QAnon
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| “ | #WWG1WGA (Where We Go One, We Go All!) | „ |
| ~ Popular QAnon hashtag |
QAnon is a disproven far-right conspiracy theory falsely claiming that former US President Donald Trump is fighting against a deep state of cabals, which the followers think that Democrats such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, are Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles.
Beliefs edit
QAnon followers falsely believe that Donald Trump is secretly fighting against a shadowy cabal of celebrities, media figures, politicians and billionaires, who run a child sex trafficking ring, consume human flesh, and worship Satan. These false accusations have been accused of being "blood libel".
Due to QAnon's black-and-white thinking system, it’s followers are fanatically loyal towards Trump, the conservatives, and far-right activists while taking a hatred towards the Democrats, centrists, libertarians, liberals, leftists, progressives, and moderate Republicans who oppose Trump.
QAnon's central figure, Q, claims to be a high-ranking official in the US Government, and periodically leaks out what he claims is government intel. Journalists have speculated that Q is really either 8Chan owner Jim Watkins or his son, Ron.
Oddly enough, despite their campaign against child sexual abuse, QAnon followers came to the defense of Congressman Matt Gaetz after his sexual misconduct allegations and ignore accusations of Trump's sexual assault and alleged connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
Incidents and Legacy edit
Labeled as a domestic terrorism threat by the FBI in 2019, QAnon has been accused of inciting many of their followers to commit criminal acts of violence on numerous occasions, doxxing or threatening healthcare workers and people who oppose Donald Trump (especially the Democrats and the Anti-Trump celebrities), and for infamously participating in the 2021 United States Capitol storming. As a result, several QAnon followers have been arrested and/or charged with those aforementioned crimes, which were incited by the conspiracy theory.
Former United States National Security advisor Michael Flynn and his lawyer, Sidney Powell, became avid QAnon espousers until their Twitter accounts were banned. Even though he doesn’t fully know about QAnon, Donald Trump himself has also voiced support for the hate group, claiming that “they are very strongly against pedophilia and I agree with that". He occasionally retweeted several QAnon-affiliated accounts until his suspension. However, he explicitly endorsed them in September 2022 by reposting a photoshop of himself wearing a Q pin on his Truth Social site.
Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert have both expressed their support for QAnon.
A subreddit named r/QAnonCasualties is a support group for Redditors whose friends, partners and family members have become QAnon followers. A few QAnon followers even committed suicide after Biden's inauguration.
In April 2021, Liliana Carrillo was arrested for the murders of her three children. Carrillo, who was in a custody battle with her husband over the children, was a QAnon follower and feared that they would be kidnapped by sex traffickers. Her husband's cousin posted the story on r/QAnonCasualties.
In September 2021, NBC News reported that QAnon believer Matthew Taylor Coleman killed his son and daughter with a spearfishing gun due to believing that they would "grow into monsters", which resulted in his arrest.
On the morning of September 11, 2022, 53-year-old QAnon believer, Igor Lanis, murdered his wife Tina and their dog, while seriously injuring his oldest daughter, Rachel, before being fatally gunned down by the police after trying to fire his shots at them. Fortunately, his youngest daughter, Rebecca, was out of the house at the time of the shooting. She later posted the incident on r/QAnonCasualties.
One month later, on the morning of October 28, 2022, 42-year-old David DePape tried unsuccessfully to assault and kill Nancy Pelosi, but did leave her husband Paul seriously injured with his hammer as his assault weapon. Luckily, police officers arrived in time to overpower DePape by disarming him of his weapon and take him into police custody. Following the incident, Paul Pelosi underwent surgery to his head and is expected to recover from his injuries that he sustained from the attack. After his arrest, DePape was charged on accounts of attempted murder, assault, elder abuse, false imprisonment, assault on a family member of an officeholder, and burglary.
Failed Predictions and False Claims edit
QAnon and their followers have made numerous false claims and failed predictions that never came true. These include:
- False claims of voter fraud in the 2020 US elections.
- Clinton adviser John Podesta would be indicted on November 3, 2016. He was not indicted.
- Trump would announce "something important" on Twitter the same day. Nothing notable was announced.
- The "Storm" would take place on November 3, 2017. There were no notable events in US politics on that day.
- The "Storm" would take place on January 20, 2021, the day of Biden's inauguration. No coup took place and Biden was peacefully inaugurated.
- A major event involving the United States Department of Defense would take place on February 1, 2018. That never happened.
- People targeted by the president would commit suicide en masse on February 10, 2018. No prominent people committed suicide that day.
- There would be a car bombing in London around February 16, 2018. There was no bombing on that day.
- The Trump military parade would "never be forgotten". The parade was canceled on that day.
- The Five Eyes "won't be around much longer". The Five Eyes are still strong and active today.
- Something major would happen in Chongqing on April 10, 2018. Nothing notable happened in Chongqing that day.
- There would be a "bombshell" revelation about North Korea in May 2018. There were no notable developments.
- A "smoking gun" video of Hillary Clinton would emerge in March 2018. No such video appeared.
- Officials who introduced COVID restrictions would be prosecuted in Nuremberg-style trials. No such trials have yet taken place.
- Multiple failed predictions that John McCain would resign from the US Senate. McCain remained in the Senate until his death in August 2018.
- Multiple false claims that JFK Jr. did not die in a plane crash and that he would be planning to be Trump’s running mate.
- Multiple failed predictions and false claims that John F. Kennedy and JFK Jr. would be resurrected and reappear in Dallas on November 2, 2021 to announce the reinstatement of Donald Trump. In reality, Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and JFK Jr. died in a plane crash in 1999.
- Multiple false claims that the United States was sold into a corporation in 1871 and have only 18 presidents until Donald Trump. They also falsely claimed that Trump is the 19th president. In reality, America was never sold into a corporation and it actually has 46 presidents, with Trump as the 45th president, as of 2021.
- Multiple failed predictions that Barack Obama would be arrested on felony charges. He was not arrested, and remains at liberty.
- Multiple failed predictions that Mark Zuckerberg would leave Facebook and flee the United States. Zuckerberg remains CEO of Facebook as of today.
- Multiple failed predictions that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey would be forced to resign. However, Dorsey did step down as CEO of Twitter as of September 29, 2021, so he was replaced by Parag Agrawal. As of October 2022, Elon Musk is the current CEO of Twitter.
- Multiple failed predictions that Pope Francis would be arrested on felony charges. He was not arrested, and remains at liberty.
- Multiple failed predictions that "something big" would happen or the truth would emerge "next week".
- Multiple failed predictions that the National Guard would be mobilized in several major cities.
- Multiple failed predictions that Donald Trump would be re-inaugurated on January 20, 2021 or March 4, 2021. As it turns out, Trump still lost the election and left office as a one term president, so Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20.
- Multiple failed predictions that Joe Biden and Mike Pence would be arrested during Biden's inauguration. Both remain at liberty.
- Donald Trump would be re-inaugurated on August 13, 2021. However, Trump spent the day on a golf course in Florida and Biden still remained president.
- The CIA installed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a puppet ruler.
- Antifa is secretly operating as the "paramilitary wing" of the Democratic Party.
- On February 16, 2018, a false claim that U.S. representative and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz hired Salvadoran gang MS-13 to murder DNC staffer Seth Rich.
- On March 1, 2018, an apparent suggestion that German chancellor Angela Merkel is Adolf Hitler's granddaughter. Other times they've falsely claimed that Merkel is Hitler's daughter.
- On July 7, 2018, Daily Beast article noted that Q falsely claimed that "each mass shooting is a false-flag attack organized by the cabal."
- False claims that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and others are planning a coup against Trump and are associates of Jeffrey Epstein and are involved in a child sex-trafficking ring.
- False claims that the Robert Mueller investigation is a counter-coup led by Trump, who pretended to conspire with Russia in order to hire Mueller to secretly investigate the Democrats.
- False claims that the Rothschild family leads a satanic cult. This antisemitic conspiracy theory existed long before QAnon formed.
- Various world leaders are puppets of the "Illuminati/New World Order". This is another long running conspiracy that existed before QAnon formed.
- False claims that Joe Biden is Donald Trump in disguise. Both of the presidents had very different physical features and are not related.
- The 2021 Texas freeze was staged by Biden and Xi Jinping to embarrass the Republicans. This turned out to be false.
- False claims of the COVID-19 Vaccine containing a mind-controlling microchip.
- False claims that the storming of the US Capitol was a false flag operation by Antifa.
Similar political allegations and rumors have circulated since the 1970s. Typically the allegations revolved around investigators using existing Satanic cults to lure and blackmail left-wing activists, or in the case of the Franklin child prostitution ring allegations, Satanic sexual abuse perpetrated by elite Republicans. A significant difference between the older narratives and the QAnon of today is that they falsely believe that elite Democrats are considered the villains instead of Republicans.
Known QAnon adherents edit
- Andrew Tate, American-British social media personality, businessman, and former professional kickboxer
- Rudy Giuliani, American lawmaker
- Tito Ortiz, American MMA fighter and politician
- Curt Shilling, American MLB right-handed pitcher
- Roseanne Barr, American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and presidential candidate
- Theo Fleury, Canadian NHL player
- Aaron Rodgers, American NFL player
- David Lester Straight, American sovereign citizen (possibly)
- Lauren Boebert, American politician
- Marjorie Taylor Greene, American politician
- Michael Flynn, former US National Security Advisor
- Jorge Masvidal, American MMA Fighter
- Chip Roy, American attorney and politician
- Louie Gohmert, American politician
- Josh Hawley, American politician and lawyer
- Jim Jordan, American politician
- Rick Scott, American politician
- Colby Covington, American MMA Fighter and former UFC Welterweight Champion
- Scott Presler, American political activist
- Kevin Sorbo, American actor
- Alex Stein, American comedian
- Liz Crokin, American columnist
- Ginni Thomas, American attorney
- Sidney Powell, American attorney
- Wendy Rogers, American politician
- Jenna Ellis, American lawyer
- Gina Carano, American actress, television personality, fitness model, and former MMA fighter
- Mary Miller, representative of Illinois and participant in the 2021 United States Capitol storming
- Ashli Babbitt, participant in the 2021 United States Capitol storming
- Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr., participant in the 2021 United States Capitol storming
- Jake Angeli, the "QAnon Shaman", participant in the 2021 United States Capitol storming
- Bryson Gray, rapper and music maker
- Kurt Jantz, rapper and music maker
- Brandon Straka, participant in the 2021 United States Capitol storming and founder of the #WalkAway campaign
- Doug Jensen, participant in the 2021 United States Capitol storming
- Mike Lindell, MyPillow CEO
- Kate Shemirani, anti-vaxxer
- Alex Jones, radio host and conspiracy theorist (formerly, later renounced)
- Ben Garrison, far-right political cartoonist
- Romana Didulo, self-proclaimed "Queen of Canada"
- Pat King, leader of the Canadian Trucker Convoy
- Doug Mastriano, member of the Pennsylvania State Senate
- Chris Eryx, American conspiracy theorist
- Scott McKay, American conspiracy theorist
Relations with groups edit
Allies edit
- Donald Trump (Their leader)
- JAnon (Netto-uyoku)
- Restart (Iranian QAnon)
- Proud Boys
- Oath Keepers
- Stop the Steal movement
- Three Percenters
- Patriotfront
- National Citizens Alliance (Canadian sets)
- Boogaloo Boys
- The Line Canada (Canadian sets)
- Yellow Vest Movement
- Canadian Trucker Convoy (Canadian sets)
Rivals edit
- Black Lives Matter (Arch-Rivals)
- Floyd Rioters
- Antifa
- End SARS
- Communist Party of China
- MS-13
- Hollywood Celebrities (Except the ones who support Trump)
- Foleyists (their Leader sees them as a nuisance)
Trivia edit
- Despite the fact that some members are veterans themselves and most members claim to be patriots, many members of QAnon only support military personnel and veterans who support Donald Trump and/or agree with any of their radical policies. This is the same rule that applies to several law enforcement officials and first responders.
Videos edit