Perhaps the oddest part is that for a community that thinks everyone you see on the news is raping children, that we're perpetually on the brink of nuclear war, and that everyone from local politicians to bankers to police officers are part of a nigh-omnipotent conspiracy to make their lives miserable, they are weirdly upbeat.

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I followed one user who cheerfully welcomed new members and talked about how spending hours and hours every day "investigating" QAnon gave him a purpose in life again, even as he worried that his participation was going to get him murdered. He seemed like a legitimately good guy, aside from the whole "I am one of the few chosen ones who have woken up to a great and terrible secret that most Americans are too dumb to understand, thank God that Trump is here to guide me on my new life goal" thing.

That should give you an idea of why this exists at all. This elaborate fiction isn't just what it takes to make Trump look heroic; it's what it takes to make these 4chan users feel like they can have some kind of positive effect on the world.

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Conspiracy theories about secretive elites manipulating events and stealing children are as old as time. A theory in which someone you voted for is heroically stopping that evil is a fresh, optimistic twist. All it takes to be on the right side of history is to post some memes and waste days connecting the phrasing in an obscure government document to something that was posted on 4chan seven weeks ago. You even get your own clubhouse where you use insider lingo to solve puzzles with your friends!

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Trump is 71, meaning that he will complete his presidency and die (quite possibly at the same time) within the lifetimes of most QAnon enthusiasts. It will be interesting to see how they react to the fact that hundreds of elites are not in jail for child sex trafficking. Will they admit that they were clinging to coincidences to make themselves feel special, and go on to try to find meaning in something real? Or will they see it as a temporary Deep State victory, one that can be foiled by whoever takes up Trump's mantle to finish the work he started?

We kind of already know the answer. They'll believe exactly what they need to believe, regardless of what that happens to be.

Mark is on Twitter and has a book that's a tool of the Deep State.

Sigh...maybe try playing some actual chess?

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For more, check out Donald Trump Is Courting 9/11 Truthers: The Weird Reality and The Creepy Religion That Explains All Of Trump's Actions.

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