Trump was very keen on retweeting QAnon accounts (tweeting at least 90 posts from 49 pro-QAnon accounts since the COVID-19 pandemic began according to a July 12 2020 Politico analysis), knowing that these people are some of his biggest fans.[120] More troublingly, in 2020, the rhetoric of Donald Trump increasingly started to tack closely to the QAnon narrative, even if Trump did not explicitly mention QAnon in his tweets.[121]

Greatest crossover event in conspiracy history [ edit ]

THE TITANIC WAS AN INSIDE JOB.

“ ” I don’t like to talk about that stuff [Satanism] because it gives those anti-Q people way too much fuel for the fire. —In Pursuit of Truth, a QAnon "analysis" YouTube channel.[122][123]

There are some truly glorious examples of QAnon stupidity. Whoever "Q" is, they've managed to pull elements from just about every conspiracy theory under the sun. Here are some highlights.

RMS Titanic [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: RMS Titanic

QAnon followers think J.P. Morgan sank the Titanic so he could form the Federal Reserve.[124] Oh yeah, we're starting you off in the deep end, folks. The story goes that many wealthy businessmen were on the Titanic, all of whom opposed the Federal Reserve, and J.P. Morgan intentionally built the Titanic without safety measures in order to get them all killed.[125] There's also a version of the story that says the men were opponents of the income tax.[126]

Trump's secret war [ edit ]

Just about every aspect of the Trump-Russia thing with Trump and Russia Mueller investigation has been shoehorned by QAnon believers into their narrative about a secret war being fought between Trump and the "deep state". They think that Trump was recruited by military intelligence to fight the deep state, because apparently we trust the military but not the rest of the government.[50] Key events highlighted by the QAnoners include the raid on Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen (the cabal becomes more aggressive), and Trump's missile strike on Syria (Trump wanted to accommodate the cabal's wishes for some fucking reason).[51]

Deep state puppet masters [ edit ]

QAnon has also gone with the mandatory George Soros conspiracy theories, but his post "exposing" the leaders of the deep state dusted off some oldies but goodies. Specifically, the Rothschilds,[51] who QAnon sees as significant architects and financial backers, despite their family banking business making less than a percent of what Walmart makes in a year.[127] The family's richest member has a smaller net worth than George Lucas,[127][128] and their assets are spread out across hundreds, maybe thousands of people. They ain't the puppet masters of shit.

Strangest of all, Q also fingers (heh heh) the House of Saud as being backers of the deep state,[51] which doesn't really mesh with the fact that they seem to be among Trump's closest friends on the global stage.[129] Apparently, selling weapons to the deep state against the wishes of Congress[130] is the path to defeating the deep state. Who knew?

Finally, what QAnon sub-conspiracy would be complete without that old classic, Satanism? Q thinks the Rothschilds are the head of a global Satanic cult which includes the Soros family, the Clinton family, and the Sauds.[52] The three main dynasties, Soros, Saud, and Rothschild, form the so-called "Triangle" because why fucking not bring the Illuminati into this bullshit too?[131]

CIA psyops and fake news [ edit ]

See the main articles on this topic: CIA and Fake news

Q exposes the deep state puppeteers.

A central feature of Trumpism and QAnon is the concept of fake news. Q has taken it a step further with the concept of "Operation Mockingbird" According to Q, the Central Intelligence Agency (check one off the list) is manipulating the media and has been since the JFK assassination (check).[132] QAnon followers call these CIA operatives "Black Hats", and claim that Black Hats spend their days digging around through classified data with the intent of fabricating fake news stories to pass on to the mainstream media.[133] Apparently, the "Black Hats" are paid with CIA black budget money and foreign accounts; Q specifically mentions the Panama Papers (check) as an example of how this works.[133]

Christianity, pedophilia, sex trafficking, and Hollywood [ edit ]

QAnon (in a similar fashion to Pizzagate) pays an obsessive amount of attention to conspiracy theories surrounding pedophilia and child-sex trafficking, particularly the notion that there is a global conspiracy involving a ring of Satan-worshiping, child-molesting criminals led by prominent Democrats.[134]

In general, QAnon conspiracy theories can be seen as less a concern about the legitimate issues of child abuse, and more an attack on cosmopolitan culture and social changes in American society – anxieties that can be seen in far older moral panics, such as the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, which also shared a core belief that the wealthy and powerful elite was kidnapping and breeding children for the purposes of pornography, sex trafficking, and Satanic ritual sacrifice.[134][135] QAnon shares the same "us vs. them" mentality with the older "culture wars" of the Moral Majority, codifying mistrust of science, “big government” and celebrity into a black-and-white moral code that dehumanizes perceived cultural enemies with imaginary horrific crimes.[136][137] QAnon also shares elements with end times, rapture, and dispensationalism theologies in that there is a "savior" that will lead them away from what they perceive as troubled times (in the mythos of QAnon, the "savior" is Donald Trump), and also shares the same obsession with applying current events into an over-arching (if messy) narrative that these theologies often had.[136][138] QAnon also incorporates Christian phrases like "Great Awakening" and Bible phrases in their rhetoric.[137][138]

Because of these similarities, in 2020 the QAnon conspiracy theory started becoming popular in certain religious circles, particularly denominations that were part of the neo-charismatic movement .[139] The slow infusion of a largely political and dehumanizing conspiracy theory into religion has worried some pastors, particularly in the white evangelical churches where this movement was taking hold.[140]

Due to the nature of this conspiracy theory / moral panic, it is no surprise that one of the largest targets of these conspiracy theories is Hollywood actors and actresses and other entertainers. Despite it being very easy to debunk with a simple Google search, in 2020, rumors spread online from time to time that celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey,[141] Ellen DeGeneres ,[142] Tom Hanks ,[143] and others had been arrested for sex trafficking. One QAnon believer spread a list of people who supposedly flew on flights with financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein , that included several (often misspelled) celebrities that in reality had no connection to Epstein. (Of course, the list failed to include Donald Trump, who does have a connection). [144] This led to predictable abusive behavior against some of the celebrities from QAnon followers on social media.[145]

In April 2020, a "documentary" called Out Of Shadows[146] appeared on YouTube. The video accused Hollywood of being run by Satanic pedophilia rings that also "manipulate the multitudes by spreading propaganda" through music videos, various code words, non sequitur connections to legitimate scandals such as MKULTRA and NXIVM, and "connections" to various past government media regulations and agencies, of which the film maker clearly had no idea what they were about.[147] [note 1] The documentary was created by a Hollywood stuntman named Mike Smith, who had a "spiritual awakening" while recovering from an injury suffered while filming a television show.[148] While avoiding mentioning QAnon directly by name, the film relies on many dubious sources with connections to QAnon or other conspiracy outlets, such as Pizzagate / QAnon promoter Liz Crokin and ex-CIA agent Kevin Shipp (who was originally notable in 2011 for going public with a lawsuit against the CIA for poor working conditions[149], but in 2020 was more notable for his frequent appearances in NaturalNews columns.)[150] It is also notable that Mike Smith's Twitter profile references the "#Qanon" and "#WWG1WGA" hashtags.[151][152] Bizarrely, one of the pieces of "evidence" this film presented (to prove that Hollywood was being run by Satanic pedophilia ring) was actually a portrait of right-wing media: a montage, put together by Deadspin ,[153] that combined multiple Sinclair media newscasters reading word-for-word a transcript that insinuated that most news outlets (except their own, of course) was fake news. [147] Similar in fashion to how the baseless COVID-19 "documentary" Plandemic spread, the film spread virally via various right-wing influencers.[147]

The obsession QAnon has with pedophilia has often frustrated legitimate organizations dedicated to sex trafficking by clogging anti-trafficking hotlines with false reports, and flooding social media with anti-trafficking hashtags that were often accompanied by baseless conspiracy theories instead of useful information.[154][155]

The reality of sex trafficking is rather different than QAnon proponents would like to have one believe. While it's true that coercive child sex trafficking exists, it is quite rare.[156] First, the the legal definition of trafficking is rather different than most people think: it includes situations in which an underage teen has sex with a john in exchange for money, food, drugs, or shelter, even without a pimp being involved, the john is considered the trafficker;[156] this is known as 'survival sex'. Second, most of the survival sex involving children is because "the child is homeless, has run away from foster care or has been kicked out by their parents, often due to being queer or transgender. Many of these kids end up trading sex for money, drugs or a place to sleep because it’s their only way to survive."[156] The problem for these homeless teens is often that foster care and other support systems that could keep them off the streets and out of prostitution are often chronically underfunded.[156] So, the situation then is that deeply conservative parents form a pool of people who are likely to reject their LGBTQ or nonconforming kids, who hate taxes and funding social services, and who form a base for QAnon recruitment. This amounts to a form of psychological projection wherein QAnon supporters baseelessly accuse liberals of the most wildly reprehensive actions for which conservatives are in reality at least partly responsible.

Deep state bio-engineered viruses and nefarious humanitarianism [ edit ]

The 2020 COVID-19 outbreak added yet another layer to the conspiracy. A prominent QAnon YouTuber named Jordan Sather[157] (apparently not realizing that multiple strains of coronavirus exist for multiple species) claimed that the coronavirus was a “new fad disease”, and conspired the virus might have been planned by the "deep state". To prove this, he referenced a "patent for the coronavirus", citing a 2015 patent[158] for a vaccine for avian IBV, a disease that only affects chickens.[159] Sather further tweeted that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was a significant contributor to the group investigating this vaccine (indeed the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are contributors to this research institute, Pirbright Institute, a group that focuses on farm animal infectious disease[160]). Of course, Bill Gates is part of the "deep state" so Sather implied that "something is definitely fishy with this".[161] Naturally, misinformation that Bill Gates actually created the coronavirus spread like wildfire in the conspiracy social media, [162] crossing over even to anti-vaccination sites like NaturalNews with batshit insane intensity (NaturalNews, true to form, implied that Bill Gates owned "the patent on coronavirus", and this is part of his effort to depopulate the planet.[163]). Fortunately, Jordan Sather has the perfect bullshit cure for you to drink to wipe out this coronavirus (or in fact every disease known to man): Chlorine dioxide bleach! Miracle Mineral Supplement![164]

Other assorted insanity [ edit ]

Of course, the globalist cabal doesn't stop with just Soros, the Sauds, and the Clintons! No, it goes much deeper than that.

Glossary [ edit ]

Much of the terminology of QAnon can be found in the dissected map, below. Here are some of the meta-terminology used by QAnoners to communicate among themselves:

187 — refers to the section of the California Penal Code section for murder; used for people alleged to have been murdered such as Seth Rich [176]

5:5 — used in radio communication to mean "loud and clear", used by QAnon to allege that a special operations mission is taking place [176]

Anons — followers of Q who dissect breadcrumbs [176]

Autists — obsessive anons, a reference to "weaponized autism" [176] [177]

Baker — QAnon forum moderator or clue interpreter, [13] possibly also a PIDOOMA expert who is generating a bullshit stream

possibly also a PIDOOMA expert who is generating a bullshit stream Black hat — government official who opposes Trump, [13] presumably deep state

presumably deep state Booms — revelations about the alleged anti-Trump cabal [176]

Breadcrumb — clue

Clowns or C_A — CIA [176]

Comms — communications, usually referring to the idea that non-8chan communications are fake [176]

Drop — posting made by Q on 8chan [176]

Fireworks — a major news story is supposedly breaking about the alleged anti-Trump cabal [176]

Follow the white rabbit — seek the truth [178]

Future proves past — the idea that the future will bear out the QAnon conspiracy and drops [176]

The Great Awakening — the belief that Mueller would work with Trump and bring down the cabal that was fighting Trump; no longer so popular since the Mueller report came out [176]

Hussein — Barack Hussein Obama [176]

Obama LARP — live action role-playing game, the idea that Q is just playing a game with credulous Trumpers. [176] This idea is supported by Travis View, a conspiracy theory researcher. [179]

This idea is supported by Travis View, a conspiracy theory researcher. Mockingbird — the alleged Operation Mockingbird by the CIA [176]

by the CIA News unlocks map — the idea that actual news will explain the QAnon map (below) [176]

No Name — John McCain [176]

Pain — something bad happening to the alleged anti-Trump cabal [176]

Pedo-gate — an extension of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory [176]

Proofs — evidence that Q is real or that drops are real [176] – possibly derived from the earlier 2014 meme proofster [180]

– possibly derived from the earlier 2014 meme Q+ — shorthand for Donald Trump. [89]

Q researchers — followers of QAnon who think they are doing actual research [2] rather than, say, being trolled by 'Q'

rather than, say, being trolled by 'Q' Red pill — exposing non-believers to QAnon; the term originated from the 1999 film The Matrix , and spread to other fringe groups, starting with the men's rights movement [176] [181] and including the alt-right's red pill usage

, and spread to other fringe groups, starting with the men's rights movement and including the alt-right's red pill usage Sealed indictments — the once popular (pre-Mueller Report) idea that sealed indictments would come out prior to The Great Awakening [176]

The Storm — there have been theories about this within QAnon, including mass arrests of Democrats, sex offenders, various enemies of Trump [176]

Tripcode — the code used by Q on 8chan that supposedly confirms authenticity [176]

White hat — government official who supports Trump [13]

WWG1WGA — an abbreviation for "Where we go one, we go all", alleged by conspiracists to have been said by John F. Kennedy, but is actually attributable to the 1996 action film White Squall[13] ("You told us where we go one we go all, well we believed you, we lived by it, Sir. And now you're saying where you go we can't follow.")[182]

QAnon map dissection [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: QAnon map dissection

As the map shows, QAnon functions as a grand unified conspiracy theory because it lumps in just about every imaginable conspiracy theory (together with some historical reference points and almost no context). There are a number of conspiracy theories that are based on bigotry: antisemitism (e.g. concerning George Soros or the illuminati),[183][184] anti-Catholicism (e.g., concerning Jesuits),[185] anti-African American (concerning the Obamas),[186] and anti-Masonic (also, often antisemitic),[187] and these are baked into the map. In that sense, QAnon can be used both as a mirror for one's own bigotry and as a powerful crank magnet that can attract all sorts of shit from this "rabbit hole".

Notably missing from these two maps is CrowdStrike, a security company that was hired by the DNC, but is now part of the QAnon conspiracy and incredibly was part of the GOP defense of Trump in the impeachment inquiry.[188][189]

A harebrained Qanon map, beckoning you to jump down the rabbit hole. Apophenia much?

Having trouble reading 5-point ALL CAPS? Is your mind confused by the non sequitur tornado? View the dissected map here:[note 6] Unhelpfully, the dissection is still full of non sequitur. The dissection roughly follows the map left-to-right and top-to-bottom.

Great Awakening map [ edit ]

The Great Awakening Map is the quintessential red-pill navigational chart for Escaping the Matrix and Returning to Source. The map has been spotted on 8chan in accompaniment with the Q-Map, and has served a vital role in The Great Awakening and Full Disclosure Movement across the entire globe. Over a decade of metaphysical research was collected prior to the map's release in mid-2018.[199]

The map is actually quite similar to the QAnon map above but regurgitated with different spaghetti code.

Real world "Q" clearance [ edit ]

In the Department of Energy, this is a real thing. As a DOE clearance, it presumably relates to nuclear secrets of the United States. It obviously makes sense that this publicly known and extremely important clearance level would be primarily used to hide everyone's secret pedophilia.[note 7]

See also [ edit ]

Notes [ edit ]