QANON 4 maga trumpistas

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vxr?

2 22 THIS IS BECOMING GENERIC TRUMP BASE

SEE TRUMP BASE FIVE

CLETA GINNI ENGLEBRECT TRUE THE VOTE

see SAVIN BIG LIE ELECTION INTEGRITY BS ROADSHOW 6 26

see trumpista for earlier

KASH KIRK NAVarro

pirro

RUMBLE

merri ok

SEE BIG BEAUT BILL will hurt red states most?

see America First Secretary of State Coalition,

SEE TROLL CAUCUS MTG BOEBERT

see conspiracy Big Lie CONSP 6

SEE FASC AUTHORIT

see gop 6 troll /civil war

SEE JAN 6

SEE EPSTEIN

qanon influencer term on mma 12 23 --> 5?

see poll watcher

SEE JAN 6 watkins HANG MIKE PENCE TRAITOR shaman babbit

see cpac

HTML  revelational

start of escalator

SEE Crm 4

BAK FAIL NO RESP 7 25 --> CREATE DOC = CAPT

BAK

aha dilley started? took of post alt rt on qanon; seed crystal that self org/ expanded with algo echo/escalator --> radicalization --> jan 6 pipe bombs death threat DA judges?

AHA: CROSS FERTILIZATION BETWEEN QANON, ANTI-VAX AND JAN 6 STOP THE STEAL, ALL ANTI-GUBMINT

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10 26 PAYWALL

How Trump’s ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Investigation Failed to Become the New QAnon

by Mike Rothschild

10.19.26 |

In Rough Edges, Mike Rothschild writes about fringe groups, conspiracy theories and how the Internet broke our brains. This column is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.

People love a grand conspiracy. The bigger the scheme is, the more people get drawn into it. And the more details and players that are involved, the more believable it seemingly becomes. After all, who would go to the trouble of making up something so complicated? It must be true.

And nobody loves a conspiracy more than President Trump. He and his inner circle especially seem to have fallen in love with what has literally been dubbed “The Grand Conspiracy.” It’s a hopelessly complex, entirely unevidenced theory claiming that a high-ranking group of political figures have been plotting in the shadows for years to stop Donald Trump from making America great again through investigations, indictments and impeachments. It has all the hallmarks of the type of grandiose schemes that Trump supporters especially fall for: countless players, sprawling plots, intricate secrets, and a total lack of evidence that it actually took place.

Despite lacking cogent answers to foundational questions such as “what it is” and “who is doing it,” revenge for the Grand Conspiracy has been a driving force in the administration, prompting an investigation that has trundled along over the last year and a half, involving dozens of officials looking for some reason to indict the president’s enemies.

And there are many, many enemies. They include a greatest hits of Trump’s obsessions and grievances, from former special counsel Jack Smith to minor players like former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and even former President Barack Obama himself. According to Grand Conspiracy believers, they are all powerful Deep State figures who supposedly worked together in a single, years-long scheme to destroy Trump and undo the will of the people.

Precisely what these conspirators have actually done remains unclear — even, seemingly, to the prosecutors themselves, who, per the Wall Street Journal, complained to the Justice Department that they weren’t getting much guidance from the local U.S. attorney. The probe is now being run out of Washington, where it continues to baffle those assigned to move it forward.

In the last few weeks, there have been a host of indications that DOJ efforts to prosecute these figures — and tie them all together into one grand scheme — are falling apart. And, as the Grand Conspiracy prosecution flails at DOJ, the claims also aren’t doing much in the court of public opinion, where Republicans are looking for anything they can find to shore up their crumbling midterm prospects.

Trump has, in the past, excelled at turning his personal grievances and enemies into Republican grievances and enemies. But people aren’t especially interested anymore, at least not if one looks at the Republican Party’s numbers in 2026 midterm polling and beyond. Trump voters seem to now be wondering how Trump’s beefs and feuds impact their own lives. They continue to express their disappointment that the president hasn’t curbed inflation, went to war in Iran despite explicit promises of no new wars, and has failed to bring closure to the Jeffrey Epstein debacle.

With the GOP’s midterms prospects looking bleak, Trump’s most loyal influencers are nonetheless leaning into the Grand Conspiracy narrative to present the illusion that everything is going to work out if they just hang on a little longer and vote Republican. Over and over during the past year, everyone from mainstream pundits like Sean Hannity and Dan Bongino to candidates like Mike Lindell and a host of anonymous conspiracy theorists have played up the Grand Conspiracy as the investigation that will finally bring down the Deep State and bring Trump the vindication he has always deserved.

“John Brennan and Jack Smith have some real, major explaining to do, and that they’re probably going to be under some major indictments in the Grand Conspiracy hearing,” declared Benny Johnson in an October interview with Roger Stone where the two traded speculation about the activities of the “seditious cabal” that’s tried to ruin Trump’s life.

“If Jack Smith is not held accountable, you are going to have a very angry base,” conservative writer Julie Kelly declared on Trump stalwart Mark Levin’s radio show a day earlier. “We already saw the Russiagate perps get off. Hopefully, we’ll have some accountability in Florida and the Grand Conspiracy investigation.”

Like so many other past Trump-world conspiracy theories and “investigations that will reveal everything,” Grand Conspiracy believers are setting themselves up not for triumph, but for more disappointment.

What Does the Grand Conspiracy Involve?

Like many conspiracy theories with countless components and players to track, the intricacies of every allegation in the “Grand Conspiracy” are too complicated to cover in full. They are also irrelevant to understanding the greater gist of the theory, because many either don’t exist in a way that can be proven, or are not crimes at all. The more you examine the details, the more you drift away from the bigger picture.

The short version of the supposed scheme involves everyone from Barack Obama and Joe Biden to Hillary Clinton and James Comey. Glimpses of the conspiracy can, its proponents hold, be seen in in countless forms: Jack Smith’s probe into Jan. 6; the Steele Dossier that gave us infamous allegations like the “pee tape”; Trump’s impeachments; the Biden-era Jan. 6 and classified documents indictments; the New York hush money case involving Stormy Daniels; and the numerous FBI probes into Russian interference in 2016 and Trump’s ties to Moscow.

All of the above was done to subvert Trump’s landslide victories, and to take Trump off the board because he was a threat to the Deep State’s control over global politics, the conspiracy theory holds. Despite failing in 2016, the conspiracy plotters continued to make his life miserable while he was in office through impeachments and probes, then they tried to put him in prison after the 2020 election was stolen from him. Even after he won again, the legal warfare and persecution have never stopped.

But now Trump is taking action. The “Grand Conspiracy” investigation is how the investigators will be investigated, and how the persecutors will be persecuted. Running for a time out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida, the sprawling probe has involved major Justice Department figures, countless prosecutors and agents, and untold millions of dollars spent running down something that continues to elude basic understanding or evidence, all the while trying to turn it into something that a jury might be able to make heads or tails of. It’s not going well so far.

The Grand Conspiracy and QAnon

If all of this is starting to sound like a more official version of QAnon, there’s a reason. It’s a more official version of QAnon.

Like the “Grand Conspiracy,” QAnon — which began in October 2017 with a series of cryptic 4chan posts about Hillary Clinton’s imminent “arrest” — revolves around Trump’s enemies being brought to justice in a secret, yet satisfying way. In thousands of cryptic riddles meant for followers to decode, Q promised military tribunals for supposed Deep State luminaries like Obama, the Clintons, George Soros, and countless others.

The conspiracies it alleged became hopelessly complicated, virtually impossible for anyone to fully understand. Many, in fact, were contradictory and nonsensical, based on phony “evidence” or vague predictions. And nothing Q “predicted,” from Clinton’s arrest to public executions of Democrats to the revealing of secret new technologies and cures for disease, ever happened.

Trump, of course, is the focal point of both movements. In the “Grand Conspiracy,” he is the target of the Deep State, fighting for his freedom and his very life. Meanwhile in QAnon, the Deep State is Trump’s target, with the president personally posting on 4chan when he needs to communicate with his followers.

But while the context is different, they share a similar devotion to fantastical stories over facts, to compelling narratives over actual ones. And they share many of the same characters. Kash Patel promoted QAnon on numerous occasions, while “Grand Conspiracy” figures like DOJ special prosecutor John Durham and former FBI director James Comey also had prominent places in Q’s narrative, as both heroes and villains.

Ultimately, QAnon wasn’t started by Trump’s inner circle, but they found it useful to exploit its tenets. The “Grand Conspiracy,” of course, comes directly from Trump and his allies. But not only is it floundering legally, it’s not clear if the plot is proving useful to keeping the base engaged and, ultimately, to the GOP’s electoral chances.

The issue with the “Grand Conspiracy” is not the prospect of its targets being hauled off to prison. It seems unlikely to ever get that far. It’s that government-endorsed conspiracy theories like it, when they find an audience, are remarkably durable and excel at driving anger toward enemies of the state. They can move people toward violence, unhinged hatred, and even betraying their own country; all in service of a paranoid plot that doesn’t exist and nobody can prove.

Revolutionary France was full of bloody acts of revenge against supposed plots by foreign and domestic enemies working in vast spheres of influence that could never quite be proven. During the leadup to the Civil War, countless citizens of both the North and South believed the other side was plotting with foreign agents and secret societies to take over their states. And the rise of Nazism was fueled by relentless propaganda accusing a web of international Jewish financiers of “backstabbing” an undefeated Germany at the end World War I as part of a communist conspiracy that needed to be violently destroyed to save the Reich.

Fortunately, the Grand Conspiracy does not seem to be enjoying the same success as those historical precedents. Even QAnon managed to keep generating discussion and speculation for years, gaining new followers even as it recycled its plots and descended into inscrutable riddles. It created a narrative that has stubbornly lodged itself into mainstream conservatism. The “Grand Conspiracy,” meanwhile, is quietly flopping, as prosecutors fail to bring the investigation to fruition, and Republican voters worry more about gas prices and food costs than who might have committed minor infractions a decade ago.

But like Revolutionary France and Nazi Germany, even the grandest conspiracy outlives its usefulness when people figure out they’re being had. And the “Grand Conspiracy” might have already hit that point. It’s not moving the needle with voters, and it’s not actually getting anyone convicted.

When it fails, it will require yet another new conspiracy theory to explain how it all went wrong.

Mike Rothschild writes Rough Edges for TPM, covering fringe groups, conspiracy theories and how the Internet broke our brains. He is a journalist and expert in the growth and impact of conspiracy theories. He is the author of the first complete book on the QAnon conspiracy movement, 2021’s The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything; as well as Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories in 2023.

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NEW 8 26 AN TC

On Election Day in 2024, as voters cast their ballots, Elon Musk posted a campaign music video supporting Donald Trump’s bid for president.

Set to Van Halen’s “Jump,” with a montage of 1980s cultural references and images of Trump in various strongman poses, the video includes a line about “PATRIOTS” in which the “O” turns into a “Q,” a reference to the online conspiracy theory QAnon.

Started on the online forum website 4chan in 2017, QAnon spread false, far-right theories on social media about a shadowy cabal of satanic pedophiles among the political elite, which Trump was purportedly fighting alongside a mysterious ally named “Q.”

As a scholar of conspiracy theories and extremism, I’ve watched QAnon seep from the margins into mainstream American politics over the past decade. While Q stopped posting in 2022, the movement did not disappear. As we near the 10-year anniversary of QAnon, these theories continue to haunt America’s politics.

The afterlife of QAnon

Building on the 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which claimed Democrats were trafficking children in the basement of a pizza restaurant based on interpretations of Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails, QAnon appeared on 4chan in October 2017 with claims that Clinton was about to be arrested.

That’s when someone calling himself Q claimed to be an intelligence operator trying to expose the “deep state,” a purported shadow government secretly controlling global events in pursuit of a satanic agenda. QAnon invited users to build the theory by decoding messages on social media. That work, Q claimed, would expose a satanic cabal of pedophiles among the elites.

The theory is an example of what author Naomi Klein has called a “conspiracy smoothie,” mixing existing theories into a vast conspiracy map, which absorbs existing conspiracy theories about events such as 9/11 or the JFK assassination into itself. The result is a sprawling theory combining paranoid interpretations of current events with historical conspiracies.

Polls suggest that 20% of Americans had favorable views of QAnon as late as 2022.

Many of Trump’s nominations for high-ranking posts were figures who had previously been considered on the fringes of national politics. Some of them have brought conspiracy theories into the highest echelons of government.

FBI Director Kash Patel, for example, has been sympathetic to QAnon. He appeared on a show hosted by a QAnon influencer before being selected to run the agency. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has advocated anti-vaccination conspiracy theories also shared by QAnon.

QAnon haunts Washington

I’m particularly fascinated by the ghost of QAnon – how the theory continues to haunt politics today. Philosophers call this tendency “hauntology”: Political ideas and movements may die, but they continue to haunt our present.

Q’s ideas have not dissipated. It’s what I call QAnon’s afterlife, or the transformation of QAnon from a conspiracy theory to a political vocabulary. In fact, the movement’s vocabulary quickly began to appear in official government circles at the start of Trump’s second term.

In March 2026, for example, the official X account for the White House posted a photo of a mustachioed fighter pilot with the QAnon tagline “Patriots are in Control.” While the phrase may pass as mundane, I believe it is a clear reference to QAnon language, first used by Q in October 2017.

The U.S. Department of Labor posted the same phrase over an image of Trump in January 2026. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has publicly advocated deep state conspiracies, ran the department until she resigned on April 20, 2026.

And Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, celebrated America’s 250th birthday with an AI-generated video called “Sweet Land.” This post generated buzz because it referenced QAnon and prompted an online scavenger hunt for Q symbols.

QAnon goes to war

Amid the U.S. war with Iran, some government officials have turned to QAnon for inspiration.

The official account for the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, Emil Michael, has posted propaganda using Q catchphrases as military slogans. For example, the department posted a picture of a Marine saluting Trump with the phrase “Trust the Plan.”

On Truth Social, Trump posted a meme of himself on the deck of a battleship with the words “It was the Calm Before the Storm,” a cryptic phrase first used by Trump while meeting with military leaders in October 2017. Almost exactly one month later, the phrase appeared as a central QAnon concept.

The use of Q phrases by government agencies during wartime has excited online conspiracy theorists. They see it as an official endorsement that “the storm” will soon be upon us, a time of upheaval and punishment of the shadowy deep state. For these conspiracy theorists, Trump and Q will bring about “the storm,” to be followed by a golden age.

The QAnon style of American politics

Whether or not these references to Q posts by official government accounts are truly ideological or simply trolling is less relevant than the effect they have.

Official uses of Q language have invigorated conspiracy theorists to advance new theories, undermining public health, governance and civil society.

And the Jeffrey Epstein files, which have exposed the late financier’s private network and financial dealings, have only lent credence to QAnon theories among believers. That’s because Q referenced Epstein Island in drops of information on 8chan and other message boards.

I believe these ghostly eruptions of QAnon conspiracy theories into the public will only continue to divide Americans at a time of social and economic crisis.

Matthew N. Hannah, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Politics and Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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6 26 mma

At election denial summit, media figures endorse ICE at the polls and suggest executing a “prominent traitor” from the deep state “to improve our elections”

Podcaster David Clements: “The one thing that we need to see is a prominent traitor brought before you ... and after that due process, they get to suffer the legally prescribed penalty, which may or may not include a firing squad”

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 06/25/26

Last week, multiple promoters of election denial conspiracy theories spoke at a summit co-led by a QAnon influencer, calling on attendees to monitor voting precincts and to use “a tribunal” and a “legally prescribed penalty” like “a firing squad” as a possible solution to “improve our elections.” Some speakers touted connections to the Trump administration.

The Fraud-Fighter Summit, which took place between June 15-17 in Las Vegas, aimed to “confront fraud in elections” and featured “powerful presentations and discussions on topics such as tabulator vulnerabilities and advanced methods for detecting manipulation in election processes.” The event seems to have been coordinated by two figures in the election denial movement, Wayne Willott and Matt Meck. Willott, known online as Juan O. Savin, helped organize a coalition of election denial candidates for the 2022 midterm elections and claimed to have been involved with a proposed “national emergency” executive order for President Donald Trump to control elections. Meck is a board member of Fight Voter Fraud — an organization which “has been criticized in the past for repeatedly advancing unfounded claims based on its misinterpretation of voter registration information and other data,” — and also apparently Savin’s “chief of staff.”

Speakers and presenters included Tina Peters, Steve Bannon, Jim Marchant, David Clements, Peter Ticktin, Martin Rodil, and Douglas Frank.

Notable moments from the summit include:

• War Roomhost and former Trump official Steve Bannon appeared multiple times during the summit. During his appearances, Bannon told attendees that “we need to be at every precinct,” and said whether “you’re armed or not, that depends upon what your state laws are.” He also said “ICE has to be there and has to be there to back you up.”

Video

Citation

From the Fraud-Fighter Summit on June 16, 2026, streamed on Rumble

• David Clements, a podcaster who Lawfarereportedhas “criss-crossed the country to evangelize about purported election fraud,” suggested at the summit “a tribunal” for “a prominent traitor” in the deep state could “improve our elections” as clerks will “start paying attention to executive orders.” While discussing Trump’s actions ahead of the midterm elections, Clements said, “When people ask me, ‘David, one thing, one thing to improve our elections,’ they’re thinking get rid of this machines, get rid of the e-poll book. And those are fair questions. The one thing that we need to see is a prominent traitor brought before you with due process, of course. And after that due process, they get to suffer the legally prescribed penalty, which may or may not include a firing squad. Then all of a sudden, all of a sudden your clerks are gonna start paying attention to executive orders.” He also suggested that Trump invoking the Defense Production Act for military stockpiles meant that somehow the president had “declared a national emergency” and was urging Washington to “restore elections.”

Video

Citation

From the Fraud-Fighter Summit on June 17, 2026, streamed on Rumble

• Martin Rodil, a Venezuelan expatriate who haspromoted the conspiracy theorythat Venezuela was involved with election fraud in America, claimed that he “recently met with a U.S. government official who has been on top of investigating” the conspiracy theory and told Rodil that he only “found 5% of the problem.” While introducing Rodil, Meck said that Rodil had “been briefing” former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the White House, Trump administration official Kurt Olsen, and the Department of Justice.

Video

Citation

From the Fraud-Fighter Summit on June 17, 2026, streamed by UnAuthorized

• Juan O. Savin spoke on a panel that also included Tina Peters and Peter Ticktin. Ticktin is an attorney for Peters who has also represented Donald Trump, and he was reportedly involved with the draft national emergency executive order related to elections. Peters is a former county clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, who was “convicted in 2024 for her role in a brazen plot to examine voting machines under her control after the 2020 election” before Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence. During the talk, Savin said the executive order proposal was a “coalition effort” that Ticktin “helped push … with the president,” and Ticktin appeared to agree with Savin that there needed to be a “pause” on the midterm elections to stop supposed election fraud.

Video

Citation

From the Fraud-Fighter Summit on June 17, 2026, streamed on the “Bannons War Room” Rumble channel

• Petersappeared on stage withSavin, who hasclaimed to have advised herover the years, and said election fraud can “happen in every country around the world. And, of course, they’re trying to do it to our country.”

Video

Citation

From a video of the Fraud-Fighter Summit uploaded to Telegram on June 16, 2026

• Jim Marchant — the currentRepublican nomineefor Nevada secretary of state who alsopartnered with Savinin 2022 to put together a coalition of election denial candidates — suggested that if elected, “I will get rid of the machines. We’re going to get rid of mail-in ballots.”He continued, “We’re going to vote on a precinct level basis, and we’re going to count the vote on a precinct level basis, and we’re finally going to have a fair election here in Nevada.” Savin, who was on stage with Marchant, urged attendees to support Marchant’s campaign.

Video

Citation

From the Fraud-Fighter Summit on June 16, 2026, streamed on Rumble

• In addition to U.S. elections, the summit also featured substantial discussion of Brazil and South Korea, both of whichhave been a focusfor far-right American pundits in recent years. The first night of the summit was in part dedicated to a movie about former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. One speaker at the conference was Douglas Frank, who visited South Korea as part of a “Korea-US Election Fraud Joint Investigation Team.” Frank claimed the people of South Korea had “lost their country” after “corrupt elections.” During his appearance, Frank also spoke with former South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who claimed via translator that “the days of election fraud will be numbered.”

[vid]

//

1. ### Right-wing figures and Trump allies are calling for Trump to declare a “national emergency” to prevent supposed election fraud

:{10/28/25

2. ### QAnon influencer says he impacted decisions of secretary of state candidates in Colorado

:{03/11/22

3. ### Election denier reportedly involved with Trump administration’s 2020 election probes suggests Maricopa County, Arizona, is the administration’s next target

02/11/26

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an tc 11 25

...Further slides towards authoritarianism are possible because of the political potency of contemporary conspiracy movements. The right-wing QAnon movement, for example, has been exceptionally agile. It has offered its followers identity, community spaces and a logic that encourages active participation, exhorting believers to “do your own research”, for example....

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AN 11 25

Will Sommer, author of “Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America," writes in*The New York Times*that though the recent revelations around deceased Jeffrey Epsteinshould have been a "dream" for conspiracy theorists, their reactions have been "strangely muted" and "dismayed."

QAnon, a far-right American political conspiracy theory and movement that claims a cabal in the "deep state" is operating a global child sex trafficking ring and that President Donald Trump is secretly fighting them, has been placed, Sommer says, in a awkward position by Trump's relentless resistance to releasing the Epstein files.

"What was harder to explain, for many believers, was why Mr.Trump spent so long resisting the releaseof the key evidence that would confirm what they suspected was happening all along," Sommer says.

He says that, while there are some "celebrants" of the Epstein developments, "much of QAnon’s response to Washington’s Epstein excitement has been strangely muted, even dismayed."

And as Congress near unanimously voted to release the Epstein files last week, the conspiracy theorists in the group may have already moved on, Sommer notes.

"But with revelations about Mr. Trump’s relationship to Mr. Epstein mounting, the default QAnon position has become that Mr. Epstein just isn’t that interesting anymore," he writes. "That’s partly because QAnon believers no longer stand out so brightly in the conspiracy-minded Republican mainstream."

Sommer explains that the truth doesn't exactly match the QAnon "grand fantasies of elite exposure that QAnon dreamed up at its height. But for QAnon, the real problem with the Epstein revelations is that Mr. Trump sits uncomfortably close to the center of them."

QAnon members took to social media after the vote to release the files, including Jon Herold, who wrote, “All the awful things that people are saying, I hope it’s not true,” Mr. Herold said. “I don’t want to see any of it.”

"Given that the conspiracy theory doubles as a cult of personality built around Mr. Trump, this sort of reaction isn’t particularly surprising. But the new emails do suggest the conspiracy theorists were right about Mr. Epstein’s significance— albeit not in the ways they thought," Sommer says.

The Epstein scandal, Sommer writes, should matter deeply to QAnon, "because he was a rare example of the supposed sex-trafficking cabal’s machinations coming out in the open."

"While Mr. Epstein was mentioned relatively rarely in QAnon before his 2019 indictment, his mysterious death propelled QAnon recruitment and provided endless alleys for its amateur internet sleuths to explore," Sommer adds.

Trump's long and proven friendship with Epstein, however, has always been difficult for QAnon to explain, Sommers notes.

"The traditional QAnon explanation for the pair’s closeness has been that Mr. Trump was getting close to Mr. Epstein just to bring more publicity to his crimes," he writes.

But this explanation has begun to look "shaier" as more emails about Trump and Epstein have emerged.

"QAnon’s retreat from the Epstein story is striking because there remain real questions about Mr. Epstein that could make for a rich vein of new theorizing," Sommer writes.

"For most QAnon believers the priority is protecting Mr. Trump at all costs. Even if it means no longer asking questions. Even if it means letting the moment they finally got something right pass them by. Even if it means continuing to thirst for a storm that will never come," he explains.

And while one-time QAnon believer Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has moved away from Trump due in part to the Epstein scandal, Sommer says that "While Ms. Greene claimed she was no longer 'a victim' of 'media lies' that led her to QAnon, she still seems motivated by the hunt for information about sex trafficking that QAnon claimed to pursue."

QAnon, Sommer says, offered people "an understanding of the world in which Mr. Trump wasn’t letting his voters down, he was just fighting forces far more powerful and evil than they could imagine."

But things have changed, he writes.

"Now, Mr. Trump is once again bogged down in the first year of a presidential term, this time by the Epstein investigation. Prices are rising. Trump supporters are growing restless," Sommer says. "Do you think Q has one more clue left in him?"

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QAnon influencers baselessly suggest newly released Epstein emails show Trump was an “informant” against Epstein

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 11/14/25

Multiple online influencers affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy theory — which falsely asserts that a secret satanic pedophile cabal that included Jeffrey Epstein runs the world — are baselessly suggesting that newly released emails from Epstein that reference President Donald Trump are actually evidence that Trump was an “informant” who worked to take down the convicted sex trafficker.

• ## House members release emails from Epstein mentioning Trump, as he and his allies try to prevent the release of more Epstein files

• • Emails from Epstein released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee seem to allege Trump knew about Epstein's conduct. Epstein wrote in the emails that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s alleged victims. Epstein also wrote in the emails that Trump “knew about the girls,” that “that dog that hasn’t barked is trump,” and that Trump was “dangerous.” The New York Times, [11/12/25; NBC News, 11/12/25; CNN, 11/12/25; USA Today, 11/13/25]

• • The House is poised to vote next week on releasing files related to Epstein, despite Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) attempts to prevent it. After resistance from House Republican leaders to a vote on their bill to release the Epstein files, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a discharge petition in July to force a vote. On November 12, the petition got the final signature required to force a vote after Trump reportedly “made last-ditch moves to block action,” including summoning Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to a meeting in the White House Situation Room. PBS News, [11/13/25; CNN, 11/12/25; The New York Times, 11/12/25]

• • Johnson previously alleged without evidence that Trump was an FBI informant against Epstein, before later backtracking. In September, Johnson responded to Trump’s claim about a “Democrat Epstein Hoax” and said that the president was “referring to … the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him,” and in fact Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.” According to Rolling Stone, “Johnson’s ‘informant’ claim … sparked widespread confusion within the ranks of Trump’s government, with several senior officials blindsided or just completely perplexed by what the Trump-aligned House speaker could have possibly meant,” with “some officials still unsure about whether Johnson was citing some explosive, unheard-of insider information, or if he misspoke or was freelancing extemporaneously.” Days later, Johnson backtracked, saying that he had been referring to “what the (Epstein) victims’ attorney said” and that he didn't know if he “used the right terminology, but that’s common knowledge, and everybody knows that.” Rolling Stone, [9/6/25; CNN, 9/8/25]
• ## The QAnon community has tried to rationalize Trump opposing the Epstein files’ release

• • After Trump dismissed the Epstein filings in July, many in the QAnon community tried to find a way to give Trump a pass. Following Axios’ July 6 reporting of an administration memo that concluded that there is “no evidence” Epstein “kept a ‘client list’ or was murdered,” Trump called the focus on Epstein “foolish” and a “hoax.” In response, influencers affiliated with QAnon speculated that there is “more to the story” and that Trump’s actions are actually part of an elaborate and “brilliant” plot he is enacting against the supposed pedophile cabal. A smaller group of QAnon supporters, however, criticized Trump for his comments about Epstein. Media Matters, [7/21/25]

• • By contrast, many in right-wing media have been critical of Trump and his administration’s handling of the Epstein case. Figures have accused the administration of a “cover-up” and of “utterly mismanag[ing]” the case, and they claimed Trump was “massively misreading his base” on the issue. Media Matters, [7/9/25]

• ## In response to newly released Epstein emails, online influencers affiliated with the QAnon movement suggest the emails make “Trump definitely sound like an asset, an FBI informant”

• • Podcast host Zak Paine, who The New York Times reported “pushes the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory,” claimed the emails suggested “it’s likely” that “Donald Trump was the whistleblower that was responsible for Jeffrey Epstein getting wrapped up in the case in the first place.” Paine also claimed, without evidence, that the emails referred to how Trump supposedly “went to the police and the FBI about this entire thing,” and pointed to Johnson’s “informant” remarks in September as additional evidence. The New York Times, [4/27/21; RedPill78, 11/12/25]

• • Podcaster Brian Lupo wrote that the new email release “supports that theory” that “Trump has been an informant against Epstein.” Lupo, also known online as “CannCon,” has posted about “Q,” QAnon’s central figure, as well as the QAnon slogan. Media Matters, [6/14/23; Twitter/X, accessed 6/14/23, 2/23/23, 11/12/25]

• • Podcaster “Burning Bright,” who’s written that “I am and have been a Q follower,” said “I totally agree” with Lupo that “in the context of the emails themselves,” Trump looks like “an informant.” Bright also invoked Q posts (called “drops”) as part of his claim. Twitter/X, accessed [11/13/25, 5/16/25; Badlands Media, Devolution Power Hour, 11/12/25]

• • Podcaster Jon Herold claimed that one of the emails “makes Trump definitely sound like an asset, an FBI informant.” Herold, who is also known online as “Patel Patriot,” has written that the Q posts “are legit.” Media Matters, [7/22/25; Twitter/X, 11/26/24; Badlands Media, Devolution Power Hour, 11/12/25]

• • Jordan Sather, who The Daily Beast reported is a “prominent QAnon promoter,” claimed that the emails showed “Epstein & his friends ... catching wind that Trump was likely an informant gathering dirt on them.” The Daily Beast, [1/28/20; Telegram, 11/12/25]

• • Pepe Lives Matter, who a BBC reporter has reported is a “major QAnon influencer,” wrote that the “emails may indicate what weve been saying that trump was an informant against epstein.” Twitter/X, [1/7/21; Telegram, 11/12/25]

• • Jacob Creech, a figure known online as “Clandestine” who has “repeatedly posted in support of QAnon,” wrote that the emails show “Trump was Epstein’s #1 enemy.” Creech wrote, “Observe the timeline: Epstein in 2017: ‘Trump is dangerous.’ 2019: Trump’s DOJ indicts/arrests Epstein and seizes his island. Epstein was right to fear Trump, because Epstein knew Trump helped the victims seek justice in FL in 2006. Trump was Epstein’s #1 enemy.” Vice, [4/12/22; Twitter/X, 11/13/25]

• • “The SCIF,” a social media account which has written that “if it wasn’t for Q, most people would still have no clue how bad the child trafficking problem really is,” claimed Trump “exposed and took down Epstein.” The SCIF wrote that the released emails were “another attempt to slander Trump instead of going after the real monsters of child trafficking and abuse” by “cherry picking emails.” The account also claimed this was done “because Trump went after all of them, exposed and took down Epstein, all of their money laundering operations using YOUR taxpayer dollars, and the elites child trafficking blackmail rings.” Twitter/X, [10/25/24, 11/12/25]

//

mma

1. ### QAnon world roiled by Trump opposing releasing the Epstein files

07/21/25 2:39 PM EDT

2. ### Right-wing media are flailing in response to Trump's DOJ memo about Jeffrey Epstein

07/09/25 10:46 AM EDT

3. ### New Epstein emails mentioning Trump don't appear to interest Fox News

11/12/25

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an tc 11 25

In recent weeks, Donald Trump’s supporters have begun to align around the idea that a Democrat-led “grand conspiracy” – potentially involving former president Barack Obama – has been plotting against the US president since 2016. The narrative is that the 2016 Russia investigation, which resulted in the Mueller inquiry was part of this deep-state opposition to Trump, as was the investigation into the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

The focus of the fightback by Trump’s supporters is in Miami, where a Trump-appointed US attorney, Jason A. Reding Quiñones, has begun to issue subpoenas to a wide range of former officials.

This has included former CIA director John Brennan, former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, former FBI attorney Lisa Page and former director of national intelligence James Clapper, all of whom were involved in the federal investigation into alleged links between Russian intelligence and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The way the so-called conspiracy is unfolding will feel familiar to anyone who has watched US politics closely in the past decade. There’s been a constant stream of allegations and counter-allegations. But the narrative from the Trump camp is that the powerful “deep state” forces have been arrayed against the president. The “two-tier” justice system that has persecuted Trump can only be rebalanced by pursuing those who investigated him in 2017 and 2021.

The Grand Conspiracy contains similarities with other prominent conspiracy theories and how they spread. The QAnon movement, whose most famous claim is of a global paedophile ring run out of a Washington pizza parlour involving senior Democrats, is one where disparate claims are sporadically and partially evidenced. The political potency of these claims does not sit in the individual pieces of evidence but in the overarching story.

The story is that hidden government and proxy networks manipulate the truth and judicial outcomes and that only through pressure from “truthers” (what many people in the US who believe conspiracy theories call themselves) will wrongdoers be brought to account. Once these ideas are popularised, they take on a momentum and a direction that is difficult to control.

Campaign of ‘lawfare’

Soon after his inauguration, Trump set up a “weaponization working group” within the Department of Justice. Its director, Ed Martin, said in May that he would expose and discredit people he believes to be guilty, even if the evidence wasn’t sufficient to charge them: “If they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”

In the US the norm has been to “charge crimes, not people”, so this modification fundamentally changes the focus of prosecutors.

Former FBI director James Comey responds to his indictment by grand jury in September.

The recent subpoenas in Florida show this principle at work, effectively making legal process into the punishment. Even without full court hearings on specific charges, being forced to provide testimony or documents creates suspicion around those who are targeted. Criticism from legal officials that this is a “indict first, investigate second” method suggests that this is a break from historical norms.

Lawfare, defined as “legal action undertaken as part of a hostile campaign”, doesn’t require a successful prosecution. It merely requires enough investigative activity to solidify a narrative of suspected guilt and enough costs and pressure to seriously inconvenience those affected by it. In the new era of digital media, it’s enough to degrade the standing of a political opponent.

In that way, political retaliation has become a prosecuting objective. This is clear from what the US president has indicated in his frequent posts on his social media platforms for his enemies, such as former FBI director James Comey, who investigated his alleged links to Russia, or Adam Schiff, the senator who led his impeachment in 2019.

Hardball politics or authoritarianism?

Political scientists argue that authoritarianism is something that happens little by little. Some of these steps involve using state power to target political opponents, degrading checks and balances and making loyalty a legal requirement.

There are reasons to believe that the US seems to be tracking this trajectory currently, certainly when it comes to using the Justice Department to harass the president’s political enemies and pushing back against court judgments while attacking the judges that have issued them.

Further slides towards authoritarianism are possible because of the political potency of contemporary conspiracy movements. The right-wing QAnon movement, for example, has been exceptionally agile. It has offered its followers identity, community spaces and a logic that encourages active participation, exhorting believers to “do your own research”, for example.

In the wake of the near daily addition of material from the investigations into the allegations that the late financier, Jeffrey Epstein, ran a sex trafficking ring, involving some influential US citizens, many American citizens have concluded as a general truth that their elites do hide things. This makes it far simpler for broader conspiracies to gain traction and more difficult for politicians and journalists to work out what is conspiracy and what is evidence. This is creating a problematic feedback loop – hints of wrongdoing fuel public suspicion, and public suspicion fuels the idea of a further need for investigation.

But to suggest that anyone has control over this would be wrong. These movements can just as easily consume those seen as supporters as they do those seen as enemies. Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s determination to release the full and unredacted Epstein files could well produce negative outcomes for some Maga supporters, including prominent ones.

So, the transformation of legal process into public spectacle in America is suggestive of a drift towards authoritarianism. America’s famous “constitutional guardrails” of separation of powers, independent courts, juries and counsels will be pivotal in preventing this. They will need to stand firm.

The grand conspiracy theory might be more about seeking to isolate, and financially and emotionally exhaust opponents, while at the same time destroying America’s system of checks and balances. It might work.

Robert Dover, Professor of Intelligence and National Security & Dean of Faculty, *University of Hull

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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an 9 25

President Donald Trump on Saturday appeared to endorse the idea of “medbeds,” devices long circulated in conspiracy circles that supposedly heal illnesses, reverse aging, or regenerate limbs.

The president’s endorsement came via a video posted to his Truth Social platform, in which an AI-generated version of Trump could be heard saying that “medbed hospitals” would be part of a new health care system in the United States. The video framed the concept as a significant innovation in medical treatment.

“Medbeds” refer to a pseudoscientific theory that a kind of medical bed exists which can diagnose, heal, or reverse disease, aging, or injury in miraculous ways. The concept has gained traction in online communities aligned with QAnon and other fringe groups.

Despite Trump’s presentation, no credible scientific evidence or peer‑reviewed research confirms that any device with the purported medbed capabilities exists. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies do not recognize any device capable of such broad, instantaneous healing.

The video posted by Trump led to strong reactions on social media, including from fact-checkers.

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Political analyst Arieh Kovler wrote on the social platform X: "It's not funny; the MedBed stuff is terribly sad. So many people who are dying or watching a loved one fade away, excited that Trump will finally release all the hidden cures and save them in time. Hang around QAnon-type spaces and you'll see them posting. It's heartbreaking."

Dr. Christine Sarteschi, a criminology professor, wrote: "This has to be a joke. Please say it's a joke."

Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur wrote: "I did not know this one but MAGA is about five good years from being described as a mental illness."

Reporter Jack Jenkins wrote: "Wait: so the President of the United States shared a video of a fake news report, rooted in a conspiracy theory, that features an AI-generated version of himself promoting a policy that…doesn’t exist?"

Writer Scott Santens said: "This conspiracy belief picked up steam in 2020 via QAnon and spread through his base. It's easier to believe this shit when society doesn't provide universal healthcare—even in a pandemic—and you live on the edge of medical bankruptcy or death. Now he's feeding their false hope."

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07/30/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

• Nikki McCann Ramirez and Charisma Madarang @ Rolling Stone: Senate Confirms Trump Lawyer Emil Bove Amid Whistleblower Claims

Bove has been accused of engaging in deception in order to carry out Trump’s agenda.

• Angry White Men: Christian Nationalists Defend Proposed Whites-Only Community

White supremacists are (once again) attempting to build a whites-only community, this time in Arkansas. Known as Return to the Land, this private membership association advertises itself as a community for “traditional views and European ancestry.” On Monday, Christian nationalists Joel Webbon and Wesley Todd interviewed the group’s co-founder, Eric Orwoll, and defended their plan.

• Edith Olmstead @ The New Republic: MAGA Official Says Everyone Investigating Him for Porn Should Resign

Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters had an interesting response to being investigated for accidentally playing porn at work.

• Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Right-wing influencer allegedly helps oust a National Security Agency leader (again)

Far-right activist Laura Loomer keeps exercising enormous influence over Team Trump, successfully lobbying for firings across multiple agencies.

• Will Sommer @ The Bulwark: Dan Bongino, an Emotional Wreck, Throws QAnon a Bone

The administration still has FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s extreme social-media posting habit to rely on as a way to get the faithful back in line.

• Mother Jones: The Bible Says So…or Does It?

On this week’s “More To The Story,” religious scholar and TikTok star Dan McClellan examines how some Christian nationalists use—and often abuse—the Bible to gain political power.

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Briefing

07/31/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

• Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Justice Department dismisses case against a Trump donor, adding to credibility crisis

The DOJ says there is nothing to its decision to drop a case against a Trump campaign contributor, but has it earned the benefit of the doubt?

• Melissa Gira Grant @ The New Republic: QAnon Isn’t Dead. It Lives in the Heart of the Republican Party

The bizarre, powerful conspiracy theory has been declared ​m​oribund many times over. But rather than ​disappear, it ​went mainstream.

• Daniel Villarreal @ LGBTQ Nation: Nancy Mace bluntly declares herself a “proud transphobe”

Growing anti-trans sentiment is leading to these more overt displays of transphobia.

• Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Kash Patel’s Girlfriend Fires Back at Conspiracy Theories About Being an ‘Israeli Spy’ and ‘Honeypot’

Alexis Wilkins, the 26-year-old girlfriend of 45-year-old FBI director Kash Patel, was asked by Megyn Kelly on Wednesday about conspiracy theories that have accused her of being an “Israeli spy” and “honeypot.”

• Ari Berman @ Mother Jones: Trump’s Texas Gerrymander Is Supercharging a New War on Democracy

Texas Republicans just unveiled a shocking plan to give their party five new House seats.

• Liam Archacki @ The Daily Beast: Body Count: Every Trump Administration Scalp Laura Loomer Has Taken So Far

Laura Loomer’s loyalty tests have coincided with at least 15 ousters so far.

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AN AH 7 25

When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) first ran for Congress in 2020, Democrats attacked the far-right MAGA Republican relentlessly for promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Regardless, Greene won that race and is now serving her third term.

QAnon, which started in 2017, claimed that an international cabal of child sex traffickers, satanists and cannibals had infiltrated the United States' federal government and that President Donald Trump was put in the White House to fight them. In 2025, QAnon isn't drawing as much attention as it was five or six years ago. But in an article published on July 31, The New Republic's Melissa Gira Grant argues that QAnon's beliefs haven't really gone away, but are now mainstream within the Trumpified Republican Party.

"Six years ago, shortly before Jeffrey Epstein died in his cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, news broke that the FBI had issued a bulletin warning of the potential threat posed by QAnon," Grant explains. "At the time, QAnon was not widely understood. It appeared to be a complex jumble of conspiracy theories around which communities formed on social media, communities whose members believed they could help bring about the demise of a shadowy, powerful cabal controlling the world and, among other things, trafficking children for sex."

READ MORE:The one man who has the strength to finish off Donald Trump

The MAGA movement is experiencing a great deal of infighting over the Epstein case. Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi want MAGA to move on from Epstein, but other MAGA Republicans have very different ideas.

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"As for whether MAGA's anger at Trump means that QAnon is at last over — the conspiracy theories no longer sustainable in the face of a sex trafficking scandal involving its hero — I am not sure that it can be," Grant writes. "Far from fading, it feels like QAnon is everywhere now."

Christopher Wray, a traditional non-MAGA conservative, was heading the FBI when it issued its warning about QAnon. But the FBI is now headed by someone who aggressively promoted QAnon: MAGA conspiracy theorist Kash Patel.

"When the attempted insurrection on January 6, (2021) made it clear that QAnon was far from over," Grant notes, "some hoped that that might be its demise, now that more people could see the violent, authoritarian reality of the movement. But far from disappearing, it went mainstream — straight into the Republican Party. In 2024, in fact, more than one-quarter of Republicans indicated some belief in QAnon."

READ MORE:'We have it on video!' Ex-RNC chair rips Trump on 'doing the backstroke away from' Epstein

Grant continues, "Take Kash Patel, whose name appeared in one of the original Q drops. In 2022, he was a regular on QAnon podcasts, defending their slogan 'Where we go one, we go all.' He posted a photo on Truth Social claiming to be hanging out with Q, as part of an effort to get the QAnon community to move to the site…. QAnon's conspiracy theories were elastic enough, in other words, to accommodate Patel's leading the FBI. His confirmation wasn't a sign that he was joining the deep state; it meant that he was now positioned to bring about its demise."

READ MORE:Behind the real reason Americans voted for Trump

*Melissa Gira Grant's full article for The New Republic is available at this link.

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RWW 07/24/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Claiming to have a source close to high-level Trump administration figures, QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott McKay reports that Hillary Clinton was executed at Guantanamo in 2018, there were 5 or 6 different people playing the role of Joe Biden, and the "fake Obama" is going to be arrested soon. [VID]

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mma

A QAnon-affiliated figure has hosted Trump’s VA secretary and at least four GOP members of Congress since May

07/22/25

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AN THE CONV 725

The Justice Department asked a federal court on July 18, 2025, to unseal grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein’s case. The direction from President Donald Trump came after weeks of frustration among some far-right groups over his administration’s refusal to release the complete and unredacted “Epstein files.”

Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-profile connections, was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and later died by suicide in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial.

In early 2025, a federal court unsealed portions of the court documents. While names of some of the alleged clients and victims were released, many were redacted or withheld.

Epstein’s arrest and death became a central focus for QAnon followers, who saw them as proof of a hidden global elite engaged in child trafficking and protected by powerful institutions. The release – or withholding – of the Epstein files is often cited within QAnon movement circles as evidence of a broader cover-up by the so-called “deep state.”

Some followers of the MAGA – Make America Great Again – movement and the Republican Party believe in the false claim that the United States is secretly controlled by a cabal of elites who are pedophiles, sex traffickers and satanists.

Over time, what started as a baseless conspiracy on obscure platforms has migrated into the mainstream. It has influenced rhetoric and policy debates, and even reshaped the American political landscape. The foundational belief of many of the QAnon followers is that Trump is a heroic figure fighting the elite pedophile ring.

Trump’s attempts at downplaying or obstructing the very disclosures they believe would validate their worldview has led to confusion. To some, the delay in the release of the files feels like a betrayal, or even the possibility of his wrongdoing. Others are trying to reinterpret Trump’s actions through increasingly baseless conspiracy logic.

Trump has publicly dismissed demands for the full release of the Epstein Files as a “hoax.” He has also made false claims. On July 15, 2025, Trump said: “And I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama.”

As a scholar who studies extremism, I know that the movement views Trump as a mythological figure and it interprets Trump’s actions to fit this overarching narrative – an elasticity which makes the movement both durable and dangerous.

From Pizzagate to QAnon

The QAnon movement began with the Pizzagate conspiracy theory in 2016, which falsely claimed that high-ranking Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring out of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. The baseless theory gained enough online momentum that a man armed with an assault rifle stormed the restaurant, seeking to “free the children.”

In 2017, an anonymous figure called “Q” began posting cryptic messages on message boards like 4chan and 8kun. The baseless accusations of a global network of elites involved in controlling global institutions, including governments, businesses, and the media, as well as operating a child trafficking and ritual abuse, were central to the QAnon movement’s narrative.

The movement has recruited followers through language like “Save the Children,” to mobilize around issues of child trafficking.

Many QAnon adherents, particularly women, were drawn to the movement through such appeals to child protection. According to psychologists Sophia Moskalenko and Mia Bloom, this type of appeal taps into powerful emotional instincts, making conspiracy theories like QAnon more persuasive and harder to dislodge, even in the face of contradictory evidence.

QAnon movement’s rise

QAnon followers perceived Trump as a messianic figure working to expose this cabal in a climactic reckoning known as “The Storm” – a moment when mass arrests would finally bring justice.

They claimed that this moment would eventually bring about a “Great Awakening,” a reference to the religious revivalist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. In this context the phrase described the supposed political and spiritual enlightenment that would follow “The Storm” – a moment of mass realization when people would “wake up” to the truth about the “deep state.”

In 2019, the FBI identified QAnon as a domestic terrorism threat, and major social media platforms began banning related content, but by then, QAnon had bled into mainstream conservative politics. Q-endorsing candidates, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, ran for and won elected office a year later.

Trump and QAnon

During Trump’s first administration – from 2017 to 2021 – the QAnon movement flourished. The posts from Q claimed to reveal insider knowledge of a secret war being waged by the president, often in coordination with the military, against the powerful elite.

Trump never explicitly endorsed the movement, but he did little to distance himself from it.

His administration also included figures, like former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who openly interacted with Q content online.

Trump’s rhetoric, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election, gave new life to QAnon narratives. When he questioned the integrity of the electoral process, QAnon followers interpreted it as confirmation of the deep state’s meddling.

However, after Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, QAnon followers revised their original prophecy to maintain belief in “The Storm” and “The Great Awakening.” Some claimed the defeat was part of a larger secret plan, with Biden’s presidency serving as a cover for exposing the deep state. Some believed Trump remained the true president behind the scenes, while others reframed the awakening as a spiritual rather than political event.

Indeed, by 2020, several congressional candidates openly embraced or showed sympathy for the QAnon movement. SEE REF

At various campaign rallies in 2022 and after Trump used the movement’s symbolism. On Truth Social, his social media platform, he retweeted Q-affiliated accounts, and praised QAnon supporters as “people who love our country.” That same year he reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.”

After the 2020 elections

Trump’s departure from the White House in January 2021 created an existential crisis for the QAnon movement. Predictions that he would declare martial law or arrest Joe Biden and other Democrats on Inauguration Day failed to materialize. Q’s posts also stopped, leaving many followers adrift.

Some abandoned the theory. Others rationalized the failed predictions or embraced new conspiracy narratives, such as the belief that Trump was still secretly in charge or that the military would soon act to reinstate him.

Some QAnon communities merged with or were absorbed into broader anti-vaccine, anti-globalist, and Christian nationalist movements.

How big is the movement?

Estimating the number of QAnon believers is difficult because many individuals do not openly identify with the movement, and those who do often hold a range of loosely connected or partial beliefs rather than adhering to a consistent or uniform ideology. Not everyone who shares a Q meme or echoes a Q talking point identifies as being part of the movement.

That said, surveys by groups like the 2024 Public Religion Research Institute and the Associated Press have found that 15–20% of Americans believe in some of QAnon’s core claims, such as the existence of a secret group of Satan-worshipping elites controlling the government.

Among Republican voters, the number is often higher.

This does not mean all these people are hardcore QAnon adherents, but it does show how far the narrative, or parts of it, has seeped into mainstream thinking.

Epstein as evidence of ‘the cabal’

The Trump administration’s failure to disclose the information in Epstein files has fueled internal confusion, disillusionment and even radicalization within the movement.

For some QAnon believers, this failure was a turning point: if Trump – once seen as the hero in the conspiracy narrative – would not or could not reveal the truth, then the “deep state” must be more entrenched than imagined.

At the same time, frustrations have grown within MAGA and the QAnon movement’s spaces. Some see it as a failure to fulfill one of his most important promises: exposing elite pedophiles. Others believe the delay is strategic, another example of “the plan” requiring more patience.

The QAnon movement continues to evolve, even as its central figure hedges and hesitates, showing how potent myths can be in times of uncertainty. In my view, understanding why this belief continues to gain traction is essential for understanding the current state of American democracy.

Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, *University of Dayton

REF

By Marquise Francis, Yahoo News | January 19, 2020

On the eve of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the combative Georgia Republican known for her association with the fantastical, cultlike QAnon conspiracy theory, was back on Twitter after a 12-hour suspension, and back to making waves and rocking the precarious boat that Republicans find themselves in, having lost the White House and both chambers of Congress.

“I’ve said this all along, it’s people over politicians, not the other way around,” Greene tweeted late Monday night, just hours after her Twitter account was reinstated after it was suspended for violating the social media giant’s policies. “It’s the people of this country that matter. That’s why I’m asking everyone to join me as a Citizen Cosponsor to #ImpeachBiden.”

A rising star among the far-right wing of the party because of her brash, outspoken pro-gun, anti-abortion, stridently conservative views, Greene has most recently found herself at odds with Republican officials, who are alarmed by her record of conspiracy-mongering, bigoted rhetoric and last-stand efforts to undo the election results in her own state.

On Tuesday, Media Matters for America uncovered Facebook posts by Greene from 2018 in which she accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton of encouraging school shootings to push for gun control, calling the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in which 17 people were killed and 17 others injured, a staged “false flag” operation.

“I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that ‘we need another school shooting’ in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control,” Greene wrote.

GOP colleagues have gone out of their way to denounce what one called her “cuckoo” ways.

“She’ll keep making fools out of herself, her constituents, and the Republican Party,” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse from Nebraska wrote in a recent op-ed for the Atlantic, describing Greene as “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.”

“If the GOP is to have a future outside the fever dreams of internet trolls, we have to call out falsehoods and conspiracy theories unequivocally. We have to repudiate people who peddle those lies,” he added.

Last summer Republican officials panicked after videos uploaded to Greene’s Facebook account emerged that showed the then candidate making a series of racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic comments. As thousands of Americans across the country were in the streets marching daily on behalf of racial justice in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, Greene was spewing hate. GOP officials attempted to distance themselves from her campaign.

“The comments made by Ms. Greene are disgusting and don’t reflect the values of equality and decency that make our country great,” Republican House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said, throwing his support to Greene’s primary opponent, neurosurgeon John Cowan.

Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Politico, through his spokesman, that the comments were “appalling” and he had “no tolerance for them.” But McCarthy stayed neutral in the race, choosing to let the primary play out. Greene and Cowan ended up in a runoff, which Greene won.

Some Republican lawmakers then were worried that not enough pushback by national GOP leaders on Greene’s actions would create a firestorm that would not be so easily put out in the months to come.

“This is the kind of race and kind of situation where you need those groups,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who also supported Greene’s primary opponent. (Her Democratic opponent, who faced long odds in the overwhelmingly Republican district, withdrew before the Nov. 3 general election.) “So often, they only get involved when they have someone that they are trying to get in. But I think it’s just as important they get involved when there’s someone they’re trying to get out.”

Today they’re seeing their fears play out.

Greene, who became the first open supporter of QAnon elected to Congress in November, now uses her growing social media following and access to conservative media organizations like Newsmax and OANN to spread lies and push political propaganda. She plans to file an article of impeachment for Biden on his first full day in office because of “abuse of power,” citing Biden’s alleged family business connections with China and Ukraine, but she has not offered evidence of wrongdoing.

Greene has been somewhat of a loose cannon in recent weeks on Twitter, spreading lies about election integrity in her state and pushing for “all Americans” to “mobilize and make your voices heard in opposition to these attacks on our liberties” in a now deleted tweet archived by ProPublica.

She’s even come down on fellow Republican officials.

“Morons like you are responsible for losing GA’s 2 Republican Senate seats,” Greene tweeted in response to Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling’s assertion that she, former Rep. Doug Collins and President Trump were responsible for the substantial drop-off in Republican voter turnout in the Georgia Senate runoff elections. “You ran a Nov 3rd election that was stolen bc you idiots at the SOS mailed out millions of absentee ballots to any one and everyone while GA was an open state.”

On Sunday, Twitter suspended Greene’s account for 12 hours “for multiple violations of our civic integrity policy,” according to a Twitter spokesperson, which included lying about the elections’ validity.

But Greene’s status among hard-core conservative voters in the party seems secure for the time being. She has gained popularity as a vocal supporter of Trump’s efforts to overturn the presidential election, and has risen to borderline conservative stardom by openly supporting QAnon, a baseless theory that Trump is fighting a cabal of “deep state” saboteurs who worship Satan and traffic children for sex. The FBI has deemed the conspiracy theory a domestic terrorism threat.

In recent months she’s tried to distance herself from QAnon, but in an earlier video posted to YouTube, which she has since made private, Greene expressed her admiration for the theory. “Q is a patriot,” she said. “He is someone that very much loves his country, and he’s on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump.”

Yahoo News reached out to Greene for comment, but she has not responded to the request.

Following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Twitter increased its efforts to purge misinformation and incitements to violence from its site. Last week it deleted more than 70,000 accounts that were used to share QAnon conspiracy theories.

But critics want more accountability.

A MoveOn petition to “Remove Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene” from Congress had garnered more than 40,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.

Boebert is a freshman Republican lawmaker from Colorado who holds many of the same views as Greene, and has also dabbled in QAnon conspiracies. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, said Monday that he and Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., had both seen Boebert giving a tour of the Capitol to a “large” group ahead of the riot. Boebert denies this.

The petition accuses Greene and Boebert of “dereliction of duty” and “collusion” in the Capitol riot and occupation, which is under investigation by the House.

Some progressive activists are calling for Greene to be held accountable for spreading lies about election fraud.

“Leave aside the results of this latest big lie, that the president and his enablers won an election, leading to an assault of our Capitol. … It’s extremely troubling and dangerous for the underpinnings of our democracy, [which] relies on the way we elect our leaders, and a peaceful transfer of power,” Robert Brandon, president and CEO of Fair Elections Center, a national, nonpartisan voting rights organization, told Yahoo News. “Certainly if there are folks who contributed to that, they should be held accountable.”

In a year that saw record voter turnout, Brandon warns about a rollback in voting rights in the coming months as a result.

“Voter fraud has been talked about for 20 years, but normally as a way to disenfranchise voters,” he added. “We just saw a loosening up of voting options, whether it be mail-in voting or early voting in this year’s elections, and I think we will have an attack on that, starting in states like Georgia.”

University of New Haven associate professor of national security and political science Matthew Schmidt believes Greene’s rhetoric heightens the danger from right-wing extremists.

“The No. 1 national security threat has been domestic extremist groups,” Schmidt told Yahoo News. “It’s not ISIS, it’s not al-Qaida, it’s not Russia, it’s not China. It’s white supremacists and whoever else is attaching themselves onto QAnon. Reps like Marjorie Greene incite these groups. When she repeats these conspiracy theories that have no basis, she gives them validity because she’s an elected official. It’s incredibly dangerous … and has a long-term effect because this information is used to pass down to other generations that people with differing views are wrong and this is how you can act in response.”

Schmidt added that Congress ultimately has the power to hold Greene and others accountable for things they do and say, but acknowledged that it’s a slippery slope to push to limit any form of free speech.

“[The issue] is that this is the intersection of free speech and culpability of a criminal process,” Schmidt said. “Right now you don’t see enough evidence that she has incited a specific act, but … Congress has the capability to set its own rules and its ethics violations. There could be a way Congress could censor its members … using rules violations.”

But Republicans now have to ask themselves: Have they created a monster they can’t control? Greene has already announced her intention to file an article of impeachment against Biden on his first day in office, a stunt certain to get more attention than votes, but which can only enhance the impression of congressional Republicans as being more interested in showboating than in governing — and complicating McCarthy’s hopes of winning a majority in 2022 and becoming speaker of the House.

Republican leaders have faced this situation before — just last year, in fact, when, after years of tolerating the barely concealed racism and bigotry of Rep. Steve King of Iowa, they decided he went too far in an interview in which he questioned what was offensive about the phrase and concept of “white supremacist.”

---

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MMA SEE CRM 4

QAnon world roiled by Trump opposing releasing the Epstein files

The QAnon conspiracy theory was allegedly built to hold elite child predators accountable. As Trump dismisses the Epstein filings, many in QAnon world are trying to find a way to give him a pass — while only a few others are outraged.

Written by Alex Kaplan

Research contributions from Jack Wheatley

Published 07/21/25

Influencers in the QAnon conspiracy theory movement — which falsely asserts that a secret satanic pedophile cabal that included Jeffrey Epstein runs the world — are trying to explain away President Donald Trump’s efforts to deflect outrage following a Department of Justice and FBI memo reportedly concluding there is “no evidence” Epstein “kept a ‘client list’ or was murdered.”

Many of these QAnon influencers have speculated that there is “more to the story” and that Trump's actions are actually part of an elaborate and “brilliant” plot he is enacting against the supposed pedophile cabal. Additionally, some have indicated that they still trust Trump — who has repeatedly promoted QAnon over the years — and have lashed out at those criticizing him about Epstein, calling it “a loyalty test to see which Con Inc-ers turn against” Trump and saying that “Trump supporters are now aligning themselves with … Fake News narratives."

A smaller group of QAnon supporters, however, have criticized Trump for his comments about Epstein.

Trump downplayed concerns about Jeffrey Epstein, calling them a “hoax” from “weaklings,” following the DOJ memo

• • On July 6, Axios reported, “President Trump's Justice Department and FBI have concluded they have no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a ‘client list’ or was murdered.” Axios noted, “The findings represent the first time Trump's administration has officially contradicted conspiracy theories about Epstein's activities and his death.” Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Trump claimed he would declassify the Epstein files. Attorney General Pam Bondi also previously suggested the Department of Justice was in possession of a client list and distributed binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to right-wing influencers at the White House in February. Axios, [7/6/25; Rolling Stone, 7/15/25; NPR, 7/15/25; CBS News, 2/27/25]

• • Following the memo’s release, Trump told his supporters to “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein,” describing those within his party calling for the release of evidence surrounding Epstein as “stupid” and “foolish.” He also called the Epstein controversy a “hoax” and “bullshit,” and denounced supporters who demand more information on Epstein as “weaklings.” NPR, [7/14/25; ABC, 7/16/25; CBS, 7/16/25]

• • Many other right-wing media figures and callers have reacted with outrage to the Epstein memo, claiming the administration appeared to be involved in a “cover-up,” calling the report a “fumble," and accusing Trump officials of “the ultimate betrayal." Others pushed conspiracy theories that the “deep state” had already destroyed Epstein files. Fox News, however, obeyed Trump's call to stop talking about Epstein. Media Matters, [7/9/25, 7/16/25; MSNBC, 7/16/25]

• ## Some conspiracy theorists have claimed Trump’s actions are part of a larger plan against an alleged pedophile cabal and called it a “psyop”

• • Jacob Creech, known online as Clandestine, said Trump is “trying to tell us that there is more to the story that we don’t know” and those denouncing him are “pedo protectors.” Creech, who has reportedly “been following Q since 2018” and “repeatedly invoked ‘Q’ over the years,” claimed that “it seems Trump is suggesting the files have been doctored before he showed up in 2017,” and that “it makes sense why they cannot tell us everything right now and have to be so indirect/secretive.” He added that Trump “is trying to tell us the situation is complicated, there are things they cannot reveal yet, but the hunt is underway,” and to “let Trump do what he said he would do. He doesn’t operate on your timeline, and we don’t have all the information.” He later claimed that Trump’s “hoax” remark meant that “this hoax is targeted at Trump’s own supporters. Your minds are under attack. MAGA is under a psychological assault,” and that “anyone trying to sow discord amongst Trump’s support or divide his cabinet" is one of “the pedo protectors.” Anti-Defamation League, [4/5/22; Twitter/X, 7/13/25, 7/16/25; Telegram, 7/16/25]

• • “The SCIF” claimed that Trump “WANTS CREDIBLE EPSTEIN INFO RELEASED” and urged people to “think bigger.” The SCIF, which has posted that “if it wasn’t for Q, most people would still have no clue how bad the child trafficking problem really is” and “Q brought it to light for you to unpackage,” wrote: “Listen to what Trump is saying. Do you really believe they would leave evidence for the Trump administration? Ask yourself what credible evidence to they really have? Remember, this started way before Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019.” The account also wrote: “Every Democrat demands the release of all Epstein information. No emotions. Logical moves only. This is the art of war.” Twitter/X, [10/25/24, 7/16/25, 7/16/25]

• • Jordan Sather claimed that Trump may not “want us focused on” Epstein because “I would imagine there are ongoing investigations of the Epstein/Maxwell network or operations dismantling it, so it’s just not time to ‘release anything’ yet.” Sather, who The Daily Beast has described as a “prominent QAnon promoter,” wrote that Trump “has also made it very clear that you can't just ‘release a list’, because some names on the ‘lists’ may not be guilty of anything, and we can't have innocent lives destroyed by bloodthirsty hordes through guilt by association.” A few days later, Sather claimed Trump’s remarks on Epstein were the “Streisand Effect in action,” referring to a term for when an attempt to keep something quiet instead draws more attention to it. The Daily Beast, [1/28/20; Twitter/X, 7/12/25, 7/15/25]

• • “Melissa Redpill,” who Political Research Associates reported has promoted “a specific weaving of Christian apocalyptic tradition with QAnon conspiracism,” claimed Trump “is using all of this and keeping it stirred up in the media to get the Streisand Effect in full force.” In the post, which also invoked the QAnon slogan WWG1WGA (or “where we go one, we go all”), she added: “What he’s saying is the FBI files are trash. You’re not going to find the truth in FBI files. That’s been purged. And what they want to do is they want to have the guilty escape and for the innocent to be held to an account. … He is not happy with these people who are … listening to the cabal and following their orders to get this – these fake FBI files brought to the front and using that for evil.” Political Research Associates, [6/17/21; Twitter/X, 7/16/25]

• • Liz Crokin, who has promoted the QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories, wrote in response to someone claiming Trump made his Epstein remarks “to push Epstein back center stage”: “Ding! Ding! Ding!” CNN, [12/7/22; Media Matters, 11/22/22; Twitter/X, 7/14/25]

• • Kate Buckley, known as “The Kate Awakening,” shared a post claiming Trump is downplaying Epstein to get the opposite outcome and “if you believe that [his remarks are earnest], then you have simply forgotten how Trump plays chess in order to make his opponents do what he wants. And it’s working phenomenally.”Buckley has appeared at QAnon-promoting events and co-founded a Rumble channel that has dedicated much of its programming to covering QAnon. Her post further claimed that “all of the people on the right who refused to talk about Epstein when all of the Anons were, are now screaming for the Epstein files. All of the people on the left who called us conspiracy theorists, including the pedophiles themselves, are now screaming for the Epstein files.” Media Matters, [6/14/23; Daily Dot, 9/4/20; Wired, 7/8/21; Telegram, 7/15/25]

• • Podcast host David “Nino” Rodriguez, who The Daily Beast has described has “a vocal QAnon supporter”: “If you want all the ‘Normies’ and democrats screaming for the Epstein list, this is exactly how I would do it. In my opinion Trump is brilliant.” He also claimed that Trump’s post calling the Epstein controversy a hoax “has to be a trick play.” The Daily Beast, [5/29/21; Twitter, 7/15/25, 7/16/25]

• • Shadow of Ezra, who the Daily Dot has described as “a prominent QAnon promoter,” replied to Nikki Haley’s call for the release of the Epstein Files: “Massive PSYOP going on at the moment.” Daily Dot, [10/28/24; Telegram, 7/15/25]

• ## Some conspiracy theorists have said that they simply trust Trump, even if they are unsure what’s happening with Epstein

• • “TheStormHasArrived”: “When Adam Schiff starts calling for Trump to release the Epstein files, something is obviously up. Trump knows what he is doing.” The account, TheStormHasArrived, has posted that it believed that “the Q op was coming directly from the Trump administration” and “it was to advance the awakening process - and it worked.” Twitter/X, [1/30/24, 7/17/25]

• • Pepe Deluxe, who Vice has described as an “influential QAnon promoter,” posted on Trump and Epstein: “I don’t know the Boss's play,” but “I’m just obeying the Boss because he’s the best we’ve ever had and I support him 💯.” Vice, [4/21/21; Twitter/X, 7/16/25]

• • Jon Herold, known as “Patel Patriot,” on Trump calling the Epstein files a hoax: “We aren't being honest with ourselves by thinking we know the full truth to any of these stories.” In a video from his podcast attached to the tweet, Harold speculated that the supposed files could be a “narrative weapon” against Trump. Herold gained prominence in the QAnon movement after the 2020 presidential election when he created a conspiracy theory known as “Devolution.” He later co-founded a Rumble channel that dedicated much of its programming to covering QAnon and has written that posts from Q “are legit.” Media Matters, [6/14/23; Daily Dot, 11/23/21; Twitter/X, 7/16/25, 11/26/24]

• • Pepe Lives Matter, which reports have called a QAnon influencer and QAnon account, wrote that they “truly believe what Trump knows what he is doing” regarding Epstein. However, the account wrote that it seemed “like such a narrative catastrophe,” that they “could understand why many in MAGA feel upset,” and “shaming people for thinking for themselves or questioning things is not my way.” After Trump called on Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony,” the account praised Trump, saying that the president was “essentially forcing the world to demand information about Epstein's occult island” and achieving “mass awakening.” Twitter/X, [1/7/21; Newsweek, 4/12/21; Raw Story, 12/3/21; Telegram, 7/16/25, 7/17/25]

• ## Some conspiracy theorists have defended Trump against MAGA supporters criticizing him

• • Jordan Sather wrote about Epstein, “Part of me is thinking Trump is running a loyalty test to see which Con Inc-ers turn against him,” referring to a segment of conservatives. Twitter/X, [7/16/25]

• • Jeffrey Pedersen, known as “intheMatrixxx”: “Do you see what’s happening here? It’s ALL BULLSHIT! STOP HELPING THE DEEP STATE THAT CORRUPTED THE EPSTEIN INVESTIGATION.” The New York Times has described Petersen and his co-host Shady Groove as “two prominent QAnon influencers.” The New York Times, [11/10/20; Twitter/X, 1/11/20, 7/13/25]

• • “Patri0tsareinContr0l” — an account which has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory, such as sharing posts from Q on social media — posted, “We have reached a point in time where a chunk of Trump supporters are now aligning themselves with MSNBC and Fake News narratives about Trump and the Epstein ‘files.’” The account added that “this should set off MAJOR RED FLAGS that something else is going on here. What that is, I don’t know. But Trump is giving off plenty of signal that Democrats and the media are up to their dirty tricks again. So it’s pretty simple- who do you trust more: TRUMP or the Democrat/MSM propaganda machine?” Twitter/X, [2/20/25, 7/16/25]

• • Jon Herold replied to right-wing host and activist Riley Gaines’ criticism of Trump: “Can anybody show me where Trump campaigned on releasing Epstein files?” Twitter/X, [7/16/25]

• • Also in response to Gaines’ Trump criticism, MJTruth posted, “Trump most certainly DID NOT campaign on releasing the Epstein Files.”MJTruth has repeatedly posted the QAnon slogan WWG1WGA on social media. Media Matters, [7/28/23; Twitter/X, 7/16/25; Telegram, accessed 7/25/23]

• • :{:{Account “patriot storm 17,” which has shared posts from Q on social media: “Never forget how mainstream just tried to psyop you guys into believing Trump (the first president to actually attack human child trafficking) was trying to protect pedos.” Twitter/X, [12/4/23, 7/15/25]}:

• ## Some conspiracy theorists have disagreed with Trump regarding Epstein

• • David “Nino” Rodriguez: “Just to be clear.. I DO NOT believe the Epstein list should be withheld from the public for some greater plan.” Added Rodriguez, “I believe children are our most sacred commodity. The real national security threat is letting child predators walk the streets.” However, he also wrote that “the way I feel about it and understand it are two different things.” Twitter/X, [7/17/25]

• • Robert Cornero Jr., known online as “Neon Revolt”: “Let’s, for a second, take @realdonaldtrump at his word. The Epstein files are all corrupt and tampered with by these various Democrats and their underlings. WHY HASN'T HE ARRESTED A SINGLE ONE, THEN, YET??” He added: “He’s claiming to know they did this. He’s saying he has evidence of they all committed a FEDERAL CRIME. IF (and that's a big if) but IF that's the case - Why aren’t ANY of them in shackles right now?? Arrest Obama. Trump said he did it. Arrest him this very moment. And yet, he hasn't. Why?” Vice reported that Neon Revolt is “one of the most prominent QAnon influencers who has spread conspiracy theories and fomented violence among his hundreds of thousands of loyal followers on far-right social network Gab.” Vice, [1/12/21; Gab, 7/16/25]

• • Enoch: “We are still going to talk about Epstein. If there is manufactured evidence, let's see it. If there is legit evidence, let's see it.” Enoch, who the Detroit Free Press described as “a QAnon conspiracy theorist,” added, “This elephant is not going to leave the room.” Twitter/X, [5/16/21, 7/16/25, 7/17/25; Detroit Free Press, 1/10/21]

• ## Trump has repeatedly promoted the QAnon movement

• • Trump defended the QAnon movement in 2020, and since then he has amplified posts with explicit QAnon content numerous times. A Media Matters review has found that Trump has amplified QAnon-promoting accounts on Truth Social over 1,000 times. Media Matters, [12/31/20, 10/29/24; Bluesky, 5/14/25]

//

1. ### Right-wing media are flailing in response to Trump's DOJ memo about Jeffrey Epstein

07/09/25 10:46 AM EDT

2. ### Right-wing shows field angry calls about Epstein and the Trump administration

07/16/25 4:58 PM EDT

3. ### Trump has amplified QAnon-promoting accounts nearly 1,000 times on Truth Social

10/29/24

---

DUCK 625 QANON

NPR

https://www.npr.org › 2022 › 07 › 12 › 1111131901 › today-s-jan-6-hearing-examined-the-role-of-q-anon-proud-boys-and-oath-keepers

Today's Jan. 6 hearing looked at the role of Q-Anon, Proud Boys and ...

Jul 12, 2022The committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held a hearing on Tuesday focused on the role of the conspiracy theory QAnon and extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

Author:Tom Dreisbach

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https://www.bbc.com › news › world-us-canada-66169914

The 'QAnon Shaman' and other Capitol rioters who regret pleading ... - BBC

Jul 15, 2023A growing number of Capitol rioters have gone back on their guilty pleas and apologies - including one of the most recognisable faces from 6 January.

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https://time.com › 6267335 › jan-6-qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-released-early-prison

Why Jan. 6 'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley Was Released Early | TIME

Jacob Chansley, the convicted Jan. 6 rioter who was dubbed the "QAnon Shaman" thanks to viral photographs of his outlandish getup, has been released from prison and transferred to a halfway ...

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https://www.newsweek.com › qanon-shaman-reacts-january-6-pardons-2018840

QAnon Shaman Reacts to Jan 6 Pardons: 'I Regret Nothing'

Jan 22, 2025Jacob Chansley was among more than 1,500 people convicted of crimes related to the January 6, 2021 attack that President Donald Trump pardoned.

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https://apnews.com › article › fact-check-january-6-jacob-chansley-tucker-carlson-193191103193

Posts misrepresent rioter's actions in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

"BREAKING: Never before seen video of January 6 shows Jacob Chansley, the QAnon Shaman, being led through the Capitol by police the entire time that he was in the building," reads a tweet that had received more than 189,000 likes and more than 65,000 shares as of Tuesday. The tweet includes a clip from Carlson's show in which Chansley can be seen calmly walking around the Capitol with ...

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https://www.lawfaremedia.org › article › what-jan.-6-revealed-about-qanon-and-militias

What Jan. 6 Revealed About QAnon and Militias | Lawfare

Nov 8, 2023What a study of 18 anti-government extremists arrested in connection with Jan. 6 tells us about QAnon and militia fusion.

From flags etched with burning Qs to “Where we go one, we go all” T-shirts and the infamous “QAnon Shaman,” the presence of QAnon at the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was palpable. Also prominent, albeit somewhat less visibly, were various insignia signifying membership in far-right extremist groups like the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters.

The affiliations are distinct and without obvious overlap. QAnon adherents and these anti-government extremist groups seem entirely separate. They emerged as independent entities. People who dissected the early “Q drops” on 4chan and 8kun or who reposted QAnon conspiracy theories were not necessarily anti-government extremists, and their activities were primarily online. Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters, by contrast, were defined by anti-government extremist beliefs and tended to mobilize offline in structured groups. But Jan. 6 brought many of them together. Which raises the question: Did QAnon adherents and far-right extremists turn up at the Capitol through independent motives, or did they share something in common?

The evolution and convergence of the groups’ ideologies has been a significant topic of discussion among researchers. But fewer of them have considered the question in the context of Jan. 6.

With that in mind, I conducted a study of 18 individuals arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. All individuals have alleged links to both QAnon and one of three far-right extremist groups: the Oath Keepers (nine of the 18), the Proud Boys (four of the 18), or the Three Percenters (five of the 18). My review of court documents, social media posts, and reporting about their cases—as well as scholarship on extremism—revealed three shared ideological pillars: a belief in government corruption, apocalypticism, and a responsibility to defend.

QAnon

First emerging on 4chan in 2017, QAnon is an umbrella of loosely connected conspiracy theories that revolve around the central idea “that a cabal of powerful elites controls the world, using their power to covertly abuse children.” QAnon spread mainly across social media, creating communities of the conspiracy’s followers on mainstream platforms. The wide range of conspiracy theories it includes gives QAnon a broad appeal, leading to a diverse demographic of followers: women, non-Republicans, and individuals who are well educated and financially secure.

QAnon has become well known for its conspiracy theories surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. For instance, QAnon formed the backbone of viral conspiracy theories doubting the origin or existence of the pandemic, which helped inspire a wave of protests across the U.S. against lockdown procedures and other government mandates. Before, during, and after the 2020 election, online QAnon communities latched onto conspiracy theories of a “deep state” interfering in the 2020 election to steal Donald Trump’s election win, including the beliefs that “middle-of-the-night dumps of fake mail-in ballots [swung] red states to blue” and “Republican votes had been changed or thrown out thanks to foreign plots, complex CIA vote-harvesting programs, and the machinations of a truly evil election administrator—the voting-machine company Dominion.”

Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and the Militia Movement

:{:{The 18 arrestees I studied all have alleged ties to anti-government groups, including the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, or the Proud Boys. Although there is some variation in whether the groups are properly described as militias—for instance, the Proud Boys are sometimes described as “street fighters” rather than a militia—researchers have often considered them in the broader context of what’s known as the “militia movement.” Founded in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 2009 by Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, the Oath Keepers aim to recruit former military and law enforcement personnel, and they operate in local and state chapters scattered across the country. The Oath Keepers seek to uphold their interpretation of the Constitution against perceived federal tyranny. }:

The Three Percenters are a decentralized movement founded in 2008 with multiple organizations that adhere to its ideology. Their name originates from the false historical belief that only 3 percent of American colonists fought against the British, leading to their claim that only 3 percent of Americans are needed to overthrow today’s tyrannical federal government. Finally, the Proud Boys were founded in New York City in 2016 and functioned as a street-fighting group violently opposing those they viewed as threatening the values of “Western culture,” such as Antifa, Black Lives Matter, feminists, immigrants, Muslims, and others. The Proud Boys have collaborated in the past and continue to collaborate with radical anti-government extremist groups, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis in events that frequently result in violence.}:

The Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters have occupied prominent places in the militia movement since their creation because of their ideologies centered around militia conspiracy theories like the New World Orde_r_. The Proud Boys, sometimes referred to as an “alt-lite” street fighting group, have recently taken a clearer place alongside the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters in the militia movement. In the months leading up to the Capitol attack, the Proud Boys became increasingly connected with numerous militias, and their ideological similarities were on display when they collaborated with the Oath Keepers on Jan. 6.

:{:{For that reason, it is helpful to consider all three groups in the broader context of the modern militia movement in the United States, which dates back to the 1990s. The movement, composed loosely of militias and anti-government extremist groups, formed in reaction to federal gun control measures and deadly standoffs between civilians and federal agents.}:

Groups within the movement continue to be characterized by their emphasis on paramilitary activities and belief that the U.S. government is tyrannical, collaborating with the New World Order to oppress Americans under the rule of a one-world government. The militia movement gained momentum from its inception around 1992 (corresponding with the Ruby Ridge standoff) until the late 1990s. However, after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995—an act that had been reportedly inspired by pro-militia literature and conspiracy theories—the movement’s activity declined significantly. Another wave of anti-government groups in the militia movement emerged after the election of President Barack Obama in 2008. Finally, the militia movement rose in a third wave after the election of President Trump.

With each of these resurgences, the dominant ideology of the militia movement has shifted. Most notably, the focus pivoted away from targeting the federal government after Trump—whose candidacy the militia movement had supported—won the election. Instead, focus moved toward “other perceived enemies, such as Antifa” and opposing “state-level gun control measures, state-level pandemic-related restrictions, and Black Lives Matter protests.”}:

The Militia Movement Meets QAnon

Recently, dominant ideologies within the militia movement have shifted yet again, this time finding a rallying point around QAnon conspiracy theories. As early as 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report claiming that anti-government extremists “are increasingly subscribing to and propagating the QAnon conspiracy theory, which asserts that pro-Trump forces will soon take down the so-called deep state.” Throughout 2020, as members of extremist groups coalesced in what researchers have termed a “militia-sphere,” their messaging latched on to QAnon conspiracy theories.

The confluence is perhaps not surprising, as both ideologies share three common ideological foundations. The first is a deep belief in government corruption. For the militia movement, the corruption is located in the American federal government, particularly among members of the Democratic Party. Several conspiracy theories that took root decades ago serve to reinforce this belief. For example, the New World Order conspiracy theory, which originated in the 1990s, claims that a cabal of global elites has infiltrated the U.S. government and is actively working to erode American sovereignty with the goal of eventually bringing all Americans under a global government through the United Nations. The militia movement claimed that government corruption was evident from Jewish banking conspiracy theories, alleged communist infiltration into the federal government, and COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

For QAnon adherents, the corruption is also located within the American federal government, where a purported cabal of elites practicing Satan-worshiping rituals and running a child sex-trafficking ring are secretly plotting against Donald Trump. When Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, QAnon adherents extended that theory, decrying an alleged leftist conspiracy to steal the election.

:{:{Suddenly, QAnon election fraud conspiracy theories’ claims aligned quite well with the militia movement’s preexisting ideological foundation of federal government corruption. Arrestees echoed QAnon concepts of the deep state and 2020 election fraud while combining them with militia ideas like communist infiltration of the federal government, with one arrestee claiming that the “country has been SOLD to CHINA,” since “China gave us a god damn virus, they stole our elections, [and] bought our politicians.” }:

Other arrestees interpreted QAnon 2020 election conspiracy theories as further evidence of preexisting government corruption founded in militia ideas of global government takeover, alleging that the election was stolen by a “criminal, corrupt government establishment that has been compromised by foreign nations that are under the control of global, elite technocrats.”}:

The second ideological pillar QAnon and the militia movement share is known as apocalypticism—the belief that the end of society as we know it is imminent. In the militia movement, this apocalyptic theme presents itself through predictions of a future conflict between members of the movement and the federal government (either a second revolutionary war or a second civil war). Militia members believe that they will triumph at the end of this conflict and have an opportunity to rebuild a utopian society from the ashes of the previous American civilization. In QAnon, apocalypticism is most evident in the prophecy of the “Storm,” a day of reckoning in which the agents of the deep state will be revealed and arrested before being shipped off to Guantanamo Bay to face military tribunals and eventual execution.

My review of the 18 Jan. 6 arrestees’ social media posts and digital communications identified apocalyptic rhetoric echoing—and even merging—both QAnon and militia movement ideologies. The arrestees imagined widespread violent conflict against the government in which “patriots” would purge the federal government of “treasonous” political leaders and reconstruct their ideal society, sparked by patriots’ intervention in the political processes of Jan. 6. All of this is consistent with the militia movement’s historical embrace of violent, revolutionary rhetoric, resting largely on the idea that the American people are headed toward an unavoidable “future conflict with the federal government.”

:{:{The third shared ideological pillar is the notion of a responsibility to defend}:. QAnon, in imagining nefarious actors in almost all aspects of public life, built a community of “people who are determined to think you’re in danger, and that it’s their job to protect you, while the only real danger is their protection.” Although notably applied to children, as seen in QAnon adherents’ consistent “save the children” messaging, QAnon’s responsibility to defend also included Donald Trump and his presidency following the 2020 election.

QAnon conspiracy theories about the 2020 election imbued in Q’s followers that “Trump had no chance of losing as long as the election was conducted fairly and legally,” whereas a Biden victory “meant the election was stolen and illegal.” By raising the stakes of Trump’s electoral loss to the destruction of fair government, QAnon election conspiracy theories created a responsibility to defend Trump’s presidency: A Trump loss, as one arrestee stated, meant “we have zero democracy.” Likewise, many of the 18 arrestees alluded to the militia movement’s long-standing self-identification as saviors of the nation. They appeared to view themselves as “patriots” who had legitimate authority to use violence and intervene in political processes to defend the nation and Trump against the corrupt government and Antifa, who were trying to push through a “stolen” election.}:

Implications

:{:{These shared ideological foundations create common ground for otherwise unrelated groups, at least as they pertain to the 18 subjects of the study. The 2020 election and its aftermath revealed a bond between QAnon and the militia movement that is likely to persist because of the Biden administration’s perceived illegitimacy and threat to liberty. QAnon election fraud conspiracy theories may also draw in more extreme groups such as the “boogaloo bois," whose growing presence in the militia-sphere may represent the emergence of “a faction that is particularly receptive to opportunities to conduct violent actions under the umbrella philosophy of accelerationism.”}:

Researchers also fear that QAnon conspiracy theories may attract individuals from the mainstream to the militia-sphere, particularly when they are banned from social media for QAnon-related posts. Such individuals are then more likely to be exploited by organizations in the militia movement and other far-right groups on alternative social media platforms.}:

The confluence of ideas presents opportunities for reciprocal radicalization. There is also a risk of broader ideological convergence, which “confuses counterterrorism defenses, eroding predictability and challenging law enforcement and intelligence categorizations,” making it harder for authorities to “adequately prepare countermeasures, let alone warn and defend potentially targeted communities and sites.”

Now, the 2024 presidential election is approaching, again conjuring images of Q flags waving alongside fatigues-clad extremists in stack formation. In the face of these far-right convergences, was Jan. 6 only a snapshot?

---

PBS

https://www.pbs.org › newshour › nation › jan-6-rioter-known-as-qanon-shaman-sentenced-to-41-months

Jan. 6 rioter known as 'QAnon Shaman' sentenced to 41 months

Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Jan. 6 rioter whose horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint made him one of the more recognizable figures in the assault on the Capitol, has been sentenced to ...

usatoday.com

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USA Today

https://www.usatoday.com › story › news › factcheck › 2023 › 03 › 13 › fact-check-false-claim-qanon-shaman-amid-jake-angeli-jan-6-tape-reveal › 11431180002

Fact check: False claim about QAnon shaman amid Jan. 6 tape reveal

Mar 13, 2023A March 7 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) makes a claim about Jacob Chansley, widely known as the QAnon shaman, and his presence at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. "Never before seen video of ...

abcnews.go.com

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ABC News

https://abcnews.go.com › US › qanon-emerges-recurring-theme-criminal-cases-tied-us › story?id=75347445

QAnon emerges as recurring theme of criminal cases tied to US Capitol ...

On Jan. 6, the influence of QAnon on rioters was evident in the mountain of social media videos and photos depicting their raid on the Capitol complex.

nytimes.com

An abiding sense of loyalty to the fringe online conspiracy movement known as QAnon is emerging as a common thread among scores of the men and women from around the country arrested for their participation in the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection, court records reveal.

The FBI first labeled QAnon and its fluid online community of supporters as a "dangerous extremist group" in August 2019, and over the past two weeks it has featured prominently in criminal indictments filed against many of those alleged to have participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, including a number accused of egregious crimes.

Among them is Douglas Jensen, the bearded man seen in a viral video wearing a distinctive "Q" T-shirt, menacing a lone black U.S. Capitol Police officer as he led rioters through the halls and pushed the mob deeper into the Capitol building. Jensen later told investigators that he "intentionally positioned himself" toward the front of the mob so his T-shirt would be visible to cameras and "Q" could "get the credit," according to an FBI affidavit.

A man later identified as Douglas Jensen confronts police as Trump supporters demonstrate on the second floor of the Capitol near the entrance to the Senate, Jan. 6, 2021.

Mike Theiler/Reuters

Cleveland Meredith Jr., who the government also believed to be a supporter of QAnon theories, allegedly posted online about his desire to execute House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by "putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV," according to court records. He went to Washington, D.C., armed with multiple firearms and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition in his possession, according to prosecutors. He was late to the rally because his car broke down.

At least three more individuals charged on Tuesday are believed to be supporters of the QAnon theory, according to new FBI records.

The high profile of QAnon adherents in the Capitol riots represents what experts describe as a stunning evolution from a harmless fringe forum for people peddling outlandish conspiracies to a gathering space for those intent on plotting domestic terror -- and the transformation could present a vexing new challenge for law enforcement.

"We don't have a good predictor of where it's going to go," said Mary McCord, a former federal prosecutor and expert in homegrown terror groups who called it "extremely troublesome" to see some elected officials fanning the flames of twisted QAnon theories.

### MORE: How Trump obliterated norms and changed the presidency

"You actually have elected members of Congress who, at best, are not condemning Q, and at worst are actually espousing some of the crazy conspiracy theories -- dangerous conspiracy theories," McCord said.

Two newly elected members of the House of Representatives pushed QAnon messages ahead of the 2020 elections. And notably, President Donald Trump brushed aside questions about QAnon when pressed about it before the election in October, saying he knew "nothing" about it.

"I do know they are very much against pedophilia, they fight it very hard," Trump said while refusing to condemn the false theories at an Oct. 15 town hall event.

Just weeks earlier, at a White House press briefing in August, the president said QAnon followers "love the country" and added that he appreciated their support -- which in turn helped embolden belief in the movement.

"He said a whole lot by not saying a whole lot at all. For a lot of us supporters, we knew that he really couldn't come out and say, 'Oh yes, I support it," Gina Sink, 55, a QAnon supporter from Lexington, N.C., told ABC News at a Trump rally in September following the president's comments.

"Following the November 3, 2020 election, many QAnon adherents began pushing false and discredited theories of massive voter fraud and that the 2020 election had been 'stolen' from President Trump," the Department of Justice warned in a new affidavit on Tuesday.

### MORE: President Trump does not denounce QAnon, baseless Osama bin Laden conspiracy theory at town hall

On Jan. 6, the influence of QAnon on rioters was evident in the mountain of social media videos and photos depicting their raid on the Capitol complex. Several rioters were seen wearing "Q" clothing, and chanting slogans tied to the movement. In a Jan. 13 bulletin prepared by the FBI for law enforcement partners, federal agents reported that "symbols associated with QAnon conspiracy theories" were widely displayed by rioters.

In charging documents, federal prosecutors have noted the apparent influence of QAnon among several participants accused of threatening violence during the siege.

Jacob Chansley, the horned helmet-wearing rioter who was one of the most widely recognized from the incident, is also believed to be a supporter of QAnon theories.

Jacob Chansley yells inside the Senate Chamber, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

Win Mcnamee/Getty Images, FILE

"Chansley is an active participant in -- and has made himself the most prominent symbol of -- a violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government on January 6, 2021," government prosecutors said, using some of its bluntest words yet to describe the riot.

The Jan. 6 attack proved deadly to at least two QAnon adherents. Rosanne Boyland, 34, who was reportedly crushed by the crowd at the Capitol complex, had recently started following QAnon conspiracy theories online, her sister later told the Associated Press. And Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol Police officer inside the Capitol, was later characterized in an FBI bulletin as "an alleged QAnon-supporter."

Ashli Babbitt in a driver's license photo from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA).

Maryland MVA/Calvert County Sheriff via AP

QAnon, which first surfaced in 2017, rests on the baseless theory that Trump is fighting against a global network of billionaire pedophiles, devil-worshipping Democrats and baby-eating Hollywood stars and their "deep state" counterparts embedded in the U.S. federal government's sprawling bureaucracy. A growing group of followers consumed and contributed to the false narratives first on the freewheeling social media site known as 4chan, then on other social media sites, fueled by what they thought were cues from "Q," a secret intelligence official they believed was leaving clues about government corruption. It is not clear if "Q" even exists.

Many of the claims are dark and outlandish, and for years adherents to the theory were considered mostly fringe and not a significant threat. They had "keyboard bravado," as one FBI special agent said last week, and were confined to the darkest corners of the web.

But recently, numerous violent incidents have been linked to people who support QAnon theories, and recent polling suggests that the conspiracy theories are reaching wider audiences than previously thought. For example, more than one in three Americans believe a so-called "deep state" is working to undermine Trump -- another unfounded conspiracy commonly peddled by QAnon users -- according to an NPR/Ipsos poll conducted in December.

### MORE: Horn helmet-wearing, painted face Capitol rioter should remain in custody: DOJ

For law enforcement officials seeking to prevent future violent attacks, the rise of QAnon is presenting fresh challenges. Authorities tasked with monitoring online extremism must now grapple with how to evaluate and combat emerging plots without infringing on constitutionally protected free speech.

"We have to separate the aspirational from the intentional and determine which of the individuals saying despicable things on the internet are just practicing keyboard bravado, or they actually have the intent to do harm," said FBI agent-in-charge Steven D'Antuono during a press briefing last week.

In the wake of the Capitol attack, the FBI prepared a document meant to assist law enforcement partners in identifying QAnon "indicators" online, defining phrases and hashtags used by its followers. But the document also notes that "the FBI does not initiate any investigative activity based solely on the exercise of First Amendment activities."

### MORE: The men behind QAnon

In a separate bulletin distributed to law enforcement partners on Jan. 13, the FBI warned that conspiracy-minded followers of QAnon may feel emboldened after the perceived "success" of the Capitol assault.

"Some [domestic violent extremists] view the 6 January event as a success, in conjunction with the potential to exploit follow-on lawful gatherings and ideological drivers -- including conspiracy theories, such as QAnon -- likely will also inspire some [domestic violent extremists] and others to engage in more sporadic, lone actor or small cell violence," the bulletin warned.

Ahead of the inauguration, law enforcement officials are keeping a close watch on the threat posed by QAnon-aligned "lone wolves." The Washington Post reported Monday that the FBI privately warned its partner agencies that QAnon adherents have discussed returning to Washington for Joe Biden's swearing-in, posing as National Guard troops.

*ABC News' Alex Mallin contributed to this report.

---

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › 2021 › 11 › 17 › us › politics › qanon-shaman-jan-6-sentenced.html

Jan. 6 Defendant Known as QAnon Shaman Sentenced to 41 Months

Nov 17, 2021A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: Jan. 6 Rioter Known as QAnon Shaman Gets 41 Months.

---

[### How the 'Stop the Steal' movement outwitted Facebook ...

_NPR_

https://www.npr.org › 2021/10/22 › facebook-groups-j...](https://www.npr.org/2021/10/22/1048543513/facebook-groups-jan-6-insurrection)

Oct 22, 2021 — But that only sent Stop the Steal loyalists to other groups on Facebook filled with misinformation and claims the election was stolen. It was a ...

[### How Facebook played a role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com › 2021/10/22 › jan-6-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/22/jan-6-capitol-riot-facebook/)

Oct 22, 2021 — On Jan. 6, Facebook staffers expressed their horror in internal messages as they watched thousands of Trump supporters shouting “stop the steal” ...

[### How the 'Stop the Steal' movement outwitted Facebook ...

NPR

https://www.npr.org › 2021/10/25 › how-stop-the-steal-...](https://www.npr.org/2021/10/25/1048918715/how-stop-the-steal-movement-outwitted-facebook-ahead-of-the-jan-6-riot)

Oct 25, 2021 — Leaked documents from inside Facebook show the social network was caught flat-footed by the "Stop the Steal" movement, which culminated in the Jan. 6 siege on ...

[### January 6 insurrection and Facebook: Internal docs paint a ...

CNN

https://www.cnn.com › 2021/10/22 › business › januar...](https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/business/january-6-insurrection-facebook-papers)

Oct 24, 2021 — The analysis does note, however, that once Facebook saw the results of Stop the Steal on January 6th and took action, it was able to deploy ...

[### Facebook Hosted Surge of Misinformation and Insurrection ...

ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org › article › facebook-hosted-...](https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-hosted-surge-of-misinformation-and-insurrection-threats-in-months-leading-up-to-jan-6-attack-records-show)

Jan 4, 2022 — On Nov. 5, Facebook banned “Stop the Steal,” a hugely viral group created on Election Day itself that quickly attracted over 300,000 members ...

[### Inside Facebook's struggle to contain insurrectionists' posts

Politico

https://www.politico.com › news › 2021/10/25 › facebo...](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/25/facebook-jan-6-election-claims-516997)

Oct 25, 2021 — It also had a hard time curtailing groups from the far-right Stop the Steal movement — which alleged the election had been stolen from Trump — ...

[### The untold story of how the January 6 riots were planned ...

Fast Company

https://www.fastcompany.com › Tech](https://www.fastcompany.com/90980346/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-january-6-broken-code)

Nov 13, 2023 — The Stop the Steal Facebook group was born out of a mid-Election Day chat between a mother-daughter duo named Amy and Kylie Kremer, conservative ...

[### Facebook whistleblower documents offer new revelations ...

ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

https://abcnews.go.com › Technology › story](https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-whistleblower-documents-offer-revelations-jan-response/story?id=80694096)

Oct 24, 2021 — Facebook removed the first large "Stop The Steal" group, but copycats and similar groups by other names remained on the platform through the Jan ...

[### Facebook bans all 'stop the steal' content

NBC News

https://www.nbcnews.com › tech › tech-news › faceboo...](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-all-stop-steal-content-n1253809)

Jan 11, 2021 — "We are now removing content containing the phrase 'stop the steal' under our Coordinating Harm policy from Facebook and Instagram," they said.

[### Facebook 'Supercharged' Stop the Steal Campaign Ahead ...

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com › Tech › Politics](https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-supercharged-stop-the-steal-capitol-insurrection-congress-mike-doyle-2021-3)

Mar 25, 2021 — A US Representative slammed Facebook for "supercharging" false claims of voting fraud and stolen elections that turned into real-world ...

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an 6 25

Despite President Donald Trump sanctioning ongoing immigration raids nationwide and deploying U.S. troops to the second-largest city in the United States, it still might not be enough to please his base, according to a recent analysis.

In a Tuesday article for anti-Trump conservative news outlet The Bulwark, journalist Will Sommer argued that there was a "vicious MAGA feedback loop" that is dictating the administration's latest actions, and that it's showing no sign of slowing down. In fact, Sommer suggested that even Trump circumventing California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) in calling up the California National Guard (the first time a president went around a governor to call National Guardsmen since 1965) and sending roughly 700 U.S. Marines to Los Angeles may still not be enough to give his MAGA supporters what they want.

"It is a thrilling way to show the Trump faithful that the administration is really doing something," Sommer wrote. "It also underscores one of the most underappreciated elements of what is currently happening in Los Angeles and elsewhere: Much of it is being driven by a feedback loop between the Trump administration and online MAGA-world, each urging the other on to more cruelty."

READ MORE:'Watch out': Republican senator warns GOP may lose Congress over this line in Trump's bill

Sommer pointed to a recent report showing that MAGA was turning on even the most vociferously pro-Trump officials within the administration. One recent example is FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, who faced MAGA's wrath after he conceded that convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein did indeed take his own life in prison — shooting down a conspiracy theory he himself promoted in the recent past.

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"In a similar vein, Trump world figures like Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have spent years telling followers that the world around them was a horrifying hellhole — with millions of illegal immigrants terrorizing the country and threatening the very fabric of our civilization," Sommer wrote.

"But while Bongino can’t really cook up a fake Jeffrey Epstein murder plot to win back his fans, Noem and Miller definitely can ramp up deportations," he added. "And they can do so while bringing the MAGA media ecosystem along for the ride."

The Bulwark writer went on to observe that many on the far right were calling for the administration to follow through on its threat to arrest Gov. Newsom after Trump floated the idea earlier this week (Newsom has also dared Trump to arrest him). While Trump administration immigration advisor Tom Homan has said that Newsom hasn't done anything to merit arrest, Sommer posited that "law and due process seem to matter little to MAGA die-hards who want the blood, detentions, and incarcerations they were promised."

READ MORE:'Heated moment': MAGA activists now using a four-letter slur they hate against each other

Click here to read Sommer's full article in the Bulwark.

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an 6 25

'It's time to sound the alarm': GOP cuts to food assistance would hit Trump country hard

:{:{---}:

TROLLING?

AN 6 25

President Donald Trump is being criticized for sharing a post containing a debunked conspiracy theory that former President Joe Biden died in 2020. Trump reposted a message on his Truth Social platform claiming that Biden was "executed" in 2020 and that a clone replaced him.

"There is no #JoeBiden - executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. >#Democrats dont know the difference," read the post Trump shared on Saturday night.

Social media users reacted to the post, saying that the president's act of sharing it was concerning

Political scientist Norman Ornstein wrote on the social platform X: “Not to worry, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson are on the case. Oh, wait……”

READ MORE:Signs the tide is turning on Trump

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Researcher Alex Kaplan noted: “Claims that Biden has been replaced by a clone have been a thing over the years in the QAnon community. This post Trump amplified was quoting a post from a QAnon group on Truth Social as well.”

“Donald Trump just shared a post on Truth Social that claims Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced with a clone that is “robotic engineered.” Trump is absolutely out of his mind. He’s clearly unstable and unwell. This is very concerning,” said Democratic influencer Harry Sissonin a post on X.

“If Joe Biden posted something like this Hannity would be roused from his sleep to anchor special coverage. But Trump posts apes___ conspiracy theories and the mainstream press yawns. His craziness has been completely normalized,” said progressive influencer Aaron Rupar.

“It always gets worse with this guy. Always,” wrote another user.

READ MORE:Outrage grows over a single paragraph buried deep in Republicans' 'Big Beautiful Bill'

“So there was no cognitive decline?” tweeted another.

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AN 4 25

Rolling Stone writer Fortesa Latifi says Redditors are mouning what looks like the permanent loss of family members as Trump 2.0 drowns the national argument in lies and conspiracy.

The subreddit r/**QAnonCasualties subreddit crawls with alienated family members saying “Dad has gone full nazi,” or “Mom finally contacted me after my late stage cancer diagnosis to screech … about black people.” There are also plenty of entries in the line of “Mom said she’s removing herself from my life.”

The QAnon conspiracy claims the U.S. is run by a cabal of “Satanic, pedophilic Democrats who can only be stopped by President Donald Trump.” Originally treated as fringe, the movement gained credibility as more and more Republican politicians began winning elections on QAnon claims. Now that President Donald Trump has fully embraced the movement, r/QAnonCasualties sub redditors are growing “pessimistic and exhausted.”

READ MORE:John Roberts owns this nightmare — and he has no one to blame but himself

“Five years ago, if your family was deep into the Q lore, you could say, ‘Hey, look at all of the people out in the world saying that this is bogus,’” said Dr. Jennifer Whitmer, a sociology professor at California State University Stanislaus, who studies conspiracy theories. “But now, with those beliefs being mainstreamed, they gain more legitimacy and it’s harder to challenge them. Those fringe beliefs have become legitimized through sources of power.”

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With Trump taking office and elevating Q-sympathizers like Kash Patel to head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, posters are developing a “fatalist bent” that their family will never again be normal.

“There’s no winning,” said r/QAnonCasualties sub member Jill. “You could show them anything you want — facts and everything — and they won’t believe you.” A subreddit moderator named "Dan" also pointed out that for some, it's difficult to accept the finality of the loss.

“Maybe the first time something crazy happens, it shakes you to the core. The next time, you’re more able to handle it," Dan said. "The difficult reality for me to really accept was that it was impossible to change someone’s mind about things.”

READ MORE:'I might just be done': Idaho woman says new Trump policy would kill her business

The most family members can do, said Whitmer is try to draw victims away from the cult by “finding ways to occupy” their attention.

“Spend time with your family or get them involved in something else. It might not necessarily change their mind, but [could] distract them,” Whitmer said. “That seems to be the most effective thing we saw, the thing that actually leads to changes in beliefs.”

She added, however, that cult-consumed victims can lash out in painful ways and that when pushing to reconnect you should take care to “protect yourself,” even if that means taking space away from the relationship.

{Read the full Rolling Stone article here (subscription required).}:

READ MORE:(Opinion) American billionaires plan for a world without us in it

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===

jan 6 QANON INVOLVEMENT:

omg

jan 6

From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on January 5, a series of Trump rallies were held at Freedom Plaza.^[154] Notable speakers included Alex Jones, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, and Roger Stone.^[161]

Both Flynn and Stone had received presidential pardons in prior weeks. On December 8, Trump pardoned retired US Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI about communications with the Russian ambassador. Flynn, a prominent QAnon proponent, participated in the D.C. events on January 5, while his brother, U.S. Army general Charles Flynn, would participate in a conference call on January 6 when he would refuse permission to deploy the National Guard after the breach of the Capitol.^[162]

162

Bunch, Will (February 7, 2021). "Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and the criminal conspiracy case of U.S. v. Donald Trump". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on August 26, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.

On December 23, Trump pardoned Roger Stone, who had been found guilty at trial of witness tampering, making false statements to Congress, and obstruction. Stone, who had longtime ties to both the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, employed Oath Keepers as security on January 5.^[163] Stone's Oath-Keeper driver was later convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in plotting and executing the following day's attack.^[164]...

Endangering Mike Pence

On January 5, after Vice President Mike Pence refused to participate in the fake electors plot, Trump warned that he would have to publicly criticize him. This prompted Pence's chief of staff to become concerned for Pence's safety and to alert Pence's Secret Service detail to the perceived threat.^[87][334] At 3:23 a.m. on the morning of January 6, QAnon leader Ron Watkins posted a tweet accusing Pence of orchestrating a coup against Trump and linked to a blog post which called for "the immediate arrest of [Pence], for treason".^{[335][336][337}]

:{:{At 2:24, while Pence was in hiding in the Capitol, Trump tweeted that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done".^[338][339] Trump followers on far-right social media called for Pence to be hunted down, and the mob began chanting, "Where is Pence?" and "Find Mike Pence!"^[340] Outside, the mob chanted, "Hang Mike Pence!", which some crowds continued to chant as they stormed the Capitol;^[339] at least three rioters were overheard by a reporter as saying that they wanted to find Pence and execute him as a "traitor" by hanging him from a tree outside the building.^[341] }:

One official recalled that: "The members of the [Vice President's Secret Service detail] at this time were starting to fear for their own lives... they're screaming and saying things like 'say goodbye to the family'".^[342] Alerted by a staffer to the threat against Pence, Trump reportedly replied "So what?".^[343] According to witnesses, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told coworkers that Trump complained about Pence being escorted to safety and then stated something suggesting that Pence should be hanged.^[344][345] Pence later argued that Trump's "reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day".^[346]}:

On April 3, 2025, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced Pence as the recipient of the JFK Profile in Courage Award "for putting his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021".^[347]

...

QAnon

Jacob Chansley, the "QAnon Shaman", in the US Senate during the attack. He was later sentenced to 41 months in prison,^[398] being released from halfway house in May 2023^[399]

:{:{QAnon is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017.^[400] QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic,^{[401][402][403}] cannibalistic child molesters are operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against Donald Trump.^[407] }:

Watchdogs studied QAnon posts and warned of the potential for violence ahead of January 6, 2021.^{[408][409][410}] Multiple QAnon-affiliated protesters participated in the attack.^[411][412] One participant, whose attire and behavior attracted worldwide media attention, was Jacob Chansley, a QAnon supporter nicknamed the "QAnon Shaman".^[413] Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was shot dead by police as she was trying to break into the Speaker's Lobby, was a committed follower of QAnon.^[414][415] The day before the attack, she had tweeted: "the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours".^[416]...}:

Analysis

:{[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2021_storming_of_the_United_States_Capitol_DSC08970_%2850827352796%29.jpg)A row of flags lining the Capitol grounds.}:

In February 2021, an academic analysis in The Atlantic found that of the 193 persons so far arrested for invading the Capitol, 89 percent had no clear public connection to established far-right militias, known white-nationalist gangs, or any other known militant organizations. "The overwhelming reason for action, cited again and again in court documents, was that arrestees were following Trump's orders to keep Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the presidential-election winner". They were older than participants in previous far-right violent demonstrations and more likely to be employed, with 40% being business owners. The researchers concluded that these "middle-aged, middle-class insurrectionists" represented "a new force in American politics – not merely a mix of right-wing organizations, but a broader mass political movement that has violence at its core and draws strength even from places where Trump supporters are in the minority".^[456]

The Associated Press reviewed public and online records of more than 120 participants after the attack and found that many of them shared conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election on social media and had also believed other QAnon and "deep state" conspiracy theories. Additionally, several had threatened Democratic and Republican politicians before the attack.^[373] The event was described as "extremely online", with "pro-Trump internet personalities" and fans streaming live footage while taking selfies.^[457][458]

According to the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism:

The "ordinary people" argument misses, or at least obscures, the extent to which the Capitol rioters were linked to dangerous groups and ideas.... at least 280 of the individuals charged with committing crimes on Jan. 6 were associated with extremist groups or conspiratorial movements. This includes 78 defendants who had links to the Proud Boys, a group with a history of violence; 37 members of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia; 31 individuals who embraced the similarly anti-government and militant views of the Three Percenters movement; and 92 defendants who promoted aspects of QAnon.... These 280 individuals make up approximately 35 percent of the Capitol defendants. While it is true that they do not represent a majority of the more than 800 people who have been charged in connection with the riot, ... A 35 percent rate of participation in extremism among a collective of apparently "ordinary" individuals is an astounding number – one that should shake us to our core.^[91]}:

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Main article: QAnon § Attempts to overturn the 2020 U.S. election

qAnon followers supported the efforts of Trump's legal team to overturn the election through multiple lawsuits and submitted conspiracy theories of their own. They theorized that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems had deleted millions of votes for Trump. This was repeated on the far-right cable news outlet One America News Network, and Trump tweeted the segment to his followers.^[357][358]

One specific QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theory, known as Italygate and pushed in the last weeks of Trump's presidency, alleged that the American election had been rigged using technology from the United States Embassy in Rome with the help of an Italian hacker, an Italian general and the Vatican.^{[359][360][361}]

Several elected leaders, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Arizona House Election Chairwoman Kelly Townsend were well known QAnon adherents before the 2020 election and who helped lead attempts to overturn the election in the aftermath.^{[362][363][364}] In June 2020, Townsend posted a QAnon video with a flaming "Q" to her social media and followed high-profile QAnon accounts.^[362] Some local Arizona politics reporters have referred to Townsend as the QAnon Queen of the Legislature.^[365]

:{:{Based on a misinterpretation of the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 by the sovereign citizen movement,^[366] according to which it transformed the federal government into a corporation and rendered illegitimate every president elected thereafter, some QAnon followers claimed that the 18th president (Ulysses S. Grant, in office from 1869 to 1877) was the last legitimate president. They believed that Trump would be sworn in as the 19th president on March 4, 2021. }:

The original inauguration date until the Twentieth Amendment changed it to January 20 in 1933, and that he would restore the federal government.^[367] Based on intelligence that an identified but undisclosed militia group might attempt an attack on the Capitol on that date, the U.S. Capitol Police issued an alert on March 3. House leadership subsequently rescheduled a March 4 vote to the previous night to allow lawmakers to leave town.^[368]}:

:{:{The Anti-Defamation League, British security firm G4S, and nonpartisan governance watchdog Advance Democracy Inc, studied QAnon posts and warned of the potential for violence on January 6, 2021.^{[369][370][371}] Violence did occur that day, as the attempts to overturn the election culminated with the attack on the U.S. Capitol. }:

Multiple QAnon-affiliated protesters participated in the disturbance. Rioters were either seen wearing clothing with Q-related emblems or identified as QAnon followers from video footage.^[372][373] One participant whose attire and behavior attracted worldwide media attention was Jake Angeli, a QAnon supporter nicknamed the "QAnon Shaman".^[374] Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was shot dead by police as she was trying to break into the Speaker's Lobby, was a committed follower of QAnon.^[375][376] The day before the attack, she had tweeted: "the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours".^[377]}:

The attack led to a crackdown on QAnon content on social media.^[378][53] On April 19, 2021, the Soufan Center reported that Russia and China had amplified and "weaponized" QAnon at the time of the Capitol attack "to sow societal discord and even compromise legitimate political processes."^[379][380]

Cohen, Zachary (April 19, 2021). "China and Russia 'weaponized' QAnon conspiracy around time of US Capitol attack, report says". CNN. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2021.

wayback

washington (CNN)Foreign adversaries like Russia and China "weaponized" QAnon messaging to sow further discord among the American population in the months leading up to, and following, the January 6 attack, according to a new report released Monday that details how these countries are not only utilizing the same false narratives to peddle disinformation on social media, but also fueling a conspiracy theory that could incite more violence by domestic extremists.

The findings, which are detailed in a report produced by the Soufan Center, suggest "that foreign states are utilizing the QAnon conspiracy theory to sow societal discord and even compromise legitimate political processes," the independent non-profit group, which is focused on global security, said in a press release.

'An existential threat': The Republicans calling for their party to reject QAnon conspiracy theories

US officials are keenly aware that state-backed actors from countries like Russia have been amplifying QAnon messaging and federal agencies are investigating that foreign nexus as part of a broader effort to address the threat posed by domestic extremists in the wake of January 6, multiple sources told CNN.

FBI Director Christopher Wrayreiterated last week that the bureau is not looking into the QAnon movement "in its own right" but tracking how foreign actors are amplifying the conspiracy theory is one of the few areas US officials have been able to explore in an otherwise limited investigative effort.

Sources previously told CNN Russia has been pushing QAnon narratives as part of its long-standing disinformation campaign targeting the US, but Monday's report reveals new evidence that China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have also engaged in similar activity as recently as this year.

"Our data collection and analysis has demonstrated that QAnon has been weaponized by America's adversaries," according to Zach Schwitzky, founder of a research company that partnered with the Soufan Center to produce the report. "Actors from Russia, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have all entered the fray amplifying QAnon messaging, most likely as a means to sow further discord and division among the American population."

The findings were first reported by Yahoo News.

China emerges as top foreign QAnon promoter

While the QAnon movement is widely believed to have originated within the US, the report notes that these foreign actors were incredibly active in pushing the conspiracy theory in late 2020 and during the first two months of this year.

"In both 2020 and for the first two months of 2021, almost one-fifth of all QAnon posts on Facebook originated from administrators overseas," the report states.

While the report found that Russian actors were behind the majority of this activity last year, it says China emerged as "the primary foreign actor touting QAnon-narratives online" in 2021, timing that coincides with Beijing's ramp up of disinformation efforts targeting the US more broadly.

FBI Director Wray knocks down conspiracy theory that January 6 rioters were 'fake Trump protesters'

"Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran also contribute to amplifying the QAnon conspiracy theory online to reach a broader audience," the report adds. "Such activity blurs the line between domestic and foreign disinformation, representing a significant challenge for the U.S. government and international action."

That problem is compounded by the fact that QAnon "has the potential to incite more acts of violence in the foreseeable future," according to the report, an assessment that echoes concerns raised by officials from various federal agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and elements of the intelligence community.

Those fears are directly linked to how the QAnon conspiracy theory "generates a process of radicalization and violence similar to that fueling other violent extremist movements, including the so-called Islamic State," the report states.

There is a "cognitive opening among the US population that can be manipulated by violent extremist groups and recruiters in support of the QAnon movement," it adds, noting that foreign actors are also seeking to capitalize on this vulnerability as well.

"These findings suggests the QAnon conspiracy theory has the potential to serve as a force multiplier for domestic violent extremism (DVE), including racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (REMVEs) who are already seeking to recruit them into their ranks," it says.

A complicated challenge

Frequently described as a virtual cult, QAnon is a sprawling far-right conspiracy theory that promotes the absurd and false claim that former President Donald Trump has been locked in a battle against a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles made up of prominent Democratic politicians and liberal celebrities.

Members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol had ties to QAnon, and the conspiracy theory has made its way from online message boards into the political mainstream in recent years.

'QAnon shaman' must remain in jail, judge rules

A DHS spokesperson previously told CNN that the department is working with its federal partners and those in the private sector "to combat the spread of conspiracy theories and other false narratives on social media and other online platforms that can radicalize people to violence and fuel domestic violent extremism."

During her confirmation hearing in January, President Joe Biden's Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, also committed to investigating any foreign connections to QAnon, though acknowledged that DHS and FBI are in the lead on such issues.

But Wray's testimony last week before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees underscore how the FBI is largely restrained in its ability to investigate elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory despite acknowledging it poses a national security threat.

"Like a lot of other conspiracy theories, the effects of Covid, anxiety social, social isolation, financial hardship ... all exacerbate people's vulnerability to those theories, and we are concerned about the potential that those things can lead to violence, and where it is an inspiration for federal crime, we're going to aggressively pursue it," he told House lawmakers during last week's world wide threats hearing.

FBI director says bureau is not investigating QAnon conspiracy 'in its own right'

Wray also noted that the FBI has arrested "at least five self-identified QAnon adherents related to the January 6 attacks specifically," acknowledging a clear link between the conspiracy theory and the insurrection.

Monday's report also notes that as of February 8, "at least 27 individuals who participated in the Capitol insurrection on 6 January 2021 were affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy."

But while court documents clearly indicate that QAnon has fueled beliefs of defendants who took part in the insurrection, whether the conspiracy theory's origins merit criminal investigation has proved to be a difficult jump to make, and there is no indication to date that law enforcement officials are working to determine the identity of the person behind the original message or other similar anonymous social media posts that have emerged in recent years.

Federal officials have routinely said that social media companies must take on a larger role in combating the spread of online conspiracy theories like QAnon, a view that is echoed in Monday's report.

"As occurred with al-Qaeda and Islamic State propaganda, algorithms employed by social media companies to generate continued engagement with platforms are partly responsible for radicalizing individuals to support QAnon," it says. "The findings of this report make clear, it is imperative to protect freedom of speech, but social media companies also need to re-examine their de-platforming approaches, design of algorithms, and the prevalence of disinformation on their platforms."

FB twit de-plat some?

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ROLLING STONE

On Christmas Eve, Steven Brandenburg, a Milwaukee-area pharmacist, attempted to destroy more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine, because, he admitted, he feared the Moderna drug would “alter the recipient’s DNA.” Described in law-enforcement documents as a “conspiracy theorist,” Brandenburg, 46, had reportedly warned his wife that “the world is crashing down around us” and that “the government is planning cyberattacks and plans to shut down the power grid,” according to divorce-court documents.

IFrame Content

If you’re surprised that a scientifically educated medical professional, trusted with dispensing lifesaving medicine, could suffer a rebellion against reason and give himself over to discredited conspiracy theories, you haven’t been paying attention. In the America of the 2020s, respectable men and women surrender to this kind of unreal thinking every day. (Brandenburg pleaded guilty to federal tampering charges in January; his lawyer would not discuss Brandenburg’s conspiratorial beliefs.) The phenomenon is known as “red-pilling” — a reference to a scene in The Matrix where Keanu Reeves’ character chooses to take a red pill and discover the hidden truths of the world — and it affects those whose once-rational skepticism swallows them whole, pulling them into a networked community of like-minded conspiracy theorists. While the public record does not indicate Brandenburg traveled this far, many find a home in the big-tent conspiracy of QAnon, whose members increasingly see vaccination as part of a diabolical plot by the “deep state” to enslave humanity.

:{:{Why has the nation become gripped with conspiracy theories — including so many revolving around the shots that could end this devastating pandemic? “It’s precisely because we’ve had 450,000 deaths, and so much uncertainty and so much fear, that there’s fertile ground for this stuff to take hold,” says Ashish Jha, a physician and dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. The pandemic is also occurring in the context of a 20-year decline of American trust in institutions, says Ethan Zuckerman, who formerly directed the Center for Civic Media at MIT.}:

He describes the QAnon cult as a reservoir at the bottom of that slippery slope. “Q is what happens when you take that mistrust in a really damaging direction,” he says. “It’s usually people who lost trust in one institution and then found a coherent worldview that says, ‘Don’t just mistrust this one institution — mistrust all the institutions. All of them are in it together.’ ” This full rejection of confidence in doctors and drug companies, in media and philanthropy, in politicians and government agencies, Zuckerman says, is “how the anti-vax movement underwent almost a merger with QAnon.”}:

For most Americans still grounded in reality, the arrival of safe, effective inoculations against Covid-19 has sparked hope. The nine-month dash to design, test, and begin to administer inoculations against the devastating pandemic was an unprecedented medical triumph. The rollout of these drugs has already delivered protection for millions of the elderly and medically vulnerable. For younger, healthier people awaiting their shots, vaccination promises a -ticket out of social isolation and back to a life of packed concerts, subway trains, restaurants, and nightclubs.

At present, America’s great challenge is ramping up supply to meet overwhelming demand. But experts caution the country will, sooner than later, confront a formidable wall of vaccine resistance that could block our return to “life as normal.” A Pew poll in December found that only 60 percent of Americans intend to vaccinate and nearly 20 percent — or roughly 50 million adults — are dead set against it.

If that many Americans abstain from vaccination, the coronavirus will continue to circulate, and to mutate, posing a grave ongoing threat to public health.

Vaccine hesitance can be rooted in reasonable concerns, says Jha. Were the new vaccines rushed to market too quickly? Did the Trump administration’s overt politicization corrupt the approval process? Are side effects severe? Will our notoriously racist health system prioritize and safeguard communities of color that have been hardest hit by the pandemic? “We win no battles by minimizing” these worries, Jha says, “or suggesting that those people are being unreasonable or anti-science or anti-vaxxers. They’re raising legitimate concerns that should be addressed.”

But for millions of others, dread about vaccines defies logic or reason, and bleeds instead into belief systems of what Zuckerman has dubbed “the unreal” — that we’re pawns in a diabolical global game run by ruthless elites and that vaccines are somehow not medicine but poison. “Concerns about -safety have been absorbed into this other way of viewing the world,” says Jack Bratich, a Rutgers professor and author of Conspiracy Panics. “It’s about a plan to inject people with controlling substances. That’s where QAnon overlaps with the anti-vax movement.”

As demonstrated by the January 6th storming of the Capitol, perpetrated by many Americans immersed in the QAnon cult, this red-pilling can have deadly, destabilizing consequences, and not just for conspiracy-theory believers. “This may be the most important public-health issue of our time — misinformation, disinformation,” Jha insists. And unlike the coronavirus, the contagion of conspiracy theory is one against which we’re largely defenseless. “We have been blindsided,” he says. “We as public-health people have to figure out how to counter it in a way that’s effective. And we don’t have the tools.”

Exploring conspiracy theories and mass delusion can inadvertently popularize misinformation. So inoculate yourself with facts: The novel vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna are revolutionary and take advantage of our own cellular machinery to safeguard recipients against future coronavirus infection.

If you’ve seen computer renderings of the coronavirus, you know its surface is covered by spike proteins that create the “crown” that gives coronaviruses their name. Humans get infected with Covid-19 when these spike proteins pierce healthy cells, allowing the virus to invade, infect, and begin replicating.

Traditional vaccines have relied on exposing people to an inactivated (killed) or attenuated (weakened) virus. As the immune system reacts to a non-threatening inoculation, it gains the ability to fight off infection from the real pathogen. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t include any virus at all. Instead, they use genetic code — messenger RNA or mRNA — to activate a few of our own cells to become spike-protein factories. The vaccine consists of tiny strands of mRNA encased in fat — a lipid particle — that allows them to slip inside a cell without being attacked. Once inside, the mRNA functions roughly like computer code, instructing cells to begin assembling coronavirus spike proteins out of amino-acid building blocks already in our bodies.

The presence of these strange proteins triggers our immune systems to create antibodies to neutralize them. Our immune system also summons T-cells to attack and shut down cells that were coded to produce spike proteins. Together, these immune responses prepare the body to fight off a real potential coronavirus infection. “It’s very elegant,” says Jha of the vaccine design. “It’s also de-risked it a lot. There’s no physical way to get Covid from this thing.” As for the conspiracy theory that an mRNA vaccine alters your own genes? “It literally doesn’t,” he says. “It doesn’t become part of your DNA.”

An anti-vaxxer at a MAGA rally in Washington, D.C. A Pew poll in December found roughly 50 million Americans are planning to abstain from vaccination, threatening herd immunity.Erin Scott/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Taming the pandemic will require both individual immunity — as produced by the vaccines — and community-level “herd immunity” created when a critical mass of individuals are resistant to infection. Herd immunity is like a firewall in public health; a localized flare-up of infection among a few individuals will be unable to spread broadly, instead burning itself out.

So far, the drugs appear to be living up to their billed efficacy of 95 percent protection from infection. And apart from some rare (and treatable) allergic reactions, the side effects seem well tolerated. But vaccine avoidance is already emerging as a troubling trend, particularly among health care and nursing-home workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Through mid-January, the CDC reported that only 32 percent of eligible nursing-home workers nationwide had chosen to get vaccinated.

Distrust of the vaccine is also high among communities of color. The reasons for this, while complex, are not difficult to understand. American public-health history is marred by institutional racism, including the horrific 40-year “Tuskegee Experiment,” in which hundreds of black men with syphilis were promised treatment that was, in fact, deceptively withheld, leading to 128 deaths. Our current health care system produces wildly disparate outcomes for people of color, including a maternal death rate that’s 2.5 times higher for black women than for white women. In the pandemic, communities of color have been hardest hit. These Americans disproportionately work in frontline positions, live in more crowded housing, have poorer access to doctors, and higher incidence of comorbidities. Meanwhile, crucial technologies like pulse oximeters, which use light to measure blood oxygenation and guide treatment, have been found to routinely malfunction on dark skin.

The hard truth is that returning to the point where Americans can go back to work or enjoy a night out at a crowded bar and be confident no one is going to get sick will require persuading millions to overcome their fear of vaccination and take a jab for the team. The 60 percent of Americans currently intending to get vaccinated is simply not good enough to establish herd immunity. “We’ve got to address the issues that help us get closer to 80 percent vaccination,” Jha says. “I’d love to get up to like 90, 95 percent.”

The larger the group of unvaccinated individuals, the more chance the virus can mutate to pose a danger, even to the already vaccinated. “Large outbreaks anywhere can give rise to variants that can escape vaccines everywhere,” Jha writes. “It’s the nightmare scenario of a never-ending pandemic.”

Long before the coronavirus hit, America had been gripped by a fierce anti-vaccine movement, which had itself become increasingly unmoored from scientific critique and drifted into conspiratorial waters.

Vaccines have always inspired popular fear. Decades ago, it was justified: The rollout of the polio inoculation in the 1950s tragically infected 40,000 children, paralyzing hundreds, and killing 10, because of botched manufacturing that failed to disable the live virus. Even with modern safety advances, vaccination campaigns expose a particularly American tension between personal choice and public safety. “In the U.S., there’s this suspicion or refusal around bodily sovereignty,” Bratich says. “People don’t like stuff stuck in them.”

Contemporary anti-vax culture took root in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when a startling rise in autism was hypothesized to be connected to childhood vaccinations. Robust science has since debunked any relationship between vaccination and autism. But at the time, the specter of vaccine injury sparked real concern among reasonable people.

In 1998, the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet published an article purporting to link the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine to “developmental regression in a group of previously normal children.” In the U.S. a year later, a federal review of mercury in drugs highlighted that a mercury-based preservative in childhood vaccines could expose infants, over the first six months of life, to a potentially harmful quantity of the neurotoxic metal. Out of an abundance of caution, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that the preservative, thimerosal, be phased out of vaccines. In 2005, Rolling Stone and Salon co-published a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. piece, “Deadly Immunity,” that helped push the provocative hypothesis that thimerosal triggered autism into wider circulation. The piece drew swift criticism and required significant corrections, including to a key statistic about childhood mercury exposure.

By the turn of the decade, both hypotheses had collapsed under the weight of scientific evidence. In 2009, a paper inClinical Infectious Diseasescited “20 epidemiologic studies” to conclude that “neither thimerosal nor MMR vaccine causes autism.” The Lancetretracted its MMR paper in 2010, with the journal’s editor saying he felt he’d been deceived, while calling the paper “utterly false.” In 2011, Salon retracted the Kennedy piece, writing, “The best reader service is to delete the piece entirely.” The story no longer appears on Rolling Stone’s website.

Fear of vaccination, however, didn’t disappear because scientists said it should. Instead, anti-vax beliefs spread widely, popularized by celebrities like actress Jenny McCarthy and then-Apprentice star Donald Trump, who infamously tweeted in 2014: “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes — AUTISM. Many such cases!” In a 2016 survey, 77 percent of parents who chose not to vaccinate their children cited a feared link to autism, and 71 percent cited fear of vaccine additives.

That same year, faced with a public-health threat from schools where up to 40 percent of kids were unvaccinated, California eliminated a “personal exemption” to vaccination, effectively requiring shots for all kids to attend public school. Measles had been eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but declining vaccination rates contributed to outbreaks infecting more than 1,200 across dozens of states in 2019. That year, the World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitance as one of its top “10 threats to public health.”

Today’s anti-vax movement has grown increasingly cozy with theories about dark agendas, ruthless profit motives, and powerful enemies, reserving peculiar animus for billionaire Bill Gates, whose foundation promotes vaccination globally. For his part, Kennedy continues to promote unfounded links between vaccines and autism, even though thimerosal has been phased out of childhood vaccines: “They replaced it with aluminum,” he says, “which is almost as bad.” (Aluminum salts have been safely used in vaccines for more than seven decades, according to the CDC.) “People like me get vilified and ridiculed,” he says, “but I will debate anybody about this.”

Kennedy now runs the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, where last April he published an article titled “Gates’ Globalist Vaccine Agenda: A Win-Win for Pharma and Mandatory Vaccination.” The piece purports to be grounded in science, but Kennedy gets the facts twisted. He claims, for example, that a 2010 Gates Foundation-funded trial of a malaria vaccine was responsible for “killing 151 African infants and causing serious adverse effects, including paralysis, seizure, and febrile convulsions, to 1,048 of the 5,949 children.” In reality, the trial was not implicated in the death of any child, and only 13 malaria-vaccine recipients had significant side effects. The trial was conducted in a region of Africa with high child morbidity and mortality, and the terrifying numbers Kennedy touts come from tallying up every health crisis experienced by the kids in the trial — both malaria-vaccine recipients and those in control groups — and brazenly attributing every dark outcome to the jabs. This includes deaths from head injury, HIV, malnutrition, and drowning. (Confronted with these facts, Kennedy admits error: “One can never definitively say that a particular death was or was not caused by a vaccine,” he says. But he adds without evidence that every death was “plausibly attributed to the vaccines,” while also baselessly alleging that the use of different vaccines, rather than placebos, in the control groups was “an act of fraud that appears designed . . . to mask death rates in the study cohort.”)

The rest of Kennedy’s piece paints Gates as a reckless and unaccountable billionaire pulling the strings of global institutions. He points to a TED Talk that Gates delivered boasting that expanded vaccine use “could reduce population.” This is meant to sound nefarious, but Gates has long spoken of reducing childhood mortality as a key to stabilizing populations in the developing world. As the conspiracy-debunking site Snopes explains: “Gates is not interested in using vaccines to reduce the population by using them as an agent of death or a tool to sterilize unsuspecting masses. Rather, Gates is interested in keeping more children alive in order to reduce the need for parents to have more children, thus limiting the overall population growth rate.”

If Kennedy dabbles in the Bill Gates conspiracy waters — writing that the coronavirus has given Gates “an opportunity to force his dictatorial vaccine programs” on all Americans — millions of others are performing cannonballs. A gee-whiz proposal, supported by the Gates Foundation, to use tiny subdermal markers for patients in the developing world to track their vaccination history, without needing a clinic to keep the paperwork, has morphed into a widely embraced conspiracy theory that Gates wants to microchip the citizens of the world. A YouGov poll last May found that 28 percent of Americans believed Gates wants “to use a mass vaccination campaign against Covid-19 to implant microchips in people that would be used to track people with a digital ID.” The belief rose to 44 percent of Republicans and to 50 percent of dedicated viewers of Fox News.

Conspiracy theories have been part of the lifeblood of American politics for centuries. In the 1820s, so many Americans were convinced that a shadowy and perhaps satanic cabal threatened the republic that they formed the Anti-Masonic Party and elected dozens of members to Congress. In the Red Scare of the 1950s, the far-right John Birch Society accused President Dwight Eisenhower of being “a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.”

Trump rose to political dominance promoting the birther conspiracy theory that Barack Obama had been ineligible to hold office. And he won and sustained the presidency by encouraging his white, working-class supporters to blame their social woes on the merciless “globalists” of the “deep state.” Conspiratorial thinking, academic research shows, often takes root in groups, like many in Trump’s base, that are experiencing economic or social dislocation. “People often turn to conspiracy theories when bad things are happening around them,” says Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent in England. “They are looking for ways to cope, people to blame,” she says. “If people believe that powerful, secret forces are responsible, then it isn’t their fault that things are bad for them,” and they can make themselves feel better without having to “tease apart the complex reasons for their disadvantage.”

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 created a “perfect storm” for new conspiracy theories to take root, says Bratich, the Rutgers professor. The pandemic overwhelmed government institutions, creating enormous fear and economic uncertainty. Lockdown life also created super-spreader conditions for paranoia, with Americans searching for answers in online forums where unreal ideas circulated unchecked. New converts were then able to spread these ideas, in real life, to their pods of close family and friends under lockdown.

Eric Oliver is a political-science professor at the University of Chicago who has studied conspiracy theories since the 1990s. He argues that conspiracy belief helps conquer anxiety by giving people a feeling of “I understand what’s happening in the world. I have a narrative that explains things.” They also root free-floating fear in something that feels solid: “ ‘The reason I’m feeling anxious is there’s a secret cabal doing something terrible. And now I’ve identified it.’ ” A reinforcing factor is “a certain narcissism,” he says. “The conspiracy theory gives them a sense of special knowledge: ‘I know something that’s going on that nobody else does.’ It feels empowering to them.”

A protester holds an anti-vaccination sign as supporters of President Donald Trump rally to reopen California as the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen, on May 16, 2020 in Woodland Hills, California.David McNew/Getty Images

A paradox of conspiracy theories is that they’re not full flights of fancy. They involve imagined and invented connections between real people, phenomena, and events. There’s a structure to the irrational belief. “Conspiracy theories are not the product of a disordered mind; they’re the product of an overly ordered mind,” insists Zuckerman. “Conspiracy theories happen when you have an enormous need for order in a disordered universe.” Zuckerman quit his post at MIT in protest of the university’s links to disgraced sex-criminal financier Jeffrey Epstein and now teaches at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “I do not subscribe to the theory that Epstein was killed in prison,” he says, but points to the myriad conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein as a case in point: “Having a genuine villain out there is really important for conspiracies to root themselves sufficiently in reality so that we continue to pay attention to them.”

This search for order has taken millions of Americans to a dark place — the nihilistic worldview of QAnon. The QAnon belief system is a crossover between a conspiracy theory and a religious cult, and its ideology takes strands of many past conspiracies and weaves them into a big tent where priors are welcome and almost any theory can find safe harbor.

The core of Q is familiar. It posits that the surface world of respectable politicians, well-intentioned government institutions, and a media seeking to hold them accountable, is an illusion. The real power in the world is wielded by shadowy power brokers in the government, Hollywood, and the media called “the cabal” or the “deep state.” QAnon takes this conspiratorial boilerplate to wild extremes. The “deep state” is alleged to be insatiable in its thirst for power, and willing to do anything — from launching wars to spreading pestilence — to move closer to global domination. The Q ideology has no room for subtlety. The conspirators are believed to be the embodiment of evil, actual “luciferians” and pedophiles.

The theory may sound lunatic, but QAnon is no longer relegated to the fringe: A Civiqs tracking poll finds that even after the attack on the Capitol, 10 percent of Republicans describe themselves as “supporters” of QAnon. Tenets of the Q belief system are even more widely held: An NPR poll released at the end of 2020 found 17 percent of Americans rated as “true” the statement that: “A group of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media.”

In the Q mythology, the heroes fighting to expose the deep state include an alleged intelligence officer, known as Q, for the “Q-level” clearance he or she is alleged to hold. The conspiracy has elements of a massive role-playing game. For years, the anonymous “Q” dropped cryptic hints or “crumbs” on message boards like 8chan and 8kun, which QAnon adherents then sought to “bake” into coherent narratives about coming events. The community also revered Donald Trump as a lonely fighter, seeking to undermine, arrest, and vanquish the deep state.

How did the anti-vax movement — which thrives in far-left communities like Portland, L.A., and Marin County, California, — get mixed up with a quasi-religious cult that held up Donald Trump as its savior? “It was very surprising to see the anti-vax community cross the streams” with QAnon, says Zuckerman. “Anti-vaxxers are people who often identify as leaning politically left. They often come to this stance because they’re anti–corporate, and they’re really concerned about Big Pharma making money.”

American political ideology is most often conceptualized as a straight line running from left to right. But an alternate visualization presents the spectrum instead as a horseshoe, where the left and right extremes bend back toward one another. Conspiracy theories can bridge these far ends like a powerful electric spark.

Oliver’s research has shown that openness to conspiracy theory is correlated to intuitive thinking over evidence-based thinking. Conspiratorial beliefs take hold in people who make gut-level decisions and place disproportionate weight on symbolic costs. He offers a questionnaire that helps tease out the personality trait.

• Would you rather: Stab a photograph of your family five times with a sharp knife? Or stick your hand in a bowl of live cockroaches?

• Would you rather: Sleep in laundered pajamas once worn by Charles Manson? Or pick a nickel off the ground and put it in your mouth?

• Would you rather: Grind your heels into an unmarked grave? Or stand in line for three hours at the DMV?

A person avoiding actions with high symbolic costs (stabbing a family photo, sleeping in Manson’s PJs), he says, “is a very strong predictor of believing in conspiracy theories — regardless of where they are on the ideological spectrum.”

Oliver points out that conservative religious Americans — “evangelical or orthodox communities” — tend to have very high intuitionism scores, and receptivity to conspiracy theory. But so do New Age communities associated with the American left. “People who believe in conspiracy theories also believe that GMOs are bad,” he says. “They tend to like organic food or natural health remedies.”

The leap from anti-vax theories to QAnon is less mysterious, Zuckerman says, when you “think about how lonely it is to be an anti-vaxxer. You have the small group of friends who are willing to listen to you talk about mercury in vaccines,” he says. “But suddenly you have a whole group of people” in QAnon adherents “who say, ‘Oh, yeah, not just this, but did you know about this?’ You may be willing to go further, and say, ‘Sure I’ll buy this next part of the conspiracy.’ ” Finding such affirmation and community in the unreal, he says, makes it easy to surrender your hold on fact-based beliefs. “Red-pilling,” he says, “is when you move from your origin conspiracy theory to this full-conspiracy worldview.”

The anti-vax and Q movements began to merge with the release of a viral video last May. “We saw it in earnest around Plandemic,” says Zuckerman. Plandemic is the project of Mikki Wills, a 53-year-old self-described “investigative filmmaker” with piercing blue eyes and a salt-and-pepper goatee, who works from the coastal California enclave of Ojai, halfway between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

Willis is politically liberal and his bio touts him as “a virtuoso of positive energy.” He tells Rolling Stone that he was inspired to shoot Plandemic because of his concern over the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed. “The idea that [the] administration was going to rush an experimental vaccine to market, then have it distributed to the masses by way of the U.S. military,” Willis says, “felt insane and reckless at best. I felt compelled to shine a little light on it.”

The slickly produced 26-minute video centers on discredited former federal scientist Judy Mikovits, whom Willis platforms as an Erin Brokovich-style whistleblower. Mikovits claims without evidence that her career was derailed by a federal conspiracy directed by Anthony Fauci. And she makes myriad wild, false, and unsubstantiated claims, including that the coronavirus was released from a lab and that mask wearing causes illness. The film baselessly insinuates that Fauci, Gates, and others have enormous financial interests in the pandemic. In one key exchange, Willis poses to Mikovits: “If we activate mandatory vaccines globally, I imagine these people stand to make hundreds of billions of dollars that own the vaccines.”

The film was roundly debunked, including by Science, which said in part: “Science fact-checked the video. None of these claims are true.” Major social media companies banned the video, but not before it was viewed millions of times. Willis insists he’s “absolutely not” a conspiracy theorist and knows “very little” about QAnon. But his video became a cause célèbre among the Q set. “In many ways, Plandemic is much more of an anti-vax video than it is a QAnon video,” Zuckerman says. But it fits with the nihilistic Q worldview that elites are not simply misguided or incompetent, but so evil as to unleash a global pandemic and then seek to profit from a vaccine. “The Q community loves it. Right?”

The film hit the bull’s-eye of what Bratich describes as the overlapping “Venn diagram of the antivax movement and QAnon.” At the margins, he says, anti-vaxxers have long feared there exists a dark agenda behind inoculations, and these people have found in QAnon a “ready-made, tight narrative — it’s about the great reset, it’s about a new world order, it’s about Bill Gates — that explains the vaccinations.”

The full convergence of the anti-vax movement and QAnon belief can be seen in the trajectory of Larry D. Cook — a onetime healthy-lifestyle guru who became a high-profile anti-vaccine activist before he red-pilled, choosing to anchor his beliefs in the open harbor of QAnon.

Cook is 56 but looks perhaps a decade younger. He has a lanky runner’s build and an open, calm, somewhat flat affect when he speaks. He has made his home in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, and a profile picture on his personal website shows him beaming at a farmers market, holding aloft a bunch of kale in each hand.

In 2005, Cook wrote The Beginner’s Guide to Natural Living, touting the optimal conditions to express “the divine intelligence flowing through us.” He describes having become a vegan in 1990 and preaches the virtues of organic food, yoga, and alternative healing. There are seeds of distrust in Cook’s writing: He encourages readers to “question toxic medicine” that “makes more money by keeping us slightly sick.” But little in Cook’s rhetoric would have been out of place in a left-coast magazine like Mother Jones from the same era. He urges caution of “mainstream media . . . owned and controlled by its advertisers,” and of a government that can be “hoodwinked into allowing harmful products onto the market.”

Cook’s career path is nontraditional. He jumped from “being a sound guy in Hollywood” to a gig as executive director of the California Naturopathic Doctors Association. Cook did not respond to interview requests but told a radio interviewer that his fear of vaccines took root when he was researching a book about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and “came across some information that mercury in vaccines cause autism.” As a side gig around 2010, he started creating YouTube videos interviewing doctors who pushed the thimerosal hypothesis and parents whose children were allegedly harmed by vaccines.

The hobby would become a calling, and a conviction, for Cook in 2015, when California proposed ending the personal-belief exemption from public-school vaccination requirements. Cook started a site called Stop Mandatory Vaccination to oppose this and future legislation and describes how this anti-vax activism got him “fired” from his executive-director post and led to his becoming a full-time activist. “I found my voice,” he said. The deeper he dove into the anti-vax world, the more distrustful Cook became, decrying what he calls the “cover up” of children who die after being vaccinated as “a medical mafia conspiracy.” (No serious science suggests vaccination is secretly killing kids.) In 2016, Cook voted for Trump, he explains in a recent court document, because of Trump’s own claims that vaccines were linked to autism.

To popularize his anti-vax beliefs, Cook came up with a “system,” which involved raising money on GoFundMe to pay for alarming Facebook ads that he’d target at young mothers. “I was doing things in a certain way,” Cook explained. “Grabbing attention of parents and driving them into my Facebook group, where they could get their questions answered.” The idea was to spur the young moms to “go anti-vaccine. . . . Once they learn the truth,” he said, “they become activists.” A 2019 study by the journal Vaccine revealed that Cook was second only to Kennedy in promoting anti-vax sentiment on Facebook. “Many advertisements featured stories of infants allegedly harmed by vaccines,” the study reports, “using tag lines like, ‘Healthy 14 week old infant gets 8 vaccines and dies within 24 hours.’ ”

The social media giant didn’t have qualms about taking tens of thousands of dollars from Cook to promote the outrageous claim that vaccines kill babies until it was called out in a letter by Rep. Adam Schiff, who demanded information from Mark Zuckerberg in February 2019 about the company’s practice of monetizing and promoting misinformation about vaccines. Facebook soon tweaked its algorithms to stop recommending anti-vax content, which was instead downgraded on the platform. The move decimated Cook’s online reach from 2 million views a month to about 100,000. Facebook also turned off his ability to advertise on the site. YouTube likewise demonetized his channel.

This throttling by social media giants only appears to have pushed Cook further away from the mainstream. As he described his own conversion, in February 2020, Cook read a QAnon book titled Calm Before the Storm that opened his mind to the Q worldview. And he “red-pilled,” as he described in an hour-long video posted last July, in which he appears flanked by a giant Q in one corner and an American flag underscored with the hashtag #WWG1WGA — short for the Q battle cry of “Where We Go One We Go All!” — in the other.

Cook described how discovering QAnon suddenly gave him a context for his distrust of mainstream medicine and his sense of being persecuted and silenced by social media. “When you wrap your head around the idea that it’s the deep state that is facilitating the vaccine mandates,” he said, “all of a sudden it makes complete sense.”

Cook cast mandatory vaccinations as just one expression of the deep state’s “luciferian” agenda of “controlling everyone on the planet.” The mandates are “all part of the deep-state plan,” he claimed, because “when you inject poison into someone, you can incapacitate them very quickly, especially if you’re doing it at birth . . . as soon as a soul comes in — incarnates.” He called vaccination of children a “deliberate assault designed to suppress their consciousness, designed to shut off their connection to God.” But there’s hope, he insisted: “If you take the deep state down completely, we take down the vaccine mandates.”

Through the same jaundiced lens, Cook sees the coronavirus pandemic as part of the deep state’s sinister plot: “It’s a plandemic,” he said, borrowing Willis’ coinage. “It was planned, it’s a false flag. . . . Q would say these people are sick. They want complete control of our planet . . . And if that means killing . . . millions of people, they could care less.”

For Cook, as for most QAnon adherents, the fight is overtly political. “Democrats are lockstep with the deep state,” he insisted. “Our role is to educate the rest of humanity . . . who’s on the side of justice and truth and who’s on the side of God.” The good guys, for Cook, are Trump and the “Q Team.” And he celebrates the promise of redemption: “You shut down the deep state and we can have heaven on Earth,” he said, adding: “We are in the throes of the final battles.”

The attack on the Capitol on January 6th was a wake-up call for America that online conspiracy theories and QAnon’s nihilism are a serious threat not just to the mental health of individual believers but also to innocent life, not to mention the functioning of our democratic government.

The mass delusion of conspiracy-theory belief also constitutes a public-health crisis. As the WHO put it last fall, an “infodemic” is “endangering countries’ ability to stop the pandemic,” adding that “misinformation costs lives,” and that a lack of trust in science will cause immunization campaigns to “not meet their targets, and the virus will continue to thrive.”

Public-health experts say the addictive appeal of conspiracy theories has left them exasperated, but with few solutions. “I really had this mental model,” Jha says, that “you get the evidence, you speak it in plain, simple terms, and share with people what is true — and that’s it. Like, you win the game,” he says. “I have learned very much the hard way, from April on, that that is just naive.”

In January, a mob of anti-vax protesters briefly shut down a mass inoculation site at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, holding up signs like “COVID=SCAM,” “Don’t be a lab rat,” and “Tell Bill Gates to Vaccinate Himself!” The inability to respond effectively to this kind of mass delusion, Jha says, is a “huge liability in the public-health community. We should try to engage with people,” he insists. “But it is not done by giving them facts. They’re not actually lacking in facts; they don’t believe.”

Zuckerman says the core obstacle with QAnon is that its doctrine of blanket distrust leaves few avenues for intervention: “ ‘Scientists? Oh, they’re all at universities; they’re all part of the deep state. What about the media? Oh, my God. The media actually run the deep state.’ That’s epistemic closure,” he says.

Social media companies that had profited from allowing such conspiracies to run riot have recently booted QAnon and anti-vaxxers from their platforms. But that also creates problems, says Bratich. “It’s just riled up the radical emerging right that sees themselves as being not just censored, but persecuted,” he says. This brings with it notions of a “dangerous self-sacrifice and martyrdom” and risks “more conflagrations before it subsides.”

Shortly after the election, Cook found himself completely de-platformed. In mid-November, he was kicked off Facebook as part of the social network’s purge of QAnon. Twitter shut down his account simultaneously. Cook has attempted to launch his own social media properties: Covid-19 Refusers — which features a 14-part video indoctrination on why to reject vaccination — as well as Medical Freedom Patriots: a $5-a-month, subscription-based group he touts as “Anti Vaccine, Pro Alternative Medicine, QAnon friendly.” Cook makes plain he’s seeking to spread the gospel of QAnon: “We are in an INFORMATION WAR,” he writes. “The first step is for us all to be informed — I am giving you the path to that — and then to share it yourself with others.”

As with many, many Q believers, Trump’s election loss has been hard for Cook to absorb. On December 7th, he posted on Parler that Americans should consider fleeing to “Republican held states” to avoid forced vaccination. “This is war,” he wrote. “We don’t need to be up front getting the kill shots when we know there’s Higher Ground.” In late January, he posted to Telegram his belief that the military would help Trump reseize control of America: “I have now seen enough pieces of the puzzle to believe that *THE PLAN* is in fact going EXACTLY as it was PLANNED to go for our US Military and President Trump to secure the United States of America and thereby *end* the Deep State’s rule over us once and for all,” he wrote. “In fact I do believe it will be BIBLICAL.”

Zuckerman argues that what’s required to reach the far edges of the anti-vax and QAnon communities resembles cult deprogramming. “The question that I think everyone would love to have a definitive answer to is, ‘Can people be unpilled?’ ” he says. He points with encouragement to forums on Reddit for people who have escaped Q and are trying to help others. “They talk about the incredible damage — that this is a belief system that ends marriages, ends friendships.” Bratich likens these groups to “QAnon recovery” and suggests that “the deprogramming that happens might be as networked and distributed as the way these people [originally] came together.”

But Bratich cautions that the pull of QAnon remains devilishly strong, and that the conspiracy theory has shown itself to be incredibly plastic and adaptable. He warns that as the notion of Trump as superhero fades, the fight against vaccination may well open up as the organizing battle in QAnon’s resistance against the deep state. “If Trump goes away or goes to the margins,” he says, “I think this will be the next thing that becomes front and center.” The far edge of the anti-vax movement, he says, “keeps talking about how the vaccine is ‘the beginning of the end.’ For QAnon there’s a code in there,” he warns. “It’s the beginning of the end of America, right?”

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In this article:

• anti-vaccine,
• Capitol Riot,
• conspiracy theories,
• coronavirus,
• direct,
• long reads,
• qanon,
• RSreports,
• vaccines

February 10, 2021

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nyt

Far-Right Extremists Move From ‘Stop the Steal’ to Stop the Vaccine

Extremist organizations are now bashing the safety and efficacy of coronavirus vaccines in an effort to try to undermine the government.

By Neil MacFarquhar

March 26, 2021

Adherents of far-right groups who cluster online have turned repeatedly to one particular website in recent weeks — the federal database showing deaths and adverse reactions nationwide among people who have received Covid-19 vaccinations.

Although negative reactions have been relatively rare, the numbers are used by many extremist groups to try to bolster a rash of false and alarmist disinformation in articles and videos with titles like “Covid-19 Vaccines Are Weapons of Mass Destruction — and Could Wipe out the Human Race” or “Doctors and Nurses Giving the Covid-19 Vaccine Will be Tried as War Criminals.”

If the so-called Stop the Steal movement appeared to be chasing a lost cause once President Biden was inaugurated, its supporters among extremist organizations are now adopting a new agenda from the anti-vaccination campaign to try to undermine the government.

Bashing of the safety and efficacy of vaccines is occurring in chatrooms frequented by all manner of right-wing groups including the Proud Boys; the Boogaloo movement, a loose affiliation known for wanting to spark a second Civil War; and various paramilitary organizations.

These groups tend to portray vaccines as a symbol of excessive government control. “If less people get vaccinated then the system will have to use more aggressive force on the rest of us to make us get the shot,” read a recent post on the Telegram social media platform, in a channel linked to members of the Proud Boys charged in storming the Capitol.

Image

A “Stop the Steal” rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in November.Credit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times

The marked focus on vaccines is particularly striking on discussion channels populated by followers of QAnon, who had falsely prophesied that Donald J. Trump would continue as president while his political opponents were marched off to jail.

“They rode the shift in the national conversation away from Trump to what was happening with the massive ramp up in vaccines,” said Devin Burghart, the head of the Seattle-based Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, which monitors far-right movements, referring to followers of QAnon. “It allowed them to pivot away from the failure of their previous prophecy to focus on something else.”

Apocalyptic warnings about the vaccine feed into the far-right narrative that the government cannot be trusted, the sentiment also at the root of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The more vaccine opponents succeed in preventing or at least delaying herd immunity, experts noted, the longer it will take for life to return to normal and that will further undermine faith in the government and its institutions.

Last spring, a common purpose among far-right activists and the anti-vaccination movement first emerged during armed protests in numerous state capitols against coronavirus lockdown measures. That cross-pollination expanded over time.

On Jan. 6, while rioters advanced on the Capitol, numerous leading figures in the anti-vaccination movement were onstage nearby, holding their own rally to attack both the election results and Covid-19 vaccinations.

Events overshadowed their protest, but at least one outspoken activist, Dr. Simone Gold of Beverly Hills, Calif., was charged with breaching the Capitol. She called her arrest an attack on free speech. She was one of several doctors who appeared in a video last year spreading misleading claimsabout the coronavirus. Mr. Trump shared a version of the video, which Facebook, YouTube and Twitter removed after millions of viewers watched it.

Image

Dr. Simone Gold in a video for America’s Frontline Doctors, an organization accused of spreading misleading information about the coronavirus and possible treatments. She was later charged with breaching the Capitol.

In the months since inoculations started in December, the alliance grouping extremist organizations with the anti-vaccination movement has grown larger and more vocal, as conspiracy theories about vaccines proliferated while those about the presidential vote count receded.

With their protests continuing, far-right groups deployed many of the same talking points as the vaccination opponents. Prominent voices in both the “Stop the Steal” and the anti-vaccination movements helped to organize scattered rallies on March 20 against vaccines, masks and social distancing in American cities including Portland, Ore., and Raleigh, N.C., as well as in Australia, Canada and other countries around the world.

In April, a conference with the tagline “Learn How to Fight Back for Your Health and Freedom,” is set to bring together Trump allies like Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell along with high-profile members of the anti-vaccination effort.

Maligning the coronavirus vaccines is obviously not limited to extremist groups tied to the Capitol riot. There is deep partisanship over the vaccines generally.

One third of Republicans surveyed in a CBS News poll said that they would avoid getting vaccinated — compared with 10 percent of Democrats — and another 20 percent of Republicans said they were unsure. Other polls found similar trends.

About 100 members of the House of Representatives, roughly one-quarter, had not been vaccinated as of mid-March, according to Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader.

It is unclear where Mr. Trump will fit into the vaccine battle. The former president, who has been vaccinated, endorsed getting the shot recently, provoking some disbelief in QAnon and other chatrooms. “I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me frankly,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

Image

Protesters at anti-vaccination demonstrations are using similar imagery as those at “Stop the Steal” rallies.Credit...Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Across right-wing channels online, certain constant memes have emerged attacking the vaccine, like a cartoon suggesting that what started with mask mandates will end with concentration camps run by FEMA for those who refuse vaccinations.

Numerous channels link to the government website called VAERS, for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, to energize followers. It had reported 2,216 deaths among people vaccinated for the three months before March 22, with 126 million doses administered. The Covid-19 vaccines in use, like most vaccinations, are considered overwhelmingly safe, but inevitably a small percentage of recipients suffer adverse reactions, some of them severe. The deaths have not been directly linked to the vaccinations.

The raw, incomplete VAERS statistics are meant for scientists and medical professionals, but are widely used among extremist groups to try to undermine confidence in the vaccine. One video consisted of a person reading the details from the chart aloud barking “Murder” where the chart said “Death.”

On Telegram, channels frequented by tens of thousands of QAnon followers are full of videos warning of the dire consequences of taking the vaccine.For example, David Icke, a British serial conspiracy theorist, posted a video called “Murder by Vaccine” saying that it transformed the nature of the human body. (The claims that the vaccines change human DNA are false.)

Mr. Icke was previously best known for pushing the idea that the world was controlled by shape-shifting alien lizards who inhabited a global network of underground tunnels.

The general proliferation of conspiracy theories by QAnon followers for years has helped to create a shared vocabulary among far-right organizations, experts said, which smoothed the way for spreading false information about the vaccines. “The last year with Covid has just been a perfect storm that whatever your crazy conspiracy belief is, there is someone who has a Covid conspiracy to match it,” said Melissa Ryan, chief executive of Card Strategies, a consulting firm that researches disinformation.

Image

Anti-vaccine protesters shouted and waved signs at health care workers waiting in line to enter the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., in February.Credit...Zack Wittman for The New York Times

The vaccines are sometimes referred to as a “potion,” sometimes as a “bioweapon,” and there are claims that vaccinated people are “shedding mutant viruses.”

Telegram is the locus of much of the disinformation and fear mongering. On one channel, there are claims that the vaccine is an instrument of depopulation. “A massive death wave will be witnessed later this year among those who took the vaccine,” read one posting.

In Idaho, the far-right activist Ammon Bundy helped to push for a proposed state law to ban any mandatory vaccines, although work stalled after the legislature suspended its work on March 19 for more than two weeks because too many lawmakers contracted the coronavirus.

The question is where this newly forged alliance goes from here. Some analysts believe its life span will prove limited, with the far right pivoting to some other issue, like immigration. Eventually, hundreds of millions of Americans will be vaccinated, they noted, and vaccine skepticism is not the same thing as being anti-vaccination. Some doubters will soften if time proves the vaccines effective.

A new reportby the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University noted, however, that although the de-platforming of extremist groups made their campaigns harder to follow, the alliance has the potential to meld disparate factions into a large anti-government movement united around public health issues.

“It increases the opportunity for a big tent enemy,” said Joel Finkelstein, a fellow at Rutgers who runs the institute. “If you are feeling dispossessed, like all these right-wing groups are, boy do I have a tent for you.”

Ben Decker contributed research.

Neil MacFarquhar is a national correspondent. Previously, as Moscow bureau chief, he was on the team awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. He spent more than 15 years reporting from around the Mideast, including five as Cairo bureau chief, and wrote two books about the region.

:{:{A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Moving On From ‘Stop the Steal,’ Far Right Now Vilifies Vaccines}:

See more on: U.S. Politics

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4 25 duck qanon vaxx

Rolling Stone

https://www.rollingstone.com › culture › culture-features › qanon-anti-vax-covid-vaccine-conspiracy-theory-1125197

QAnon: How the Anti-Vaxxers Got Red-Pilled - Rolling Stone

The full convergence of the anti-vax movement and QAnon belief can be seen in the trajectory of Larry D. Cook — a onetime healthy-lifestyle guru who became a high-profile anti-vaccine activist ...

2. yahoo.com

Yahoo

https://www.yahoo.com › news › q-anon-believers-spread-false-claims-about-covid-vaccine-touted-by-trump-161151862.html

QAnon believers spread false claims about COVID-19 vaccine ... - Yahoo

Ahead of the U.S. vaccine rollout on Monday, Melanie Smith, head of analysis at the social media research firm Graphika, told Yahoo News that much of current QAnon conversation around covid ...

Author:Caitlin Dickson

3. mediamatters.org

Media Matters for America

https://www.mediamatters.org › qanon-conspiracy-theory › 2021-bond-between-qanon-and-anti-vaxxers-grew-even-stronger

In 2021, the bond between QAnon and anti-vaxxers grew even stronger

A QAnon influencer, Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman (known online as "Tore"), organized anti-vaccine mandate lawsuits in every state in the country, seeking to file a lawsuit with the Supreme Court ...

4. bbc.com

BBC

https://www.bbc.com › news › blogs-trending-53997203

How Covid-19 myths are merging with the QAnon conspiracy theory - BBC

An anti-vaccine protester wearing a QAnon t-shirt in Boston on Sunday. Family conflict. One man who contacted the BBC says his mother attended the London demonstration and carried two posters. One ...

5. newsweek.com

Newsweek

https://www.newsweek.com › qanon-thinks-donald-trumps-vaccine-remarks-fake-good-impression-1577046

QAnon Thinks Donald Trump's Vaccine Remarks Are Fake, Just a ... - Newsweek

Qanon supporters have suggested it wasn't actually Trump telling people to get the COVID-19 vaccine on Fox News. Donald Trump addresses guests at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 20, 2021.

Author:Ewan Palmer

6. cbsnews.com

CBS News

https://www.cbsnews.com › news › covid-vaccine-pfizer-conspiracy-theories

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is a top target of conspiracy theories

QAnon also attached vaccine conspiracy theories to the New World Order population control conspiracy and to the Great Reset, a post-pandemic policy proposal drafted by the World Economic Forum.

7. mediamatters.org

[

Media Matters for America

https://www.mediamatters.org › coronavirus-covid-19 › anti-vax-influencers-are-using-qanon-shows-spread-misinformation-about-covid

Anti-vax influencers are using QAnon shows to spread misinformation ...

Another anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, Erin Marie Olszewski, appeared in April on the MG Show, co-hosted by QAnon influencer Jeffrey Pedersen (known online as "inTheMatrixxx"), while they ...

8. wired.com

WIRED

https://www.wired.com › story › yoga-disinformation-qanon-conspiracy-wellness

The yoga world is riddled with anti-vaxxers and QAnon believers

Buti Yoga founder Bizzie Gold stated in an interview that we 'should stop being poisoned through vaccines' while yoga influencer Stephanie Birch used QAnon-related hashtags such as # ...

9. nytimes.com

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › 2021 › 03 › 26 › us › far-right-extremism-anti-vaccine.html

Far-Right Extremists Move From 'Stop the Steal' to Stop the Vaccine

Mar 26, 2021The marked focus on vaccines is particularly striking on discussion channels populated by followers of QAnon, who had falsely prophesied that Donald J. Trump would continue as president while his ...

10. pbs.org

PBS

https://www.pbs.org › newshour › show › conspiracy-theories-run-rampant-in-the-online-personal-wellness-community

Disinformation abounds in the wellness community. How one anti-vax ...

Corn saw that those carefully curated facades were being used to peddle conspiracy theories about the COVID vaccine and QAnon, the belief that child sex traffickers and pedophiles have infiltrated ...

an 3 25

Two Arizona lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s nominee for a top Pentagon job spoke at a conspiracy theory convention over the weekend, appearing alongside a man who claims God is telling him to sell cryptocurrency.

Arizona lawmakers Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, and Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu, each spoke on multiple panels at the Quantum Summit 2 event, a convention for a fringe conspiracy theory that claims extraterrestrials are helping shape national and global policy.

During one presentation, Finchem was joined by retired Gen. Anthony Tata, Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon.

Tata had previously been nominated by Trump during his first presidency, but his past inflammatory remarks referring to President Barack Obama as a “terrorist” and a series of Islamaphobic tweets scuttled his appointment.

Tata has appeared at a Quantum Summit event before, speaking at the inaugural event in 2024; photographs of his participation were posted on the event website and in other promotional materials. The White House did not respond to a request for comment or answer questions if they were aware of Tata’s planned attendance.

In a program for the event posted to BlueSky by anonymous independent extremist researcher Arizona Right Watch, Tata was listed as speaking on a panel with Finchem and two individuals who frequently post videos with QAnon related themes. Both Biasucci and Finchem also held their own presentations separately, with Biasucci speaking about his legislation and Finchem about his work with a former Tennessee cop in which Finchem has pursued spurious fraud claims.

“We are a very small team,” Finchem said, alluding to a nonprofit he created that has spread debunked election fraud claims and whose “head researcher,” a former Tennessee cop named Shawn Taylor, was also present at the event. Finchem suggested that those in attendance should donate to help fund his nonprofit’s work.

Quantum Summit 2 was put on in Cape Canaveral, Florida, by believers in the NESARA/GESARA conspiracy theory. In its most basic form, NESARA/GESARA is a conspiracy theory that revolves around a proposed piece of economic reforms from the 1990s called the National Economic Security and Recovery Act that conspiracy theorists believe was enacted in secret by President Bill Clinton but was covered up by the U.S. Supreme Court via a gag order and suppressed by the 9/11 attacks, which were orchestrated by President George W. Bush.

GESARA refers to a supposed global version of the economic reforms that adherents similarly believe were instituted and then hidden.

In the early 2000s, the conspiracy theory gained popularity in the early internet days as Shaini Goodwin, calling herself the “Dove of Oneness,” made bold predictions about NESARA and world events with dubious claims of “insider knowledge.”

Goodwin is a “graduate” of a New-Age school whose leader often goes on homophobic and antisemitic rants and has teamed up with QAnon. It is also tied to the NXIVM cult that was investigated for sex crimes and much more.

The conspiracy theory has regained traction in recent years, as QAnon adherents have flocked to it due to its many similarities.

NESARA/GESARA has often also been called the “grandfather” of the QAnon conspiracy movement. Goodwin initially promoted it as part of a larger scam that defrauded investors of millions of dollars, with promises of the erasure of all debts and the eventual abolishment of the Internal Revenue Services.

Believers often claim that extraterrestrials have been in communication with them or leaders within the movement and are working to promote the NESARA/GESARA agenda. A promotional video for the Cape Canaveral event that Finchem and Biasiucci spoke at mentions discussions around encouraging the U.S. Space Force to work with the “Galactic Federation.” The idea of a Galactic Federation is often discussed in the context of UFO religions and New Age movements.

The event was the brainchild of a man named Mel Carmine, who believes that Trump, using the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is ushering in the NESARA/GESARA plan.

Carmine also has violent beliefs as to what the government should be doing to Trump’s perceived enemies.

“Everything you buy, everything you touch, has a tax,” Carmine said in a with Finchem and Biasucci. “People are tired of the thievery…I believe I’m speaking for the American people. I’m pissed off and I know the American people are pissed off. I know I wanna see guillotines and I’m very sure the American people want to see the guillotines and people hanging from ropes. Are we going to see these people perp walked? Are we going to see these people taken care of?”

Neither Arizona lawmaker responded to the statement, and instead spoke about legislation they’re running about taxes in Arizona.

In that same interview, Finchem claimed that Attorney General Kris Mayes had sent a “threatening” letter to lawmakers regarding cryptocurrency. A spokesperson for Mayes said they were unaware of any letter and noted they were working with Republican lawmaker Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, on a cryptocurrency bill.

Neither Biasucci nor Finchem responded to repeated requests for comment.

In an opening video for the event, Carmine also claimed that God showed him the logo of a cryptocurrency in the sky that he is now pushing as the currency that will be backed by NESARA/GESARA. That cryptocurrency was featured prominently throughout the event and is pushed heavily on Carmine’s social media.

The event included a litany of speakers with conspiratorial ties and beliefs ranging from UFOs to a man who claimed that he was the original author of The Matrix movie, a claim that was rejected in court.

On Telegram during the conference, Carmine interviewed a person who claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead, was faked by the government and claimed “anti-gravity tech” and the scam technology known as “med beds” would be forthcoming.

Biasiucci and Finchem are not strangers to conspiracy conventions. In 2021, both spoke at a QAnon convention full of conspiracy theories and antisemitic propaganda.

Finchem has also fundraised with QAnon adherents and had major support from the QAnon community during his failed bid for statewide office in 2022. One of those major supporters, Juan O. Savin, was also a speaker at Quantum Summit 2.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. SUPPORT

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

===

rww

01/02/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

• Mario Murillo asserts that God orchestrated Donald Trump's election "to spare America from disaster": "Trump is here to give the church the time to reform America morally."
• Brenden Dilley declares that "Barack Hussein Obama was/is a terrorist by every definition of the word."
• Anna Perez wants it known that she was born racist: "I hate when they say racism is 'learned behavior.' I honestly think I was born this way and I don’t get enough credit for it."
• Johnny Enlow claims that 80-90 percent of world leaders "have been people either involved in the worst type of pedophilia [and] Luciferianism that you can imagine, or they're blackmailed by it."
• Finally, Christian nationalist Ben Zeisloft appears to have wiped his Twitter feed ahead of announcing that he's stepping away from the platform until his book is published in the spring.

an 12 24

[QAnon-affiliated podcast airs Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes interview on same day Trump names him to chair President's Intelligence Advisory Board]

12/18/24 mma

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YIKES THUGSWARM INSITUTIONALIZED? DEMONIZATION REQUIRES RETALIATION --> FAscism

AN 12 24

any Never Trump conservatives have argued that the Republican Party's Ronald Reagan era officially ended when Donald Trump won the 2016 GOP nomination and went on to defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election.

Since then, the GOP has only grown more and more Trumpified. Many conservative Trump critics are no longer in Congress, including former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Wyoming), ex-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), and ex-Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona). And outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) decided against seeking reelection.

Trump's narrow defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election only tightens his stranglehold on the GOP. The Dispatch's David M. Drucker, in an article published on December 17, stresses that when he returns to the White House on January 20, 2025, he will be "flanked by an army of outside enforcers prepared to squeeze any Republican who resists his agenda."

READ MORE:**'Damning information mounts': Trump's 'worst' nominees could be in for a rude awakening**

"Once Trump is inaugurated," Drucker reports, "this MAGA-aligned network will shift to strong-arming obstinate House and Senate Republicans to support the president-elect's agenda, be it executive orders or legislative proposals. Critically, MAGA insiders tell The Dispatch, they won't be sitting around waiting for direction from Trump to join a particular fight."

One of those MAGA insiders is "War Room" host Steve Bannon, who told The Dispatch, "The ecosystem on the right is going to be a force multiplier…. What I think you're seeing now is the institutionalization of what had been a self-organizing effort."

Bannon, according to Drucker, is "describing" what "amounts to the rise of a new Republican establishment, complete with well-funded activist groups and influential media figures."

Bannon, now 71, has been involved in far-right politics for decades. But Trump's MAGA loyalists aren't necessarily Baby Boomers or members of Generation X.

READ MORE:**'No one would design a system like the one we have': UnitedHealth CEO makes astonishing admission**

In a New York Times article published on Dec. 16, reporter Shawn McCreesh describes a New York Young Republican Club gathering that took place Sunday, Dec. 15.

Bannon was the keynote speaker, but many of the "true believers" in attendance were much younger. And according to McCreesh, they are fine with "retribution" against Trump's detractors — if unclear about the form it should take.

"This club's members are, by and large, a terminally online, trollish, far-right collective who would consider any sort of tack toward the center by Mr. Trump or those guiding him to be an act of betrayal," McCreesh reports. "They are the prime audience for retribution rattling. And yet, on Sunday, many seemed at odds about just how much retribution they could expect, or who precisely should be targeted, or how.

Preston Parra, a 22-year-old MAGA Republican at the gathering, said of Trump's foes, "We want to throw the book at them because they deserve it. They're godless demoniacs…. The leftist, elitist cabal, whatever you want to call it. Nancy Pelosi. Mitch McConnell."

READ MORE:['How long it’ll be until he sues an economist': Experts blast Trump's lawsuit against pollster

*Read The Dispatch's full article at this linkand the New York Times' reporting here (subscription required).

===

MMA

Fox News interviews fringe conspiracy theorist Dom Lucre, calling him a “journalist”

Weeks ago, Lucre baselessly accused an assistant FBI director of being complicit in a Trump assassination attempt. Fox News is now hosting him as a “journalist.”

Written by Courtney Hagle

Research contributions from Alex Kaplan

Published 11/12/24

On November 8, a Fox News “straight news” program interviewed content creator Dom Lucre, referring to him as a “journalist.” Lucre has a history of pushing QAnon-related conspiracy theories, spreading outlandish claims about high-level Democrats, and pushing 2020 election denial.

Dominick McGee, known online as Dom Lucre, has a history of pushing baseless conspiracy theories as a right-wing internet personality. Lucre capitalized on 2020 election denial conspiracy theories to build a platform geared toward the right, and he went to Washington, D.C. to protest the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021. Since then, he has used his platform to push a slew of conspiracy theories, occasionally putting real people in the crosshairs of his claims.

• Following President-elect Donald Trump’s attempted assassination this past July, Lucre claimed that a prophet predicted the assassination attempt 3 months in advance, and said that “this has been biblical since day one.”

* Lucre also accused assistant FBI director Janeen Diguiseppi of “giving the shooter instructions” based on his analysis of a video from the shooting, where he claimed a woman sitting behind Trump was Diguiseppi. This was debunked by the FBI.

• Lucre also consistently pushes QAnon-related conspiracy theories, spreading outlandish claims about high-profile Democrats committing sex crimes and online e-commerce website Wayfair being used to traffick children.

• In 2023, he tweeted, “Adrenochrome is real and I can prove it,” referencing a conspiracy theory that Forbes said has been “embraced by QAnon.” The adrenochrome conspiracy theory “promotes the idea that wealthy people, Hollywood elites, and Democrats consume a chemical called adrenochrome, which is supposedly harvested from the blood of young children.”

• Lucre also claimed that former President Barack Obama was responsible for the drowning death of his personal chef.

Last Friday, anchor Trace Gallagher hosted Lucre on Fox News @ Night, introducing and labeling him simply as a “journalist.” Lucre claimed that Democrats ran a campaign that was “false” and “complete propaganda from day one.” Lucre also highlighted Gen Z and the “rise of streamers” made a difference in Trump’s campaign, arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris is the “past, she does not have the future, which we are pushing forward. Trump was the way forward.” Lucre concluded that this space is “controlling the culture, and I believe it is shifting towards conservatism.” Gallagher thanked Lucre for the “great information.”

===

// hurric BS?

alternet-

Extremists posing as aid workers urge NC locals to tear down cell towers and hit military

Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer booking photo from 2018

Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer booking photo from 2018 (Courtesy Tucson Police Department)

Jordan Green November 02, 2024

A group of anti-government extremists who showed up in western North Carolina promising to provide disaster relief after Hurricane Helene is now threatening to destroy cell-phone towers and sabotage military vehicles.

The group, Veterans on Patrol, attracted attention by setting up a disaster relief staging area in the parking lot of the Ingles grocery store in Lake Lure, about 50 miles from Asheville.

But locals, including some who initially cooperated with the group, began to complain about threats and harassment.

Over the past three weeks, members of the group, which falsely claims that Helene was caused by a “weather weapon,” have been making conspiracy-driven claims that the U.S. military is attempting to kill U.S. citizens with “directed energy weapons.”

ALSO READ: Inside the grift that could cost Donald Trump the election

Veterans on Patrol’s channel on the encrypted social-media platform Telegram posted a message on Thursday displaying photos of what appears to be a cell tower on a mountaintop. The message asserted that locals “are in Live Exercises where the United States Military is permitted to destroy your homes, bodies and minds,” while suggesting that equipment on the tower “is solely for providing the U.S. military the means to murder Americans.”

“Focus on tearing down their weapons,” the message reads. It continues, “All it takes is one weapon tower being toppled with the stated reason spoken boldly.”

Another message posted in the group’s Telegram channel appears to advocate for sabotaging military vehicles and assets.

“Simple acts of pouring sugar into fuel tanks of military equipment, backup power systems, and personal vehicles of military personnel can wreak havoc on those who murdered all these people out here,” reads the message, which was posted on Wednesday.

Soldiers from Fort Liberty and Fort Campbell have deployed to western North Carolina to assist in the disaster response, along with National Guard members from nine states.

Veterans on Patrol is led by Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, who has a long history of anti-government extremism, dating back at least 10 years. Meyer, according to the extremism watchdog group Southern Poverty Law Center, is not a veteran.

Reached by phone on Friday, Meyer doubled down on the threats.

“Jesus used bullwhips and flipped tables,” he told Raw Story. “We’re going to use our bullwhips and topple towers.”

At first during the interview, Meyer argued that the Telegram messages weren’t advocating for targeting cell towers, saying instead that the group would “surgically” remove the supposed “directed energy weapons." He went on to say that they would provide Appalachian residents with generators and Starlink boxes so they could maintain power and communication links.

Asked about the message referencing “pouring sugar into fuel tanks,” Meyer told Raw Story: “We’re going to destroy your tanks…. You want to get dirty? That’s what we should be doing.”

Veterans on Patrol has promoted multiple conspiracy theories based on false claims since arriving in western North Carolina.

One message posted on Telegram on Oct. 22 claimed that “Helene was a Weather Weapon steered to destroy the area, while also claiming that the investment fund BlackRock is attempting a “land grab” and describing the storm and its aftermath as “an act of war perpetrated against the People.”

As the final day of voting in the presidential election approaches, posts on the group’s Telegram channel have taken on an increasingly urgent tone.

The Oct. 22 post claimed that “stolen elections” are a real phenomenon, along with “weather weapons,” “Satanic pedophiles” and “adrenochrome," which refers to a QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of elites tortures children to extract a chemical from their bodies which is then used as a recreational drug.

In another post last week, a Veterans on Patrol member nicknamed “Shepherd” claimed that the U.S. Air Force command is instructing pilots “to deploy additional weather weapons.” The post goes on to say, “These people don’t have 2 weeks to wait for vote and 3 months to hopefully wait for a Regime change.”

Another message on the group channel that was published on Wednesday suggests without basis that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is the beneficiary of BlackRock’s supposed landgrab.

Speaking to Raw Story, Meyer seemed to all but dare law enforcement to intervene.

“For people to go and do something to prevent weapons from being deployed — that’s not a crime,” he said. “If they want to bring this to court and charge us with conspiracy, then let’s go.”

The FBI did not respond to an inquiry about Veterans on Patrol's activities, but Meyer told Raw Story in an email that he "would imagine the FBI knows full well what we are attempting through Operation Leaning Tower."

Meyer told Raw Story that he notified the office of Gov. Roy Cooper about his "operation." Cooper's office did not immediately respond to a voicemail message from Raw Story.

Phone calls from Raw Story for this story to officials in Lake Lure and Rutherford County, which surrounds the town, went unreturned.

Meyer’s history of extremism dates back to the Bundy Ranch standoff, when armed militants faced down the FBI and other federal agencies in 2014 during a dispute over rancher Cliven Bundy’s refusal to pay grazing fees. Meyer’s involvement in the Bundy Ranch standoff came to light later, when the Oregonian reported that he and a group of friends got into a brawl with other anti-government extremists during the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which Bundy and a group of armed supporters had occupied.

Meyer founded Veterans on Patrol in Arizona in 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Prior to presenting itself as a disaster response group in the aftermath of Helene, Veterans on Patrol has claimed its efforts were directed towards rescuing children from sex trafficking, addressing veteran suicide and dubious claims that the military is maliciously harming civilians. Meyer’s activities have frequently landed him in trouble with law enforcement.

Meyer was arrested twice in 2015 after emergency responders talked him down from a light pole in Surprise, Ariz. in 2015.

In 2018, was arrested by the police in Tucson, Ariz. for trespassing and an outstanding warrant for an assault charge, after occupying a tower on an industrial property. A press release from the Tucson Police Department claimed that Meyer “found an abandoned homeless encampment” on the property, “and fictitiously declared, without evidence or corroboration, that the area was the site of a sex-trafficking ring.”

The Tucson police said they received complaints from Tucson residents that Meyer and his followers had threatened and intimidated them, and Meyer made “multiple threatening and hostile remarks directed towards various elected and appointed officials” through social media.

In the summer of 2024, before Hurricane Helene, Veterans on Patrol was active in Spokane, Wash. In Telegram message from July 2, 2024, Veterans on Patrol announced to the police that it “would no longer be safe” for one of its officers “to work his beat.” The channel also posted the home addresses of city council members.

NOW READ: Fox News is the reason the race is close

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===

VIDEO: The election denial movement has a dangerous partner: QAnon

In 2024, one election denial leader is claiming the QAnon community is more “engaged” on “election integrity” than ever

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 11/01/24 MMA

Over the last four years, former President Donald Trump and his supporters have repeatedly spread the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. What became known as the “Big Lie” has been promoted by numerous prominent Republicans, while right-wing figures have continued to spread election misinformation in 2024. But some of the election denial movement’s most helpful allies have gone under the radar: supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

The collaboration began right after the 2020 election, as Trump surrounded himself with conspiracy theorists seeking to overturn his loss. These included Sidney Powell — who relied on QAnon-connected claims and figures in her election lawsuits and has since pleaded guilty for her role in trying to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia — and Patrick Byrne — the former Overstock CEO who admitted that he got at least some of his claims from QAnon’s “digital soldiers.” Byrne continued to collaborate with QAnon figures in promoting his election denial activities after Biden’s inauguration.

The collaboration only ramped up during the 2022 midterm elections:

• QAnon influencer Wayne Willott, known online as “Juan O. Savin,” partnered with an election denier running for Nevada secretary of state and helped with recruitment and strategy for a coalition of “like-minded” candidates running for election administration positions.

• Election denial organization True the Vote, which was involved with the debunked film 2000 Mules, began a partnership with the QAnon community — going on QAnon shows, praising the community, inviting multiple influencers to an event seemingly dedicated to pushing claims of election fraud, and suggesting they could pass along supposed evidence from the “anons” to law enforcement (and later implying that they did).

This continued collaboration could cause new problems during the 2024 election. One of True the Vote’s leaders has hyped that the “anons” of the QAnon community are supposedly more “engaged” on “election integrity” in 2024 than it was in 2020, and another election denier has expressed amazement that “there’s so many influencers” in the QAnon community who “can reach so many people.”

Going forward, this real and frightening collaboration — which Media Matters breaks down in this video — could spread misinformation about this election, undermine the results, and contribute to the delegitimization of our elections. [VID]

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an 10 24

During his appearances on MSNBC, Stuart Stevens — a veteran conservative strategist/consultant and outspoken Never Trumper — has been arguing that when independent voters get a really good look at presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, incumbent President Joe Biden will enjoy a major surge. Stevens predicts that the election will swing in Biden's direction around October.

Polls released in June, however, are showing a close nailbiter of a race, with Trump slightly ahead in some national polls and Biden slightly ahead in others. Whatever independents ultimately decide, Trump continues to be extremely popular with his hardcore MAGA base.

In an article published by The Atlantic on June 16, Never Trump conservative Peter Wehner describes "motivated ignorance" as a key factor in the support that Trump still enjoys. According to Wehner, Trump's diehard supporters are oblivious to reality.

READ MORE: [Black Senate candidate's signs defaced with 'KKK' and crosshairs on her forehead: report

"Motivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts," Wehner explains. "It's choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity."

Wehner argues that MAGA diehards who refuse to pay attention to facts are "blind to the cultlike world to which they belong."

"Still others have convinced themselves that Trump, although flawed, is the best of bad options," Wehner explains. "It's a 'binary choice,' they say, and so, they have talked themselves into supporting arguably the most comprehensively corrupt man in the history of American politics, certainly in presidential politics."

Wehner adds, "Whichever justification applies, they are giving not just their vote, but their allegiance to a man and movement that have done great harm to our country and its ideals, and which seek to inflict even deeper wounds in the years ahead. Many of them are self-proclaimed evangelicals and fundamentalists, and they are also doing inestimable damage to the Christian faith they claim is central to their lives."

READ MORE:[How a '90s 'right-wing populist revolt' paved the way for Trumpism

*Peter Wehner's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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mma no lnx grf

RSS

Trump’s frequent amplification of QAnon accounts on Truth Social belies his associates’ promise to “weed out any QAnon influences” from him

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 10/29/24

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has amplified QAnon-promoting accounts nearly 1,000 times during the roughly two and a half years he’s been posting on his social media platform Truth Social, according to a Media Matters review.

In our review, we deemed Truth Social accounts “QAnon-promoting accounts” if they explicitly promoted the conspiracy theory by sharing affiliated slogans, posts from QAnon’s central figure “Q,” or imagery related to the conspiracy theory. We counted reposting or quoting a post as amplifying it.

This activity marks a significant increase from his boosting of the conspiracy theory on Twitter (now X) during his presidency — a longer span of time than his activity on Truth Social thus far. From 2017 until his then-Twitter account was suspended on January 8, 2021, Trump amplified QAnon-promoting accounts on that platform more than 300 times, and he also praised the QAnon community multiple times.

After leaving office, Trump continued to associate with the movement, even granting hosts of a QAnon show press credentials for a Trump rally in July 2021. Amid reporting on that rally, associates of Trump told reporters that they had tried to “weed out any QAnon influences — both adherents and postings — getting close to him.”

Since then, however, Trump has been photographed with multiple QAnon figures, his campaign gave a QAnon figure a press pass to a 2023 campaign rally while reportedly denying some mainstream journalists from other campaign events, and he has used a song associated with QAnon on social media and at his rallies. In June, his son Eric Trump went on a QAnon-affiliated show and praised its host for his “honest voice.” And the following month, a QAnon influencer said she got credentials for the 2024 Republican National Convention, where Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Trump has also continued to amplify QAnon-promoting accounts (and other accounts with extreme and violent content) on Truth Social.

Between April 28, 2022 — when Trump began actively posting on Truth Social — and October 28, 2024, Trump amplified QAnon-promoting accounts on Truth Social at least 953 times. That marks an increase from Media Matters’ last count of Trump’s activity, through April 29, 2024, when he had amplified QAnon-promoting accounts more than 800 times. On the platform, Trump has also promoted explicit QAnon content, including repeatedly amplifying posts that featured content from posts from “Q” (QAnon’s central figure) and a video that included the QAnon slogan (“where we go one, we go all,” or “WWG1WGA”).

Among Trump’s promotion of QAnon-promoting accounts on Truth Social, he specifically:

Amplified at least 7 posts from QAnon-promoting accounts that featured text from Q posts. This includes at least 1 post between April 30 and October 28.

Trump Q post 8/8/24

CitationLeft: Trump amplifying a Truth Social post on August 8, 2024, featuring an image with text from a Q post; Right: The full Q post with the text Trump amplified

Amplified at least 45 posts that featured “Q” in their text or image; the QAnon slogan; the QAnon phrases “nothing can stop what is coming” (or “NCSWIC” for short) or “we are the news now”; or “Q+,” a term some QAnon supporters use to refer to Trump himself. This includes 12 new instances between April 30 and October 28.

Trump QAnon collage1

CitationTruth Social posts that were amplified by Trump between April 30 and October 28, 2024, and feature QAnon phrases in their text or images. (Red arrows have been added to point to the QAnon-related content.)

Trump QAnon collage2

CitationTruth Social posts that were amplified by Trump between April 30 and October 28, 2024, and feature QAnon phrases in their text or images. (Red arrows have been added to point to the QAnon-related content.)

Amplified at least two QAnon influencers that have seemingly been involved with a known QAnon influencer collective: “Pepe Deluxe” after April 30 and “Patri0tsareinContr0l” before April 30.

Amplified at least 190 individual QAnon-promoting accounts, including 14 accounts that he had not promoted before April 30.

Truth Social’s leadership has actively courted QAnon supporters to the platform, and the former president and his allies have associated with and appealed to the QAnon community in other ways as well. For instance, former Trump administration official and Truth Social board member Kash Patel said that “we try to incorporate” QAnon “into our overall messaging scheme to capture audiences.”

see 17 for annot

alternet-no lnx

Why do people still back Trump after everything? A scientist explains

The ConversationOctober 27, 2024

For many people, especially those leaning left, Donald Trump’s disqualifications to be president seem obvious, prompting some to question: How could anyone still vote for Trump?

Some of the evidence Trump’s critics cite include his two impeachments, multiple criminal indictments at the state and federal levels and a felony conviction. Opponents also say that Trump is a threat to democracy, a misogynist, racist, a serial liar and a rapist.

About 78% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independent voters say that Trump broke the law when he allegedly tried to overturn the 2020 election results. But less than half of Republicans think he did anything wrong.

I am an anthropologist of peace and conflict, and I have been studying what I call the Trumpiverse since 2015, when Trump descended a golden escalator and announced his candidacy for president. I later wrote a related book in 2021, called “It Can Happen Here.”

More recently, I have been examining toxic polarization – and ways to stop it. Many efforts to reduce people’s polarized views begin with an injunction: Listen and understand.

Why are people voting for Trump?

To this end, I have attended Trump rallies, populist and nonpartisan events and meetings where Democrats and Republicans connect and talk. Along the way, I have spoken with Trump supporters ranging from the Make America Great Again, or MAGA, faithful to moderate “hold the nose and vote for him” conservatives.

And indeed, many on the left fail to understand who Trump voters are and how they vary. Trump’s base cannot simply be dismissed as racist “deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton famously said in 2016, or as country bumpkins in red MAGA hats. Trump voters trend older, white, rural, religious and less educated. But they include others outside those demographic groups.

Many people have thoughtful reasons for voting for Trump, even if their reasoning – as is also true for those on the left – is often inflamed by populist polarizers and media platforms.

Here are five key lines of reasoning that, in varying combinations, inform Trump voters’ choice.

A man wearing a dark suit is seen facing a large crowd of people who all look forward. Donald Trump speaks at a rally on July 31, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

1. Media distortion

Where those on the left see Trump’s many failings, those on the right may see what some political observers call Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes simply called TDS.

According to this line of argument, the left-leaning media dissects Trump’s every word, and the media then distorts what he says. I have found that some Trump supporters think that people who feed too much on this allegedly biased media diet can get TDS and develop a passionate, perhaps illogical dislike of Trump.

I have also heard hardcore Trump supporters argue, with no evidence, that such “fake news” media outlets, like CNN, are part of a larger deep state plot of the federal government to upend the will of the people. This plot, according to those who propagate it, includes not just leftists, government bureaucrats and people who claim to be Republicans, but really aren’t, but also people in law enforcement.

Some Trump supporters also see merit in his contention that he is being wrongly persecuted, just like some see the Jan. 6 defendants being persecuted.

2. Bread on the table, money in the bank

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

For many Trump voters, the answer to Ronald Reagan’s famous question is clear: “No.” They accurately remember Trump’s term as one of tax cuts, economic growth and stock market highs.

It is true that overall employment numbers and average pay went up under President Joe Biden. But for some Trump supporters, that economic boost pales in comparison to the massive surge in inflation during Biden’s term, with prices rising almost 20%. While the inflation rate has recently abated, prices remain high – as voters are reminded of every day at the grocery store.

Polls also show that Trump has a strong lead over Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on how they would handle the economy, which is a top concern for voters, especially Republicans.

3. A border invasion

Another reason some Americans want to vote for Trump: immigration.

Like inflation, the number of people illegally crossing the border soared under Biden.

This massive influx of “illegal aliens,” as Trump calls them, dropped to its lowest level in four years in July 2024. This happened after the Biden administration made it harder for immigrants to apply for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, a policy measure that is in line with many Republicans’ approach.

In 2022, a poll found 7 out of 10 Republicans worried that “open borders” were part of a Democratic plot to expand liberals’ power by replacing conservative white people with nonwhite foreigners.

Trump has played into some people’s mostly false concerns that immigrants living illegally in the U.S. are freeloaders and won’t assimilate, as illustrated by recent – untrue – allegations that immigrants are eating pets in Ohio.

In 2022, 82% of Republicans said they viewed immigration as a “very important” issue. Trump continues to tout his proposed solution, which includes shutting the border, building a wall and deporting 11 million immigrants who are living in the U.S. without legal authorization.

A crowd of people stand outside on a gray day, in front of three large signs that show a man dressed in a costume from the Wild West, with the words 'You tell em I'm coming,' and a poster of a man surrounded by men in suits as he raises his fist People attend a Donald Trump rally in Uniondale, N.Y., on Sept. 18, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

4. A proven record

Some Trump voters simply compare the records of Trump and Biden-Harris and find that the tally tilts firmly toward Trump.

And it’s not just about the economy and immigration.

There were no new wars under Trump. Biden-Harris, in contrast, are saddled with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. Trump supporters’ perception is that American taxpayers foot a large portion of the bill, even though other countries are also giving money to Ukraine, and Israel is actually buying weapons from the U.S.

I have found that Trump supporters also think he is better suited to deal with the rising power and threat of China.

5. The MAGA bull in a china shop

While some Harris supporters lament Trump’s destruction of democracy and decency in politics, I have found that Trump voters see a charismatic MAGA bull in a china shop.

It is precisely because Trump is an unrelenting pugilist, or a fighter – as he showed when he raised a fist after the assassination attempt against him in July – that he should be elected, his supporters believe.

Some even view him as savior – who will save the U.S. from a “radical left” apocalypse.

For such Trump stalwarts, MAGA is not simply a slogan. In the Trumpiverse, it is a movement to save an America that is on the brink of failure. The Conversation

Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

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an 10 24

Atlantic reporter John Hendrickson set out on one mission during a Gwinnett County, Georgia event sponsored far-right MAGA ally Charlie Kirk earlier this week, by asking attendees one question: "What do you think will happen if [Donald] Trump loses?"

Hendrickson reports that he "heard a range of answers," including "promises to accept the outcome," and even "predictions of a new Civil War."

One MAGA fan, Joshua Barnes, told Hendrickson that if Kamala Harris defeats Trump, "as much as I would hate it, you kind of do have to accept it."

READ MORE:['Outrageous abuse of power': Trump withheld aid to Dem and GOP governors who criticized him

Another attendee named Mark Williams — who says he runs "the biggest political printing business in" The Peach State — told The Atlantic reporter me that "there’s going to be some crazy people that do some crazy s—t; that just happens. But the actions of most of us, I mean, we’ll bi—h about it and scream at each other and all that kind of stuff, but we’re not going to break into the Capitol and stuff."

He continued, "I’m as big a Trump supporter as anybody, but I didn’t feel compelled to go breaking into the Capitol. And those people that did that did wrong. And I don’t know that all of them did wrong, but the ones that did, they needed to be punished."

However, Williams also told Hendrickson about words he overheard from MAGA supporters while attending "Kid Rock’s Rock the Country festival in Rome, Georgia, earlier this year."

Hendrickson writes:

He described some of the chatter he heard at the festival, such as When we have to go out on the field and fight these people, y’all going to be there with us? 'It did surprise me a little bit, the tone that some of these guys were taking; I think there’s people that are absolutely ready to take on a civil war,' he said. 'I think that if there was an overwhelming view of a crooked election or something like that—yeah, I could see it happening.'

READ MORE:['Trump whisperer': Republicans are betting on this GOP senator’s ability to 'tamp down' ex-president

Ex-Trump official Ben Carson also weighed in, explaining that he doesn't think another January 6 is likely.

"I think regardless of who wins or loses, we’ve got to tone down the dissension and the hatred that’s going on in our country, or it’s going to be destroyed," Carson told Hendrickson.

Another former Trump official — Peter Navarro — took a different approach.

"By asking that question you’re trying to stir up s—t, man," he said to Hendrickson. Claiming that The Atlantic reporter's "query would be better suited for President Joe Biden and the Democrats," Navarro added, "Those a—holes put me in prison. Do you hear me?"

READ MORE:['Shameful': Naval Academy cancels authoritarianism lecture After 'MAGA pressure'

*Hendrickson's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

===

an 10 24

Vice presidential hopeful JD Vance recently took the stage at an event organized by the most influential far-right pastor you’ve never heard of. His name is Lance Wallnau and he popularized a doctrine that calls for Christians to conquer every sphere of society from the government to professional sports.

Wallnau is a self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist who preaches that leftists aren’t even people, just vessels for demons. He accused Vice President Kamala Harris of witchcraft. He prayed for God to kill Trump’s enemies. Wallnau’s message is a mishmash of Bible memes and conspiracy theories. He preaches the Big Lie as gospel truth, fusing Christian nationalism and election denialism.

In 2020, Wallnau gathered the faithful for the insurrection of January 6th. Today, he’s responsible for a good chunk of the Trump campaign’s Get Out the Vote effort. He rails against George Soros, the globalists, the World Economic Forum and vaccines. He hypes quack stem-cell therapies and Donald Trump figurines as fervently as he hypes Jesus.

Most importantly, Wallnau preaches that Donald Trump is a modern-day King Cyrus, a heathen anointed by God. The upshot is that no matter how immoral, blasphemous or criminal Trump is, it doesn’t matter because he’s God’s instrument to impose Christian dominion. If you’ve ever wondered why evangelicals don’t care that Trump is a philandering felon, Wallnau’s King Cyrus meme explains a lot.

JD Vance is not an evangelical, but he seemed at home at the Courage Campaign. At least, he seemed as comfortable as he gets in the presence of actual voters. And why not? Vance is the interface between the C-suites and the fever swamps of Magaland. It’s why he spends so much time on weird podcasts. As a Yale-educated US senator, he legitimates the fringe. As a rightwing podcast bro, he shores up the Trump ticket’s bona fides with the supplement-slurping conspiracist base.

One of Vance’s key functions is to validate all the factions of the maga conspiracist coalition.

Conspiracism is the overarching ideology of the maga movement. The three pillars of the maga platform are the Deep State, the Big Lie and the Great Replacement, and Vance eagerly expounds on all three. CLIMate denial

Moreover, Vance moves effortlessly among integralist Catholics, protestant New Apostolic Reformation types, and the more secular Silicon Valley contingent exemplified by Elon Musk.

Vance’s other role is to reassure the more staid elements of the conservative coalition that unchecked conspiracism is politically useful. In 2021, Vance exhorted the future leaders of the conservative movement tomake common cause with Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other raving conspiracy theorists. According to Vance, the conservative movement is doomed unless it makes common cause with lunatics.

“Believing crazy things is not the mark of whether somebody should be rejected. Believing important truths should be the mark of whether we accept somebody, and if they believe some crazy things on the side, that's fine," Vance said. "Doesn't mean you have to defend their craziest views. But by all means, if this movement is going to survive, we need to speak for truth.”

The truth, according to Vance, is that an international cabal of financier sex perverts is ruining our society. This is the closest thing Vance has to an ideology. Like Wallnau, Vance is willing to use flawed instruments. As long as someone’s willing to affirm the core conspiracy premise, Vance is flexible about whether it’s dressed up in religious lingo, or whether his brother- or sister-in-paranoia also believes in Jewish space lasers or a federal plot to turn the frogs gay.

===

--==

Further information: QAnon

During the first months of QAnon's existence, there were rumors that Cicada 3301 had created QAnon.^[28] One early QAnon promoter urged Cicada 3301 puzzlers to help decode Q's messages.^[29] Despite this, 3301 themselves have not publicly stated to be involved with QAnon in any way.

prom in

Q Into the Storm - Wikipedia

...See also: QAnon, 8chan, Jim Watkins (businessman), and Ron Watkins

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jim_Watkins_1_%28cropped%29.png)Jim Watkins, operator of 8chan[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fredrick_Brennan_selfie_%28cropped%29.jpg)Fredrick Brennan, creator of 8chan

QAnon is a debunked American far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotted against former U.S. president Donald Trump while he was in office,^{[10][11][12][13}] and is often described as being a cult.^[14][15][16]^

The conspiracy theory began with an October 2017 post on the anonymous imageboard 4chan by "Q" (or "QAnon"), who was presumably an American individual.^[17] Q claimed to be a high-level government official with Q clearance, who has access to classified information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the United States.^[18] The imageboard website 8chan, rebranded to 8kun in 2019, later became QAnon's online home, as it is the only place Q posts messages.^{[13][19][20][21]}^

8chan is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards that was created in October 2013 by computer programmer Fredrick Brennan.^[22] After a surge in traffic to the site in 2014 due to the migration of Gamergate-related discussion from 4chan, Brennan was faced with financial challenges to keeping the site online.^[23][24] He began working with Jim Watkins, a technology businessman and the operator of the 2channel textboard, and moved to the Philippines to live and work with Watkins and his son Ron.^[25]^

In January 2015, Jim Watkins became the official owner and operator of 8chan.^[26] Brennan continued to work as the site's administrator until 2016, at which time he relinquished the role and Ron Watkins took the position. Brennan continued to work for Jim Watkins until cutting ties with the family in 2018.^{[26][27][28][29][30}] Brennan has since become an outspoken critic of 8chan, the Watkinses, and QAnon, and has actively battled to try to take 8chan offline.^{[24][31][32][33]}^

Numerous journalists and conspiracy theory researchers believe that Jim Watkins or his son, Ron Watkins, are working with Q, know Q's identity, or are themselves Q.^[40] Brennan has also supported this theory, and in June 2020 said, "I definitely, definitely, 100 percent believe that Q either knows Jim or Ron Watkins, or was hired by Jim or Ron Watkins."^[36]

Both Watkinses have denied knowing Q's identity, and Ron Watkins again denied being Q shortly before the series premiered.^[41][36] In February 2020, Jim Watkins formed a super PAC called "Disarm the Deep State", which backs political candidates who support the QAnon conspiracy theory.^[42] Ron Watkins has played a major role in helping to amplify the QAnon conspiracy theory, and has been described as a de facto QAnon leader.^[43][44][45]^

Production

Q: Into the Storm is directed by Cullen Hoback. Hoback began following the development of QAnon and working to discover the identity of Q in 2017.^[46][47] Adam McKay is executive producer for the series, under his Hyperobject Industries banner.^[46][48]^

....

----

guk rev

...That’s just the order of the day in the upside-down Q-niverse, which Hoback may have very well conquered; unlike so many investigative docs of this ilk, he delivers the goods, presenting a sturdy case that Ron Watkins is the keyboard chaos agent behind Q. But for all his muckraking, Hoback’s most valuable insights concern the pathologies that compel someone to take refuge among the Q-ers. In a post-Trump America, QAnon itself appears to be losing steam, with Ron instructing the remaining members of 8kun to “go back to our lives as best we are able”. But some loyalists continue the windmill-tilting, and others will bring their exploitable behaviors to the alt-right, white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other camps all too eager to integrate them. Even if QAnon disbands – and the “barrage of messages from the usual suspects” in Hoback’s inbox suggests that they’ve still got some fight in them – the US will be dealing with the attendant mentality for generations to come.

“I got a better sense of why people believe what they believe,” Hoback says. “One of the things we’ve got to face as a society is the quandary of why people are turning to QAnon. Why this radical rejection of expertise, and of ‘elites’? It gives a sense of hope, community and purpose. It fills needs for people who don’t always have much else. That’s why it gets compared to religion a lot of the time, for fulfilling a lot of the same desires. Except instead of waiting for heaven and hell, they exist right here on Earth, and they exist in the form of these bad guys … It’s a false narrative, but to them, that hardly matters. What you see in this series, is that by the end, something fantastic and ridiculous can meme itself into reality.”...

---

cullen Hoback|...| Self - Filmmaker6 episodes, 2021 |

|Liz Crokin|Liz Crokin|...| Self - QTuber, Former Gossip Columnist4 episodes, 2021 |

|Jack Posobiec|Jack Posobiec|...| Self - Correspondent, One America News3 episodes, 2021 |

|Tracy Beanz|Tracy Beanz|...| Self - QTuber2 episodes, 2021 |

|DeAnna Lorraine|DeAnna Lorraine|...| Self - Future Congressional Candidate R-CA|

jake Rockatansky|...| Self - QAnon Anonymous Podcast2 episodes, 2021 |

|Jason Sullivan|Jason Sullivan|...| Self - Former Chief Social Media Strategist to Roger Stone1 episode, 2021 |

|Jacob Chansley|Jacob Chansley|...| Self - 'QAnon Shaman'2 episodes, 2021 |

[### YARN | Courtney Tubbs had worked as a writer for The ...

YARN | Search clips by quote

https://getyarn.io › yarn-clip](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/776b540d-ed27-451e-9886-2c6a56a8d9c4)

Q: Into the Storm (2021) - S01E05 Game Over clip with quote Courtney Tubbs had worked as a writer for The Goldwater, Yarn is the best search for video clips ...

===

an 9 24

'You are the cancer': Swing state election official admits having PTSD from MAGA threats

---

---}:

Right-wing media and social media users spread conspiracy theories about the Trump rally shooting

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN & PAYTON ARMSTRONG

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JASON CAMPBELL & NOAH DOWE

PUBLISHED 07/16/24

Following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, right-wing media figures and social media users have spread baseless conspiracy theories and claims about the shooting.

They have amplified a 4chan hoax that the Secret Service gave a stand-down order during the shooting; made baseless allegations that Alex Soros was connected to the shooting; falsely claimed a protester at a 2016 Trump rally was the shooter; suggested the shooting could be attributed to the intelligence community, the “deep state,” foreign actors, or an “RNC/Israeli hit job”; and connected the assassination attempt to biblical prophecy and “the hand of God.”

• ## A gunman attempted to shoot Trump at a July 13 rally

• On July 13, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, injuring Trump, killing one rally attendee, and seriously wounding two others. The 20-year-old suspected gunman reportedly opened fire from a rooftop near the rally, and was fatally shot by the Secret Service. His motivation remains unclear. The New York Times, [7/14/24]

• ## Far-right figures spread a 4chan hoax that there was a stand-down order before the shooting

• A 4chan poster falsely claimed to be a law enforcement sniper who was at the Pennsylvania rally and said the Secret Service “refused to give the order to take out the perp.” A user on 4chan’s far-right “politically incorrect” message board (commonly known as “/pol/”) claimed to be “the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at Trump's rally” and said that they “had the assassin in my sights for at least 3 minutes, but the head of the secret service refused to give the order to take out the perp.” The Associated Press reported that the claim was false, noting that “the Secret Service and the Butler Police Department say they have no agents, officers or employees with the name of the person claiming to be the sharpshooter.” 4chan, [7/14/24; The Associated Press, 7/15/24]

Social media users earned tens of thousands of shares and likes promoting the 4chan post. Multiple users, including QAnon figure Nicholas Veniamin, shared the 4chan posts or its claims, raking up tens of thousands of shares and “likes” on X and Instagram. According to CrowdTangle, posts on Instagram sharing the 4chan hoax received more than 80,000 interactions. Twitter/X, [7/14/24, 7/14/24, 7/14/24, 7/15/24; Instagram, 7/14/24; CrowdTangle, accessed 7/16/24; Media Matters, 3/4/22]

A post amplifying the 4chan hoax was one of the top posts on Reddit’s conspiracy subreddit. On the prominent subreddit “r/conspiracy,” a user posted an image of the 4chan post — though they added, “BIG grain of salt recommended.” The post was one of the top posts in terms of “upvotes” in a 24-hour period between July 14 and July 15. Reddit, [7/14/24, 7/15/24; Media Matters, 9/18/23]

• ## QAnon figures revived a baseless conspiracy theory that Alex Soros had threatened Trump, apparently suggesting it was connected to the shooting

• In January, Alex Soros was baselessly accused of threatening Trump after posting an article from The Atlantic on social media. Conspiracy theorists baselessly accused Alex Soros — the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros and a frequent target of right-wing attacks and antisemitic conspiracy theories — of threatening Trump after he posted an Atlantic article that featured stock photos of a bullet hole and someone holding cash on X (formerly Twitter). Media Matters, [1/23/24]

QAnon figure Woke Societies after the shooting: “Don’t forgot Alex Soros posted this in January of this year. Demons.” Telegram, [7/13/24; Media Matters, 4/18/22]

QAnon figure Pepe Lives Matter: “Remember when Alex Soros tweeted a bullet shot with the number 47 in this ominous tweet that people thought was about Donald Trump and now he was just shot.” Telegram, [7/13/24, 1/7/21]

QAnon figure Ben Moore, known online as “Sun Tzu,” responded to a user claiming Alex Soros “hinted at what was coming in a X post” by asking if George and Alex Soros should “be designated as enemy combatants at this point.” Twitter/X, [7/15/24; Media Matters, 4/24/24]

Ann Vandersteel, who has promoted QAnon, posted an image of Alex Soros’ tweet with the text “Remember this?” Twitter/X, [7/13/24; Media Matters, 6/7/24]

A user on the online forum GreatAwakening, which is dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory, shared a post saying “Y’all remember when Alex Soros posted $47 and a bullet hole?” GreatAwakening, [7/14/24; Media Matters, 6/30/20]

• ## Far-right figures falsely claimed a protester at a 2016 Trump rally was the shooter

• QAnon figure QAnon John falsely claimed that “a guy affiliated with ANTIFA” was actually the shooter. John Sabal, known online as “QAnon John,” falsely posted that the shooter was actually “a guy affiliated with ANTIFA that was actually arrested back in 2016 for being involved in an Anti-Trump protest in Pittsburgh,” and that in response he was “calling on the FBI, DHS & DOJ to designate ANTIFA AS A DOMESTIC TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.” Reuters reported that the claim is false, noting that the 2016 protester was “not the suspect identified by the FBI as the shooter” and that the photo shared online “does not resemble the suspect identified by authorities.” Gab, [7/14/24; Dallas Observer, 8/31/21; Reuters, 7/15/24; WTAE, 4/14/16]

Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone claimed that “a number of people have contacted me to say that the shooter is not the man they’ve identified.” During an appearance on conspiracy theory network Infowars, Stone said that “a number of people have contacted me to say that the shooter is not the man they’ve identified, but rather” someone else — the same person mentioned by QAnon John — “who appears to more closely resemble the picture we've been shown that is allegedly the corpse of the shooter.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 7/15/24]

• ## Far-right figures baselessly suggested the shooting could be attributed to the “intelligence agencies,” the “deep state,” foreign actors, or “an RNC/Israeli hit job”

• White nationalist Nick Fuentes floated the idea that “the intelligence agencies” could have been behind Trump‘s shooting. During an X Space discussion following the attempted shooting, Fuentes claimed that “it was either the intelligence agencies or it was these other guys who are gonna benefit with a more favorable advocate in the White House” — after listing people and entities including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ukraine — who “tried to knock him out” with the attempted shooting. Twitter/X, [7/13/24]

Alex Jones claimed that the Trump shooting was “clearly” done by the “deep state.” In the X Space with Fuentes, Jones claimed of the attempted shooting, “Clearly this was deep state.” He said it was evidence of “the deep state trying to kill him,” adding, “This was no accident, in my view.” Twitter/X, [7/13/24]

White nationalist Stew Peters baselessly claimed it was “an RNC/Israeli hit job.” According to Peters, “Everyone is blaming Biden and the Dems when this was clearly an RNC/Israeli hit job.” Twitter/X, [7/13/24; Media Matters, 3/13/23]

Right-wing personality Candace Owens said that if she were a conspiracy theorist, she might think the FBI was behind the Trump shooting. While discussing on her YouTube show the FBI’s efforts to access the alleged shooter’s phone (which it has since done), Owens said, “If I were a conspiracy theorist, and I’m not — I’m not a conspiracy theorist — some people might be thinking, though, those conspiracy theorists might be thinking, like, maybe it’s because the FBI did it. Maybe the FBI doesn’t want to get into the phone that connects the kid to the deep state.” YouTube, *Candace Owens*, [7/15/24; The New York Times, 7/15/24]

QAnon figure Clandestine claimed, “Whether this was a CIA-coordinated plot, or just a lone shooter, the Deep State are responsible regardless.” Jacob Creech, known online as “Clandestine,” added, “Either they planned the hit, or their years of violent rhetoric and endless MSM propaganda, created the vitriol that led to the attack.” Telegram, [7/14/24; Anti-Defamation League, 4/5/22]

• ## Far-right Christian media and right-wing social media influencers invoked biblical prophecy and “the hand of God” in discussing the shooting

• Charisma News, which has been a sponsor of the ReAwaken America Tour led by Michael Flynn, published multiple articles linking the assassination attempt to biblical prophecy. An article titled “3 Prophecies Fulfilled with the Trump Assassination Attempt” claimed that “at least three different prophetic voices have had words about something massive that was coming to America.” Another article, titled “Prophecy Foretold Attempted Assassination Months in Advance” and focused on a March 2024 interview with guest Brandon Biggs, stated that “the events of Saturday, July 13, appear to have fulfilled the prophecy Biggs gave in startlingly accurate fashion.” Charisma News, [7/14/24, 7/14/24; Rolling Stone, 2/28/23]

Self-described prophet Amanda Grace said “prayer matters” because the assassination attempt was “meant to kill him and by the hand of God it grazed him” and claimed the “Lord warned” her that it would happen. Grace added: “Saul did this to David. This is that same spirit rising up. Saul attempted to kill David on multiple occasions and never was able to succeed.” She also suggested that God had warned her multiple times that Trump would be hurt, claiming that “the Lord warned [on] June 8” and “he warned it again two days ago.” YouTube, *Ark of Grace Ministries*,[; Media Matters, 5/30/24] VID]

While discussing the assassination attempt on FlashPoint, commentator and self-described prophet Lance Wallnau mentioned a prophetic “decree” and attributed Trump’s survival to “the impulse of God or an angel that enabled him to not be hit.”Wallnau said that “the brush with mortality is a moment also for President Trump to realize that God himself is preserving him. And let’s agree together in this decree that he will have an ear to hear in every key situation what the spirit of God is actually saying. And he’ll wisely and shrewdly navigate, turning to the left or to the right as the wisdom of God dictates, and that he will stay one step ahead of death.” Twitter/X, [7/13/24; Rolling Stone, 9/29/22]

Far-right figures Dom Lucre and Jack Posobiec shared a video of supposed prophet Brandon Biggs predicting three months ago that Trump would be injured. Lucre wrote that “the prophet Brandon Bible’s prophecy about Donald Trump’s assassination attempt from 3 months ago has resurfaced” and said, “This has been biblical since day one.” Posobiec, who has a penchant for spreading conspiracy theories, amplified the video to his 2.5 million followers. Twitter/X, [7/14/24, 7/14/24; The Washington Post, 8/15/17; Forbes, 7/27/23]

Christian nationalist pastor Sean Feucht shared the video of Biggs and wrote, “Prophecy from March 14, 2024 about Trump being shot in the ear in an assassination attempt!” Twitter/X, [7/14/24; Media Matters, 9/14/23]

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an 7 24

While the beltway media spent the last week haranguing President Joe Biden over his lackluster performance in the CNN presidential debate, former President Donald Trump largely got a pass despite several days of shenanigans that Rolling Stone described as a "week from hell."

In a Friday article, Rolling Stone reporters Tom Dickinson and Asawin Suebsaeng summed up how the former president exhibited increasingly unhinged behavior while the press scrutinized Biden's debate mistakes. On his Truth Social platform, Trump posted a meme of him and his wife, Melania, with the text "Where We Go One We Go All" – the slogan of the far-right cult QAnon. The graphic also featured the letter Q, in another nod to the conspiracy theorist movement that Trump is secretly battling a cabal of wealthy elite pedophiles and will one day bring them to justice (also known as "the storm").

This is merely the latest instance of the former president flirting with the movement that researchers have described as "a danger." A 2021 study by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism And Responses to Terrorism (START) found that QAnon adherents are prone to committing "acts of interpersonal violence, often targeting those around them, including their own children." Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) was a devout QAnon believer before she was elected to Congress, though she has since tried to distance herself from the movement.

READ MORE:Trump hopes you won't notice 'close partnership' with Project 2025: former Labor Secretary

That same year, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) released a report by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. That report found that, following Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, QAnon believers "likely will begin to believe they can no longer ‘trust the plan’ referenced in QAnon posts and that they have an obligation to change from serving as ‘digital soldiers’ towards engaging in real world violence."

Trump was also caught this week in a hot-mic moment in which he unleashed a profane tirade against both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris while he was golfing. The ex-president wrongly stated that he had already forced Biden out of the race and that Harris would be his general election opponent.

"She’s so bad. She’s so pathetic. She’s just so f—ing bad," Trump was heard saying.

Dickinson and Suebsaeng also characterized Trump as having a "God complex" this week, in which he praised his debate performance as "the greatest single debate performance in the long and storied history of Presidential Debates." Opining that he was "feeling himself," the two journalists noted that Trump felt his 2024 bid for the White House was "guided by divine providence."

READ MORE:Revealed: Trump's hot-mic Biden conversation while sitting in golf court leaked online

As Rolling Stone reported, Trump reposted a Truth Social user's post of a photo of Trump with the text: "GOD HAS CHOSEN HIM TO LEAD THIS FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. GOD WINS!"

Also this week, Trump called for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) to be prosecuted for "treason" via a "televised military tribunal." Former Republican National Committee senior official Doug Heye told the outlet that Trump is benefiting from a media double standard in which Biden's every slip-up is meticulously torn apart, while Trump's increasingly erratic behavior is given a ho-hum treatment.

"[H]is language, for years, has been so over-the-top that even with his record as president, he still gets graded on a massive curve by so many voters,” Heye says. “It’s already factored in, in a way that it could never be for almost any other candidate for the presidency. Trump saying something crazy is the oldest news there is at this point. It doesn’t mean it’s not crazy, and it doesn’t mean it’s not damaging. But this [dynamic] benefits him greatly.”

Click here to read Rolling Stone's report in its entirety (subscription required).

READ MORE:Trump: 'I know nothing' about Project 2025 despite numerous ex-officials' involvement

---

Appearing on a QAnon-supporting podcast, Eric Trump praises the host for his “honest voice”

06/25/24 mma

AN 6 24

no lnx

alternet-

‘They could have killed me’: Trump's 2020 'Seattle whistleblower' finally revealed

Michael Flynn (center) leaves a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., with Geoffrey Flohr aka "Yoda" (front) on Dec. 12, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Jordan GreenandRaw Story June 23, 2024

The scene is straight from a discount bin spy novel.

A black SUV arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to collect Sabrina Keliikoa, a QAnon adherent and supervisor at the facility’s FedEx air freight terminal.

Keliikoa was scared out of her wits.

She did not want to go.

But late on this Friday night in early December 2020, Keliikoa felt as if she had no choice: A retired Michigan State Police officer nicknamed “Yoda” had just warned that her life was in danger.

Keliikoa called in another employee to finish her shift. She entered the vehicle driven by a Marine Corps veteran who had provided security for American diplomats in Iraq. They arrived at a hotel where the driver checked her in. There, Keliikoa stayed for the next two days. A rotating set of “guards” occupied the adjacent room in shifts.

What was possibly happening here?

As Keliikoa would later testify in legal deposition, a video of which Raw Story recently reviewed, a man entered her hotel room and asked her to write an affidavit about election ballots she’d seen — and considered suspicious — at the FedEx facility shortly after the 2020 election.

The man was part of a secretive team of Donald Trump supporters, operating without legal authority but under the leadership of former Trump national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, that aimed to obtain information they believed could be used in lawsuits to change the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor.

More generally, they hoped to undermine public confidence that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election.

Keliikoa described the experience as being “detained” and complained she became a “pawn” of people determined to use her.

“So, I got a phone call that said somebody is coming in from another state with illegal ballots, and they were going to be looking for me, and they were going to try to kill me,” Keliikoa testified. “And I started crying because this turned into the biggest s---show when it shouldn’t have been.”

The escapade showcases the absurd lengths Flynn and his team went to concoct evidence that Trump had the 2020 presidential election “stolen” from him.

These and other baseless allegations of election fraud would instill fury in Trump’s supporters, who by the thousands attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while attempting to prevent Congress from certifying the election.

These new revelations about Keliikoa’s ordeal also come at a time when Trump, who is expected to again be the Republican nominee for president, relentlessly claims that the multiple criminal prosecutions against him constitute an effort “to rig the presidential election of 2024.”

Trump’s script is familiar and predictable: He similarly made repeated claims well in advance of the 2020 election that the vote would be rigged. It’s an all-but-foregone conclusion that if Trump loses the 2024 election, he will exclaim, as he did then, that he actually won, and that Democrats, communists, the “deep state” and other perceived bogeymen stole it from him.

And if history is a guide, high-profile Trump surrogates can again be expected to again chase phantom evidence and spin wild tales in service of Trump’s I-can’t-lose approach to campaigning.

‘A plane full of ballots’

Until now, Keliikoa — the woman who held the information so feverishly sought by Trump’s supporters following the 2020 election — was known only as “the Seattle whistleblower.”

Keliikoa’s deposition, taken in March, fills in details about the “stop the steal” escapade and are being reported for the first time by Raw Story.

The seeds of Keliikoa's ordeal began germinating in November 2020. An array of high-profile Trump supporters had initiated a frenzied effort to collect affidavits that they hoped would bolster claims of election fraud, which pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell detailed in a series of lawsuits.

The goal: overturn the presidential election results in tightly contested states such as Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, and more generally, to undermine confidence in the election.

With his charisma and the respect he commanded as a retired lieutenant general, Michael Flynn, who had briefly served as Trump's national security advisor, quickly emerged as a de facto leader among the group of “stop the steal” operatives surrounding Powell.

The 2020 election was “the greatest fraud that our country has ever experienced in our history,” Flynn told far-right broadcaster Brannon Howse during an interview aired on Nov. 28, 2020. “I’m right in the middle of it right now, and I will tell you that, first of all, the president has clear paths to victory.”

Flynn had reason to feel emboldened. Three days earlier, then-President Trump granted Flynn a full pardon, wiping away his guilty plea to charges of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn began to speak at rallies and make media appearances on Trump’s behalf.

Flynn’s interview with Howse was his first interview of any sort since receiving Trump’s pardon. The key to exposing the election fraud, Flynn told the podcaster, was channeling the perceived power of hundreds of Trump supporters who believed they witnessed voting fraud or election irregularities.

“I mean hundreds and hundreds of Americans around the country, not just the swing states, but many, many other states that are coming forward with their stories and putting them down in affidavits,” he said at the time.

Four days later, Powell addressed a “Stop the Steal” rally in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta. There, she angrily told the crowd that there had been “flagrant election fraud,” and said her team had “evidence” of all manner of ballot fraud, including “a plane full of ballots that came in.”

Enter Staci Burk.

Burk was a former school board member and law school student in Arizona who suffers from a medical condition known as pulmonary arterial hypertension.

A man in Burk’s lung condition support group told her about a woman in Seattle who allegedly had information about illegal ballots. That woman was Keliikoa, and Burk’s lung condition buddy arranged to put the two women in touch.

But Burk first attempted to report Keliikoa's information to the FBI and then relayed it to Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend, a leading figure in the pro-Trump stop-the-steal effort. The supposed intel eventually filtered up to Sidney Powell’s legal team.

Burk and Keliikoa kept in touch by phone for the next month, but Keliikoa would later say she wouldn’t characterize their relationship as a friendship. Keliikoa didn’t want to give up her anonymity. Burk felt caught in a bind; she didn’t want to associate her own name with information she didn’t know firsthand, but she was feeling pressure from Townsend and others to persuade Keliikoa to come forward.

“I’ve been working on her coming forward for over a month,” Burk told Carissa Keshel, Powell’s assistant, in a Dec. 1, 2020, text message reviewed by Raw Story. “I almost facilitated a call with you, but she just got to work. She will likely let me do a conference call with anyone. But she’s still afraid to come forward.”

“What can we do to make her feel more comfortable?” Keshel asked Burk. “We can facilitate security.”

Attempting to find a way to obtain the information while preserving Keliikoa’s desired anonymity, Keshel suggested that Keliikoa forward her ballot intel to Burk, who, in turn, could include it in her own legal declaration. (Burk never fulfilled the request to provide such a statement.)

“Ok I just spoke with General Flynn,” Keshel told Burk. “He says if nothing else, if she can get us as much evidence as possible: pictures, facts. If she can send that to us (or you) and if she can even just write an email. Then you can do another declaration to cover for that. I hope that makes sense.”

What happened next demonstrates the effort by Flynn, Powell and a gaggle of pro-Trump activists to obtain affidavits supporting claims of election fraud was carefully orchestrated. It stands in stark contrast to the picture painted by Flynn — one of ordinary citizens organically and voluntarily coming forward to tell their stories out of a sense of patriotic duty.

Like Keliikoa, Burk found herself in the middle of conspiratorial talk surrounding supposed illegal ballots transported on planes and various security concerns.

Also — not insignificantly — if Powell's team was going to get access to Keliikoa, they would have to go through Burk, who was the only one who knew Keliikoa’s name or how to get in touch with her.

Flynn’s security team finds the ‘Seattle whistleblower’

On the morning of Dec. 4, 2020, Keshel texted Burk to tell her that she thought they had Burk’s “security issue all ironed out.”

Keshel then texted a photo of a man she identified as “Yoda” and a link to the website for 1st Amendment Praetorian, a volunteer security group linked to Flynn.

“Yoda” was Geoffrey Flohr, the retired Michigan State Police officer.

“Gen Flynn and his brother arranged the security for you, so I trust them,” Keshel told Burk in a text message.

“Yoda” arrived at Burk’s home in Florence, Ariz., later that day.

As previously reported by Raw Story, Burk has said that “Yoda” woke her up in the middle of the night. He told her that he had reliable information that the “Seattle whistleblower” was about to be kidnapped and taken to South Korea. “Yoda” even claimed that Burk’s friend in Seattle could potentially be killed if they didn’t send a security team to protect her, Burk recalled.

Burk called Keliikoa and put her on speaker phone so “Yoda” could speak to her.

Keliikoa would later testify that she was terrified by “Yoda” telling her about threats to her safety because bad actors were supposedly attempting to prevent her from exposing massive election fraud.

Indeed, she was so terrified that she called in another employee to cover for her and complete her work for the shift.

“And then what ended up happening is continuous phone calls back and forth,” Keliikoa testified. “‘Okay, well, somebody’s gonna send somebody to pick you up and take you to a safe place.’ But my name should have never been out there, and that makes me mad.”

At Burk’s insistence, late on that Friday night in early December 2020, “Yoda” provided Burk with a resume and photo of the driver who would pick up Keliikoa at the FedEx facility at the Seattle airport.

At 11:50 p.m., Burk texted the resume to Keliikoa.

Roland Hurrington — described on his resume as a Seattle-area Marine Corps veteran “responsible for the protection of classified material, equipment and U.S. mission personnel” — arrived at the FedEx facility in the black SUV to transport Keliikoa.

Keliikoa testified that Hurrington passed through a security checkpoint at the facility. How he was able to do that remains unclear, but Keliikoa speculated that the security personnel may have let him through based on the assumption that he was a chauffeur.

The pickup took place late at night — roughly 30 minutes after “Yoda” first spoke to her, according to Burk’s account.

“And then I get detained, taken,” Keliikoa recalled in her deposition. “And I don’t know who this person is. I don’t know where I was going. I can’t believe I actually agreed to go with this person, because they could have killed me and threw me on the side of the road, and nobody would have known.”

As it turned out, there never was a plot to kill Keliikoa.

In fact, while the pro-Trump stop-the-stealers involved didn’t know or admit it at the time, their entire ballot fraud enterprise was little more than a house of cards perched on pillars of sand.

And the ground beneath them was about to start quaking.

‘He fabricated everything’

Jim Penrose, a cyber-security expert who had previously worked at the National Security Agency under President Barack Obama, would later acknowledge to Burk that he was the man who showed up at Keliikoa’s hotel room and urged her to write an affidavit. After “Yoda” tracked Keliikoa down, Penrose went to her hotel room to meet her.

Penrose has been identified by the New York Times as being one of three men who joined Flynn and Powell at the South Carolina estate of defamation attorney Lin Wood to “gather and organize election information.” One of the others was Seth Keshel, a former Army military intelligence captain who was married to Carissa Keshel.

“We had a security team dispatched in Seattle,” Penrose told Burk in a phone call that she recorded on Christmas Day of 2020.

“My worst fear was that the people were moving, you know, like a team of people that might want to, you know, even kidnap your friend in Seattle,” he said. “I didn’t want to let that happen, right, because I thought it was a situation that was dangerous. And we didn’t have enough info at the time to make a better decision.”

The reason why it was necessary for Flohr to wake up Burk involved grave concerns about an Arizona-based security company called Mayhem Solutions Group.

Why would Flohr care so much about this security firm?

Penrose had told Flohr a wild story about two Mayhem Solutions Group employees he believed were planning to fly an airplane to Phoenix to Seattle and potentially “kidnap” Keliikoa and take her to South Korea because of information she might have about election fraud.

The idea that Mayhem Solutions Group would be involved in a plot to harm Sabrina Keliikoa for the purpose of preventing her from exposing anti-Trump election fraud was not only bizarre. It was based on an utter fabrication.

Owner Shawn Wilson and his employee, Kenneth Scott Koch — both far-right operatives — were prone to conspiracy theories. Koch was a member of the far-right group the Oath Keepers and an anti-COVID lockdown crusader. Koch had presented himself to Burk as a shadowy agent for a rogue government operation involved in illegal ballot trafficking.

More than two weeks before the Flynn security team was dispatched to Seattle, Koch had come to Burk’s house in Arizona to advise her on home security. During a discussion about a similar theory concerning illegal ballots being unloaded from a plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Koch told Burk that a group of men shown in a photo standing next to the plane were “my guys.”

Koch, who had organized an anti-lockdown group in Arizona in response to COVID-19 measures, went on to suggest to Burk that pro-Trump amateur sleuths attempting to uncover election fraud might learn about more than they bargained.

“A lot of these people want to be the center,” he said. “They wanna have the information. The problem is the information they don’t want.” For reasons that remain unclear, Penrose would hire an investigative team that included two former FBI agents to interview Koch about his claims, but not until after the madcap mission in Seattle to obtain the affidavit from Keliikoa.

“We interviewed Koch at length, and he said he fabricated everything,” Penrose told Burk during the Christmas Day phone call.

A one-time ‘hostile actor’ in Flynn’s camp

Patently ridiculous is the notion that a lie told by an anti-COVID lockdown advocate in Arizona, about illegal ballots on a plane, would trigger a weeks-long wild-goose that reached the highest levels of then-President Donald Trump’s inner sanctum, up to and including his former national security adviser.

In the end, the lead that sent Flynn’s associates to the Seattle airport under the pretext of a manufactured election crisis in December 2020 turned out to be little more than a photo of ballots and unexplained beeping from a package scanner that raised the suspicions of Keliikoa, a woman whose imagination was set alight by QAnon conspiracy theories.

One would not be faulted for thinking that nothing about this fake ballot-hunting story seems real.

Except for the fact that it is real.

It’s unclear whether Koch and his boss, Shawn Wilson, knew Flynn prior to the 2020 election. Regardless, Koch’s admitted deception hasn’t prevented Wilson from associating with the Flynn camp since that time.

The America Project, a nonprofit co-founded by Flynn, published a video in late 2023 that presented Wilson as someone who “knows more about what is going on at the border than probably anybody in America.” (Not mentioned in the interview was the fact that Wilson’s company had subcontracted with the state of Texas to operate buses transporting migrants to Democratic-run cities.)

As Election Day 2024 draws nearer, Wilson has only become more public and overt about his support for Trump.

The messaging in Wilson’s interview for Flynn’s nonprofit was a classic appeal to authoritarianism by invoking fear — part of Trump’s playbook since he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015. Wilson claimed that a military assault similar to the one launched against Israel by Hamas is imminent at the U.S southern border.

The remedy, Wilson suggested, is to ensure that Trump wins the 2024 election, adding, “I’ll be leading the charge with him right behind him.”

‘There was no goldmine’

Keliikoa confirmed her QAnon association, which inspired her ballot skepticism, during her deposition earlier this year.

She allowed that she sent Burk a link to a three-hour documentary video series Fall of the Cabal, which is described by the Anti-Defamation League as “a popular recruitment tool for QAnon followers.”

Keliikoa testified that following the November 2020 presidential election, she became suspicious because “we were moving ballots after places were called.” (That wouldn’t have been unusual, considering that the U.S. Postal Service was under a federal court order to locate and deliver mail-in ballots that hadn’t been received by Election Day.) One package that caused a scanner to triple beep — meaning “that it’s not recognized” — also concerned her.

“I believe that something looked wrong,” Keliikoa testified when asked under oath by Burk whether still believes that she witnessed election fraud at the FedEx facility in November 2020.

But Keliikoa admitted that she had nothing of value to share with the ad-hoc security team that sequestered her in a hotel in December 2020.

“They wanted to know if I knew about a plane coming in with these illegal ballots,” Keliikoa recalled. “I told them, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ That didn’t come from me. I don’t know what you’re saying.’ They were asking me if I knew about stuff that was going on outside of my workplace. I don’t. I was working. I don’t go out to other places.”

This didn’t stop Powell, who included a “Jane Doe” witness — Keliikoa presumably — on a witness list filed as part of an Arizona ballot lawsuit in support of Trump’s stop-the-steal effort. “Jane Doe,” Powell said at the time, would “testify about illegal ballots being shipped around the United States including to Arizona on or about before Nov. 3, 2020.”

No one was more disappointed by Keliikoa’s statement than Penrose.

“I thought when we exfil-ed her and we got her to write her affidavit, I thought we were going to have a goldmine of information,” he later told Burk, using the spy-craft term “exfiltrate” that means to furtively remove someone from a hostile area.

“There was no goldmine,” Penrose continued. “She had a picture of two ballot bags, and I asked her: ‘Would you know if ballots came across the tarmac from that Korea Air flight?’ And the answer was, ‘I just know what comes in this bay door from the USPS and what goes out these bay doors to get loaded on FedEx planes.’ So, the answer was there was no smoking gun per se with respect to that.”

The band breaks up

These days, few of the people involved want to discuss the Seattle ballot brouhaha, now revealed as a tangle of conspiracy theories, creative fantasies and outright lies — all in service to Trump’s goal of retaining presidential power that he was about to lose.

Reached by Raw Story earlier this month, Penrose’s lawyer John S. Irving said, “We don’t have anything to add.”

Keliikoa declined to comment to Raw Story for this story.

In an email to Raw Story last week, FedEx Media Relations said, “We do not have any comment at this time.”

Hurrington, the Marine Corps veteran who drove Keliikoa in the SUV, could not be reached for comment. Flohr also could not be reached for comment.

Some of the key players involved have also split up.

Keliikoa said in her deposition that one of the men who met her at the hotel told her it would “be in my best interest not to keep in contact” with Burk because she was a “troublemaker.”

Burk told Raw Story this month that Keliikoa had previously told her that it was Penrose who called her a “troublemaker,” but during her deposition, she claimed that she didn’t remember the names of anyone at the hotel.

“That was clearly projection since he was overseeing and directing a group of heavily armed former law enforcement holding my family and me hostage using fear and deception, who then spent months continuing to use that group to manipulate and malign my character to cover for their bad behavior,” Burk told Raw Story.

Flynn and Powell are both defendants in Burk’s lawsuit, along with former Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend. Burk accuses the defendants of civil rights violations, false imprisonment, assault, infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.

In a filing seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, Flynn’s lawyers wrote that Burk’s claims are “baseless” and “frivolous,” while denying that their client sent the security team to her house or that he intended that they hold her “hostage.”

But Flynn’s efforts to distance himself from Burk are belied by the fact that Flohr — aka “Yoda,” the ex-law enforcement volunteer dispatched to her home in Arizona — flanked Flynn as part of his security detail when he spoke at a pro-Trump rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., less than a week after he was at Burk’s house in December 2020.

Flynn is currently promoting a documentary movie that portrays him as a victim of political persecution, and Trump has hinted that he may bring his former national security adviser back to public service — and the taxpayer-funded payroll — should he win election to a second term.

Flynn did not respond to repeated requests for comment made by Raw Story through his lawyers.

Last year, Powell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties in Georgia.

Burk is suing Koch for fraudulent misrepresentation, invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress in the Arizona state courts, separate from her federal claim against Flynn, Powell and Townsend. Representing herself, Burk deposed Keliikoa for her lawsuit against Koch. Last week, Burk filed a motion to consolidate her case against Koch with her federal lawsuit against Powell and Flynn.

Under cross-examination by Koch’s lawyer in March, Keliikoa downplayed her role in giving life to the “ballots on planes” theory.

“The only relevance I have is a lot of people got involved and it turned into, like I said before, a big s---show where a lot of people were involved that should have never even been there, that should have never been involved,” she said. “And I got thrown into the mix like everybody else. I was used as a pawn. That’s what makes me mad.”

Knowing what she knows now, Keliikoa said, she would have never agreed to write the affidavit.

“I thought people really wanted to help,” she said in her deposition. “And now I know otherwise.”

“Nobody really cares,” she added, “because everybody has their own objective.”

• * * * *

Key players

Staci Burk is a former school board member from Arizona who found herself in the middle of a conspiracy theory concerning illegal ballots and airplanes after the 2020 election.

Roland Hurrington is a Marine Corps veteran enlisted to pick up Sabrina Keliikoa at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport FedEx air freight terminal in December 2020.

Geoffrey Flohr, also known as “Yoda,” is a retired Michigan State Police officer who volunteered for the 1st Amendment Praetorian security group in late 2020 and early 2021. He used Staci Burk to track down Sabrina Keliikoa.

Michael Flynn is a retired lieutenant general who served as national security advisor for President Donald Trump before pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020, and Flynn emerged alongside Sidney Powell as a key player in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Sabrina Keliikoa is a former FedEx supervisor and QAnon adherent who claims to have been detained by a security team linked to Michael Flynn that obtained an affidavit about election ballots observed at her facility shortly around the time of the 2020 election.

Carissa Keshel was a volunteer who served as attorney Sidney Powell’s assistant in late 2020, as Flynn worked with Powell to overturn the 2020 election.

Kenneth Scott Koch is a security contractor formerly employed by Mayhem Solutions Group (now MSG Risk Management & Intelligence) who “fabricated” a story about his involvement in illegal ballot trafficking. Koch organized anti-lockdown protests in Arizona and was a member of the far-right group the Oath Keepers.

Jim Penrose is a cyber-security expert who worked for the National Security Agency under President Barack Obama. He traveled to Washington state to obtain an affidavit from Sabrina Keliikoa.

Sidney Powell is a former federal prosecutor who filed lawsuits in Arizona and other states seeking to overturn the 2020 election based on outlandish claims of voting fraud.

Kelly Townsend is a former Arizona state House member who told Staci Burk it was imperative that the “Seattle whistleblower” (now revealed to be Sabrina Keliikoa) come forward and report her suspicions about illegal ballot trafficking after the 2020 election.

Donald Trump is the former president of the United States who is again running for the presidency in 2024. Many of the actions described in this story were done in Trump’s name.

Shawn Wilson is the president of MSG Risk Management & Intelligence (formerly Mayhem Solutions Group). Jim Penrose told Staci Burk that he was initially concerned that Wilson, along with Kenneth Scott Koch, were “hostile actors” intent on harming Sabrina Keliikoa.

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Prominent Islamophobic activist recruits for anti-Muslim organization on QAnon show: “We need you by our side” | Media Matters for America

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an 6 24

alternet-NO LNX

Republicans are playing a dangerous game by weaponizing ignorance

Sabrina Haake, Raw Story June 15, 2024

Donald Trump’s felony convictions are fueling another disinformation campaign, this one equal in destructive force to his Big Lie. Orchestrating a unified response reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s, House Speaker Mike Johnson and his Trump acolytes are weaving Trump’s criminality into a false indictment of the American legal system.

Republicans are falsely blaming Joe Biden for outcomes over which a sitting U.S. president has no control: convictions of Trump on 34 felony counts, pursued by an independently elected DA, pursuant to a state criminal code, as determined by 12 independent jurors, selected with the help of Trump’s own trial team.

The GOP’s target? Low-information voters.

Their weapon? Blatant disinformation.

Their allies? Fox News and the right-wing propaganda machine.

Their illiberal objective tracks the geopolitical strategies of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and strongman dictators adversarial to democratic systems in general: Weakening institutions through chaos that exhausts voters, allowing oligarch-backed extremists to seize power, peacefully or otherwise, amid the mayhem.

Feigned outrage to entertain the masses

The performative outrage in this week’s program includes eight Republican senators vowing retaliation for Trump’s convictions by opposing any legislation authored by Democrats; they also promise to withhold Senate confirmations.

Meanwhile, Johnson revealed his “three-pronged approach” to retaliation, including withholding congressional appropriations for the Department of Justice. Declaring that Republicans would “do everything we can” to exact revenge for Trump, Johnson and his Republican colleagues are currently pursuing legislation that would allow Trump to pardon himself of state crimes if he retakes the presidency.

Johnson has also suggested the "Trump-ed up" Supreme Court would “step in” to overturn Trump’s state convictions, the irony of simultaneously claiming that Biden controls the judiciary apparently over his head.

Advocating illegal acts is itself illegal.

Trump strategists Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon — the latter headed to prison soon himself — are openly urging Republican officeholders to use their offices to attack Democrats. They clearly need reminding — almost as much as they need fast, effective counsel — that using public resources for partisan purposes violates federal law.

Demanding that Republican district attorneys open investigations into Democrats, they urge attorneys general in Republican-controlled states to target Democrats for unspecified crimes.

Jeff Clark, the former Trump Justice Department official indicted in the Georgia election case, has broadened the call, urging “brave” district attorneys in conservative areas to file lawsuits in federal court against anyone involved in criminal cases against Trump.

Openly advocating illegal acts, and doing so in writing no less, suggests these fools have themselves for clients.

Republicans’ gaslighting campaign is reckless

Trump, for his part, is priming Fox News viewers for violence in the event he is sentenced to serve time in prison, saying, "I'm not sure the public would stand for (my potential prison sentence) ... You know, at a certain point, there's a breaking point."

The right’s gaslighting-of-the-uninformed campaign is working, as evidenced by online demands for bloody revenge. In trying to dox the jurors in Trump’s Manhattan hush money case, one of Trump’s supporters posted, “Hang everyone. 1,000,000 men (armed) need to go to Washington and hang everyone. That's the only solution.”

A Proud Boys writer chimed in, “Now you understand. To save your nation, you must fight. The time to respond is now. Franco Friday has begun.”

Without considering what comes next when the rule of law is hobbled — paramilitary hillbillies rounding up foreigners come to mind, as do drug cartels dropping roadside bombs from drones — Republicans are defending Trump by viciously attacking the judge, jurors, prosecutor, evidentiary rulings, jury instructions, the attorney general, the Department of Justice and mainstream media; they have also threatened to end the career of any GOP candidate who dares to voice respect for the American legal system.

So much for “law and order.”

Like a man blaming his wife as he kicks her down the stairs, Trump tells anyone who will listen — which apparently includes most media outlets — that Democrats have “forced” him to “take revenge” against government adversaries. Salivating over the possibility that he will finally get to imprison his political foes, brandishing his prison shiv, Trump told Newsmax, “It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them…”

One is almost tempted to have compassion for Melania.

From whence does the GOP’s amnesia come?

Republican outrage is overplayed, as if everyone has forgotten about Trump’s well-documented criminality, played out over decades.

In 1998, the Treasury Department imposed the then-largest fine of $477,000 on Trump Taj Mahal casino for money laundering; Trump admitted that he pocketed millions of dollars raised from charity; he was ordered to pay $2 million for diverting donations from a televised fundraiser for veterans; in 2023, a civil jury adjudicated him a rapist; he was previously found to have engaged in business fraud to the tune of $354 million dollars.

When his niece Mary Trump sued him for allegedly defrauding her out of tens of millions of dollars — she said Trump extorted her by threatening to withhold medical coverage from a severely disabled nephew — she declared “Fraud was not just the family business — it was a way of life.”

Despite his consistent criminality and organized crime connections, Trump’s felony convictions hit differently, triggering the GOP’s kamikaze declaration of war as three more criminal trials and 54 combined felony counts loom.

Democrats must punch back harder

Republicans are using disinformation as a weapon against uninformed voters to keep them aligned with Trump. Their ploy seems to be working, as Trump informally reported a $52.8 million haul in online donations in the first 24 hours after the verdict was announced.

Instead of confessing to the obvious that Trump’s criminality is driving his legal woes — not Biden, not the “Deep State,” not rigged justice — MAGA Republicans would prefer to round up Trump’s adversaries as political prisoners.

After Trump’s deadly mob wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence to block Trump’s 2020 loss, they are lusting for another fight; historically, coups are regularly attempted more than once.

It is clear that the United States is under siege by illiberal forces, aided by a relentless propaganda machine committed to fomenting violence. My money is on the justice system — and on voters being smart enough to detect the ruse.

The politically moderate sports announcer Colin Cowherd recently summed it up: “If everybody in your circle is a felon, maybe it’s not rigged. Maybe the world isn’t against you… Trump’s campaign chairman was a felon. So is his deputy campaign manager, his personal lawyer, his chief strategist, his national security adviser, his trade adviser, his foreign policy adviser, his campaign fixer, and his company CFO. They’re all felons… It’s a cabal of convicts.”

Here's to slapping back.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25 year litigator specializing in 1st and 14th Amendment defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

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RSS Trump has now amplified QAnon-promoting accounts over 800 times on Truth Social](https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/trump-has-now-amplified-qanon-promoting-accounts-over-800-times-truth)

05/23/24

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fox News host Jesse Watters tells QAnon influencer he loves and follows him on social media: “We'll be in touch”](https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/fox-news-host-jesse-watters-tells-qanon-influencer-he-loves-and-follows-him)

04/29/24

RSS

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QAnon Was Born Out of Sex Ad Moral Panic Over Backpage.com

intercept no lnx

QANON WAS BORN OUT OF THE SEX AD MORAL PANIC THAT TOOK DOWN BACKPAGE.COM

For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate.

Trevor Aaronson

:{April 27 2024,

AMERICANS ADORE A moral panic.

During the Red Scare, we believed that Soviet agents were everywhere, having secretly infiltrated all levels of society. In the 1950s, the U.S. government banned switchblades over unfounded fears that we were in the throes of “West Side Story”-style knife violence. The Satanic Panic convinced Americans of the 1980s that absurd claims of ritual abuse and sacrifice were somehow credible. Around the same time, there was “stranger danger” — which was debunked like other moral panics, but never went away entirely.

At any given time, America is moving in and out of some moral panic or another. Harm to children is a persistent theme. In recent years, however, our national obsession with these moral panics has consumed our politics. We’ve come to believe that sex trafficking rings are all around us. The driving force may come as a surprise: a moral panic about consensual sex workers who advertised legally on the internet.

The far-right’s current obsession with “child sex trafficking” — the animating force behind such conspiracy theories as QAnon and Pizzagate, as well as coded political insults like “groomer” — has roots in this moral panic hyped by powerful Republicans and Democrats alike. The panic reached its crescendo with the 2018 federal indictments related to a sex ad hub called Backpage.com.

The Backpage story may stand as a cautionary tale not only of overzealous prosecutions, but also of the second- and third-order effects of moral panics.

A classifieds site that became known predominantly for “adult” advertising, Backpage was born of a more dispersed industry that used to operate in the back pages of local alternative weekly newspapers like the Village Voice, Chicago Reader, and LA Weekly — known as alt-weeklies. For a time, the sex ad industry had its central platform on Craigslist, the free classifieds website, which spurred large-scale campaigns against the ads. As the campaigns took hold, Craigslist buckled and effectively handed the mantle to Backpage — until eventually it, too, came under a sustained morality attack.

I spent four years reporting on this saga — the rise and fall of alt-weeklies, adult advertising, and Backpage — with fellow journalists Sam Eifling and Michael J. Mooney. The result, a documentary podcast series, now on Audible, titled “Hold Fast: The Unadulterated Story of the World’s Most Scandalous Website,” reveals how cynical politicians can take hold of a moral panic and exploit it for political gain.

One thing that struck me during my reporting was that the Backpage story may stand as a cautionary tale not only of overzealous prosecutions, but also of the second- and third-order effects of moral panics — in this case, conspiracy theories like Pizzagate and QAnon. If you look closely enough, you can trace a line from adult ads in alt-weeklies to escort ads on websites like Craigslist and Backpage, to conspiracy claims that Donald Trump is fighting to break up a global child sex-trafficking cabal run by Hillary Clinton and her malevolent minions.

Conspiracy theories don’t grow in isolation. They wrap themselves around kernels of truth. The truth here is that sex trafficking and sexual exploitation are horrific crimes, and no one should underestimate the harms experienced by survivors. For the last two decades, though, powerful politicians, breathless news media, and a host of ill-informed celebrities have conflated “sex trafficking” with “prostitution” — fanning a national hysteria that underpins the conspiracy theories now wracking American society.

Sex Ad Industry

A quick history: Starting with the Village Voice in the 1950s, alt-weeklies popped up in cities nationwide. These papers prized investigative reporting and magazine-style narrative writing; pioneered attitudinal pop-culture criticism; and published classified ads in their back pages that would make half the country blush.

The “adult” ads on the last pages of the tabloid-style papers promoted sex work. At first, they were written in coded language, which created enough ambiguity that federal judges had upheld the ads’ First Amendment protections. The legal doctrine was simple: The government couldn’t deprive a massage therapist or a dancer of their First Amendment right to advertise on mere suspicion that they might also provide an illegal sexual service behind closed doors.

For decades, wink-and-a-nod adult ads could be found in alt-weeklies nationwide. Publishers knew what was being advertised. Most readers knew. So did police and prosecutors. No one, however, seemed to holler about sex ads in newspapers that could be found at busy bus stops, crowded restaurants, or smoky bars. Society didn’t collapse. The kids were all right.

Related

The Majority of Voters Now Support Decriminalizing Sex Work. It’s About Time.

Then came Craigslist, a simple website that slashed a gaping hole in the newspaper industry’s hulking money bags. Who would pay for an ink-smeared classified ad in a newspaper when you could get a more effective one for free, in minutes, on Craigslist? People selling cars, boats, guitars, whatever — they moved to Craigslist. And those sex workers advertising in the back pages of alt-weeklies? They did too.

In response to the migration of classifieds to the internet, the largest publisher of alt-weeklies launched a Craigslist competitor, Backpage. Essentially a knockoff, Backpage used a design and category scheme almost identical to Craigslist’s. Throughout its early existence, the alt-weekly-run Backpage never matched the popular site from which it was cribbing.

Then the government and the press turned on the burgeoning online classifieds industry. Public officials latched on to a study from the University of Pennsylvania that claimed 326,000 children in America were “at risk for commercial sexual exploitation.” The report analyzed data from the 1990s using methodologies so deeply flawed that the Washington Post described it as “bogus.”

The jaw-dropping stat — More than 300,000 children in the United States could be victims of sex trafficking! — nonetheless lodged itself in our national consciousness. Politicians trumpeted the claim. Actor Ashton Kutcher, fashioning himself an advocate against sex trafficking, announced unchallenged on CNN that there are “between 100,000 and 300,000 child sex slaves in the United States today.” It sounded even then like an improbable total. But with kids’ lives reportedly at stake, few Americans pushed back.

Pressure Campaigns

The FBI, conditioned to view any national clamor as a federal funding bonanza, launched Operation Cross Country to investigate the supposed scourge of sex trafficking. The FBI’s ongoing efforts now include partnerships with 400 law enforcement agencies nationwide, but the feds still haven’t uncovered any sort of large-scale, highly organized trafficking ring as part of Operation Cross Country.

That’s because — while cases of sexual exploitation and trafficking do occur, many of them horrific in their details — the perception of a large-scale threat in the United States is perched on a mountain of distortions and exaggerations.

“If you believe that hundreds of thousands of kids are being trafficked, you have to believe your husband, your dad, your brother, your sons are the ones buying them,” Juliana Piccillo, a sex worker advocate, explained to me. “It’s not just a handful of guys buying 300,000 kids.”

For context, the union-covered employees of UPS, those brown-clad delivery drivers we see daily, number 300,000.

As America bought into myths of large-scale sex trafficking, individual accounts of sexual exploitation made headlines. Yet the more nuanced story of online adult ads went unreported. Put simply, the internet made sex work, on the whole, safer by giving consensual sex workers a marketplace away from the streets and the ability to screen potentially dangerous clients.

Sex Workers and their supporters protest a police raid on Oct. 25, 2016, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, saying shutting down sites like Backpage.com exposes them to more risk.

pix]

These gains in worker safety benefited a large portion of Americans, and the reason is simple: The nation’s sex work industry is enormous. The National Institutes of Health estimate that sex work in the U.S. generates $14 billion per year in economic activity. That makes sex work a significant American industry, on par in revenue with the streaming music industry.

As police and politicians conflated sex trafficking with sex work, journalists dutifully followed along. A study from the University of Minnesota of 1,500 news articles from 1995 to 2014 found a dramatic increase in the media’s use of “sex trafficking” in place of “prostitution.” That trend hasn’t reversed. A local news report from Florida last year described a standard prostitution bust as being part of “a sweeping sex trafficking investigation.” Or consider a local news report from South Dakota, where an undercover cop posed as an underage sex worker in a prostitution sting. The TV anchor described it as “an undercover sex trafficking investigation,” even though no one involved was being trafficked. A right-wing sheriff in Florida fashioned a national profile by running prostitution stings and hosting chest-beating press conferences that promote how he’s bravely fighting “human trafficking.”

Backpage became the world’s internet brothel. It was the same legal business alt-weeklies had been in for decades, now operating at an industrial scale.

In August 2010, 17 attorneys general banded together in a letter pressuring Craigslist to take down its adult ads. It wasn’t a legal threat; federal judges had upheld the legality of such ads since their days on the back pages of alt-weeklies. Instead, the attorneys general were mounting a coordinated pressure campaign. And it worked. Bowing to the coercion, Craigslist shuttered its adult section, slapping the word “CENSORED” across it on the website.

Suddenly, adult ads flooded into the also-ran, Backpage, and the company’s annual revenue skyrocketed from $11.7 million to $78 million in just a few years. Backpage became the world’s internet brothel. It was the same legal business alt-weeklies had been in for decades, now operating at an industrial scale.

Backpage’s owners, Arizona newspaper moguls Michael Lacey and James Larkin, believed they could withstand what the nerds at Craigslist couldn’t. After all, they were career alt-weekly publishers, owning 17 papers nationwide, including the Village Voice, LA Weekly, and Miami New Times. They’d printed adult ads in the back pages of their papers for decades. How could the internet be any different?

Political Opportunism

As the world’s largest platform for adult ads, Backpage became the target of withering scrutiny and sensational claims that it was encouraging child sexual exploitation. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof led the charge with stories headlined “When Backpage.com Peddles Schoolgirls for Sex” and “Google and Sex Traffickers Like Backpage.com.”

Protestors gathered outside the Village Voice’s office in New York. They held up signs reading “End Sex Trafficking” and “Women and Girls Will Not Be Silenced.” An anonymously run website, VillageVoicePimps.com, aggregated reports of violence and sexual exploitation.

The drumbeat drowned out a more complicated reality. Backpage, whose owners and employees knew large amounts of its ads were using ambiguous language to promote illegal sex work, was minting money by cynically pushing First Amendment protections and internet laws to their legal limits. Backpage, though, didn’t turn a blind eye to possible harm. One of the company’s executives had received an award from the FBI for working proactively with law enforcement. Prosecutors at the Justice Department had even advised against filing criminal charges involving Backpage after concluding, in an internal memo, that “Backpage genuinely wanted to get child prostitution off of its site.”

Politicians, on the other hand, saw blood in the water.

FILE - In this April 25, 2014 file picture California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who as a prosecutor once specialized in child sexual assault cases addresses the Domestic Human Trafficking symposium in Los Angeles, Trafficking, forced labor and modern slavery are big business generating profits estimated at $150 billion a year, the U.N. labor agency said Tuesday May 20, 2014. The report by the International Labor Organization finds global profits from involuntary workers an estimated 21 million of them have more than tripled over the past decade from its estimate of at least $44 billion in 2005. ILO Director Guy Ryder said his agency?s report Tuesday calls attention to the need ?to eradicate this fundamentally evil, but hugely profitable practice as soon as possible.? (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)

Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris addresses the Domestic Human Trafficking symposium in Los Angeles on April 25, 2014. Photo: Damian Dovarganes/AP

Vice President Kamala Harris, then the ambitious attorney general of California, boasted of being tough on human trafficking. In 2016, while running for U.S. Senate, she filed criminal charges against Backpage’s owners. The case garnered Harris national headlines — What politician doesn’t want to be seen as tough on child sex trafficking? — but a judge threw out most of the charges shortly after the newly elected Harris was sworn into the Senate. Her case hadn’t helped end exploitation at Backpage, but it had launched her into national politics.

Around this time, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain’s think tank, the McCain Institute, focused its efforts on human trafficking. His wife, Cindy, became a self-appointed expert in the subject. McCain Institute reports circulated in Washington, pointing the finger at Backpage for sex trafficking cases in the United States.

The McCains had a wounded history with the owners of Backpage, who started their publishing company in Arizona with the muckraking alt-weekly Phoenix New Times. The paper had written unflatteringly about the McCains for decades and in the mid-1990s revealed how Cindy McCain was stealing painkillers from her medical charity — a story headlined with the very alt-weekly pun “Opiate for the Mrs.” Cindy spun the scandal as a story of addiction and redemption, but it dogged her husband through his failed presidential bids.

Political chicanery and sensational news reports about sex trafficking fueled each other, creating a media environment by 2016 in which Americans had been inundated with reports about sex trafficking and online classifieds. Just as Americans had come to believe that strangers were abducting thousands of children in the 1980s, we came to believe that child sex trafficking was endemic, with hundreds of thousands of our kids at risk.

In April 2018, bowing to pressure from Harris, McCain, and other elected officials, the Justice Department seized Backpage and filed criminal charges against its owners. None of the charges alleged sex trafficking — of either children or adults. The government accused Backpage’s owners and executives of money laundering and facilitating prostitution. Because prostitution is not a federal crime, the Justice Department filed charges under the Travel Act, which outlaws interstate activities intended to violate state laws.

In the first Backpage trial, federal prosecutors repeatedly referred to “child sex trafficking” — even though none of the charges alleged such activity — forcing the judge to declare a mistrial. In November 2023, a federal jury in Arizona convicted Backpage’s principals following a second trial. Lacey was convicted on one count of money laundering, acquitted on another, and no verdict was reached on the other charges, many of which were thrown out by a judge this week ahead of an possible retrial. He faces sentencing in June. Larkin took his own life in 2023, on the eve of the second trial.

Any of the nation’s alt-weeklies — which published the same types of adult ads that Backpage did — could have faced the same charges decades earlier, but prosecutors had deferred to First Amendment protections.

Until the political pressure ramped up on Backpage.

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Conspiracy Theories

Pizzagate, the far-right conspiracy theory that suggests Democrats operated a child sex trafficking ring out of a pizzeria in Washington, sprung from this Backpage-obsessed media environment. The conspiracy claim jumped from the online world to the real one when, in December 2016, a man fired an AR-15 rifle inside the pizzeria, Comet Ping Pong, as he attempted to investigate the supposed sex trafficking ring.

The intrigue around Comet pizza then fed the sprawling pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy. The far-fetched myth hyped secret sex trafficking rings operated by prominent figures, notably Democrats, with Trump cast as a hero fighting valiantly to expose this criminal network and bring its pedophiles to justice. QAnon inspired other conspiracy theories, including one that claimed online retailer Wayfair was selling sex-trafficked children.

Related

Naomi Klein on Conspiracy Culture and “the Mirror World”

“You’re onto something with the idea of far-right obsession over trafficking and grooming having its seeds planted with Backpage,” Mike Rothschild, the author of “Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories,” told me after I explained how I suspected the years of sensationalistic Backpage coverage explains our current conspiracy theories. “There’s a sense among QAnon promoters and right-wing influencers in general that organized rings of child trafficking have been a problem for decades and that only Trump had the courage and lack of connections to ‘the swamp’ to take it on.”

“And sure enough,” Rothschild added, “I dug around a bit on Telegram and found some Q promoters talking about the cabal taking its child trafficking ops somewhere else once Trump took Backpage down in 2018.”

The beliefs behind QAnon are shaped by so-called Q drops, cryptic online messages written by a supposed government insider describing child sex trafficking and Trump’s efforts to stop it. One “Q drop” in particular folded the seizure of Backpage into its tinfoil-hatted QAnon universe as if it were evidence that Trump was battling the sex traffickers:

That didn’t take long.

Preparation.

Strength test.

For God & Country!

We Fight for FREEDOM.

Q

After the Justice Department seized Backpage, Trump signed a bill known as FOSTA-SESTA into law. It was designed to scorch the earth behind Backpage — a response to the years of media reports about sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation. The law stripped away liability protections for online platforms perceived to be promoting prostitution.

By one measure, the law worked. The breathless news reports about child sex trafficking through online classified ads came to a trickling stop.

FILE - This April 6, 2018, file photo shows a screen shot of Backpage.com on the day that federal authorities seized the classified site as part of a criminal case. Dan Hyer, sales and marketing director for Backpage.com, pleaded guilty Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, in Arizona to conspiring to facilitate prostitution in a scheme to give free ads to prostitutes in a bid to draw them away from competitors. Six others affiliated with Backpage.com face charges in the case. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

A screenshot of Backpage.com on April 6, 2018, the day that federal authorities seized the classified site as part of a criminal case. Photo: Damian Dovarganes/AP

The End of Sex Trafficking?

So, the far-right conspiracy theories were correct, then? As prophesied by “Q,” Trump vanquished the child sex trafficking rings?

Of course not.

In 2021, the Government Accountability Office issued a report concluding that shuttering Backpage had made it more difficult for law enforcement officials to identify and track cases of sexual exploitation.

And online ads promoting sex work haven’t gone away either. There’s now a constellation of smaller Backpage-like sites, many based outside the United States and beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Some sex workers have simply slid over to Instagram, Facebook, and X, using a decades-old trick refined in the naughty back pages of alt-weeklies: ambiguous language.

Conspiracy theories like QAnon and Pizzagate were never the true aim. They are byproducts of something more sinister in our body politic.

The madness of our nation’s obsession with child sex trafficking appears to be reaching new and frightening peaks. Last year, the melodramatic movie “Sound of Freedom,” about a vigilante who rescues children from international trafficking rings, was a box-office smash, grossing more than $250 million. The film’s writer-director, Alejandro Monteverde, was inspired to make it after seeing TV news coverage of sex trafficking during the Backpage media pile-on. The influence has gone full circle: A prospective juror in the second Backpage trial admitted that he thought “Sound of Freedom” was a documentary film.

That prospective juror wasn’t the only one mixing sex-trafficking fiction with reality. Last month, during the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt passed off a case of child sex trafficking in Mexico from two decades ago as a recent crime that had occurred in the United States under the Biden administration.

The avalanche of stories portraying extensive violence, human trafficking, and child sexual exploitation linked to online classified ads helped rid the world of Craigslist’s adult section and Backpage altogether. Those stories, however, seeded the ground for another dark reality, with secondary and tertiary effects that promise to be much more consequential. We are now a nation consumed by fantastical conspiracy claims about child sex trafficking.

Potential harm to children is an unmatched motivator in American civic life. By fooling us into fears about massive sex trafficking rings, elected officials can lace panic into the border crisis or crack down on internet speech.

Conspiracy theories like QAnon and Pizzagate were never the true aim. They are byproducts of something more sinister in our body politic: power-hungry elected officials promoting fear for political advantage, all the while unconcerned about what happens when that fear becomes hysteria.

===

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DEW space lasers

https://www.mediamatters.org/tiktok/conspiracy-theories-about-record-breaking-texas-wildfire-spread-online-after-biden-visited

bonus deny climate

recall tx drought some yrs back was prayer

oregon was antifa

mma 3 24

Conspiracy theorists and right-wing influencers are attributing unprecedented wildfires in Texas to a government attack using so-called directed energy weapons (DEWs), while others say the fires were an act of “retaliation” from the federal government motivated by an ongoing stand-off over migration at the state’s southern border. Dozens of videos and posts falsely insist that the claim is backed up by remarks President Joe Biden made during his February 29 visit to Brownsville, Texas.

While discussing how “up-to-date standards and building codes” could help reduce property damage from wildfires, Biden said, “If you fly over these areas that are burnt to the ground, and you see in the midst of 20 homes that are just totally destroyed, one home is sitting because it has the right roof on it.”

Claims that Biden was somehow suggesting that certain roofs are immune to the impacts of DEWs while other structures were intentionally targeted in the fires are proliferating on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, along with related conspiracy theories suggesting the fires were payback for the state defying federal border policy.

In 2024, climate change is already fueling extreme weather all around the country — including the Texas fires}:

• • Texas is currently experiencing the largest wildfire in state history. The Smokehouse Creek Fire has burned over 1 million acres and was 74% contained as of March 7. It is one of at least three wildfires currently burning the state’s Panhandle region, destroying homes and agricultural land as farmers struggle to evacuate livestock. At least 7,000 cattle and two people have died. CNN, [3/1/24; The New York Times, 3/7/24; CBS, 3/7/24; Newsweek, 3/7/24]

• • The exact cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but Xcel Energy has acknowledged “that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire.” According to The Texas Tribune, “A lawsuit filed last week by homeowners accused the power company of neglecting to maintain power lines.” The Texas Tribune, [3/7/24]

• • The Smokehouse Creek Fire was supercharged by hot, dry, windy conditions linked to climate change. CNN wrote: “Its severity was due to a perfect storm of environmental factors: highly flammable grasses and strong winds combined with record-high temperatures and dry conditions — the kind of extreme weather often exacerbated by climate change.” CNN, [3/1/24]

• • This February was likely the hottest on record, featuring “the highest global average temperature ever recorded for that month, thanks to climate change.”The unusually warm month followed a “lost winter” in the Midwest and extreme rainfall and flooding on the West Coast. Reuters, [2/29/24; Axios, 3/4/24; NPR, 2/6/24]

A conspiracy theory about blue objects being immune to so-called government weapons has been brewing since the Lahaina fires}:

• • For years, conspiracy theorists maintained that wildfires have been set intentionally by the government using “directed energy weapons,” which are supposedly in space. The idea resurfaced on social media in 2023 after wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, killed over 100 people. Vice, [8/15/23; The New York Times, 2/13/24]
  • Directed energy weapons are real, but there is no evidence that they’re being used to start wildfires. It has been widely acknowledged that DEWs such as lasers and high-powered microwaves are being researched and invested in by militaries around the world. However, those technologies aren’t being used at scale, and experts say they could not have been used without being noticed. The Dispatch, [2/20/24; AFP, 3/1/24]
  • In photos and videos of the devastation in Hawaii, some blue objects appeared to be less burned than their surroundings, leading conspiracy theorists to believe the color has special properties. In particular, some pointed to a blue car, blue umbrellas, and even one of Oprah Winfrey’s homes (which turned out to be an hour’s drive from where the fires occurred) and concluded that blue objects cannot be damaged by DEWs. There is no evidence to support this. Media Matters, [8/23/23; TikTok, 8/16/23; Newsweek, 8/14/23]
  • There was nothing notably unusual about the damage in Lahaina, and wildfire patterns are often unpredictable.“It’s actually very common that wildfires will burn out structures and vehicles but leave surrounding trees, utility poles, and other vegetation unscathed,” Michael Gollner, an associate professor of mechanical engineering who leads a fire research lab at the University of California, Berkeley, told AP News. The Associated Press, [8/14/23]
  • Some roof designs are more wildfire resistant than others, but not because they’re blue. According to Fire Safe Marin, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing fire hazards in California, some roofing materials are more fire-resistant than others, and debris left to accumulate in gutters or roof tiles with certain shapes that allow animals to build nests can provide more fuel for a fire. Fire Safe Marin, accessed [3/4/24]

X and TikTok users claim Biden’s roof comment is evidence of foul play}:

• Social media users are speculating that Biden was referring to homes with blue roofs when he said “one home is sitting because it has the right roof on it,” apparently confirming their suspicions about the fires being set intentionally by government weapons.

• • On TikTok, Media Matters identified dozens of videos with hundreds of thousands of views theorizing that Biden was referring to a blue roof.The videos suggest that Biden “slipped up” or “said the quiet part out loud” by mentioning houses with “the right kind of roof,” alleging that he meant a blue roof. One video read, “Is this motherfucker admitting it was a direct attack on fellow Texans?" Another user complained that her previous video pushing the conspiracy theory had been taken down for promoting misinformation against TikTok’s community guidelines. “He let the truth actually slip and they’re trying to sponge it from the internet,” she claimed. TikTok, [3/2/24, 3/2/24; TikTok Community Guidelines, accessed 3/4/24]
• Video file

Video Player

• • Conspiracy theory account Wall Street Apes wrote: “Fact Checkers Say The Blue Roof Connection It’s A ‘Conspiracy Theory.’ The Rest Of Us Say It’s DEWs, Direct Energy Weapons.” On X, the account wrote: “We Saw The Untouched Blue Roof In The Maui Fire, We Saw The Same Thing In The Chili Fire, Joe Biden Confirmed Houses Will Burn In The Texas Fire UNLESS ‘They had the right roof on it’ Here’s the United States Military & FEMA having a ‘Blue Roof Program’… Coincidence? Fact Checkers Say The Blue Roof Connection It’s A ‘Conspiracy Theory.’ The Rest Of Us Say It’s DEWs, Direct Energy Weapons.” Twitter/X, [3/2/24]
  • One TikTok video, which had at least 480,000 views but has seemingly been deleted, suggested Biden accidentally revealed the use of a DEW. “So did Joe Biden make a booboo in his speech in Texas today,” the user said. “The old man’s rambling like always, he’s talking about the fires in Texas at the border, but then he says the only houses that are left standing have the right roofs on them. … I don’t know man, it’s weird. Remember Oprah’s house, it was left standing, it had a blue roof. A lot of things that were blue didn’t really get touched by fire, isn’t that kind of odd?” TikTok, [2/29/24]
  • Conspiracy theory account Concerned Citizen wrote that Biden was “literally admitting if you have the correct roof on your home then DEW won’t burn your house to the ground.” On X, the account wrote: “‘One Home sitting there because they had the right roof on it.’ The President saying the quiet part out loud again. Is this the President literally admitting if you have the correct roof on your home then DEW won’t burn your house to the ground? It’s a blue roof by the way. Thank me later.” Twitter/X, [3/1/24]
  • Right-wing influencer Liz Churchill: “Freudian Slip Joe Biden possibly speaking of EMP Weapons.”Twitter/X, [2/29/24]
  • Another TikTok video, which had at least 358,000 views before it was deleted, featured text that said, “Remember the blue roofs during the Lahaina fires? Biden just seemed to confirm our suspicions.” TikTok, [2/29/24]
  • A co-host of the QAnon podcast BrainStorm, who goes by “Joe Rambo,” claimed that Biden was declassifying secret information and shared a post suggesting the president “admit DEWs don’t affect your home if the roof is painted blue.” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]
  • Crypto influencer and right-wing conspiracy theorist Tara Bull shared a clip of Biden’s speech along with a TikTok video promoting Lahaina fire conspiracy theories about the color blue, writing: “What did Biden just say about the fire not burning homes that have ‘the right roof’?” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]
  • Right-wing MAGA account “I Meme Therefore I Am” wrote: “Did Biden just confirm that they use Directed Energy Weapons and that's why houses with blue roofs don't catch on fire?” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]
  • Shannon Townsend, co-host of the QAnon program MG Show, alluded to the conspiracy theory, sharing the clip of Biden’s February 29 remarks and writing: “The house with the blue roof? That what Biden is talking about here?” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]
  • Another conspiracy theorist account shared Biden’s remarks and wrote “Blue Roof ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Confirmed.” The post continued: “Pedo Joe Telling You That Viewing The Wild Fire Damage From Above Shows How a Whole Line of Houses Can be Completely Destroyed But One Is Left Standing Because It Had The ‘RIGHT ROOF’ On It. Telling Us What We Already Know Joey, Blue Roofs Are The Fail Safe.” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]
  • QAnon account Shadow of Ezra also boosted the conspiracy theory: “Biden suggested that having the right type of roof could offer protection from wildfires. People are speculating that he may have implied a specific roof color. What do you think he really means?” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]

* QAnon account Jack Straw: “#BREAKING: Joe Biden accidentally confirms direct energy weapons are the cause of wildfires by saying you should have the right roof.” Twitter/X, [2/29/24]:

Other online content creators speculate that the wildfires are “retaliation” for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s dispute with the administration’s border policies}:

• Abbott has been highly critical of the Biden administration’s approach to handling migration at the southern border. In January, Abbott deployed Texas state police to block U.S. Border Patrol from entering Shelby Park at Eagle Pass, which has been turned into a holding center. Texas has also continued to erect razor wire between Shelby Park and the Rio Grande River after a Supreme Court ruling found that federal agents had the right to remove the wire.

On social media, some conspiracy theorists and right-wing influencers alleged that the government started the fires deliberately to punish Texas for not complying with the Supreme Court ruling, or suggested that migrants were somehow involved in starting the Smokehouse Creek Fire.

• • One TikTok user claimed the fire is “suspicious” because Texas “wasn’t going for all this BS,” in a video with over 1 million views. Other users commented that the fires were “man made,” claiming that “TEXAS is OBVIOUSLY under attack by the government” as “Biden’s retaliation for [what] Texas did to the border.” TikTok, [2/28/24]

[twt]

• • OneTikTok video with at least 660,000 views suggested the fires happened because “TX gave a big FU to the feds” and “now they’re hit with a big ol wildfire that’s nearing a nuclear weapons facility.” The user also implied that the Texas fires and Lahaina fires were connected, adding, “Some of y’all might not get that, but the right ones will.” TikTok, [2/28/24]
  • On X, another conspiracy theory account claimed the fire was an act of sabotage “because of Biden’s open borders.” The user wrote: “TEXAS: RUMORED Sabotage hits near nuclear weapons facility in Texas as fires rage towards the nuclear plant from Amarillo Texas, just north of the Pantex Nuclear Weapons Facility plant! Foreign agents struck again because of Biden’s open borders AND THE INFLUX OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/TERRORISTS.” Twitter/X, [2/28/24]
  • In a now-deleted tweet, right-wing media figure Rogan O’Handley, known online as “DC_Draino,” wrote: “Texas now has its 2nd largest wildfire in state history. Over 500,000 acres burned. How much you want to bet this was caused by our open border crisis?” Twitter/X, [2/28/24]
  • Conspiracy theory account US Civil Defense News: “Foreign agents struck again because of Biden’s open borders!” The full post read, “Update: Sabotage hits nuclear weapons facility in Texas as fires rage towards the nuclear plant!! Video footage from Amarillo Texas, just north of the Pantex Nuclear Weapons Facility plant! Foreign agents struck again because of Biden’s open borders!!” Twitter/, [2/28/24]

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an 2 24

what is happening in the hearts of former President Donald Trump’s supporters?

As an anthropologist who studies peace and conflict, I went to the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, to find out. I wanted to better understand the Make America Great Again faithful – and their die-hard support for Trump.

The event began on Feb. 21, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland, with Steve Bannon’s routine, untrue banter about how President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election, and it peaked with an angry speech from Trump three days later. In between, I sat among the MAGA masses listening to speaker after speaker express outrage about American decline – and their hope for Trump’s reelection.

Everywhere I turned, people wore MAGA regalia – hats, pins, logos and patches, many with Trump’s likeness. I spent breaks in the exhibition hall, which featured a Jan. 6 insurrection-themed pinball machine featuring “Stop the Steal,” “Political Prisoners” and “Babbitt Murder” rally modes and a bus emblazoned with Trump’s face. Admirers scribbled messages on the bus such as, “We have your back” and “You are anointed and appointed by God to be the President.”

Those on the left who dismiss the CPAC as a gathering of MAGA crazies and racists who support a wannabe dictator do not understand that, from this far-right perspective, there are compelling and even urgent reasons to support Trump. Indeed, they believe, as conservative politician Tulsi Gabbard stated in her CPAC speech on Feb. 22, that the left’s claims about Trump’s authoritarianism are “laughable.” This is because CPAC attendees falsely perceive President Joe Biden as the one who is attacking democracy.

Here are my top three takeaways from CPAC about Trump supporters’ current priorities and thinking.

people pray during the opening ceremony of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 22, 2024.

1. There’s a Reagan dinner – but CPAC is Trump’s party

Former President Ronald Reagan runs in CPAC’s DNA. Reagan spoke at the inaugural CPAC in 1974 and went on to speak there a dozen more times.

In 2019, the conservative advocacy group the American Political Union, which hosts CPAC, published a book of Reagan’s speeches with commentary by conservative luminaries. In the preface, Matt Schlapp, the head of the American Political Union, says he often asks himself, “What would Reagan do?”

CPAC’s pomp gala, held Friday, is still called the “Ronald Reagan Dinner.” But Reagan is otherwise hardly mentioned at the conference.

Reagan’s ideas of American exceptionalism have been supplanted by Trump’s populist story of apocalyptic decline. Reagan’s folksy tone, relative moderation and clear quips are long gone, replaced by fury, grievance and mean-spirited barbs.

2. There’s a method to the madness

Many commentators and critics, including groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, view CPAC as a frightening or bizarre gathering of white nationalists who have a nativist agenda.

In 2021, commentators said the CPAC stage was shaped like a famous Nazi design called the Othala Rune, which is a hate symbol. Schlapp denied this claim and said that CPAC supports the Jewish community, but various commentators took note of the uncanny resemblance.

This year, CPAC refused to give press credentials to various media outlets, including The Washington Post, despite the organization’s emphasis on free speech.

Some speakers, including Trump, have been known to regularly voice support for white nationalism and right-wing extremism, including speakers who promote the false idea that there is a plot to replace the white population. I discuss this idea in my 2021 book, “It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US.”

Indeed, the U.S.-Mexico border was a constant topic at this year’s CPAC, which included controversial anti-immigrant speakers such as the head of Spain’s far-right Vox party and a representative of Hungary, whose leader stated at the 2022 CPAC that Europeans should not become “mixed-race.” Hungary will also host a CPAC meeting in April 2024.

Many of the sessions have alarming titles like, “Burning Down the House,” “Does Government Even Matter” and “Going Full Hungarian.” There are right-wing, populist speakers like Bannon and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Overall, the program is informed by a conservative logic that largely boils down to God, family, tradition, law and order, defense and freedom.

Of these, God looms largest. As a result, CPAC’s hardcore conservative Christian orientation is anti-abortion rights, homophobic and oriented toward traditional family structure and what it considers morality.

Schlapp co-wrote a book in 2022 that warns of the dangers of “evil forces” – what he considers to be progressives, the radical left and American Marxists. Schlapp’s book title even dubs these forces “the desecrators.” Such inflammatory language is frequently used at CPAC, including by Trump during his Saturday speech.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, left, and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, speak during CPAC on Feb. 22, 2024.

Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press

3. Trump believers think he is their savior

CPAC’s love of Trump is shocking to many on the left. But at CPAC, Trump is viewed as America’s savior.

According to his base, Trump delivered on abortion by appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. They believe that, despite evidence of mixed results, Trump had wide successes at securing the border and creating jobs. For example, during Trump’s time as president, the U.S. economy lost nearly 3 million jobs, and apprehensions of undocumented migrants at the border rose.

Trump’s CPAC speech, like his campaign speeches, harped on such supposed achievements – as well as Biden’s alleged “destruction” of the country.

Conservatives roll their eyes at liberal fears of Trump the despot. Like all of us, they acknowledge, Trump has flaws. They say that some of his comments about women and minorities are cringeworthy, but not evidence of an underlying misogyny and hatefulness, as many critics contend.

Ultimately, CPAC conservatives believe Trump is their best bet to defeat the radical-left “desecrators” who seek to thwart him at every turn – including, as they constantly complained at CPAC, social media bans, “fake news” takedowns, rigged voting, bogus lawsuits, unfair justice, and lies about what they call the Jan. 6, 2021, “protest”.

Despite these hurdles, Trump battles on toward the Republican nomination for presidential candidate – the hero who CPAC conservatives view as the last and best hope to save the USA.

Alexander Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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A guide to the MAGA media universe | Media Matters for America

NO LNX PIX

RESEARCH/STUDY

A guide to the MAGA media universe

Trump's inner circle of advisers has shifted even more toward the fringes

WRITTEN BY MEDIA MATTERS STAFF

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SOPHIE LAWTON, JACINA HOLLINS-BORGES, JACK WHEATLEY, JOHN KNEFEL & MADELINE PELTZ

:{PUBLISHED 02/26/24

A close-knit circle of operatives supporting former President Donald Trump’s reelection and being floated for a variety of Cabinet-level positions in a potential second Trump administration also regularly appear as hosts and guests across the right-wing media. Occupying a number of roles in the right-wing movement — from think tank presidents to far-right internet trolls — they share a fierce loyalty to Trump, and many have shown a willingness to subvert the rule of law and the democratic process.

These pro-Trump media figures have also developed a new infrastructure for the MAGA movement — most notably Project 2025, a wide-ranging policy and staffing initiative led by right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation and supported by dozens of other conservative institutions. Project 2025 aims to prepare for a potential Trump presidential transition to hit the ground running in a second term.

A central component of this plan is the reimplementation of Schedule F, an executive order issued in the final days of the Trump administration only to be rescinded immediately by President Joe Biden. Schedule F would remove protections for tens of thousands of civil servants, making it easier for the administration to fire them and replace them with Trump loyalists. The most important media platform for Project 2025 is Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, a firehose of pro-Trump sycophancy where he frequently hosts guests working on this project.

In addition to pushing Project 2025, some right-wing media figures tied to Trump have advocated for his potential administration to govern as Christian nationalists and spread the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory to gin up support for a draconian immigration agenda.

Media Matters is publishing this guide of Trump's inner circle of advisers pushing extremism, authoritarianism, bigotry, and misinformation in their media appearances. This resource will be updated on a regular basis.

Select a Trump Adviser

Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon is a former top Trump adviser and current host of the War Room podcast, a central hub of the MAGA media universe and main platform of Project 2025. Reporting from ABC’s Jonathan Karl indicates that Bannon has “once again emerged as one of Trump’s most important advisers." He has been reportedly floated as a potential chief of staff in a second Trump administration, backed by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and others.

Bannon’s influence is also felt in D.C., especially among House Republicans. He marshaled a successful campaign to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker of the House in 2023, and he has suggested that McCarthy’s successor, Mike Johnson, should meet the same fate. Trump has promised to use a second presidency to enact retribution against his political enemies, and Bannon has endorsed it, promising, “This is just not rhetoric. We're absolutely dead serious,” and saying there will be “no middle ground” or “compromise” in a second Trump term.

Bannon was a key driver of the January 6 insurrection and has since been an unrepentant mouthpiece for its historical revision on the right. During the 2020 presidential election period and its aftermath, he used revolutionary rhetoric that often implicated or explicitly endorsed the use of violence, at one point calling for FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci to be beheaded. Bannon has referred to migrants as “locusts” and called for “shutting down the border” and “mass deportations.” Additionally, several organizations he has ties with were recently named in a federal indictment of his longtime associate Miles Guo.

In recent months, Bannon has advanced claims that a second Trump administration will seek retribution against the “administrative state,” promoted his picks for who will serve in another Trump Cabinet, amplified far-right narratives about the southern border and immigration, and criticized GOP leadership. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

In a GETTR post, Bannon claimed there is a “coming Civil War.” [GETTR, 1/26/24]

In an interview on ITV News, Bannon claimed: “President Trump will look to deconstruct the administrative state — the Supreme Court’s already into this right now, reviewing cases about downsizing this bureaucracy.” [ITV News, 1/25/24]

On GETTR Bannon claimed Texas is part of a “Border War.” [GETTR, 1/25/24]

Sharing a report that Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices were poised to overturn a longstanding legal precedent enabling government agencies to regulate public safety and consumer protections, Bannon celebrated: “Deconstruction of the Administrative State has begun. ….Trump’s Justices Lead the Way.” [GETTR, 1/18/24]

Bannon pledged to lead an effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from leadership if he doesn't give into far-right funding demands. [Media Matters, 1/17/24]

Linking to a CNN article discussing the Israeli far right’s effort to displace Palestinians in Gaza, Bannon wrote, “The War Against the Sharia Supremacists About to Get Real for the Nation of Israel.” [GETTR, 1/17/24]

On Leading Britain’s Conversation, Bannon said that his policies are “much farther right than President Trump.” [YouTube, 1/16/24]

In the same appearance, Bannon said, “We’re training up, right now, 3,000 people that can step into the government [on] day one” of a potential second Trump presidency to take over the federal bureaucracy for “the populist, MAGA, America First agenda.” [YouTube, 1/16/24]

Bannon: “If President Trump ever asked me to come back to the campaign or to the White House, I would always do what President Trump asked me to do.” [YouTube, 1/16/24]

Bannon shared an image of Trump at his 2017 inauguration, writing, “Back with a Vengeance.” [GETTR, 1/16/24]

Bannon wrote “Come Retribution” in response to Trump’s win in the Iowa caucuses. Noting Bannon’s previous use of the phrase to hype Trump’s 2024 campaign launch, reporter Jonathan Karl wrote that “according to some Civil War historians, [Come Retribution] served as the code words for the Confederate Secret Service’s plot to take hostage—and eventually assassinate—President Abraham Lincoln.” [GETTR, 1/16/24; The Bulwark, 11/3/23]

Bannon shared a tweet depicting CNN entrance poll results in the Iowa Republican caucuses, writing, “65% of Caucus Goers Think Biden is an ILLEGITIMATE President. Go MAGA!!” [GETTR, 1/15/24]

Bannon shared a CBS News poll, writing that “72% of Republican Voters Agree That Illegal Alien Invaders are ‘Poisoning the Blood’ of America; 48% of ALL VOTERS.” [GETTR, 1/15/24]

Bannon called Speaker Mike Johnson “a hot mess” and “a wimp.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 1/12/24]

Bannon responded to a conspiratorial rant from his guest, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), by asking if she would be willing to serve as Trump's vice president or in his Cabinet. [Real America's Voice, War Room, 1/11/24]

Bannon regularly uses right-wing religious rhetoric about “spiritual warfare” against “demonic” Democrats. [Media Matters, 1/11/24]

Bannon touted longtime right-wing media figure Monica Crowley as a possible national security adviser in a second Trump term. [Real America's Voice, War Room, 1/9/24]

On GETTR, Bannon wrote that “MAGA Must First Purge, Then Rejuvenate and Restore” American institutions. [GETTR, 1/7/24]

Bannon wrote that “DEI Programs Must be Eradicated ‘Root and Branch’ in Academia, Government and Especially Corporate America,” celebrating “MAGA ON a Roll” after the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania resigned. [GETTR, 1/7/24]

Bannon claimed that “the Invasion of Our Country has been Thoroughly Planned and Well Executed by the Enemies—Foreign and Domestic—of America.” [GETTR, 1/3/24]

On War Room, Bannon said, “We should get kids off of social media and start teaching them the proper use of guns.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 12/19/23]

Discussing a potential Trump second term, Bannon said, “There's no middle ground” or “compromise.” He added, “Just because you got a R next to your name doesn't mean anything to us. You’re either with us or you're against us.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 12/7/23]

Bannon linked to reporting on his and Kash Patel’s statements that they plan to go after journalists if Trump is reelected, writing, “Second Term Accountability Project—Prosecute ‘The Embeds.’” [GETTR, 12/5/23]

Bannon claimed the Insurrection Act will serve as “Legal Basis for President Trump to Restore Order in 2nd Term.” [GETTR, 12/4/23]

Bannon referred to the Project 2025 staffing plan to “Deconstruct the Administrative State,” as led by “MAGA and Team Trump.” [GETTR, 12/1/23]

Tucker Carlson

:{

Tucker Carlson is a former Fox News prime-time host. He was the network’s biggest ratings driver until he was fired from Fox in April 2023 amid numerous concurrent crises at the company, including fallout from the historic $787.5 million settlement in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against the network. He has since launched a digital media property called the Tucker Carlson Network in an apparent attempt to keep his voice in the public discourse.

Carlson has been floated as a possible vice presidential pick for Trump, and the two appeared together at a November 2023 UFC event. Carlson reportedly regularly advises Trump on the phone, and Jon Karl notes they speak specifically about matters related to Ukraine policy. In 2023, Trump skipped a Republican presidential debate in favor of a softball interview with Carlson.

Embarrassing private communications from Carlson were revealed as a part of the Dominion lawsuit in which he privately blasted the former president for his handling of the 2020 election and its violent aftermath. In one text message referring to Trump, he said, “I hate him passionately.” In another text message that reportedly angered executives leading up to Carlson’s Fox News ouster, he described cheering on “a group of Trump guys” attacking an “Antifa kid” in a video he watched but also noted that “jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight.”

As a host on Fox News, Carlson was chiefly responsible for introducing and mainstreaming the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which purports that nonwhite immigrants are coming to overtake and disenfranchise white Americans, often at the behest of Democrats. A 2022 New York Times investigation found that Carlson “amplified the idea that Democratic politicians and others want to force demographic change through immigration” in more than 400 episodes. His hardcore racist commentary made him a hero to neo-Nazis and other extremists, and he repeatedly hosted guests with fringe ties. Media Matters has extensively documented this commentary, going back to 2004. Carlson also has a history of pushing (and allegedly practicing) extreme misogyny.

Carlson has recently pushed violent anti-immigrant and antisemitic narratives alongside anti-LGBT and misogynistic content. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

During an interview with The Daily Wire's Candace Owens on his X (formerly Twitter) show, Carlson stated that rich Jews were funding “white genocide.” He added, “And then I found myself really hating those people, actually. ‘You’re OK with that? On what grounds were you OK with that?’” [Media Matters, 11/21/23]

Interviewing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Carlson suggested that “every able-bodied man with a black rifle assemble at the border, and we're just gonna stop this and save the country.” [Twitter/X, Tucker on X, 12/7/23]

>Attempting to exploit the anti-immigrant riots in Ireland to demonize migrants and Muslims, Carlson told Steve Bannon, “The Irish government is trying to replace the population of Ireland with people from the Third World, obviously,” and added that the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory is “not a theory.” [Media Matters, 11/30/23]

Carlson hosted violent celebrity misogynist Andrew Tate on his X program and spread a variety of harmful and baseless conspiracies. Carlson claimed that charges against Tate were part of a conspiracy to silence him and that transgender people are the endpoint of the supposed decline of traditional gender roles, which Tate then suggested would lead to “slavery.” [Media Matters, 7/14/23]

After the Covenant school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, Carlson used the opportunity to fearmonger about transgender people, saying the shooting happened “because of a deranged and demonic ideology.” He also said, “The trans movement is the mirror image of Christianity and therefore, its natural enemy.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 3/29/23]

Jeffrey Clark

Jeffrey Clark served as the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division during the first Trump administration, and he was a key participant in Trump’s attempts to stay in power following his loss in November 2020.

Leading up to the January 6 insurrection, Trump considered installing Clark as acting attorney general due to his reported willingness to subvert election law. Clark was also identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump’s attempts to overturn the election by special counsel Jack Smith, who alleged that Clark “attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.” In August, he was criminally charged in Georgia for his role in attempting to overturn the election, along with 18 other defendants. Bannon has proposed that Trump appoint Clark as attorney general in a potential second term.

After leaving government, Clark was hired by the Center for Renewing America as a senior fellow, and he is a regular guest on Bannon’s War Room. In July 2023, he explained to the War Room audience that he’d supported using the Insurrection Act against anti-racist protesters in the summer of 2020 and argued against the longstanding norm that the Justice Department remain free from White House political pressure.

Clark has been adamantly pushing anti-immigrant narratives, criticizing diversity initiatives, and insulting the current GOP leadership. He also pushed the idea of the Justice Department having less independence from the president. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

As a guest on War Room, Clark argued against the Supreme Court ruling on the Texas border case and claimed that “the state of Texas has a right to resist invasion and a right to repel invasion.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 1/22/24]

On War Room, Clark celebrated a potential Supreme Court ruling as “a first major step in clipping the wings of the administrative state.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 1/17/24]

Clark blamed “DEI and CRT and wokism – and their recent manifestation as antisemitism” on Democrats. [Twitter/X, 1/16/24]

Clark wrote that the Republican Party has “been so, so infiltrated by closet dems” and “only Trump has shone a light on this problem and caused those who were never with us to openly defect.” [Twitter/X, 1/16/24]

Clark wrote that grants Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg provided to local election offices in 2020 were meant to “artificially pump up Democrat voter turnout in the key battleground states under cover of an overhyped COVID crisis.” [Twitter/X, 1/16/24]

Clark pledged to “turn things around” on immigration “starting with the 2024 election,” with “any State, or City, or school district” that puts “illegal immigrant housing over the education of our own citizens” losing “all of its federal funding immediately.” [Twitter/X, 1/10/24]

Clark called the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) “an anti-American extension of the radical elements of the Democrat party.” He added that “Soros, who funds CREW, is a one-man wrecking ball of the American constitutional order,” referring to philanthropist George Soros. [Twitter/X, 1/4/23]

On Family Research Council President Tony Perkins’ podcast, Clark warned that litigation to remove Trump from the ballot for insurrection makes Republican retaliation “fair play.” [Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, 1/2/24]

On Bannon’s War Room, Clark said there needs to be a “beefed up” religious liberty task force to fight anti-Christian sentiment and Bannon floated him as attorney general in Trump’s second term. [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 12/20/23]

Clark wrote, “No one should get to be an immigrant to the US if he or she is dependent on public welfare.” He continued, “We can properly exclude those people from the country who will become public charges.” [Twitter/X, 12/19/23]

Clark posted on X that DEI is “anti-Enlightenment, anti-American,” and “evil.” [Twitter/X, 12/17/23]

Clark joined Bannon’s War Room and claimed that the Department of Justice should not be independent from White House pressure and influence. He stated, “The president, his chief duty is to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, right? Which means law enforcement, which means the Justice Department.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 7/3/23]

Mike Davis

Mike Davis is former counsel to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. As founder of the Article III Project, a conservative legal think tank, he has emerged as a ubiquitous talking head on various legal issues in MAGA media, regularly making extreme claims and endorsing Trump’s behavior. Donald Trump Jr. has suggested Davis as a possible attorney general in a second Trump administration.

Among a deluge of extremist commentary, Davis had previously promised a “three week reign of terror” if given the chance to serve as Trump’s attorney general, even threatening to indict Media Matters staff. He also downplayed the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and suggested that sedition charges against Proud Boys were about “trying to take out Trump.” In September, Davis promised that a second Trump administration would deport more than 10 million immigrants and pledged: “We're gonna put kids in cages. It's gonna be glorious.”

Davis frequently takes to X and right-wing podcasts to promote violent anti-immigrant, racist, and misogynistic narratives and speculate about possible assignments in Trump’s Cabinet. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

Davis posted to X, “We must stop importing this third-world trash. Send. Them. Home.” [Twitter/X, 1/30/24]

In a post responding to recent carjackings in Washington, D.C., Davis told his followers: “Arm up. Shoot to kill. Democrat politicians won't protect you from the roving gangs of carjackers and murderers.” [Twitter/X, 1/30/24]

>After the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, Davis posted, “These leftwing black women are objectively unqualified on paper. Now we learn they are frauds.” Davis added, “Defund these race-hustlers in the DEI industry.” [Twitter/X, 1/30/24]

On X, Davis wrote, “How about gas chamber for Members of Congress lying to Americans?” [Twitter/X, 1/22/24]

Davis called for violence against women, posting to X, “How about cutting out the tongues of Democrat activist women who lie about sexual assault?” [Twitter/X, 1/22/24]

Davis posted an image of E. Jean Carroll next to Melania Trump and wrote, “Dear President Trump: Here is the only exhibit you need for Jean Carroll trial.” [GETTR, 1/18/24]

Davis said “Powerful Marxist Black women” like MSNBC host Joy- Ann Reid “are some of the most destructive forces in American society.” [Twitter/X, 1/17/24]

Davis called for “Hamas supporters” in the U.S. to have “their visas revoked” and be “thrown out of the country.” He added, “If they’re naturalized citizens, having them denaturalized and get them the hell out of America because they’re trash, and they need to get the hell out of America because they don’t share our Judeo-Christian values.” [Rumble, The Yossi Schmidt Show, 1/16/24]

Davis wrote: “Never apologize for being a ‘white Christian.’ Be proud. We have been—and continue to be—the greatest force for good in human history. Especially for poor, minorities around the world. The world would collapse without us.” He added that “those trashing us,” such as MSNBC’s Reid, “can go to hell.” [Twitter/X, 1/16/24]

Discussing the possibility of his becoming a member of Trump’s future Cabinet, Davis wrote, “I’m too controversial to get confirmed. But I want to become Trump’s viceroy of DC.” He claimed that some of his policies would be to “retrocede Arlington and Alexandria back into DC. (Republicans will win control of Virginia again.) And repeal the DC Home Rule Act of 1973. Carjackers and murderers will get hung.” [Twitter/X, 1/15/24]

Davis claimed Democrats are “bashing white Christians. And coddling the violent black (and Muslim) underclass.” He asserted that the party will “act stunned when you get crushed on November 5, 2024.” [GETTR, 1/15/24]

Responding to a supposed attempted robbery, Davis posted, “Now these animals are invading Woodley Park. Stay woke, DC.” [Twitter/X, 1/11/24]

Davis claimed that “Biden has (intentionally) allowed unvetted (and un-vettable) fighting-aged men from every trouble-spot on the planet to flood into the United States.” He claimed, “Trump brought us peace, safety, stability, and prosperity. Biden brought us war, crime, chaos, and despair.” [Twitter/X, 1/11/24]

On The Vince Coglianese Show, Davis argued that the House should not certify any votes from states where Trump was taken off the ballot, stating, “The House should not count any votes where they’ve used this bogus legal theory to disqualify a presidential candidate.” [Cumulus News Talk, The Vince Coglianese Show, 1/8/24]

Responding to a clip of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) refusing to commit to certifying the results of the 2024 election, Davis asked, “Why would anyone commit to certifying the results of an election before the election? That’s like a judge deciding a case before the trial. Idiotic.” [Twitter/X, 1/7/24]

In reponse to pro-Palestinian protesters blocking a freeway in Seattle during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, Davis posted, “Arrest. Charge. Convict. Imprison. Deport.” [Twitter/X, 1/6/24]

Davis posted, “Happy January 6th! These two good Americans were severely mistreated by a politicized and weaponized justice system,” next to photos of Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” and Adam Johnson, the man who removed the House Speaker’s lectern. Davis continued, “Let’s make a deal: We’ll pretend to care about January 6th. When Democrats pretend to care about the much-more deadly and destructive BLM and antifa riots. Or the threats of violence against Jews by Hamas supporters. Or the illegal obstruction campaigns by abortion activists.” [Twitter/X, 1/16/24, 1/6/24]

On Kimberly Guilfoyle’s show, Davis defended Trump from fraud charges as well as insurrection accusations and argued that special counsel Jack Smith and the Colorado Supreme Court are committing election interference. Davis said, “Jack Smith is trying to interfere in the election” and went on to claim President Joe Biden and the Justice Department “want President Trump in a courtroom instead of a campaign trail.” [Rumble, The Kimberly Guilfoyle Show, 1/5/24]

On Fox News, Davis called on the courts to shield Trump from legal repercussions. He told Laura Ingraham, “There's no question that if the D.C. circuit does not hold that the president of the United States, any president of the United States, does not enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution for his official actions or the outer perimeter of official actions, which is the current case law for civil immunity, there's no question the Supreme Court is going to have to take this case and establish that there is criminal immunity.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 1/4/24]

Davis made unfounded and racist statements against former Harvard President Claudine Gay, claiming, “This unqualified Black woman only got picked because of her skin pigment and genitals.” He added, “Americans are tired of #equity, DEI, and the rest of the Marxist nonsense.” [Twitter/X, 1/4/23]

Attacking Gay, Vice President Kamala Harris, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Davis posted, “Democrats must stop picking people for crucial jobs based upon skin pigment, genitals, attraction to genitals, or perception of genitals. That’s an idiotic—and discriminatory—way to do anything. Let alone run the most crucial institutions in the world.” [Twitter/X, 1/4/23]

On Steve Bannon’s War Room, Davis attacked Colorado judges who worked to remove Trump from the ballot, listing them by name. [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 12/20/23]

During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room, Davis said, “I would love to put [MSNBC journalist] Mehdi Hasan in a gulag.” [Lindell TV, War Room, 12/11/23]

Davis joined Salem Radio Group’s The Charlie Kirk Show to discuss a possible future Trump administration’s policy plans and fearmongered that “we’re losing our country to the left.” Davis claimed, “The Marxist left has taken over just about every institution in America, including the military, and they’re subversive, and they’re destroying our country from within. … That must be fixed.” [Salem Media Group, The Charlie Kirk Show, 12/8/23]

Boris Epshteyn

Boris Epshteyn is a longtime adviser to Trump, having served on his 2016, 2020, and 2024 campaigns. According to Jon Karl’s book Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party, Epshteyn was “widely viewed as one of Trump’s most sycophantic advisers.” Epshteyn is also the former chief political analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group, where his “must-run” segments aired on local TV stations from 2017 to 2019. He is a frequent guest on Steve Bannon’s War Room, where he frequently engages in the election denialism that’s endemic to the show.

Epshteyn is reportedly an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump’s alleged attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, he has been interviewed by federal prosecutors, and his cell phone was seized as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation. Epshteyn has separately faced other legal trouble; police records show he was arrested in 2021 for repeatedly groping two women at an Arizona nightclub.

Epshteyn continues to claim Trump’s legal issues are tied to election interference and spouts other election-related conspiracy theories. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

Epshteyn claimed E. Jean Carroll was lying and had destroyed “mountains and mountains of evidence” while speaking outside the courtroom where Trump’s defamation trial was taking place. He went on to say the trial was “a sham” and “crooked Joe Biden-driven election interference.” [Rumble, The Gateway Pundit, 1/18/24]

On War Room, Epshteyn argued that Trump’s indictments and civil fraud trial are for “political reasons and for election interference.” [Rumble, War Room, 1/12/24]

Speaking with former Trump official Sebastian Gorka, Epshteyn said Trump was successful in “ending the War on Christmas” in his first term, “and which President Trump will again end when he wins in November of 2024 and comes back to the White House.” [Rumble, America First with Sebastian Gorka, 12/15/23]

Epshteyn baselessly stated that Democrats and establishment Arizona Republicans were “stealing this election from MAGA, stealing it from the American people.” He added, “We’ve got to be fighting, we cannot be accepting the rigging and stealing of American elections. We’ve been talking about it for two years.” [Media Matters, 11/14/22]

Liz Harrington

:{

Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington is a former Republican National Committee official and conservative journalist. She was a key mouthpiece for the stolen election lie after Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential race, falsely claiming there was “major fraud.” Before working for the RNC, Harrington worked as the editor-in-chief at Steve Bannon’s War Room and at both the Washington Free Beacon as well as CNS News. Last year, Harrington attacked Fox News and the Murdochs, claiming they were trying to hurt Trump and calling Fox News “that fake news network.” She’s received backlash in the past for her transphobic and anti-LGBTQ commentary, which includes supporting a ban on trans people serving in the military.

While continuing to promote false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Harrington often asserts that the upcoming 2024 presidential election is being rigged against Trump or stolen by the Democrats. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

Harrington has repeatedly made unfounded claims that the Biden administration is coordinating with prosecutors against Donald Trump to interfere in the upcoming election through lawsuits. On X, she called Trump’s legal battles in Georgia “coordinated election interference with the Biden White House.” In another post on X, Harrington claimed Attorney General Merrick Garland “wants the Show Trials of his regime’s number one political opponent in the middle of the 2024 Election” and suggested the prosecution of Trump was “for corrupt government actors to interfere in the People’s elections!” In an appearance on The Gateway Pundit’s Gateway: Beyond the Headline, Harrington called Trump’s legal issues “a sham case” and a chance for Democrats to secure a “sham conviction and try to interfere in the election.” [Twitter/X, 1/9/24, 1/19/24; The Gateway Pundit's Gateway: Beyond the Headline, 1/10/24]

On The Steve Gruber Show, Harrington said the Biden administration is “trying to steal an election.” [Real America’s Voice, The Steve Gruber Show, 1/3/24]

Harrington pushed debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen, posting, “It has often been repeated there is ‘no evidence’ of fraud in the 2020 Election. In actuality, there is no evidence Joe Biden won.” [Twitter/X, 1/2/24]

Attacking the special counsel investigating Trump, Harrington said it was “obvious” that “Jack Smith is a political actor engaging in election interferences on behalf of the regime.” [Twitter/X, 12/12/23]

During a 2022 OAN appearance, Harrington claimed that Democrats “don’t want to muck up the [election] process that they have right now, which is systemic widespread fraud.” [OAN, Tipping Point, 8/11/22]

Laura Loomer

Laura Loomer is a far-right social media influencer and twice failed GOP congressional candidate in the state of Florida. Loomer has previously worked for far-right media companies such as Infowars and Project Veritas and is affiliated with extremist group the Proud Boys. In April 2023, Trump attempted to hire her in an official campaign capacity but was rebuffed by his own staff “given her history of inflammatory statements and her embrace of the Republican Party’s fringes.” Despite this backlash, she has regularly appeared with Trump and received praise from him at rallies and on social media. Donald Trump Jr. has floated Loomer as the next White House press secretary.

Loomer is known for her anti-Muslim rhetoric, calling herself a “proud Islamophobe,” and for being banned from various social media, fundraising, and online purchasing platforms for violating their hate speech policies. She has said she is “pro-white nationalism."

Loomer has continued spouting far-right conspiracy theories that are racist, antisemitic, and Islamophobic. She also claims the 2024 presidential election will be stolen or rigged. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

On her podcast, Loomer claimed that “so many rich Jews have a fixation on trying to destroy America.” She added, “I'm really sick and tired of watching all of these Jews with large amounts of money in our country donate to fund the destruction of our nation and the communist takeover of America.” [Media Matters, 1/30/24]

On X, Loomer wrote that “our country has been destroyed because of those acts of disloyalty” to Trump and that his supporters are at risk of being “sent to modern day, dissident concentration camps by the Biden regime.” She then equated Trump with the country at large, writing: “Given how bad things are now, If you are anti-Trump, you are essentially anti-America.” [Twitter/X, 1/18/24]

Before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quit the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Loomer accused him of being “a tool of the DOJ and Jack Smith to normalize the weaponization of government against President Trump.” She made similar accusations against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and claimed that “the deep state plans on killing Trump ahead of the July 2024 RNC Convention.” [Twitter/X, 1/18/24, 1/18/24]

On X, Loomer argued against maternity leave and in favor of forced birth control for members of Congress. “People should decide if they want to be in Congress or be pregnant. Why should taxpayers have to pay for their reps to get pregnant?” she wrote, adding: “Maybe people will get mad at me for saying this, but if you’re in Congress you should be on birth control.” [Twitter/X, 1/18/24]

Loomer shared a conspiracy theory that the House Republican caucus was secretly working with the Democrats to trigger “a contingent election” in which “Congress chooses our next president.” “I truly believe @HouseGOP is intentionally trying to lose their majority,” she added. “House GOP clearly wants the Dems to take control before November 2024 so that they can continue persecuting President Trump. This is deliberate.” [Twitter/X, 1/18/24]

Loomer referred to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as “the illegitimate Alzheimer’s patient and the prostitute DEI VP who are occupying the White House.” [Twitter/X, 1/18/24]

Loomer promoted a conspiracy theory that Nikki Haley and the deep state would use the weather to “rig” the Iowa caucuses. [Media Matters, 1/12/24]

In an appearance on Timcast IRL, Loomer said: “The great replacement is not some conspiracy theory like the left-wing media wants it to be. ... It's very real.” [Media Matters, 1/13/24]

On her podcast, Loomer told her audience, “I will gladly accept the position of press secretary” in a Trump administration. [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 11/14/23]

Following Hamas’ attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, Loomer posted, “RESTORE THE ISLAMIC TERROR TRAVEL BAN!” and “DEPORT ALL JIHADIS.” [Twitter/X, 10/28/23]

Jason Miller

Jason Miller is a longtime Trump aide currently serving as a top adviser and spokesperson for his 2024 reelection campaign. Like Steve Bannon, Miller has close ties with Chinese business mogul Miles Guo, and he was the CEO at Gettr, Guo’s social media platform. Miller told the House January 6 committee that he agreed that Trump had lost the 2020 election, but he has frequently cast doubt on the results in public.

Miller frequently claims that Biden, the Democrats, or other groups are working to rig or steal the presidential election. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

On X, Miller claimed that President Joe Biden “is a disaster and has done more damage to the African American community than any president in modern history.” Miller added that “Biden is now trying to gaslight Black Americans with misleading attacks, but everybody knows we were better off with President Trump.” [Twitter/X, 1/8/23]

Miller tweeted that Biden is “trying to imprison his leading political opponent as if we were a third-world banana republic.” [Twitter/X, 1/5/23]

Referencing efforts to remove Trump from the ballot in Maine and Colorado, Miller wrote that “tens of millions of Americans” are being disenfranchised “by a weaponized justice system.” [Twitter/X, 1/5/23]

Ahead of the 2024 election, Miller told former Trump official Sebastian Gorka that “we have to be ready for them [Democrats] to pull the exact same nonsense” as 2020. He continued, “They’re going to do everything they can to rig, steal, try to change the rules of the game.” [Salem, America First with Sebastian Gorka, 1/4/24]

Sharing a New York Post article saying that Democrats are trying to remove Republicans from the ballot nationwide, Miller wrote, “Joe Biden and the Democrats are a real-time threat to democracy.” [Twitter/X, 1/4/23]

Sharing a Trump campaign video on X, Miller wrote, “Joe Biden has created Chaos and Weakness on our Southern Border. President Trump is going to stop it.” [Twitter/X, 12/29/23]

Miller tweeted, “It’s almost like Biden actually wants to see lawless, unvetted illegals pour into the U.S.” [Twitter/X, 12/19/23]

Seemingly in response to the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to remove Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot, Miller tweeted, “ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” [Twitter/X, 12/19/23; The Associated Press, 12/19/23]

Miller alleged a “direct connection between the ruling in Colorado” removing Trump from the ballot “and President Trump posting his largest lead ever over Joe Biden today.” He continued, “Watching Democrats resort to lawfare that disenfranchises millions of Americans to win an election is quite stunning.” [Twitter/X, 12/19/23]

Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller is one of Trump’s longest serving advisers and speechwriters. He was behind some of the administration’s most notorious policies, including the so-called Muslim ban and family separation policy. After Trump’s defeat, Miller launched America First Legal, a legal nonprofit attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion policies as part of the conservative culture wars. (According to a report from The Daily Beast, America First Legal spent 85% of its $35 million budget on advertising rather than its promised lawsuits fighting “anti-white bigotry.")

Miller is expected to serve in a senior capacity in a second Trump administration as the chief architect of Trump’s retribution agenda targeting migrants, creating a policy plan to use the U.S. military to carry out the mass detention and deportation of migrants. He regularly appears in the right-wing media to push the white supremacist “great replacement” theory, and former Fox host Tucker Carlson has advocated for Miller to lead the Department of Justice.

Miller maintains his extreme positions on immigration, frequently fearmongering about the southern border, blaming Biden for the immigration crisis, and pushing right-wing conspiracy theories. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

On X, Miller fearmongered that “foreign nations and terrorist armies could smuggle entire divisions into the U.S. without the slightest resistance.” [Twitter/X, 1/26/24]

On Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, Miller argued that the Biden administration is working “every single day to maintain the policy of mass resettlement of illegal aliens all across the United States of America, including for the first time in history, of single adult men.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 1/19/24]

Miller posted that Joe Biden “willfully and deliberately unleashed hell on earth” through his immigration policies and should be impeached. [Twitter/X, 1/18/24]

Miller wrote: “In 2022, Biden voluntarily released an adult male illegal alien into the U.S. who is now charged with raping a disabled person. This is the immigration policy Democrats are defending and protecting.” [Twitter/X, 1/18/24]

Miller joined Fox News’ Hannity to discuss the New Hampshire primary and claimed, “If you want to save American democracy in 2024, then your only hope and prayer is to vote for Donald Trump.” [Fox News, Hannity, 1/17/24]

On X, Miller claimed: “Joe Biden is leading a deadly insurrection on the Southern Border in order to remake the American electorate and disenfranchise the American citizen.” [Twitter/X, 1/17/24]

On Fox News, Miller fearmongered about the effects of immigration on the U.S., claiming: “The events that are happening now on our border typically take place after suffering crippling military defeat.” [Fox News, Life, Liberty & Levin, 1/14/24]

Miller joined Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle to discuss immigration in Texas, saying that American taxpayers must “stop funding our own destruction” through Biden’s border policies. [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 1/12/24]

Miller posted: “The Biden Administration is voluntarily and deliberately releasing illegals into America by the millions.” He claimed, “They are choosing, purposefully and maliciously, to resettle and relocate the developing world inside the US.” [Twitter/X, 1/3/24]

On Fox News’ Hannity, Miller claimed that “Joe Biden is waging war against America’s national security” with his immigration policies. [Fox News, Hannity, 1/2/24]

Miller posted: “The Democrat Party is openly sabotaging the 2024 election while throwing people in jail for questioning their conduct of the 2020 election.” [Twitter/X, 12/29/23]

Sharing video of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, Miller posted, “To those who say officeholders do not posses immunity, nor protection from prosecution by local jurisdictions, those involved in perpetuating this invasion are susceptible to a great many criminal charges.” [Twitter/X, 12/19/23]

On Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, Miller pushed the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, calling immigration “the engineered political transformation of the country” and claiming, “We are being conquered. This is a complete resettlement of America in real time.” [Fox News. Jesse Watters Primetime, 12/19/23]

Kash Patel

Kash Patel held various national security positions in the Trump administration, serving on the National Security Council and as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller at the end of the term. He was also reportedly almost installed as acting CIA director in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection, when Trump deemed certain members of his administration insufficiently loyal in his effort to overturn the election.

Patel also appears to be a key source for the false claim that Trump attempted to deploy 20,000 National Guard troops to protect the U.S. Capitol prior to January 6. And he was reportedly involved in feeding Trump “negative information about Ukraine” ahead of his 2019 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky during which Trump threatened to withhold aid to the country, resulting in his first impeachment. Patel was also in charge of the Pentagon’s transition to the Biden administration team.

Patel has a history of pushing misinformation to further right-wing causes. He is closely tied to the QAnon movement and has praised the conspiracy theory’s supporters. He is also a regular on Steve Bannon’s War Room, where the host has floated him as a potential CIA director or as head of the Defense or State Department in a second Trump term. In November 2022, Patel announced that he would be touring the country as a Trump campaign surrogate for the 2024 presidential election.

Leading up to the 2024 election, Patel has pushed Trump’s potential retribution plans, claimed that the election will be stolen, and made recommendations for a possible second Trump administration. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

On The Charlie Kirk Show, Patel declared that Trump was “totally innocent” of involvement in the January 6 insurrection and repeated the false claim that he’d ordered National Guard troops to protect the Capitol. [Salem Radio, The Charlie Kirk Show, 1/16/24]

On Truth Social, Patel criticized Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade for supposedly “hijacking ... our legal system for political weaponization” in prosecuting Trump. [Truth Social, 1/16/24]

On America First with Sebastian Gorka, Patel decried “Chris Wray’s ideology that has been created by Merrick Garland for one reason, to rig presidential elections.” Criticizing comments by Chris Matthews on MSNBC, Patel said, “This is what you get when you’re on a panel with race-hustling thugs like Al Sharpton.” [Rumble, America First with Sebastian Gorka, 12/28/23]

On Bannon’s War Room, Patel defended Trump’s actions on January 6: “Trump did not commit insurrection — he did not even come close.” He went on to claim that “Trump acted proactively to secure Congress.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 12/20/23]

On Bannon’s War Room, Patel confirmed Trump’s second term retribution plans to retaliate against the press: “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media.” Patel specifically cited media figures who “who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.” [Media Matters, 12/5/23]

Patel and former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) specifically appealed to QAnon extremists to build a user base for Trump’s right-wing social networking site Truth Social. [Media Matters, 8/1/22]

Before California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy became speaker, Patel said he would like to see Trump as speaker of the House. [Media Matters, 1/4/23]

Patel spoke at a ReAwaken America Tour stop at Trump’s Miami resort that also featured an antisemitic influencer who has said the Nazis were merely “protecting their sovereignty” from Jewish people. [Media Matters, 10/16/23]

Kevin Roberts

Kevin Roberts is president of the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank behind the Project 2025 effort to provide staffing and policy papers for the next Republican administration. Under Roberts’ tenure, which began in 2021, Heritage has increasingly turned to fringe right-wing media to maintain relevance in the conservative ecosystem and stave off new competitors.

Roberts has pushed numerous hard-right positions at Heritage, including eliminating the Department of Education and signing onto the Convention of States, a fringe movement to weaken the federal government’s regulatory power and ability to protect civil rights. He also has endorsed the unitary executive theory, which holds that the president has the almost unlimited power to control the federal judiciary. Notably, Roberts has falsely claimed President Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election.

Roberts has promoted the Project 2025 ideas during media appearances and on X, especially regarding immigration policy and removing Biden administration officials. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

In an interview with The New York Times, Roberts praised far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling him a “very impressive leader” and saying his work to make Hungary a more conservative country “should be celebrated.” [The New York Times, 1/21/24]

Roberts also told The New York Times that “at least some” of Sen. Joe McCarthy’s “tactics” to stamp out political opponents during the 1950s Red Scare “were terrible, but what he got right was the motivation.” [The New York Times, 1/21/24]

On Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, Roberts claimed that “the American people … are ready for [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas to be impeached and removed from office” over “the crisis at the southern border.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 1/18/24]

Roberts posted to X that the Biden administration's border policies are “destructive” and wrote, “The conservative movement must take action to force the gov. to do its job: protect the American people & secure the homeland.” [Twitter/X, 12/21/23]

Roberts posted: “Years of backroom deals and weakness from Congress have given us the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history.” Roberts repeated the same language in a statement to Fox News on immigration. [Twitter/X, 12/14/23; FoxNews.com, 12/14/23]

Roberts posted to X: “The Left's infiltration of our institutions, exemplified by the Marxist cultural rot in #highered, cannot be placated. It must be decisively defeated.” [Twitter/X, 12/13/23]

On X, Roberts called for defunding “elite” universities: “Calling for the resignation of their presidents is righteous, but not enough. Defund them. Americans should not be forced to fund their enemies.” [Twitter/X, 12/11/23]

Donald Trump Jr.

Donald Trump Jr. is the eldest child of Donald Trump and host of Triggered on right-wing video platform Rumble. He served as a political adviser during the Trump 2016 campaign and later took over the Trump Organization with his brother Eric. (Both Trump sons were later found liable for civil fraud, along with their father.)

Trump Jr. was also instrumental in post-2020 election denial, notably texting then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows suggestions of ways to keep his father in power two days after the election, writing, “We have multiple paths. We control them all.” On January 6, 2021, he pushed Meadows to have his father condemn the violence at the U.S. Capitol, but he has since downplayed its severity, mockingly calling its anniversary “Fake Insurrection Day.”

Trump Jr. heavily promotes his father’s reelection campaign, pushing his talking points online and recently calling for Republican attorneys general to remove Joe Biden from the ballot in their states. On social media and his podcast, he has promoted the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, white nationalists, and QAnon supporters.

Trump Jr. has pushed suggestions for his father’s potential future administration alongside frequent anti-LGBTQ attacks and supported right-wing conspiracy theories such as January 6 revisionism. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

Trump Jr. told The Hill that Tucker Carlson is “certainly ... a contender” for vice president if his father is reelected. [The Hill, 1/18/24]

During his live coverage of the Iowa caucuses on Rumble, Trump Jr. said immigrants “dilute” the American population. [Rumble, Triggered with Donald Trump Jr., 1/15/24]

Trump Jr. praised a video of mixed martial arts fighter Sean Strickland making anti-LGBTQ comments, calling it “amazing” and adding, “If there were more people willing to talk to the Press like this, they’re bullshit wouldn’t be nearly as pervasive.” [Twitter/X, 1/17/24]

Trump Jr. accused January 6 participant Ray Epps (a frequent target of right-wing conspiracy theories) of being part of a “#Fedsurrection,” posting on X that Epps “gets probation, a $500 fine and is able to phone into his sentencing?!? Are you fricken kidding me? Yea guys, he totally wasn’t put there to incite things by the feds. Our country is screwed… the traitors in charge aren’t even pretending anymore.” [Twitter/X, 1/9/24; NBC News, 9/19/23]

Trump Jr. fearmongered on X that “DEI indoctrination is infiltrating US Service Academies and brainwashing our future military leaders!!!!” [Twitter/X, 1/8/24]

On his Rumble show, Trump Jr. called immigration “the great replacement reality of what the Democrats are trying to do.” [Rumble, Triggered with Donald Trump Jr., 1/1/24]

Trump Jr. shared a graph of supposed “illegal immigrant encounters” under Biden and commented: “tHe gReAt RePLacemEnT tHeOry is A MYth!!!!!!!” [Twitter/X, 1/7/24]

Trump Jr. quoted a post from Libs of TikTok, adding: “Per capita is there a more violent group of people anywhere in the world than radicalized trans activists?” He added: “Given the tiny fraction of the population that they make up it doesn’t seem like anyone else even comes close.” [Twitter/X, 1/4/24]

Speaking on his Rumble show, Trump Jr. called QAnon supporters “patriotic Americans.” [Rumble, Triggered with Donald Trump Jr., 12/28/23]

On his Rumble show, Trump Jr. said he wanted to see Alex Jones in a second Trump administration, possibly as press secretary for “two weeks to a month” to “put these idiots in their place.” [Newsweek, 12/29/23]

On Newsmax, Trump Jr. said that “if Claudine Gay was a straight white male, she wouldn't keep her job at Harvard.” [Newsmax, Eric Bolling The Balance, 12/12/23]

On his Rumble show, Trump Jr. told white nationalist Douglass Mackey that he “may be my favorite Twitter account of all time.” Mackey, who has tweeted that Jewish people have “control of the media,” was convicted of election interference during the 2016 presidential election. [Media Matters, 12/12/23]

Trump Jr. shared a post from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) claiming that the United Nations “perpetuates child rape,” adding, “As if we needed another reason to defund the UN.” [Twitter/X, 12/7/23]

Russ Vought

:

Russ Vought is a Christian nationalist who served as head of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump, and he worked to implement Schedule F — a policy to remove job protections from career staffers — in the administration’s final weeks. After Trump’s loss, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a right-wing think tank that is a key organization in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The group aims to staff the next Republican administration with an army of Christian nationalists.

Vought has endorsed using ideological purity tests under Schedule F to make it easier to fire civil servants who don’t share his extremist views. In late 2022, Vought and CRA released a proposed budget to combat the “woke and weaponized” federal government that is also a blueprint for how a second Trump administration might unleash the FBI on the disgraced former president’s political enemies. Vought has also advised House Republicans on how to leverage government funding showdowns to enact severe social spending cuts.

Vought has recently complained about the Biden administration’s immigration policy, pushed Project 2025 policy ideas, and attacked GOP leadership. Here's a list of these and other such commentary:

Vought appeared on The Charlie Kirk Show and said that government shutdowns “have always been either a net positive or a win” for the GOP. [Salem Media Group, The Charlie Kirk Show, 1/9/24]

On X, Vought’s organization, Center for Renewing America, posted: “Thousands of illegal migrants are waiting to be processed in Eagle Pass, TX. This is a state-sanctioned INVASION!” [Twitter/X, 12/20/23]

The account also cited the removal of a Civil War monument from Arlington Cemetery as evidence that “our nation’s history is being erased in the name of Critical Race Theory.” [Twitter/X, 12/18/23]

The Center for Renewing America posted a video of migrants — whom it called “illegal invaders” — supposedly waiting for a train from Mexico to the U.S., claiming that the “Biden Border Crisis is BY DESIGN!” [Twitter/X, 12/15/23]

Vought argued in favor of a House rule change that would allow Congress to politically target, and strip the salaries of, individual career civil servants. [Media Matters, 1/12/23]

Vought referred to Christian nationalism as a “boogie man,” and argued that coverage of it will result in a “renewed consensus that the ‘US is a Christian nation & the country’s laws should therefore be rooted in Christian values.’” [Twitter/X, 2/13/23]

Vought’s organization released a budget in December 2022 that called for the elimination of “funding for the recent hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents.” The document falsely claimed a new wave of IRS agents would target “hardworking Americans and struggling families in a craven effort to sustain the broader bureaucracy’s radical progressive agenda.” [Media Matters, 1/10/24]

Vought wrote a chapter of Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership” in which he claimed that “many agencies are not only too big and powerful, but also increasingly weaponized against the public and a President who is elected by the people and empowered by the Constitution to govern.” [Media Matters, 11/9/23]

>Last April, Vought told NBC News: “I think Schedule F is basically doctrine now on the right.” Meanwhile, several articles from mainstream outlets about Vought failed to inform readers about his deep commitments to Christian nationalism. [NBC News, 4/26/23; Media Matters, 4/27/23]

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Alabama Supreme Court chief justice spreads Christian nationalist rhetoric on QAnon conspiracy theorist's show

Chief Justice Tom Parker’s recent concurring opinion in a case granting rights to embryos drew criticism for invoking religious language

Special PROGRAMSABORTION RIGHTS & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH (https://www.mediamatters.org/abortion-rights-and-reproductive-health)

WRITTEN BY PAYTON ARMSTRONG (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/payton-armstrong)

:{PUBLISHED 02/21/24

During a recent interview on the program of self-proclaimed “prophet” and QAnon conspiracy theorist Johnny Enlow, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker indicated that he is a proponent of the “Seven Mountain Mandate,” a theological approach that calls on Christians to impose fundamentalist values on all aspects of American life.

Enlow is a pro-Trump “prophet” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/18/how-christian-prophets-give-credence-to-trumps-election-fantasies-469598) and leading proponent (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/enlow-government-media-should-function-on-earth-as-they-do-in-heaven/) of the “Seven Mountain Mandate (https://theoutline.com/post/8856/seven-mountain-mandate-trump-paula-white),” a “quasi-biblical blueprint for theocracy (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/lance-wallnau-doug-mastriano-christian-dominion-1234602214/)” that asserts that Christians must impose fundamentalist values on American society by conquering the “seven mountains” of cultural influence in U.S. life: government, education, media, religion, family, business, and entertainment.

Enlow has also repeatedly pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory, sometimes even connecting (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/johnny-enlow-marries-seven-mountains-dominionism-to-the-qanon-conspiracy-theory/) it to the Seven Mountain Mandate. Per Right Wing Watch, Enlow has claimed (https://x.com/RightWingWatch/status/1574775299270664192?s=20) that world leaders are “satanic” pedophiles who “steal blood” and “do sacrifices” and that (https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1664365715023880192) “there is presently no real democracy on the planet” because over 90 percent of world leaders are involved in pedophilia and are being blackmailed.

On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled (https://www.businessinsider.com/alabama-judge-rules-frozen-embryos-are-people-ivf-2024-2) that frozen embryos are people, with the same rights as living children, and that a person can be held liable for destroying them, imperiling in vitro fertilization treatment in the state. In a concurring opinion, Parker quoted the Bible, suggested (https://publicportal-api.alappeals.gov/courts/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/cms/case/343D203A-B13D-463A-8176-C46E3AE4F695/docketentrydocuments/E3D95592-3CBE-4384-AFA6-063D4595AA1D) that Alabama had adopted a “theologically based view of the sanctity of life,” and said that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.”

In the interview on Enlow’s program — which was uploaded the same day as the ruling was issued — Parker claimed that “God created government” and said it’s “heartbreaking” that “we have let it go into the possession of others.” Parker then invoked the Seven Mountain Mandate, saying, “And that's why he is calling and equipping people to step back into these mountains right now.”

Parker suggested a familiarity with Enlow’s work, telling him, “As you've emphasized in the past, we've abandoned those Seven Mountains and they've been occupied by the opposite side.”

Video file

CitationFrom the February 16, 2024, edition of Restore Seven's Someone You Should Know

Parker discussed (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4016799) his “call” to what Enlow called the “mountain of government,” and later told (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4016802) Enlow that he appreciates what he’s done by “giving us the overview and the vision that allows us to really contemplate what God is calling each of us to for our role on those Seven Mountains.”

Enlow praised Parker, telling him he’s “in such a key place that we don't want to have any conversations that hurt you in any kind of way, but we appreciate who you are, who you are in the kingdom.”

Parker also claimed (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4016800) that God “is equipping me with something for the very specific situation that I’m facing,” and responded affirmatively when Enlow asked if “the holy spirit is there” when he’s “arbitrating a session” and performing his job as chief justice.

Parker’s ties to extreme right-wing Christian and “prophetic” media figures extends beyond the interview with Enlow.

Last year, Christian nationalist media figure Sean Feucht (https://www.mediamatters.org/turning-point-usa/right-wing-media-are-promoting-sean-feucht-christian-nationalist-singer-bringing#::text=Feucht%20tweeted%20that%20in%20Montgomery%2C%20Alabama%2C%20Tom%20Parker%2C%20chief%20justice%20of%20the%20state%E2%80%99s%20Supreme%20Court%2C%20attended%20his%20rally.%20Feucht%20said%20that%20Parker%20also%20invited%20him%20into%20the%20court%E2%80%99s%20chambers%20for%20a%20worship%20session%20and%20shared%20a%20picture%20of%20the%20pair.%20%5BTwitter/X%2C%203/19/23%5D) said Parker had invited him into the court’s chambers for a worship session. Parker also joined a prayer call in March 2023 with supposed prophets and apostles, and he prayed (https://www.claynash.org/uploads/1/3/0/7/130727692/mar_9_prayer_call.pdf) that “there will be a growing hunger in the judges of Alabama, and around the nation for more of God. And that they will be receptive to his moves toward restoration of the judges, so that they can play their forecast role in revival in this nation.”

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Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) is publicly urging Texas to ignore the Supreme Court. In previously unreported comments, Roy explained that he feared his position would push the country into "a post-constitutional world." But, Roy said, the Supreme Court is "pushing our hand" by issuing a ruling related to the southern border that he opposes, and the Supreme Court needs to "feel the pressure."

Major law firms and numerous prominent corporations are financially backing Roy's reelection campaign, according to a Popular Information analysis of federal campaign finance filings.

Roy's ire stems from litigation initiated by Texas regarding Shelby Park, a municipal park in Eagle Pass, Texas, that abuts the Rio Grande River. Texas has seized control of the park, enclosing the entire 47 acres in razor wire and denying entry to the U.S. Border Patrol. Access to Shelby Park is important to federal authorities because it is used as a "staging area for policing and interdiction operations along the Rio Grande." According to the federal government, the razor wire puts federal personnel and migrants in danger. Texas sued to prevent the federal government from removing the wire.

Texas won a temporary injunction from the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, which prohibited the federal government from disturbing the razor wire. But on January 22, in a brief order, the Supreme Court sided with the federal government and lifted the injunction.

In response, Roy posted that the Supreme Court's decision was "unconscionable" and that Texas "should ignore it."

[twt]

The next day, Roy told Fox News that Texas should "tell the court to go to hell."

On January 24, in a little-noticed interview with right-wing conspiracy theorist Charlie Kirk, Roy expanded on his thinking. Roy explained his position pushes the country to a "post-constitutional world." But Roy said he was willing to take that risk because he believed the threat of a Constitutional crisis would pressure the Supreme Court to issue more favorable rulings in the future.

I say this respectfully. I say it with the fear of what I’m saying. I do not want to live in a post-constitutional world, but this Court is pushing our hand, and the Court needs to know that… I want them to feel the pressure, because if they’re political animals, they need to know it. We were out there defending Amy Coney Barrett when her house was being protested, we said that the law should be enforced to protect her. Where is she when the people of Texas need to be protected? Totally M.I.A.

Roy also said that his "first duty" as Congressman was not to comply with the Constitution, which establishes the Supreme Court as the ultimate legal authority. Rather, Roy believes he should take whatever actions are necessary, in his own mind, to "make sure our people are protected and secure and safe."

I want to preserve and protect the Republican form of government that our country is built upon, and I want a strong America standing in front of the American flag. But my first duty as an elected official is, yes to the Constitution, but my first duty is to make sure that I’m protecting and following my job to make sure our people are protected and secure and safe. That’s what leaders of a state, of a sovereign entity, have to be concerned about, and so, that’s what we’re up against.

In other words, Roy believes his own opinion about what is required to keep people "secure and safe" trumps the Constitution. This is a radical view that would upend the nation's legal system.

:{Roy's 2024 reelection campaign is supported by two prominent law firms. Covington & Burling is an international law firm based in Washington, DC. It has more than 60 lawyers who work in its Appellate and Supreme Court group, including 18 former Supreme Court clerks. The firm says its Supreme Court practice is known for its "glowing reputation." And yet, the firm's PAC donated $5,000 on April 24, 2023, to support the reelection of Roy, who believes that Supreme Court rulings can be ignored.

Roy also received $750 on May 17, 2023, from the PAC of another prestigious DC-based law firm, Akin Gump, which maintains an appellate group that "regularly represent[s] parties and amici in the U.S. Supreme Court." Covington & Burling and Akin Gump did not respond to requests for comment.}:

Since 2023, Roy has also received financial support from the PACs of major corporations and professional organizations, including Valero Energy ($2,500), Union Pacific ($2,000), iHeartMedia ($2,000), Toyota ($1,000), Dell ($1,000), and the National Association of Realtors ($1,000). Roy's corporate donors did not respond to requests for comment.

The other Republicans thumbing their nose at the Supreme Court

Meanwhile, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) has suggested that states can overrule the Supreme Court if it “gets something wrong.” In a CNN appearance on January 26, the Republican Governor argued that because “the Constitution is the supreme law of the land” then “the Constitution supersedes somebody in Washington, DC telling us [what to do], you know.” In other words, states can defy the Supreme Court if they have a different interpretation of the Constitution. Stitt also insinuated that state authority can override the federal government: “The states have a right to defend themselves. The states created the federal government, the federal government did not create the states."

When asked by a NewsMax host if he thought the dispute could evolve into a “force-on-force conflict,” Stitt refused to directly answer the question. Instead, he replied that the border conflict is a “powder keg worth of tension.” The governor also claimed during the interview that if President Joe Biden were to federalize the National Guard troops, they “would be in a difficult situation to protect their homeland or follow what Biden’s saying.” In an interview with Kirk, Stitt said that such a move by the Biden administration would put National Guard members “in a tough situation trying to obey what they know is a very foolish policy.” The conflict, Stitt told Kirk, “is ready to go off.”

Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) has also made similar remarks. “[T]he feds are staging a civil war, and Texas should stand their ground,” the lawmaker said when asked for his thoughts on the Supreme Court’s ruling. According to the Texas Tribune, Higgins' post “was shared and celebrated widely in far-right online communities, including those that were integral to the planning of ‘stop the steal’ protests in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 riot.”

According to campaign finance filings, both politicians have been bankrolled by some of the most prominent companies. Since 2022, corporate donors to Stitt include Deloitte ($8,500), BNSF Railway ($7,500), AT&T ($5,000), Marathon Petroleum ($5,000), NextEra Energy ($5,000), Boeing ($5,000), Tyson Foods ($5,000), Union Pacific ($5,000), and UnitedHealth Group ($5,000).

Meanwhile, Higgins has received contributions from the following companies since 2022: Phillips 66 ($7,500), Entergy ($4,500), Chevron ($2,500), and Boeing ($1,000).

None of these companies responded to Popular Information’s requests for comment.

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Amid an ongoing right-wing media panic about a supposed “invasion” of migrants coming across the southern border, a group of right-wing extremists — including members with ties to QAnon, the election denial movement, and anti-vaccine propagandists — have organized a convoy and series of rallies along the southern border. The “Take Our Border Back Southern Border Convoy” has been amplified and celebrated by right-wing media and political figures as posts promoting it have spread across social media.

• ## A group of right-wing extremists are organizing a convoy along the southern border to protest the supposed migrant crisis

• • The Take Our Border Back convoy aims to “call on our government to TAKE ACTION and SECURE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER.”The convoy is set to start from Virginia and travel across various locations on the southern U.S. border from January 29 through February 3, with a series of rallies planned along the way. A GiveSendGo fundraising campaign in support of the convoy has already received over $36,000 in donations. TakeOurBorderBack.com, accessed [1/24/24, GiveSendGo, accessed 1/25/24]

• • The convoy's organizers and sponsors include far-right podcasters, online influencers, and conspiracy theorists. In a video posted to the convoy’s Rumble channel, podcast host Kim Yeater said that she, Noél Roberts, Pete Chambers, Robert Agee, and Mark Anthony are members of the group’s “steering committee.” Yeater’s Take Your Power Back podcast, Robert's “Patriot Mom 007” account, Chambers’ website, Agee’s right-wing billboard company, and Scotty Saks’ Sovereign Radio program are also listed as sponsors of the convoy. Rumble, *We The People*, [1/19/24; TakeOurBorderBack.com, accessed 1/25/24]

• • Yeater, Chambers, and other organizers have used extreme rhetoric when talking about the southern border, frequently claiming that there is an “invasion” of migrants and pushing the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. In an interview uploaded to Rumble on January 20, Yeater claimed that migrants at the border are part of a “Trojan horse” of “fighting age men crossing our border.” During a January 24 appearance on Infowars’ The Alex Jones Show, Chambers claimed that “globalists” are using immigration to destabilize the U.S., saying, “This is ‘we’re going to take over your country from within’ stuff,” echoing the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims that migrants are being purposefully brought to the U.S. to replace white Americans as a new electoral majority. Rumble, *The Alex Stone Show*, [1/20/24; Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 1/24/24; Southern Poverty Law Center, 5/17/22]

• ## The Take Our Border Back convoy is being organized and promoted by anti-vaccine figures, conspiracy theorists, and vehement election deniers

• • Kim Yeater, one of the convoy organizers who has promoted it in a media appearance, has a history of promoting election denial efforts.Yeater is a radio host and the CEO of Take Our Elections Back, which aims “to restore the integrity of America's voting system.” She has also promoted multiple events held by election denier Mike Lindell. On an episode of her radio show, Yeater said there is “not even a question anymore, there’s election fraud. Period,” adding that it would be “a problem” if voting machines were used in future elections. Yeater has worked with many of the other convoy promoters in the past and seemingly mingled with multiple far-right figures. KimYeater.com, accessed [1/25/24; Rumble, accessed 1/26/24; Instagram, accessed 1/25/24, 1/25/24, 1/25/24; Salem Radio Network, Take Your Power Back, 8/21/23]

• • At least two sponsors of the convoy have referenced the QAnon conspiracy theory. Right-wing billboard company Banners 4 Freedom, a sponsor of the convoy run by organizer Robert Agee, has shared the “WWG1WGA” hashtag associated with the conspiracy theory. Agee himself has used the QAnon slogan on social media, including during an X Space about the convoy. Scotty Saks, host of Sovereign Radio which is another convoy sponsor, has also used the slogan on social media. Telegram, [1/7/23; Banners4Freedom.com, accessed 1/25/24; Twitter/X Space, 1/23/24, 1/23/24; Twitter/X, 10/10/18]

• • Discussing the federal response to January 6, convoy organizer and promotor Mark Anthony expressed that the convoy would be heavily protected and only going to places where local law enforcement is “on board.” In an interview uploaded to Rumble, Anthony stated that “January 6, that scared the hell out of everyone. I mean scared them to the point they feel like they didn’t want to do anything because they’re scared about the government coming after them.” Anthony added, “Every place that we have, we’ve gotten in with the sheriffs, we’ve gotten in with the local police departments, and these people are on board. Even Border Patrol.” Rumble, [1/19/24]

• • Convoy organizer Peter Chambers, a former Green Beret who claims he retired because of “the mandates for the vaccines,” is also sponsoring the convoy through his Remnant A-Team ministry.Chambers became an anti-vaccine figure during the COVID-19 pandemic and appeared in the anti-vaccine propaganda film Died Suddenly, produced by conspiracy theorist Stew Peters. He was part of a lawsuit attempting to block the military from mandating COVID-19 vaccines, and he has also spread the 5G conspiracy theory. Chambers has also claimed that he “developed friendships all along the border with Border Patrol guys that really want to do their jobs, you know, Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers.” Rumble, [11/4/23; Mother Jones, May 2023; Arizona Mirror, 10/20/23]

• • Noél Roberts, a right-wing podcaster known online as “Patriot Mom 007,” has frequently appeared alongside fringe figures and election deniers. Roberts has interviewed extremist Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb, right-wing lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, and Turning Point USA influencer Benny Johnson, among others. PatriotMom007.com, accessed, [1/25/24, 1/25/24; Media Matters, 2/9/23]

• • Joshua James, who self-identifies as a “De Jure Sheriff” of Bexar County, Texas, has frequently promoted the convoy on social media and also posted the QAnon slogan. James claims to be “constitutional sheriff” in Texas, but actually is a self-identified “de jure sheriff” -- a term that seemingly flows from the sovereign citizens movement, which holds that local sheriffs are the supreme law of the land and that the federal government of the United States is illegitimate. Instagram, [10/31/20, 1/11/24; Facebook, accessed 1/25/24; Twitter/X, accessed 1/25/24; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed1/25/24, Sovereign Citizen Watcher,5/21/22]

• ## Right-wing media and political figures have celebrated the convoy as part of an ongoing attack against the Biden administration’s border policies

• • Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) promoted the convoy on X (formerly Twitter), saying “The time is NOW to take action and secure our borders!”Self provided specific dates and locations of the convoy and included a screenshot of the poster advertising it. Twitter/X, [1/22/24, 1/22/24]

• • Chambers appeared on a recent episode of Infowars’ The Alex Jones Show to promote the convoy and fearmonger about “an invasion” happening along the southern U.S. border. During the segment, Chambers claimed that “this is an invasion, absolutely. Oh, absolutely. We briefed Gov. Abbott two years ago on the invasion that was taking place on the border.” Discussing what the “feds” are “going to try next,” Jones suggested, “Maybe they send a shooter down to shoot some of the illegals to make us the — make them the victims.” Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [1/24/24, 1/24/24]

• • Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon mentioned the convoy when discussing the “pure insanity” he claims is going on in Europe, saying that “it’s coming here to the U.S. This is why you’re seeing the farmers and the truckers are going to have a convoy to go to the southern border.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [1/24/24]

• • One America News host Alison Steinberg promoted the convoy, showing its flier during the January 25 episode of In Focus. Steinberg also said that the convoy would be “adding to the escalation,” asking, “Is this a constitutional crisis? Could this be a match that ignites a civil war?” One America News, *In Focus*, [1/25/24]
• 

CitationFrom the January 25, 2024, edition of One America News' In Focus

• • In an appearance on Fox Business, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) welcomed the convoy to her state, saying: “Bring those beautiful, huge semis, those 18-wheeler bad boys down here to protect our border. … I hope it is a fantastic convoy.” When discussing the convoy with Van Duyne, host Liz MacDonald said “more Americans are stepping up.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [1/25/24]
• Video file

:{Video

CitationFrom the January 25, 2024, edition of Fox Business' The Evening Edit

LIZ MACDONALD (HOST): We have a new, this new news coming in. A trucker convoy is kicking off heading to the border states — we're hearing February 3 — for a multistate rally at the border in Texas, Arizona, and California. And they're calling on active and retired law enforcement, military veterans, elected officials, small business owners, ranchers to join them to rally in protest of what's going on at the border. What do you make of this? More Americans are stepping up.

REP. BETH VAN DUYNE (R-TX): Hey, don’t forget the mama bears that they’re also asking to go down there, who are seeing what’s happening in schools, where their kids are getting kicked out because they’re having illegal immigrants stay in classrooms.

Yeah, I say bring those beautiful, huge semis, those 18-wheeler bad boys down here to protect our border. They need to understand that this is not simply — you know, they can't sweep this under the rug. People are opening their eyes to it, and I hope it is a fantastic convoy, and I hope it does, you know, shed more light on it, and you're seeing people from around the country. I mean, they're even talking about having folks from Canada now come down because they see the damage that is being caused. So yeah, bring those bad boys down to our coast.

• • “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec shared an image of the convoy flier to X asking, “So, how many fed will be at this?” Yeater replied to the post saying that there should be “NO FEAR” because “GOD IS WITH US.” Twitter/X, [1/25/24]

• • Far-right blog The Gateway Pundit shared information about the convoy and claimed, “This message is being sent all over social media.” The post also claims that “good Americans have had enough of Biden’s destruction of the country.” The Gateway Pundit, [1/25/24]

• • On X, right-wing outlet The Leading Report shared the convoy’s flier. The post also highlighted the convoy’s “opposition to the open border disaster under the Biden administration.” The Leading Report, [1/22/24]

• • An article posted to the website The Politics Brief claimed that the convoy was in protest of “the recent Supreme Court decision that will allow Border Patrol agents to cut razor-wire fencing installed by Texas National Guard personnel.” The article also highlighted Self’s endorsement of the convoy, and former Fox News associate producer Kyle Becker shared the article on X. The Politics Brief, [1/24/24; Twitter/X, 1/24/24]

• • Right-wing outlet Conservative Brief published an article celebrating that the convoy will “draw more attention to President Joe Biden’s lax immigration enforcement policies.” The Conservative Brief, [1/24/24]

• • Conspiracy theorist Lara Logan shared a post on X about truckers going to the border, saying, “This is one to watch.” Other users replied to her post with further information about the Take Our Border Back convoy. Twitter/X, [1/23/24]

• ## Social media users have also promoted the convoy has across various platforms

• • A public Telegram group for the Texas Three Percenters militia directed members to the convoy website for details.The post also threatened “legal action against non-affiliated individuals posting inaccurate, non-approved, offensive, provocative or aggressive content” in relation to the convoy. Telegram, [1/22/24]

• • On Telegram, QAnon promoter Defender of the Republic shared the link to the convoy’s website, stating: “Digital soldiers, it’s time to work.” Their message opened with an appeal to other QAnon followers, reading, “If you’re a follower of Q, the white hats have been asking you to get involved.” Telegram, [1/23/24; Substack, 12/30/23]

• • On X, far-right streamer Ryan Augustine Sánchez shared information about the convoy, claiming that it would be part of a “standoff against Federal troops.”He also stated that the convoy would be in support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas National Guard. Twitter/X, [1/23/24]

• • Responding to an X post from right-wing account Merissa Hansen discussing the border, one user shared the convoy’s website.The post also mentioned a planned stop along the route where the user states that they plan to join the convoy. Twitter/X, [1/23/24]

• • Right-wing influencer account “Trucker Jake,” who claims that he will be joining the convoy, has repeatedly shared the link to the official website. In one post discussing the convoy, the account claimed that migrants coming across the border “are not economic refugees. They are all criminals, and they all need to go back.” Twitter/X, [1/19/24, 1/24/24]

• • On fringe social media platforms Truth Social, Gab, and GETTR, users have widely shared the link to the convoy’s website. Truth Social, Gab, GETTR, accessed [1/25/24]

• • Details of the convoy have also been posted to a number of public and private Facebook groups. One post celebrating the convoy stated that it was “Doing the lord's work!!!” Facebook, accessed [1/25/24]

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badash 1 24 an

noted conservative author and former professor of national security affairs is laying waste to the media narrative that Donald Trump’s MAGA followers are America’s “forgotten” people, concluding instead that they, just like their leader, are in it for revenge.

“Trump wants payback,” writes The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, “so do millions of voters who have no one to blame for their sense of humiliation but themselves.”

“Trump and his right-wing media courtiers—who tend to the anger of the older, white middle class the way florists lovingly raise orchids—fed the GOP base a continual stream of rage, especially as Trump started to pile up electoral defeats,” writes Nichols, who has a PhD from Georgetown and taught for 25 years at the U.S. Naval War College. “These voters now want to get even with their fellow citizens not for what’s been done to Trump but for what they feel has been done to them. They were certain that 2016 would finally bring them the recognition and respect they craved. Instead, Trump set them up for a steady diet of ego-bruising rebukes from other voters.”

Nichols also points to a piece by another writer at The Atlantic, McKay Coppins, who “attended a Trump rally in Iowa earlier this month, where he spoke with a nice lady named Kris.”

READ MORE: Trump Complains It Was ‘Ridiculous’ He Had ‘Follow the Laws’ and Leave Office

Kris is “a 71-year-old retired nurse in orthopedic sneakers,” Coppins wrote. She “was smiley and spoke in a sweet, grandmotherly voice as she told me how she’d watched dozens of Trump rallies, streaming them on Rumble or FrankSpeech, a platform launched by the right-wing MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.”

Asked if Trump should still be president, Kris told Coppins, “By all means.”

“And I think behind the scenes he maybe is doing a little more than what we know about,” Kris said.

Asked, “What do you mean?” Kris said, “Military-wise.”

“The military is supposed to be for the people, against tyrannical governments,” she explained. “I hope he’s guiding the military to be able to step in and do what they need to do. Because right now, I’d say government’s very tyrannical.”

Coppins added: “If the Democrats try to steal the election again in 2024, she told me, the Trump-sympathetic elements of the military might need to seize control.”

Nichols asks, “What can turn an ordinary person—a father, the pleasant older lady who lives down the street—into the family powder keg, or even a deluded seditionist who hopes the U.S. military will seize control of the country?”

He says, the “usual answer, when Trump ran the first time, was that these were ‘forgotten’ voters, people ‘left behind’ by globalization and a leftist political culture, who were hurling out a giant primal yawp of opposition.”

Nichols blames the media and politicians for that false narrative that has driven so much of American politics since Trump came down the escalator in June of 2015.

“These were never empirically sustainable explanations, but empathetic reporters and deeply concerned politicians went on listening tours to diners and gas stations anyway. When ordinary Americans would say shocking, indecent, and un-American things, their flummoxed interlocutors remained steadfast in the belief that more listening and more empathetic nodding would put things right in a few years.”

READ MORE: Brown Bags and Ballots: Viral Videos Capture Chaotic Iowa Caucus System

He also chastises MAGA voters for the “alternate reality” they’ve constructed to explain the strings of losses they’ve had to endure, “including the 2018 Democratic-wave election, Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, and the ‘red wave’ that never happened in 2022.”

Antiracism educator Tim Wise responded to Nichol’s piece, writing: “Exactly correct. The media refuses to admit it but the MAGA faithful are mean, vengeful people. Not decent, misunderstood, and ‘left behind’ people, but folks who are not decent.”

Condé Nast Legal Affairs Editor Luke Zaleski, unrelated to Nichol’s piece in The Atlantic, on Wednesday delivered a (possibly tongue-in-cheek) take on MAGA’s alternate reality.

“This is the actual story republicans are going with,” Zaleski wrote. “Trump built the wall and gave us world peace and then Democrats and China (Trump’s pal Xi) made up a phony virus that doesn’t make you sick—and trump caught it and made a beautiful vaccine that kills you and he saved us—before Joe stole the election and trump had to start an insurrection that didn’t happen that Nancy did just so they could make it look like trump did it even though he told the attackers he loved them and would pardon them and Obama secretly runs everything and the CIA and FBI do too and George soros and they started the war Putin started and are behind the Hamas attack as well and trump will stop it all in 24 hours.”

Read Nichols’ entire piece here.

READ MORE: DeSantis Frames Same-Sex Marriage Supporters as Threat ‘Against Our Religious Institutions’

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Leaked footage shows Michael Flynn on Zoom call telling QAnon influencers: “I love you guys” | Media Matters for America

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Arizona election denial group leader uses QAnon-affiliated channel to urge viewers to flood election officials with spurious records requests

Inundating election officials with records requests is a tactic increasingly popular in the election denial movement

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN

PUBLISHED 01/11/24

An Arizona county Republican Party official who also leads an election denial organization in the state used a recent appearance on a QAnon-affiliated Rumble channel to encourage viewers to inundate election administration officials with public records requests — a tactic increasingly popular in the election denial movement.

During a January 8 appearance on The Tina Peters Show, Shelby Busch, a vice chair of the Maricopa County Republican Committee and co-founder of the election denial organization We the People AZ Alliance, told viewers to “be demanding” of election officials.

“Ask questions and start requesting records,” advised Busch, whose organization is primarily funded by fellow election denier and QAnon-connected figure Patrick Byrne. “Remind them that this is the people’s election.”

Badlands Media’s The Tina Peters Show and its eponymous host, Tina Peters, have ample ties to the QAnon movement and election denialism. Peters is a former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk who was indicted in 2022 by a grand jury for allegedly facilitating a security breach of her county’s election infrastructure. Peters has associated with a number of QAnon figures and has invoked QAnon terminology on her show. The Badlands Media Rumble channel was founded by QAnon influencers and largely dedicates its programming to covering QAnon and its related conspiracy theories.

During the interview, Peters and Busch rehashed supposed instances of election fraud in Arizona during the 2020 presidential election. At one point, Peters asked Busch to “tell people what they can do in their Maricopa … to make change” regarding elections.

In response, Busch, who also appeared on Peters’ show last April, told viewers to “learn how to do” public records requests to election administration officials regarding possible election fraud. Flooding election officials with such requests has become an increasingly common tactic used by the election denial movement.

Busch also offered to help Peters’ viewers put together their own records requests. She provided viewers with her email address and said, “If you don’t know how to do them, email me … or reach out to us through our website.”

“I will be happy to send you a template and walk you through it,” she added.

Peters also promoted Busch’s We the People AZ Alliance email address in an on-screen graphic during the show and urged viewers to contact Busch for help with their records requests.

Video

CitationFrom the January 8, 2024, edition of Badlands Media's The Tina Peters Show, streamed on Rumble

TINA PETERS (HOST): OK, so Shelby, tell the people — so you mentioned about your volunteers and the people that are working so hard. Tell people what they can do in their Maricopa, what they can do in their counties to make change.

SHELBY BUSCH (CO-FOUNDER OF WE THE PEOPLE AZ ALLIANCE): Absolutely. So number one, public records requests. Learn how to do them. And if you don’t know how to do them, email me at … or reach out to us through our website, and I will be happy to send you a template and walk you through it. Start asking questions. Be demanding of these election officials. Ask questions and start requesting records. Remind them that this is the people’s election. So that’s a first and foremost — you should really, really just start holding your government accountable. And if you don’t know how or what to do, get with somebody who does and learn. So it’s number one.

Number two, get involved with grassroots organizations in your community that are working on stuff like this and see where you can serve. Our voter rolls in every state are a mess. So it’s a great place to start, is learning how to look at voter rolls, knocking on neighbors’ doors, and just making sure that we have legitimate voters in our own neighborhoods. So that’s a really — another thing that you can do. It’s really easy.

But if none of that works for you, if you don’t have time for public records requests or to learn a new challenge, or you’re not comfortable knocking on doors, or maybe you can’t get out of the house, you can pray, because this is a spiritual battle beyond all, and you can show up on Election Day and cast your ballot, and you can stand up for election workers and election officials like Tina, who are putting everything on the line to expose this to the world. Support people who are trying to do the right thing, stand by their side, and encourage them. But most importantly, start developing relationships in your own community with your legislators and your elected officials. Because this is all we have is our voice. And make sure that you know how to use it.

PETERS: Yes. Thank you so much. And I put in the ticker at the bottom of the screen, “learn how to do public record requests at … .” You can — you can email Shelby, and she will send you or give you information how you can do that.

I think that’s so good. I — you know, I’ve had people on too, Shelby, about doing grand jury, you know, just — people have to get involved. They need to learn how to do pro se filings. You don’t always need to have an attorney. You can learn how to pro se, and the judge actually gives you more leniency if you’re not an attorney in how to do that. So I believe everybody can stand up. Everybody can do something. I always say there’s more of us than there are of them. They can’t get us all.

Busch’s use of Peters’ show marks yet another connection between the election denial and QAnon movements, with the former repeatedly using the latter for their efforts.

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mult judges swatted Bomb squad sent to judge’s home ahead of closing arguments in Trump civil fraud trial - Alternet.org also jack smith

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Donald Trump Jr. calls QAnon supporters "patriotic Americans" | Media Matters for America

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an 12 23 no lnx

'Kill yourself now so we can save ammo!' How Trump's violent movement could conquer America

:

Thom Hartmann

December 29, 2023

How would you react if one day you were sitting at home and the phone rang and when you picked it up you heard a man shout:

“Kill yourself now so we can save ammo!”}:

Moments later, an email arrives that says:

“I hope the Federal government hangs you and your daughter from the Capitol dome, you treasonous piece of shit! I pray that I will be sitting close enough to hear your necks snap.”}:

This is what happened to “Shaye” Moss and Ruby Freeman when Trump and Giuliani decided to blame Trump’s loss in Georgia on them, incorrectly claiming they were stuffing ballots for Biden. Just a few hours later, a mob with torches and a bullhorn showed up at Freeman’s house, although she’d already left after being warned by the FBI that she was on the “kill list” of a January 6th defendant they’d just arrested.

Mitt Romney, speaking with writer McKay Coppins for his book “Romney: A Reckoning,” told him the story of multiple Republican senators who were so terrified of violence at the hands of Trump’s fascist followers that they set aside their consciences and voted against convicting him of trying to blackmail Zelenskyy and, later, trying to overthrow the government of the United States.

“One Republican congressman confided to Romney that he wanted to vote for Trump’s second impeachment, but chose not to out of fear for his family’s safety. The congressman reasoned that Trump would be impeached by House Democrats with or without him — why put his wife and children at risk if it wouldn’t change the outcome?}:

“Later, during the Senate trial, Romney heard the same calculation while talking with a small group of Republican colleagues. When one senator, a member of leadership, said he was leaning toward voting to convict, the others urged him to reconsider. You can’t do that, Romney recalled someone saying. Think of your personal safety, said another. Think of your children. The senator eventually decided they were right.”}:

I know liberals and regular reporters in the media who are quite happy trash-talking Biden but are frankly terrified of the possibility that Trump or one of his high-profile followers might sic Trump’s fascist fan boys on them. As a result, they self-censor.

Similarly, multiple judges in the past few months have been given the chance to take Trump off the ticket because of his clear violation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment by inciting and supporting an insurrection. Each one whiffed, and their legal logic was so thin it’s reasonable to conclude they’re also unwilling to have their families suffer the death threats and harassment that comes with being an “enemy of Trump.”

When the justices on the Colorado Supreme Court finally found the spine to vote him off the ballot, within hours the threats began. Now they’re having to pay for security for themselves and their family members, and go to sleep every night dreading the possibility that a lone wolf Trump supporter — like the one who broke into Paul Pelosi’s home and attacked him with a hammer — may be looking for them, too.

As NBC News reported, Trump’s followers reacted to the Colorado justices with predictable ferocity:

“’This ends when we kill these f--kers,’ a user wrote on a pro-Trump forum that was used by several Jan. 6 rioters.}:

“’Kill judges. Behead judges. Roundhouse kick a judge into the concrete,’ read a post on a fringe website. ‘Slam dunk a judge’s baby into the trashcan.’”}:

NBC’s Ryan Reilly added:

“The threats fit into a predictable and familiar pattern, seen time and time again after legal developments against Trump.”}:

Thus, Jack Smith was unable to find even four Supreme Court justices who were willing to grant cert to hear his challenge to Trump’s claim of absolute immunity from prosecution; terrified, they left the case with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in the hope those judges will draw Trump’s ire — and his followers’ fire — thus diluting their own risk.

This is how fascism takes over a nation from within: with violence and the fear of violence.

I’ve been doing what is now the nation’s largest progressive radio/TV show for 20 years, reaching an estimated audience of 6 million a week. My writings here on HartmannReport.com are frequently reprinted by other progressive media.

The result is that I regularly get threats, although this is not a phenomenon shared by my rightwing colleagues. When I asked a couple of rightwing radio hosts I’ve known for years if they get threats of violence or death, each said, “No.”

There is no movement advocating political violence on either the American left or in the center. It is entirely confined to the American right, and the media needs to admit that and the FBI needs to recalibrate their efforts.

As fascism expert and historian Emilio Gentile noted about how fascist movements start and gain power:

“In the beginning there was violence.”}:

Violence and the threats of violence are the key to understanding fascists like Trump and the movements they inspire.

As any professional interrogator can tell you, deep down inside, all of us humans are really just scared little kids. The more we’re broken down by the circumstances of life or government policy, the less secure we feel, the harder it is to get by in life, and the more scared we become.

And, for many people, out of that fear comes the willingness — hell, the enthusiasm — to embrace “big daddy” in the form of a tough guy leader who promises to “restore” those who feel the fear back to their previous (or imagined future) positions of power, wealth, and authority.

This becomes particularly easy for fascist leaders when their followers are convinced that the nation’s government has become hopelessly corrupt, a project rightwing fossil fuel billionaires, rightwing media, and Republican politicians have been promoting here in the US for decades.

Ever since the Reagan Revolution, in their zeal to cut their own taxes and stop regulation of the fossil fuel and other polluting industries, they’ve been hammering the message that our government has been seized by “deep state socialists” bent on destroying our country.

Republicans and the billionaires who own them have repeated this conspiracy theory so often for the last few decades that an entire religion, Qanon, as arisen around it.

This belief, that much of what our government does is illegitimate or even malicious, makes it easy for low-information voters to bind themselves to a fascist “reform movement” that promises better times ahead.

As fascist followers act out their violent threats against their leaders’ perceived enemies, they get an inner sense of strength and the feeling that they’ve joined a community: that diminishes their own fear for a short while.

The more an “other” — political enemies; racial, religious, and gender minorities; women — are blamed for the ills of the nation, the more vigilante-style violence against them is justified and the more violent the future becomes.

When the state pushes back against that violence, as America did after January 6th, the calls for increased violence become even louder. Trump is practically shouting “kill them!” with a bullhorn and even our court system is afraid to stop him by throwing him into jail as they would have any other common criminal who encouraged such violence against judges, juries, witnesses, court officials, and their families.

Calling people to violence by denouncing those being scapegoated is central to fascist politics.

Mussolini used to feature Italian “whistleblowers” who, like Joe McCarthy here back in the day, would call out “corrupt” government officials whose only real crime was not supporting him. Hitler had every radio station in Germany play phone calls from local citizens who denounced their neighbors for sympathizing with Jews, socialists, or trade union organizers.

Once publicly targeted in these ways, mobs or lone-wolf assassins would descend on these people’s homes. After a few well-publicized beatings and killings, everybody from media figures to politicians to judges backed away from trying to stop fascists or even hold them accountable.

When he was rising to power in Hungary, for example, Victor Orbàn’s right-hand-man led a torchlight march into a Budapest Roma neighborhood threatening to burn the “gypsies” — who fled in terror — out of their homes. More recently, Orbán started arresting people who “defamed” him on social media.

Soon, nobody in or out of the government is willing to stand up to the fascists; it’s too dangerous and too exhausting. Being the object of regular threats of violence or death is not something anybody would volunteer for unless they saw the stakes as being very, very important.

This is what Trump and the GOP he’s captured are working toward: the silencing of dissent and accountability, replacing them with fear and a guilty complicity. Just take a look at the state of social media today, particularly Xitter and Facebook, which have dialed back on their content moderation and thus loosed the fascists on anybody who dares criticize Trump or the GOP.

As Michael Ebner wrote in his book “Ordinary Violence in Mussolini’s Italy”:

“The Fascist state ruled Italy violently, projecting its coercive power deeply and diffusely into society through confinement, imprisonment, low-level physical assaults, economic deprivations, intimidation, discrimination and other quotidian forms of coercion.

“Moreover, by promoting denunciatory practices, the regime cemented the loyalties of 'upstanding' citizens while suppressing opponents, dissenters and social outsiders.”

Trump is telling us right up right now that he intends to rule as a fascist if he’s able to either win or seize power through other means in 2024. Informally, his militia followers will be showing up at polling places next fall to intimidate voters; they see themselves as the shock troops of the new GOP.

Formally, he’s planning on ending your and my protections against state-sponsored police violence, which he openly intends to deploy against anybody who opposes him and his regime:

“I am also going to indemnify our police officers. This is a big thing, and it’s a brand-new thing, and I think it’s so important. I’m going to indemnify, through the federal government, all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong actions against crime.”

When Trump says “crime,” of course, he’s using the same fascist-speak that Hitler, Mussolini, Putin, and Orbán use that means “minorities” and “political enemies.”

And his followers are listening and acting.

The Anti-Defamation League published a report finding there have been more than 170 murders committed by rightwing (and, I’d add, therefore probably Trump-aligned) extremists over the past five years; only 3 deaths could be attributed to people “on the left.” None of the victims were “criminals.”

So, how does a nation deal with an epidemic of violent rhetoric and actual violent attempts?

SEE OFFENSIVE:

Fascists are always a minority when they rise to power in a country. They’re experts at manipulating democratic systems — particularly through things like voter suppression, gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and voter intimidation — to seize power, and then corrupting the existing systems and laws in ways that keep them in power.

At the moment, the fascist movement in the US is very much confined within the GOP and aligned with fringe militia and fundamentalist religious factions.

Merrick Garland should have come down on them hard as soon as he assumed his job as Attorney General; because he dithered for two full years until he was shamed into appointing Jack Smith by the January 6th Committee, Trump’s fascist followers have gained considerable momentum.

By continuing to refuse to investigate or prosecute the people who are still in power and conspired with Trump to overthrow our government, Garland further empowers America’s homegrown fascist movement. This must stop, and news that the FBI has finally acquired some of the content of Congressman Scott Perry’s phone is a positive sign, albeit too little and too late.

But the ultimate victory over fascism in America has to be in the ballot box rather than the courthouse. Americans who believe in democracy and reject strongman oligarchy must turn out next November in overwhelming numbers and so shatter the GOP that the party will be forced to reinvent itself in a way that includes purging itself of its fascist-supporting members.

And we damn well better succeed, because fascists never give you a second chance to defeat them or hold them to account. If we try to stop them and fail, Trump has already told us he’ll have a nice cold cell waiting for you and me in the concentration camps he promises to build to hold “millions.”

There is pretty much nothing more important now than waking up our friends and neighbors to this threat…

From Your Site Articles

'Banality of crazy': Trump’s increasingly violent rhetoric is being underreported by journalists ›

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Trump’s violent rhetoric underscores his plans 'for dictatorial rule': DC insider ›

How the DOJ caved to Trump's poisonous political violence ›

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Taylor Swift is Time magazine's “Person of the Year” — now right-wing media are hurling sexist insults and suggesting that she’s secretly a Democratic operative | Media Matters for America

Swift was recognized by Time magazine, right-wing media piled on the singer once again}:

• • On December 6, Time announced Taylor Swift as the publication’s 2023 Person of the Year.Swift was chosen among a shortlist of the year’s major culture-driving figures such as Barbie, those prosecuting former President Donald Trump, and King Charles III. Time magazine, [12/6/23, 12/4/23]

• • As a highly visible female celebrity, Swift has often been a target of ridicule by the right, often for sexist reasons. For example, a popular podcast from the Barstool Sports network decried Swift for attending NFL games in support of her boyfriend, football player Travis Kelce, and suggested that the couple should “release a sex video.” Media Matters, [10/3/23; Business Insider, 11/9/23; The Nation, 10/17/23]

• • While Swift has released statements urging her fans to vote and backed LGBTQ and abortion rights, some critics have condemned Swift for her silence on other social causes.As The New Republic recently noted, “Swift is no stranger to conservative backlash, though there are countless celebrities who spend more effort specifically courting it. While political activism is part of her curated aesthetic, she hasn’t made any discernibly partisan political moves in quite a while.” Twitter/X, [6/24/22; The New Republic, 9/29/23]

• ## Conservative media figures suggested corporate media are using Swift to help Democrats win in 2024 and launched misogynistic attacks on Time’s choice to recognize her

• • Former Trump adviser and right-wing radio host Steve Bannon compared Swift to election denier and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, suggesting that Swift is a “powerful political force” for the left.According to Bannon, “Taking Mike Lindell out of Walmart was a monumental piece of the history of this political movement. Just like today, announcing Taylor Swift is Time's Person of the Year ... is another major political statement, because she's a powerful political force on their side, like Mike Lindell's a political force on this side. A cultural figure.” Media Matters, [12/6/23]

• • An editorial in The Daily Caller lambasted Time for “no longer representing America” because of its Person of the Year pick.The piece argued that country singer Morgan Wallen, who infamously broke COVID protocols and used a racial slur, was more deserving of the title, undermining Swift’s accomplishments and arguing that “dating Travis Kelce is literally the only thing of note Swift has achieved in the last 12 months.” The Daily Caller, [12/6/23; The New York Times, 1/20/22]

• • Far-right troll and “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec launched an absurd series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) accusing Swift of being “a statecraft asset for years” and predicting that “2024 will be the full payoff” for Democrats. In another post, Posobiec lamented, “Ye tried to warn us about the Taylor Swift psyop and we didn’t listen.” Twitter/X, [12/6/23, 12/6/23]

• • Anti-Muslim bigot and failed GOP congressional candidate Laura Loomer presented a theory that the Democratic Party is “100% using Taylor Swift to try to get Democrats elected.”Loomer claimed that Swift “doesn’t care if everyone else suffers under inflation and can’t feed their kids as long as she gets to go shopping and attend her vaccinated boyfriends’ football games.” Twitter/X, [12/6/23]

• • Right-wing podcast host Joey Mannarino posted that corporate media and the “Deep State” are “only making Taylor Swift the Time Person of the Year to help Joe Biden get elected in 2024.”The post also suggested that Swift will “run the Biden campaign going into the final days of the election” and stated that the media are building Swift’s public profile so that “she’s taken seriously by someone other than thirteen year old girls.” Twitter/X, [12/6/23]

• • Breitbart attacked Swift as a “Left-Wing Pop Sensation” sharing her “unsolicited views” on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights. The article also condemned Swift for advocating for youth voting and promoting the nonpartisan group Vote.org for its work attempting to dismantle voting restrictions in states like Georgia and Texas. The piece concluded, “Swift has rushed headlong into the welcoming arms of left-wing politics and woke activism for years.” Breitbart.com, [12/6/23]

• • The Federalist writer Evita Duffy criticized Swift for prioritizing her career and mocked her as a “cat lady” and “girlboss” with “a lot of failed relationships where she blames the man every time.” Duffy also said that Swift is used by the left “when they need to pull out a big card and get the youth vote to go and vote for whatever candidate the Democrats are pushing.” Real America’s Voice, *Human Events with Jack Posobiec*, [12/6/23]

• • BlazeTV hosts Glenn Beck and Stu Burguiere questioned why Time chose Swift instead of conservative “whistleblowers” who contributed to right-wing media narratives against presidential son Hunter Biden.BlazeTV, *The Glenn Beck Program*, [12/6/23]

• • QAnon influencer Jordan Sather complained that Swift was named Time’s Person of the Year for “basically doing nothing” and predicted that she will be used as “a political pawn” and exploited alongside Kelce “for a political get-out-the-vote campaign.” Sather demeaned Swift as “weak-willed” and said that she “makes a wonderful useful idiot for the powers that be” to “pander to Gen Z” voters, concluding, “This is social engineering of our youth in action." Gab, [12/6/23]

• • Pepe Lives Matter, another QAnon influencer, wrote, “Taylor Swift was named Time Person of the Year after she started dating Pfizer’s spokesperson in the most comically scripted relationship we’ve seen in years. There's no doubt in my mind that Swift is compromised by powerful forces.” The post continued, “We need to wake the next generation up to the occult forces colluding with their favorite celebrities.” Telegram, [12/6/23]

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After claiming to disavow QAnon, Marjorie Taylor Greene goes on a QAnon show | Media Matters for America

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curt schilling on fox

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Turning Point Action member used QAnon supporter’s podcast to recruit poll workers in Milwaukee | Media Matters for America

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united States Representative Jim Himes (D-Connecticut) on Sunday blasted supporters of former President Donald Trump following the publication of a CBS/YouGov poll, which found that nearly two-thirds of likely Republican primary voters are backing Trump for the GOP nomination despite the ninety-one criminal charges that have been filed against him.

"Trump voters' affinity for him seems to insulate the former president from attacks whether or not the debates this week, because voters basically say they aren't receptive to such criticism," CBS correspondents Anthony Salvanto, Kabir Khanna, Jennifer de Pinto, and Fred Backus explain. "Instead, a whopping nine in 10 GOP primary voters want the other candidates to focus on making the case for themselves, but not against Trump."

Those same people, according to CBS, "dismiss the premise" of the indictments. "The bulk of them do think Trump tried to stay in office, but to them, it was legal and constitutional because these Republican primary voters overwhelmingly think Joe Biden didn't win legitimately."

CBS and YouGov also noted that "more generally, Trump's voters hold him as a source of true information,even more so than other sources, including conservative media figures, religious leaders, and even their own friends and family."

Himes was deeply disturbed by these revelations during his conversation with MSNBC's Alex Witt.

"You know, Trump's most fervent supporters, most fervent supporters, you know, are not open to reason or not open to arguments. CBS News just put out a poll that suggests that Trump's voters value him as a source of truth by eight points more than they value their friends and family and by thirty points more than they value religious leaders," Himes said.

"So, I mean, these are people who, and I sort of hate to use the bombastic language, but these are people who have joined a cult," Himes continued. "And therefore when Donald Trump says, 'The FBI is off of me,' or when one of his proxies like Marjorie Taylor Greene says, 'The FBI, the Democrats are doing this,' which of course is demonstrably nonsense, they get pretty fired up. And it doesn't surprise me at all that you know, these jurors, these judges, federal judges are being threatened. This is where we have come because so many Americans decided to join the cult of Donald Trump."

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'Militant — even militaristic': Why Trump appeals to white evangelicals’ view of 'masculinity'

Alex Henderson August 21, 2023

Despite battling four criminal indictments, former President Donald Trump continues to be the clear frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. A CBS News/YouGov poll released on August 20 finds Trump leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the primary's second-place candidate, by 46 percent. And that poll is hardly an outlier.

Polls released in mid-August showed Trump ahead of DeSantis by 38 percent (Trafalgar Group), 39 percent (Quinnipiac University and The Economist/YouGov) or 37 percent (Fox News).DeSantis has been making a concerted effort to win over the Religious Right, but so far, Trump remains the favorite among far-right white evangelicals.

On the surface, Trump and the Religious Right seem an unlikely combination, yet many right-wing Republicans regard Trump as a staunch ally.

In an episode of The Bulwark's "Beg to Differ" podcast released on August 18, host Mona Charen examined that alliance during a conversation with guest Kristin Du Mez (author of the 2021 book "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation").

Critics of the Religious Right have accused them of blatant hypocrisy for supporting Trump, but according to Du Mez, it is consistent with their history.

Du Mez told Charen — a former Nancy Reagan speechwriter and Never Trump conservative — "If you look at how many conservative evangelicals responded to abusive leaders, abusive pastors in their own churches and in their own organizations…. time and time again, you see evangelical communities ending up defending perpetrators of abuse — of sexual abuse, of abuse of power — and doing so in the name of protecting the witness of the church, (and) blaming women for leading men on or for seducing men. All sorts of excuses, really…. And that's exactly the rhetoric that we have heard and continue to hear around somebody like Donald Trump."

According to Du Mez, the Religious Right's embrace of Trump reflects their views on "masculinity."

READ MORE: Trump-appointed judges have ruled favorably to conservative Christians but not other religions: study

The author told Charen, "I started noticing, more than 20 years ago, a growing embrace of a very kind of militant, rugged, even militaristic conception of what it meant to be a Christian man — a kind of warrior. And I traced that up to the present and heard so many echoes of that in evangelical support for Trump; he was their ultimate fighting champion, who would do what needed to be done to advance their aims…. You can see in the recent history of evangelicalism kind of an ebb and flow of perceptions of masculinity and what's wrong with masculinity."

READ MORE: Vivek Ramaswamy's Hindu faith 'major stumbling block' for evangelical 'Christian nationalists': report

Find Mona Charen's interview with author Kristin Du Mez at this link and here.

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500x qanon

https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/his-first-year-actively-posting-truth-social-trump-amplified-qanon

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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/**arizona-state-sen-janae-shamp**-has-shared-qanon-propaganda-facebook-dozens

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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/bombard-arizona-legislature-expelled-arizona-state-rep-liz-harris-asked qanon

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https://www.alternet.org/gop-voters-2659695517/

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author Jeff Sharlet has spent years interviewing conservatives and found many unassuming Americans are ready and eager for violence against their political enemies.

Sharlet's latest book, The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, is the result of more than a dozen years of reporting on the religious right, compiling numerous interviews conducted throughout the Midwest and Great Plains, and he's more worried than ever about the possibility of civil war, reported The Guardian.

"I’ve been writing about the right for a long time," he told the newspaper. "I’m always interested in the margins of things that tell us about what’s happening at the center. An undertow is a metaphor for that, for the force that’s been pulling us to this place for a long time. If you’d asked me 10 years ago if I ever thought another civil war would be possible in the United States, I would have said no. But to think so [now] is to not understand that the right in America is as dangerous as it is."

He cited a "nice-looking" family he met near Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who seemed like "ordinary" conservatives, as the newspaper described them, but harbored bloodthirsty fantasies rooted in extreme conservative politics.

"[The father said] he had a 'Let’s go Brandon' sticker because he didn’t want to swear around his son," Sharlet said. "They’re a middle-class dad and mom. They were always gun people, but not a lot of guns. Now they’re up to 36, now they are arming up. The father had always been anti-abortion. But now it was like a dream had moved into his and his wife’s mind. He described, in incredibly violent detail, the process of abortion. Then he described, in incredibly violent detail, the punishment he thought he and others were going to give to abortion doctors. They were ready for executions."

The current political moment was rooted in a decades-old struggle against fascism, and Sharlet said Donald Trump, intentionally or instinctively, used its "dream logic" to spellbind his followers, who fill in the unfinished thoughts in his pronouncements with their own beliefs -- and that creates the illusion that he's speaking their truth into existence.

"The free association that happens at Trump’s rallies, the ways people make connections that make no sense – it has dream logic," Sharlet said. "One minute, a scary man is crawling into the window to rape your wife, and then the next minute we’re laughing at windmills, and then the next minute we’re sad for the birds that were killed by windmills. And then, in the next minute, we’re yelling, 'Lock her up.'"

"This is dream logic, and there’s vanity in it, right?" Sharlet added. “'I will interpret what they’re saying and I will bend it.'It’s the vanity of the base, the vanity of the mob, the aggregate grotesque imagination of power. It becomes a spinning whirlpool that pulls more and more people in. These are people for whom reality is not enough."

:{:{}:

The illusion that's created for Trump and his followers feels interactive and very real to them, Sharlet said, and that's where the twice-impeached former president gains his power.

"This is why the right feels they are more democratic than the left," he said. "The intellectual rightwingers are like, 'F*ck democracy, we don’t need it.' But the everyday people, they’re like, 'This is the most democratic I’ve ever felt. I am not only receiving – I receive, I interpret and then I transmit back.'"}:

:{:{Sharlet sees a similar dynamic at work within the anti-abortion movement, which the left sees as an effort to control women's bodies, but the right sees as a cause so righteous that violence is necessary.}:

"Yes, the project is misogynist to the core," he said. "But it is not experienced as such by many on the right. Once you make that move, that we’re talking about children, what kind of person are you if you don’t want to save that child?"}:

"It’s astonishing there hasn’t been more violence," Sharlet added. "I think we’ve had a shield from that violence for a long time and now that shield … I sound like Jerry Falwell saying the hand of God is being removed from America."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Ron DeSantis sending 'very dangerous sign' to GOP voters — and Trump’s worried: religious scholar ›

NY Post's editorial board delivers scorching op-ed urging GOP voters to move on from 'unhinged' Trump ›

GOP voters have bought into an 'apocalyptic, grotesquely distorted' view of 'Blue America': Paul Krugman ›

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

Voters of color are a big reason Trump leads the GOP primary | CNN ... ›

Trump's Potential Indictment Could Alienate Some G.O.P. Voters in ... ›

Latino GOP Voters Embrace Culture War & New AI Makes Disinfo ... ›

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/qanon-ken-paxton

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the Houston Chronicle's editorial board is offering a brief history lesson for QAnon supporters who believe in pushing conspiracy theories about Democratic leaders and lawmakers being at the center of child sex trafficking rings.

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According to the board, an actual child sex ring was reportedly discovered in Texas but when it came to making sure criminals suffered consequences for their actions, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is said to have dropped the ball.

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"So where’s QAnon when you need them? We’re talking about the secretive cult of conspiracy-mongering crazies who believe that Democrats are pedophiles prone to making meals of their victims at the behest of evil Hillary Clinton and who worship Donald Trump," the editorial board wrote.

READ MORE: Venue nixes Trump-inspired event following warning of possible influx of white supremacists

The board went on to raise questions about the irony of former President Donald Trump's support of the movement while Paxton and QAnon supporters ignore a problem in their own backyard.

"We’ve noticed that the former president has taken to wearing a Q pin on his lapel, but in the interest of truth, justice, and the American way, we ask, how can these folks stay anon when an actual elected official in the great state of Texas has, by his rank incompetence, abetted what would appear to be actual cases of child sex-trafficking?"

Recounting the disturbing situation that unfolded in Waco, Texas, the board wrote: "Last year, the AG’s office proudly announced that the Human Trafficking Unit of the Criminal Investigations Division had arrested a group of people involved in a scheme in Coryell County, a rural county west of Waco, to ship teenage girls to Dallas and other Texas cities, where they were forced to 'exchange sexual contact for crystal methamphetamine.'

"Paxton’s office dubbed its sex-trafficking investigation 'Operation Fallen Angel,'” the board added.

READ MORE: Maryland’s GOP AG nominee called 9/11 an 'inside job': report

Now, unfortunately, the board is reporting that the investigation fell flat. "Now, thanks to a blockbuster investigative report by the Associated Press, we learn that Operation Fallen Angel has quietly fallen apart because of the AG’s bungling.

"Six of the people indicted are now free. One is being held in the Coryell County jail on other charges, while an eighth died in jail. The AP reports that Paxton’s attorneys were recently forced to drop four of the human trafficking and sexual assault cases — because they misplaced one of the victims."

The issue in Texas appears to underscore a bigger issue that was uncovered by the Associated Press.

Per the Houston Chronicle: "The AP investigation found that, as of August, the number of assistant attorneys general in the division that handles human trafficking cases was down by 40 percent. The number of assistant attorneys general in the criminal prosecutions division was down more than 25 percent from two years ago. The group that deals with financial and white-collar cases had been cut by more than half and has merged with another division."

The board concluded with a blistering assessment of Paxton's leadership and posed a compelling question to voters. "Paxton’s buffoonish adventures may read like a comic strip, but the harm he’s doing to this state is real," the board wrote. "How long will his supporters stand by and let it happen?"

READ MORE: Election conspiracy theorists are rallying behind these far-right MAGA Republicans in Michigan

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Maryland's GOP AG nominee called 9/11 an 'inside job': report ... ›

Election conspiracy theorists are rallying behind these far-right ... ›

Venue nixes Trump-inspired event following warning of possible ... ›

Experts: Trump is encouraging violence with Waco campaign rally on 30th anniversary of deadly siege - Alternet.org ›

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

Texas Attorney General advances antifa conspiracy ... - PolitiFact ›

Are Texas Republicans embracing the QAnon conspiracy theory ... ›

Trump endorses Ken Paxton over George P. Bush in Texas attorney ... ›

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February 22, 2023 

• Quinn Owen @ ABC News: Proud Boys saw surge in membership after Trump’s debate message, former member testifies.
• David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘Democrat’ Voters Should Be Banned from Voting If They Move to Red States.
• David Edwards @ Raw Story: Charlie Kirk claims ‘witches’ made him ‘sick’ as he attacks Trump grand jury foreperson.
• Joe Jervis: Indicted QAnon Ex-Clerk Runs For Colorado GOP Chair.
• Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: With Primary Decided, Stage Is Set For Wisconsin Supreme Court Barnburner.
• Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Isaac Stanley-Becker @ The Washington Post: Arizona’s top prosecutor concealed records debunking election fraud claims.
• Anya Zoledziowski and David Gilbert @ Vice News: The Far Right Is Calling for the Execution of Teachers and Doctors.

Tags: Charlie Kirk Marjorie Taylor Greene Mark Brnovich Tina Peters Round-Up Proud Boys

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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/trump-attorney-christina-bobb-goes-qanon-show-tour-promote-her-book-while

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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/election-denial-movement-and-trump-have-become-increasingly-intertwined

no lnx many vids

Media Matters for America

Research/Study

The election denial movement — and Trump — have become increasingly intertwined with QAnon

QAnon now offers a broad extremist network for election denialists to promote themselves and spread conspiracy theories to receptive listeners

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 01/26/23

Last December, while discussing supposed “election integrity” efforts, Gregg Phillips, a leader of the election denial organization True the Vote, told an attorney for former President Donald Trump that “people want to come in and help,” and “that’s what this Anon movement is about.”

And “help” it has. Five years after “Q” began a movement based on a conspiracy theory that Trump would crush his supposed enemies and a cabal of pedophiles with mass arrests, QAnon had evolved into an online anti-reality network that has shifted much of its focus to boosting other conspiracy theories, including anti-vaccine misinformation and, increasingly, election denial. It is now an online distribution system that the election denial movement and other conspiracy theorists can exploit to spread their false claims and gain attention for their organizations.

QAnon was born out of far-right message boards and grew as supporters repeatedly helped spread misinformation online during years of inaction from social media platforms. The movement became so much of a threat that multiple government agencies issued internal warnings on its supporters, who have committed multiple acts of violence, including the January 6 insurrection.

During the 2022 election cycle, the QAnon community saw a closer level of association with the election denial movement — including Trump and his associates — providing a broad extremist network for denialists to easily promote themselves and spread their conspiracy theories to people primed to support them.

    QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin’s election-denial candidates coalition

    Leading up to the midterm elections, QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin (whose real name is Wayne Willott) and Nevada secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant recruited election denial candidates for positions where they would be in charge of election administration. Savin boasted of his involvement, claiming that every week he would “have a call to all my candidates from around the country,” including discussing fundraising.

    Savin also said he had created the “largest election integrity presentation groups in the country" -- events where denialists, sometimes including coalition members, discussed supposed evidence of voter fraud -- and that he was working “behind the scenes” and hiring QAnon sympathizer Lara Logan to “host” them.

    Following the midterm elections, Savin moved to another election denial effort, teaming up with a pair of brothers to promote a long-shot challenge to the 2020 election, which the Supreme Court declined to hear.

    Tina Peters

    Savin detailed some of his efforts with his coalition during interviews, on QAnon-supporting shows, suggesting, for instance, that he helped convince Tina Peters — the Mesa County, Colorado, clerk who was criminally charged for a security breach of election equipment — to run for Colorado secretary of state. One of Peters’ primary opponents also revealed that Savin encouraged him to drop out of the race and endorse her.

    After losing the Republican primary, Peters refused to concede, eventually becoming part of another Savin-linked coalition of Republican candidates in Colorado claiming that they lost their primaries due to voter fraud. Over the following months, these failed candidates went on QAnon shows to promote and fundraise for the coalition and amplify false claims of fraud in their primaries. A member of Peters’ coalition even invoked the QAnon slogan in a July interview on election denier Joe Oltmann’s podcast: “Where we find fraud in El Paso, we find fraud in Colorado, we find fraud nationwide. This is all national security.” “Where we go one,” she said, pausing; the other coalition members joined her in finishing it. “We go all.”

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem

    Other candidates in Savin’s coalition also appeared on QAnon-promoting shows during the 2022 election cycle. Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake fundraised and promoted her campaign on a QAnon-supporting show right before the Republican primary, and Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem also appeared on that same QAnon show during his campaign. Finchem also had a QAnon influencer at one of his fundraisers, which featured a performance of a QAnon song. Both Finchem and Lake also appeared with other QAnon figures during their campaigns.

    Election denial groups teamed up with the QAnon community

    True the Vote

    The long-standing organization True the Vote — whose founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, has been called “the godmother of the election integrity movement” — grew particularly close with the QAnon community in 2022, using its members and infrastructure to spread nefarious allegations about election software company Konnech.

    Following the release of its debunked election denial movie 2000 Mules, True the Vote’s Engelbrecht and co-founder Gregg Phillips both began to cultivate relationships with QAnon figures, repeatedly appearing on QAnon shows. They praised the QAnon community’s “spectacularly good” “open source intelligence,” while also recruiting multiple QAnon figures to help with their efforts, such as Phillips’ podcast and “research team.” They also promised to hand off supposed information from the “Anons” to law enforcement that they had partnered with.

    We The Media TTV research team chat log

    Citation (Left): QAnon figure Chad Vivas (known online as "KagDrogo") alongside True the Vote's Gregg Phillips (Right): Message from Vivas from leaked internal chat logs of members of QAnon influencer collective We The Media

    At a True the Vote event in August called “The Pit” — which featured QAnon attendees — the group presented allegations that the Chinese Communist Party rigged elections through Konnech. Attendees were encouraged to further research and spread the claims, which they did, earning praise from True the Vote for their “brilliant” and “great work.” According to The New York Times, Konnech’s CEO and his family were subsequently forced to go into hiding, and other Konech employees “feared for their safety and started working remotely.”

    In October — less than two months after an investigator in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office attended “The Pit,” according to Phillips — the district attorney arrested Konnech’s CEO over allegations similar to True the Vote’s claims. (Charges were dropped in November.) The arrest was fodder for right-wing media to widely spread True the Vote and QAnon supporters’ claims about Konnech, calling it evidence of election fraud, and the story led to local governments announcing they would cancel contracts with the company. A Virginia county “election integrity” task force even gave some of those QAnon influencers’ materials about Konnech to its county election board. Phillips would go on to credit “the Anon community” for having “dug in” on Konnech and creating “focal points … of interest that [Konnech’s CEO is] ultimately going to have to answer to.”

    Clean Elections USA

  Another figure who attended The Pit was Melody Jennings, a QAnon supporter who had created a group inspired by 2000 Mules called Clean Elections USA, which focused on having people “monitor” ballot drop boxes for supposed fraud. She connected with several QAnon influencers at the event, later appearing multiple times on a show hosted by conspiracy theorists she met there. She credited those QAnon figures with helping her group and connecting her with others. Jennings regularly asked her “team” of QAnon influencers to promote her efforts, which led to complaints of voter intimidation in Arizona and landed Clean Elections USA in court there.

    New York Citizens Audit

    Another person who networked with QAnon figures at The Pit was Marly Hornik, who founded the election denial organization New York Citizens Audit. Hornik met the hosts of a QAnon show at the event and then repeatedly appeared on their program. There, Hornik promoted her organization and lauded what “the Anons are doing with Konnech,” calling them the “citizen intelligence army.”

    Video

Citation From the October 27, 2022, edition of MatrixxxGrooove Show

Other election denial groups and activists

Election denial organizations also associated themselves with the QAnon community outside of The Pit:

    Members of a Florida-based “election integrity” group called Defend Florida connected with QAnon-supporting show host Zak Paine at an event hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The members later went on Paine’s show to promote the group and say they asked Paine if they could “come on your show” rather than appearing in mainstream outlets because of “the great work that you’ve been doing for years.”

    A Florida “election integrity” activist told a QAnon influencer that he was a “big fan” of his and of Savin.

    Paine also connected with a Nebraska election denial group founder at Lindell’s event.

    A duo who had filed a class action lawsuit against election software company Dominion, which was a target of election denialists after the 2020 election, told Paine that “everybody loves you” and that their lawsuit would be more popular if Paine was on Twitter.

Well-known election deniers Patrick Byrne and Michael Flynn grew closer to the QAnon community

Patrick Byrne and The America Project

Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who is a co-founder of election denial organization The America Project, is one of the country’s central election denial funders. Prior to the January 6 insurrection, Byrne met with Trump and fueled his voter fraud grievances. Since then, he has continued election denial activities and cultivated ties to the QAnon community. During the midterm election season, Byrne’s The America Project even funded an effort to recruit veterans to monitor polling sites for supposed fraud.

Byrne has previously suggested that he relied on the “digital soldiers” in the QAnon community and that they were his allies. He went further in 2022:

    He directly invoked Q’s call in 2020 for supporters to deny that QAnon exists.

    He pushed an effort to harass schools popularized by a QAnon-supporting group.

    He furthered his very close relationship with Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman, a QAnon influencer known online as “Tore” who ran for Ohio secretary of state. He offered to aid her activities, including monetarily, and announced that he was working with her on “election integrity” efforts and lawsuits.

Byrne and Savin — both of whom have previously mentioned being connected — disclosed their further ties over the course of the year:

    Savin said they worked together in 2020, said they talked “very frequently” with each other, and suggested that Byrne had “helped us out tremendously in the election integrity stuff.”

    Byrne lauded Savin as “sophisticated,” “very helpful,” and said they had spent “some good times” together. He also invoked Savin by name to promote a legal case to overturn the 2020 election.

Former Overstock CEO suggests he collaborated with QAnon influencer known for trying to elect Big Lie election administration candidates

July 24, 2022

Former Overstock CEO suggests he collaborated with QAnon influencer known for trying to elect Big Lie election administration candidates

Audio

Citation From a July 24, 2022, online stream

Additionally, some of The America Project’s work and activities during the year were explicitly tied to QAnon supporters. Byrne used multiple QAnon shows to recruit people for the organization’s plan to monitor polling sites. The America Project also brought on QAnon sympathizer Lara Logan, as well as an attorney who has represented Tore, who became The America Projects’s “chief legal strategist.”

Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn, The America Project’s other co-founder and fellow Trump voter fraud adviser, also continued to develop ties with the QAnon community:

    He hung out with members of a QAnon influencer collective known as We The Media, including on a Zoom call, according to one of We The Media’s members.

    Flynn’s other organization, America’s Future, recruited Liz Crokin, a fellow QAnon conspiracy theorist.

Flynn, along with Lindell of MyPillow, attorney Sidney Powell, and some members of Savin’s coalition, also appeared on a relatively new QAnon channel on Election Day 2022 to push fraud claims.

Trump and his orbit grew closer to the QAnon community, explicitly embracing and lauding the movement

Donald Trump

Trump, the leader of the election denial movement, also embraced QAnon more closely during the past year, as did some of those in his orbit — including associates of his social media company Truth Social, one of his attorneys, and his son.

Trump’s associates claimed in 2021 that they were trying “to weed out any QAnon influences — both adherents and postings — getting close to him,” but the former president and now-2024 presidential candidate only stepped up his association with the QAnon community. (He had also publicly and privately praised QAnon supporters multiple times during his presidency.)

    According to a Media Matters count, Trump amplified QAnon-promoting accounts nearly 400 times on Truth Social in 2022 — far outpacing the pace of his QAnon account amplifications when he used Twitter. That Truth Social activity included repeatedly amplifying explicit QAnon content.

Trump Truth Social QAnon content amplifications

:{:{}:

Citation Explicit QAnon content amplified by Donald Trump on Truth Social in 2022

    Trump met withCrokin, the QAnon influencer, at Mar-a-Lago, and another QAnon influencer claimed to have met with Trump while visiting Mar-a-Lago.}:

    Trump used a song associated with QAnon on his social media and at multiple rallies. During some of the rallies, people would hold up one finger in the air in response, possibly referring to the “one” in “Where we go one, we go all.” Trump would continue to use the song at rallies even after media and others flagged its background.

Truth Social and its leadership

Truth Social also came to embrace QAnon as part of its business model. One of the first accounts to reportedly sign up on the platform, which launched in February, was an account called “@Q” that tied itself to the conspiracy theory. Kash Patel,a former Trump administration official and member of the platform’s board of directors, and Devin Nunes, the platform’s CEO, repeatedly amplified the “@Q” account. The platform also featured QAnon ads and verified QAnon influencers. And the CEO of a shell corporation formed to merge with the company running the platform even went on a QAnon show to advocate for his own shareholders to delay the merger. The platform also helped QAnon figures and election denial activists network.

Patel also went on numerous QAnon shows on behalf of Truth Social, telling the community that “we try to incorporate” QAnon “into our overall messaging scheme to capture audiences” and praised the “good” coming from it. He also signed copies of his book with the QAnon slogan, asking, “What's wrong with it?” and he said he and Trump were “blown away” by the “acumen” of some QAnon supporters.

Video

    Citation From the June 16, 2022, edition of The Patriot Party News

A Trump attorney and Eric Trump

    One of Trump’s attorneys, Peter Ticktin, repeatedly went on QAnon shows to push election fraud claims. On one of those shows Ticktin even asked the audience to send him “evidence in regard to January 6,” the “fake election,” and “the election fraud.” He also seemingly invoked Q’s 2020 call for supporters to deny that QAnon exists.

    Trump’s son Eric Trump, who had posted a QAnon image on social media in 2020 — also went on multiple QAnon shows, and a QAnon show host Eric Trump met with claimed that Trump told him that “his Dad loves what we’re doing.”

    Increasingly, where election denial goes one, QAnon goes all

    Savin’s swing state coalition members failed to win election and the GOP had disappointing midterm results, but that did not deter the growing bond between the QAnon community and election denial movements. The connections reached a new level this past year, even after the midterms.

    The movement continues to grow and metastasize beyond the original Q and its focus, even when Q resumed posting during the year after an 18-month absence. And with the rise of platforms like Truth Social, and Twitter increasingly reversing its QAnon crackdown under Elon Musk, the QAnon community could become even more interconnected with election denialists and other conspiracy theories. That could help grow the dangerous and antidemocratic denialist movement, making it easier to spread its misinformation faster and more broadly.

In This Article

    QAnon Conspiracy Theory    Voter Fraud and Suppression

    Voter Suppression

Related

    In 2021, people thought QAnon would go away -- instead, it continued to fuel attacks on democracy

    12/31/21

    In 2020, QAnon became all of our problem

    12/31/20

    How True the Vote cultivated relationships with QAnon influencers to target an election software company and serve as a pipeline to law enforcement

    09/15/

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/anti-vaxxers

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no lnx

Prominent QAnon anti-vaxxer who called for Anthony Fauci’s execution dies of COVID-19

Alex Henderson

January 10, 2022

QAnon supporter Cirsten Weldon was among the far-right anti-vaxxers and coronavirus truthers who railed against COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 — and on Thursday, January 6, according to the Daily Beast — she died of COVID-19.

Weldon, who called for Dr. Anthony Fauci — President Joe Biden’s top White House medical adviser — to be executed,was known for posting videos of herself berating people who were waiting in line to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Weldon falsely claimed that COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous, and she said that Fauci “needs to be hung from a rope.”

The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer reports, “Cirsten Weldon had amassed tens of thousands of followers across right-wing social media networks by promoting the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy under the screenname CirstenW.’ She was prominent enough to become a sort of QAnon interpreter for comedian conspiracy theorist Roseanne Barr and started recording videos about QAnon with her.”

    Cirsten Weldon, a leading QAnon promoter who urged both her followers and strangers she passed on the street not to take the COVID vaccine, died Thursday of the coronavirus.https://trib.al/tNErWGu

    — The Daily Beast (@The Daily Beast) 1641604802

:{:{}:

In one of her videos, Sommer notes, Weldon can be seen yelling at people who were waiting to get vaccinated for COVID-19 — saying, “The vaccines kill, don’t get it! This is how gullible these idiots are. They’re all getting (the) vaccine!”}:

READ: 'Traitor' Jim Jordan mocked for refusing to comply with Jan. 6 committee — after declaring 'nothing to hide'

Weldon became ill in December, describing her symptoms in her videos and saying that she had “bacterial pneumonia.” But she continued to oppose COVID-19 vaccines.

In a December 27, 2021 video posted on Facebook, Weldon told viewers, “I didn't think I was going to make it. I'm sorry. I'm exhausted, and I have no — I'm very, very weak. I have no strength. I haven't eaten in four days.” Weldon described having “fever, chills, sweats.”

According to Sommer, Weldon posted her final video on December 28, 2021 and was “hospitalized in Camarillo, California” three days later.

Sommer points out that Weldon is “just the latest instance of a far-right personality who opposed vaccination being killed by the virus.” Others have included radio host Douglas Kuzma, who died on January 3 — only three days before Weldon — and QAnon supporter Robert David Steele, who described COVID-19 as a “hoax” before dying from it in August 2021. QAnon supporter Veronica Wolski, another anti-vaxxer, died of COVID-19 the following month.

READ: Cult survivor explains how Trump 'weaponizes' the 'us vs. them' tactics of a 'cult leader'

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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/nearly-half-trumps-posts-truth-social-week-after-election-pushed-election

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mma 12 22

wonder why no longer richest bastard

Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory have celebrated Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeting a phrase that has been regularly invoked in the community, taking it as evidence that he supposedly supports the conspiracy theory in some manner.

On December 12, Musk tweeted, “Follow” next to a rabbit emoji. The wording with the emoji would seem to be referring to the phrase “follow the white rabbit,” a reference to the classic fantasy novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was repopularized byThe Matrixfilm franchise and subsequently adopted as an online rallying cry in the early days of the QAnon movement. The conspiracy theory’s central figure, “Q”, repeatedly referenced the “white rabbit” and the story directly in posts.

QAnon figures, who were already primed to believe that Musk was an ally, hyped Musk’s “clear Q reference” as some kind of green light, along with a follow-up tweet from Musk in response to a scene in The Matrixabout choosing between taking a blue pill and a red pill (which has been embraced in the far-right as so-called “red-pilling,” referring to a process by with individuals come to support far-right ideas). Adherents to the QAnon conspiracy theory claimed Musk has been “keeping with the Q Comms” and was “on pace to start posting Q drops to millions of normies,” with some believing the tweet may already be referring to a Q post

[twts]

the QAnon community’s excitement for Musk’s tweet comes as Musk has pushed claims of child trafficking on Twitter and blamed Twitter’s leadership, including targeting Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, who was forced to flee his home due to threats. It also comes as more QAnon accounts have come back or at least attempted to come back to Twitter in the midst of Musk taking over the platform.

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When the results of 2022 midterms came in on Election Night, one saw some patterns emerging. Democrats were performing much better than expected, and many of the Republicans who were defeating Democrats in statewide races in swing states tended to be traditional conservatives rather far-right hyper-MAGA conspiracy theorists.

Hyper-MAGA, ultra-Trumpian candidates, in fact, lost key gubernatorial races in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan, while many of the GOP governors who were reelected — Ohio’s Mike DeWine, Georgia’s Brian Kemp, New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu — were more traditional conservatives. One saw some ticket splitting in New Hampshire; Sununu was reelected by around 15 percent, while far-right MAGA conspiracy theorist Don Bolduc lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hasan by 9 percent.

DeWine and Sununu are often slammed as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) by the MAGA crowd, but unlike Arizona’s Kari Lake, Michigan’s Tudor Dixon or Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano — Republican gubernatorial nominees who ran on ultra-MAGA platforms — they won. Conservative Washington Post opinion columnist Henry Olsen had a blunt comment in his November 22 column: “College-educated voters just aren’t into MAGA.”

READ MORE: 'College-educated voters just aren’t into MAGA': Conservative slams Arizona election deniers for GOP losses

But “weird” Republicans, The New Republic’s Graham Gallagher emphasizes in an article published on November 25, aren’t going away. In fact, they have achieved more and more prominence in the GOP and are making their presence felt in some right-wing think tanks such as the Claremont Institute.

“The ascendant weird right will likely struggle to sell its deeply anti-patriotic vision to many voters,” Gallagher explains. “In these segments of the mostly young, online-influenced American right, the optimistic vision espoused by Ronald Reagan’s ‘morning in America’ has been discarded. The elite educated right has moved even beyond the overt pessimism of Donald Trump’s ‘American carnage’ — now, disgust with equitable citizenship, personal liberty, and democratic self-governance is commonplace. Fed by an endless outrage cycle and a motivated and well-resourced donor class willing to pour money into increasingly reactionary think tanks like the avowedly anti-democratic Claremont Institute, right-wing thinkers and activists have begun to identify the foundational pillars of the United States itself with immorality and adopted a new fascination with medieval Catholicism and imported European extremisms.”

Gallagher points to “the right-wing embrace of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” and former Rep. Allen West’s obsession with the Medieval Knights Templar as examples of how “bizarre” the “online weird right” can be. Others include beliefs that “real men don’t eat soybeans, seed oils are dangerous, meat substitutes will turn men into women and…. the best diet is all-meat.” And Gallagher cites some specific examples of how “weird” MAGA candidates could be in the 2022 midterms.

“Blake Masters and J.D. Vance — two Republican candidates for Senate funded in part by tech billionaire and new-right linchpin Peter Thiel — have embraced new-right ideas and actively courted the ‘weird right,’” Gallagher observes. “Vance has questioned whether women should leave violent marriages; Masters has praised domestic terrorist Theodore Kaczynski’s infamous manifesto, argued against legal access to contraception, and openly said that democracy is a smokescreen for the masses ‘stealing certain kinds of goods and redistributing them as they see fit.’ Americans on balance like democracy; legal contraception is almost universally popular; and Kaczynski’s unpopularity is so widely assumed that pollsters rarely ask about him. Masters, perhaps unsurprisingly, lost his bid to unseat Mark Kelly, and Vance badly underperformed in his blood-red home state.”

READ MORE:Why 'much-diminished' Sarah Palin no longer stands out in the MAGA movement she helped create: journalist

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...This instance of a CPI- and GOP-linked Fairfax County group sending material from QAnon influencersto the county board of elections further demonstrates the connections between the QAnon and election denial movements. Media Matters has previously documented True the Vote’s collaboration with QAnon figures, major election denial funder Patrick Byrne’s significant connections to the QAnon community, and a QAnon influencer’s involvement with a coalition recruiting and aiming to elect election-denialist secretary of state candidates. And according to Nevada Republican secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant, the leader of that coalition, he had been “working very close” with Mitchell and CPI.

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QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin, who is involved in a coalition to recruit and elect election denier secretary of state candidates, has falsely claimed that the September 11 terrorist attacks were a false flag operation carried out by a United States “shadow government” agency to “manipulate the American people.”

The America First Secretary of State Coalitionis led by Nevada Republican secretary of state nominee Jim Marchant and boasts other GOP candidates, including Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, Michigan secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo, and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. The coalition aims to elect Republican candidates who have made false claims of widespread voter fraud to positions influencing election administration.

In 2021, Marchant appeared at a QAnon conference in Las Vegas and said that Wayne Willott — a QAnon influencer known online as “Juan O. Savin” — helped create the coalition and recruit him to run for secretary of state. Other candidates who had been tied to the coalition have since confirmed Savin’s involvement, and Savin has openly discussed in online interviews his involvement with the coalition and its members, such as claiming to have consulted with Karamo.

While Savin has been involved with the coalition and its members — who, if elected, could play a role in the 2024 presidential election — he has recently promoted the false claim that the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job caused by the United States federal government.

During recent interviews, Savin pointed to the September 11 attacks as evidence to claim that President Joe Biden would seek to delay the midterm elections with an announcement in late October, possibly by declaring martial law.

In one interview posted online on September 18, Savin claimed his “buddy Bill Cooper” — referring to a deceased militia member and influential conspiracy theorist — predicted an attack on the World Trade Center months before the September 11 attacks, allegedly saying that the government was “going to try and pin something on Osama bin Laden.” Savin added that “Osama bin Laden didn’t have shit to do with 9/11,” and claimed that it “was somebody’s way of conning you to get you ready so you’d accept what they wanted to do.”

Savin repeated these baseless claims in multiple interviews.In an interview posted online that same day, Savin said that Cooper was “right,” that the September 11 attacks were “staged,” and that then-Vice President Dick Cheney secretly led a part of the federal “shadow government” that was involved in creating “false flags” to “manipulate the American people,” including the “9/11 stuff.[vid]

in another interview posted online two days later, Savin went even further, falsely claiming Cheney led a “shadow government” agency that carried out “false flag” operations, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in order to “create a threat” to “manage the American people and world opinion so that they can help move us” toward “global control.” Savin cited a CIA contractor who supposedly said he went into World Trade Center Building 7 to hide “all the explosives so that they could bring Building 7 down” in a “controlled demolition.” (Savin in the interview also seemed to invoke a baseless conspiracy theory that the 1969 moon landing was staged by the late film director Stanley Kubrick.[[vid]

savin’s 9/11 Trutherism — which is widespread within the QAnon community — comes as he has also threatened “civil war” if people “move past” false claims of voter fraud in 2020. Savin’s influence has also extended outside of the coalition to include traveling with and claiming to have hired far-right figure Lara Logan for “election integrity” events and collaborating with election denial funder Patrick Byrne.

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During his 2020 campaign, former President Donald Trump made a point of being vague when discussing the far-right QAnon movement. Trump refrained from overtly promoting QAnon and its conspiracy theories, but he wouldn’t say anything critical of them either and claimed that he “didn’t know much about” their movement.

Times have changed. Trump is now openly promoting QAnon and is using exact phrases associated with the group, including “the storm” and their slogan “where we go one, we go all.” And Trump is hardly the only MAGA Republican who is embracing QAnon.

Mother Jones’ David Corn describes the intersection of QAnon, MAGA and “Christian nationalism” as “QMaga,” attacking it as an authoritarian threat to U.S. democracy in an article that was originally published in his Our Land newsletter and was republished by Mother Jones on September 23. Extremism in the GOP is a subject that Corn also tackles in his new book, “American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy.”

READ MORE:Bill Maher warns: Republicans running in 2022 midterms make the 2010 ‘kooks’ and ‘extremists’ look tame

“For years, Trump had played footsie with QAnon, claiming he didn’t know much about it but praising its adherents’ supposed patriotism, their opposition to pedophilia and, naturally, their cultish love of him,” Corn explains in his Mother Jones/Our Land article. “Offered the chance to denounce this perverse craziness, he bobbed and weaved…. No more. He went full QAnon the other day when he posted online a photoshopped image of him wearing a Q pin. To make the message clear, this picture proclaimed, ‘The Storm Is Coming’ — a QAnon catchphrase referring to that ultimate showdown between Trump and the evildoers. And it contained the abbreviation for the QAnon slogan, ‘where we go one, we go all.’”

The fictional “evildoers” that Corn is referring to are, according to QAnon’s outlandish conspiracy theory, an international cabal of child sex traffickers, pedophiles, Satanists and cannibals who have hijacked the United States’ federal government. Trump, as QAnon sees it, was elected president in 2016 to fight the cabal — and QAnon believes that Trump’s battle against the forces of darkness didn’t end when he lost the 2020 election. Members of QAnon were among the far-right Trump supporters who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

“The insanity of a former, and possibly future, president bear-hugging QAnon cannot be overstated,” Corn warns. “And this was no one-off, late-in-the-night s****posting from the former guy. He zapped out other posts with QAnon references. Then four days later, at a rally in Ohio, he delivered an apocalyptic speech against the backdrop of music resembling the QAnon theme song. It was here that Trump supporters raised their hands and pointed a finger — possibly signaling ‘one,’ in an allusion to that QAnon slogan.”

Corn continues, “The supposed purpose of the event was to whip up support for GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance. But the gathering demonstrated the fusion of MAGA extremism with QAnon and Christian nationalism. The crowd cheered as Trump proclaimed the country had become a hellhole with a crumbling economy, rampant crime, and no freedom of speech. It was all lies, but the fervor of the crowd and the arm waving were reminiscent of a religious revival meeting.”

READ MORE:QAnon believers, far-right influencers are reigniting fears of 'satanic panic'

According to Corn, the MAGA movement “has morphed into QMaga.”

“The irrationality has spread from the evidence-free belief that sinister players — China, Venezuela, the CIA, the media, Democrats, voting machine companies — conspired to steal the election from Trump to the conviction that American politics has become a clash between patriotic Christians and cannibalistic Satan-worshipping pedophiles,” Corn explains. “The Ohio arena was not full, and the empty seats indicated that Trump’s mix of conspiracism, cult of personality, end-times ravings, and fundamentalism may not be a bestseller. But many of the GOP election denialists running in state elections this year — including gubernatorial candidates Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania, and Kari Lake, Arizona — have ties to QAnon.”

Corn continues, “Both Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert were QAnoners before they were elected to Congress in the last election. But perhaps of greater concern is that the entire GOP, which has supported Trump’s authoritarian Big Lie crusade, is now willing to follow Trump further into the depths of fearmongering and madness.”

READ MORE:'It’s really, really disturbing' — This Arizona Republican is embracing QAnon and 9/11 'truthers': report

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trump ppl said not q song, but copyrt free

an 9 22

A former Republican congresswoman is blasting a recent speech from former President Donald Trump, calling it "humiliating" and referring to the event as a "QAnon Fest."

Barbara Comstock, who served as a GOP representative from Virginia from 2015 to 2019, spoke Sunday evening following the former president's speech. The event, which took place in Youngstown, Ohio, was a rally in support of Senate candidate J.D. Vance, someone who Trump has boosted heavily in recent months.

The speech was largely full of most of the same rhetoric that has been heard from Trump since he left office, and Comstock told CNN anchor Jim Acosta that the event was a "contribution to [Democratic challenger] Tim Ryan." She went on to say that Trump made "J.D. Vance look like a mouse, not a man."

"It was humiliating," Comstock added. "It was a QAnon fest, it was playing this strange QAnon music, they were all sort of, you know, bowing - I think Marjorie Greene was there talking about the one true leader." The event featured a number of bizarre outings, such as one moment when the rally attendees raised their hands to the former president in an apparent show of loyalty.

However, Comstock noted that, while Trump has often pushed the size of his rally crowds, the event was lightly attended.

"I think this is the last gasp of a dying cult...J.D. Vance is really a shell of a person to be there, bowing and scraping to somebody who he rightfully attacked just a few years ago," she said.

Watch video below or at this link.

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random 9 22 rww

frederick Clarkson and André Gagné @ Religion Dispatches: Christian Right Denialism is More Dangerous Than Ever: A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation.

• Bob Brigham @ Raw Story: Lauren Boebert causes scene by refusing to agree to debate rules.
• Alex Henderson @ Salon: Plaintiff in Florida GOP primary loser Laura Loomer fraud lawsuit drops out: “I’m not going to lie.”
• Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Turning Point USA chapter enlists two cronies of white nationalist Nick Fuentes as featured event speakers.
• Will Sommer and Philippe Naughton @ The Daily Beast: Man Murdered Wife, Shot Daughter After Being Sucked Down ‘Q Rabbit Hole,’ Family Confirms.
• Aaron Pellish and Marshall Cohen @ CNN: Republican congressman presents convicted January 6 rioter with flag flown over US Capitol after her release from prison.

Tags: Brandt Wiggins Kai Schwemmer Laura Loomer Lauren Boebert Louie Gohmert Simone Gold Tyler Russell New Apostolic Reformation QAnon Round-Up Turning Point USA

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/qanon-believers-far-right-influencers-are-reigniting-fears-of-satanic-panic/

since former President Donald Trump left office, the widespread conspiracy theories of satanist pedophilia have slightly waned but now it appears those baseless claims are making their way back to the forefront.

In a new analysis published by NBC News, senior reporter Brandy Zadrozny explained the latest Satanic obsession brewing among members of the QAnon community.

"While the current obsession with Satan was boosted in part by the QAnon community, partisan media and conservative politicians have been instrumental in spreading newfound fears over the so-called ritualistic abuse of children that the devil supposedly inspires, sometimes weaving the allegations together with other culture war issues such as LGBTQ rights," Zadrozny wrote. "Those fears are powering fresh accusations of ritual abuse online, which are amplified on social media and by partisan media, and can mobilize mobs to seek vigilante justice."

READ MORE: 'To defy Trump's wishes is to defy God's plan': The scary truth about modern right-wing misinformation

Zadrozny went on to discuss the difference between witch hunts of the past and the current political climate as conspiracy theorists have begun circulating baseless claims about the existence of satanic rituals, graphic sexual abuse and underground pedophilia rings.

"Witch hunts have traditionally been associated with courts — even the kangaroo kind — but today, the accused can be branded satanist pedophiles at the speed of the internet," she wrote. "Online accusers can bypass police, therapists and the traditional media and out their alleged accusers straight to audiences of millions."

The latest claims have been perpetuated by individuals like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene(R-Ga.). Zadrozny recalled a number of recent incidents where Satanic conspiracy theories had taken centerstage.

Pointing to one incident back in June, Zadrozny noted that the Republican lawmaker "credited the devil with whispering to women who choose to have abortions and controlling churches who aid undocumented immigrants."

READ MORE: 'Trust the plan': QAnon conspiracy theorists believe Mar-a-Lago search will benefit Trump

Back in June, Greene tweeted a clip of a man dressed as the devil "stating that the mythical creature would be the next witness called by the House Jan. 6 committee." The lawmaker wrote, "They all know him, they all love him, and some even worship him."

She also pointed to another recent tragedy that was also overtaken by conspiracies. "Conspiracy theories similarly engulfed the tragedy in Houston at the Astroworld music festival in November, in which 10 people were crushed to death as the rapper Travis Scott performed on stage," Zadrozny recalled. "Social media sleuths gathered livestreams of the performance and pieced them together to come to an otherworldly conclusion: that the concert was actually a satanic ritual. The videos weren’t widely shared by devoted conspiracy theorists or religious zealots, but by mainstream Gen Z and millennial users."

Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon, also weighed in to explain how conspiracy theories transformed over the last three decades.

“The ʼ80s and ʼ90s were terrifying and they ruined people’s lives, but they were constrained in certain ways by network technologies,” said Phillips, who co-authored the book, “You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape.”

Phillips also expressed concern about thepower of the internet and how it aids conspiracy theorists' ability to push their dangerous agendas.

“The internet has basically jumped over the need for other intervention,” Phillips said. “You can have an accusation that goes viral, be seen by millions of people by the end of that day. That was never possible before. You can almost foresee what is coming next. It’s what we’ve seen before, but all of the bulwarks are gone.”

READ MORE: QAnon 'nut jobs' are 'intercepting' migrant children at the border to indoctrinate them: report

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/trust-the-plan-qanon-conspiracy-theorists-believe-mar-a-lago-search-will-benefit-trump/

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elected to gop in SC

russia hackers amplified or created an amp/escalator?

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-qanon-cyber-idUKL1N2HD00Z

disputed see homegrown?

QAnon received earlier boost from Russian accounts on Twitter, archives show

By Joseph Menn

Nov 2 (Reuters)- Russian government-backed social media accounts nurtured the QAnon conspiracy theory in its infancy, earlier than previously reported, according to interviews with current and former Twitter executives and archives of tweets from suspended accounts.

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Researchers said in August that the archives showed Russian accounts had helped spread QAnon in volume beginning in December 2017, reut.rs/2TFWoWc, but that team did not examine the history of specific QAnon promoters. bit.ly/2HTReUh

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A more granular review by Reuters shows Russian accounts began amplifying the movement as it started, early in the previous month.

From November 2017 on, QAnon was the single most frequent hashtag tweeted by accounts that Twitter has since identified as Russian-backed, a Reuters analysis of the archive shows, with the term used some 17,000 times.

The archives contain more than 4,000 accounts that Twitter suspended for spreading Russian government disinformation in 2018 and 2019 but preserved for researchers.

The trove shows that some of the Russian accounts tweeted about QAnon’s most important popularizer even before the anonymous figure known as Q emerged, then rewarded her with more promotion when she put videos about Q on YouTube.

Asked about support for QAnon, the Russian embassy in Washington said Moscow does not interfere in U.S. politics.

“Malicious activity in the information space contradicts the principles of Russian foreign policy, national interests and our understanding of interstate relations,” a spokesman said.

A current Twitter executive said Russian accounts are not driving the present iteration of QAnon, which has expanded to include baseless claims about COVID-19 and other issues.

The original posts associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory appeared in late October 2017, purporting to be from a Trump insider with “Q” security clearance who said Hillary Clinton faced arrest and her allies were running a massive child-sex ring.

The fantasy was confined to a small piece of the internet for a few days until conservative video blogger Tracy Diaz, known online as TracyBeanz, began to post regular videos promoting it. She soon began amassing undisclosed donors and now has more than 10 million video views on YouTube.

A few Russian accounts had been retweeting Diaz as far back as April 2017, according to the archives of suspended accounts. After her first Q video on Nov. 3, the number of Russian tweets pushing Diaz’ handle surged to 40 monthly through the following spring, the archives show.

Diaz did not respond to an email seeking comment.

It remains unclear how much the Russians influenced Diaz before she hit it big. But former Twitter security staffers said a handful of accounts that tweeted to Diaz from mid-2017 illustrated the extreme difficulty of detecting covert influence.

Now suspended for undisclosed reasons or abandoned by their operators, these accounts claimed to be American but displayed unusual interest in Russian issues. The visible tweets between them and Diaz were first flagged to Reuters by open-source researcher Chris Scott.

One account called CrusadersPost retweeted obscure Russian officials and appeared to be the first account to use the term “Q Anon” on social media, on Nov. 2, according to people with access to all public tweets.

CrusadersPost had reached out to Diaz in April to wish her a happy birthday and offer to help her with a new project.

“YOU ROCK,” she replied. The account also encouraged Diaz to publicize MegaAnon, which preceded and resembled QAnon.

Another Diaz fan ran an account called SlicksTweetz, which the banned Russian accounts mentioned 871 times. The day of her debut Q video, Diaz publicly thanked SlicksTweetz for sharing it.

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A week later, as she worked on new videos, she replied to him: “There are so many connections—that’s a good one I hadn’t seen yet :).” (Reporting by Joseph Menn. Editing by Jonathan Weber and Steve Orlofsky)

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no lnx

Election denial activist behind “Pence Card” theory tells QAnon show he contacted multiple members of Congress to push plan

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN

PUBLISHED09/02/22

Ivan Raiklin, a former military officer and election denial activist who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election with his “Pence Card” plan, told a QAnon-supporting show that he contacted multiple members of Congress to push his plan, naming some of whom he contacted specifically.

Raiklin, who has been an Army Reserve officer, was reportedly involved with former national security advisor Michael Flynn in his efforts to overturn the election (Flynn’s family has denied being involved with Raiklin despite Flynn previously lauding Raiklin as a “digital soldier,” a term often used by QAnon supporters to describe themselves and which Raiklin has himself apparently invoked). Raiklin has also been connected to Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.

Raiklin’s efforts included what he called the “Pence Card,” a theory where then-Vice President Mike Pence could effectively block the January 6 certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s election. That theory was subsequently embraced by then-President Donald Trump, who in December 2020 retweeted Raiklin pushing the Pence Card claim, which the House January 6 committee noted during one of its hearings.Raiklin around this time also went on multiple QAnon-supporting shows to promote his theory, during which he agreed with a QAnon influencer that a military coup could be a potential option to overturn the election.

On August 31, Raiklin appeared on a QAnon-supporting show alongside QAnon influencer Jon Herald (known online as “Patel Patriot”) and host Zak Paine, who participated in the January 6 insurrection. During the appearance, Raiklin said that in the time leading up to the January 6 congressional certification he was “contacting everybody I knew in Congress” to gain support for his theory that Pence could reject the results. He specifically named Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Ben Cline (R-VA), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Madison Cawthorn (R-NC). Raiklin also suggested that this was “the first time” that he was disclosing this activity.

Video file

Video CitationFrom the August 31, 2022, edition of RedPill78

IVAN RAIKLIN: Let me give you a little context. So back in — so that you understand how deep I was in this. And the radical left media is going to hear this for the first time. On November 5, I happened to go up to Philadelphia to kind of observe what the campaign was doing in terms of their legal strategy. And there’s a video out there where I bumped into one of the poll observers that were on the inside that was kicked out, one of the Trump campaign poll observers. And he said that there were a lot of people coming in with backpacks, you’ve probably seen that video, it went kind of viral a few weeks ago. I’m the guy taking the video and they’re listening to this guy kind of testify. So I went up there, observed what’s going on legally.That’s where I met Dan Cox, he was working it. He’s now the candidate for governor in Maryland, America First guy. And a couple of other people. You know, Corey Lewandowski was up there, Pam Bondi was up there, [Rudy] Giuliani was up there.

So I came in kind of, I think the next day or so, to try to assess what’s going on. And I noticed that there wasn’t — the campaign nor the presidency was really putting out the message of how an election occurs. We all know now, but there wasn’t this counter-narrative to, “Oh, this election’s over.” Instead, it was just no one was putting it out. So that’s when I took to Twitter and started really doing a deep dive on how we can still remedy this going into January 6. I get the retweet by general, the president, etc. Thankfully, I get a bigger voice.

So now I’m putting out these paths to be able to fix it. And I don’t know how much — I think, Zak, you said you saw, like, some of that strategy?

ZAK PAINE (HOST): I did, yes.

RAIKLIN: What needs to be done in the Congress, at the executive branch, etc., etc. One of the components, one of the biggest components in everything we do in this ecosystem, is the court of public opinion. When the court of public opinion, via the mainstream media, says that an election is over, most of your staff in the White House, most of your campaign staff, believe it, and now they give up. And we saw that. And so you had outside people like me, you guys, everybody basically saying, “This ain’t over. The election ends on January 6, if it’s done, you know, legitimately, there’s other remedies afterwards.” So, I was going day by day, giving all the different components. I was on X22 [Report] and I kind of laid all of that stuff out.

And then as we approach January 6, the last lawful way to apply pressure on the Congress at that point was to convince them that they are now under a duty to object. And the way that I was doing it is that memo clearly articulated it not only to the president — or Vice President Pence in December. When he failed to do that, in my opinion, he now is complicit in the constitutional violations, along with those at the precinct, county, and secretary of state level for certifying those illegal elections. And now it rests on — the courts are not supposed to be involved in this entire process. This is not a legal construct. It’s a legislative state process and a congressional process. So by the time it got to the Congress, I was contacting everybody I knew in Congress. “Hey, Congressman So-And-So.” You want me to name names?

PAINE: Sure. Feel free.

RAIKLIN: “Hey, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, incoming. Hey, Congressman Mo Brooks. Hey, Congressman Ben Cline. Hey, Congressman Mike Waltz. Hey, Congressman Jim Jordan.” And so on and so on. I told them, “You don’t have to — you don’t have to know anything about fraud, illegal machines, the networks, the Chinese, this and that. All you have to convince yourself of is that the states conducted their election not according to their election law. Hey, Congressman” — what’s his name? From North Carolina. In the wheelchair.

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PAINE: I’m drawing a blank. Yeah. The young guy who they kicked out. Madison Cawthorn.

RAIKLIN: Madison Cawthorn. Good, I got it first.

…

So we’re getting this out. The left realizes it, that we now have the momentum. And so what do they do? They start to block, cancel, tackle. LinkedIn blocks my analysis of the Electoral Count Act in the Constitution. I get blocked. I get blocked on Instagram. I get blocked on Twitter, right? Because they used to say — they say that, “Oh no, the election’s over. Those are — that’s false information.” And then I say, “No, that’s not false. I'm actually just citing the Electoral Count Act.”

Anyhow, we move forward into January 6. On January 5, we had like 100-and-almost-50 Congress members that were going to object, 12 senators. And so we’re in this predicament on January 6 at 1:02 p.m. Pence puts out a tweet saying that, “Oh, I can’t unilaterally do anything.” Well, no one argued you could do it unilaterally. At least, I mean, I didn’t. No one in my circles. And he went ahead and what did he do instead? He unilaterally denied 90% of Congress from participating in the objections.

THE LATEST

How Newt Gingrich tried to “arouse the country’s anger” with election fraud conspiracy theories on Fox

09/02/22 12:18 PM EDT

Election denial activist behind “Pence Card” theory tells QAnon show he contacted multiple members of Congress to push plan

…

Next page

IN THIS ARTICLE

January 6 Insurrection

jan 6

QAnon Conspiracy Theory

Related

In 2021, people thought QAnon would go away -- instead, it continued to fuel attacks on democracy

12/31/21 9:15 AM EST

Former Overstock CEO suggests he collaborated with QAnon influencer known for trying to elect Big Lie election administration candidates

07/25/22 1:14 PM EDT

In 2021, an increasingly fractured QAnon community started focusing on local politics -- while embracing more extremist beliefs

02/08/22 10:01 AM EST

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no lnx an 6 22

Anon's 'Q' delivers first new messages since 2020

Marc Nozell from Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA

Kelly McClure andSalon June 26, 2022

On Friday, amidst the chaos of the news of the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, QAnon's 'Q' left the first new series of messages since 2020.

The first message — "Shall we play a game once more?" — was left using 'Q's credentials on what Daily Beast refers to as an "anarchic internet community" called 8kun, and was later followed up with "Are you ready to serve your country again?" and then a third reading "Remember your oath."

When a member of the board replied to one of the messages saying "Throw us a bone Q, we've all been waiting for what seemed like an eternity. What's going on?" Q replied "It had to be done this way."

QAnon first made its presence known in 2017 as a conspiracy theory driven pro-Trump antagonist shrouded in anonymity and although their allegiance to Trump is clear, the former president is carefully dodgy when it comes to reciprocation.

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"Rally organizers make a valiant effort to dispel Q merchandise such as t-shirts, flags, and signs at the rallies," said a Trump spokesperson in a quote to Politico. Having said that, QAnon members Jeffrey Pedersen and his podcast co-host Shady Grooove were granted press credentials to a Trump rally in Florida the same month Trump's spokesperson provided the previously mentioned quote.

"We are the news now," Pedersen wrote on his Telegram channel, according to Vice.

In 2021, Ashli Babbitt, a big name within the QAnon community, was killed during the January 6 Capitol riots and Trump himself spoke on the event, offering what seemed to be condolences.

"The person that shot Ashli Babbitt ... there was no reason for that. And why isn't that person being opened up, and why isn't that being studied? They've already written it off. They said that case is closed. If that were the opposite, that case would be going on for years and years, and it would not be pretty," Trump said.

The basis of QAnon's belief system is that the Democratic world is run by Satan-worshipping pedophiles and that an event called "The Storm," will one day take place where their enemies will be executed via orders from a military tribunal. According to The Guardian, support of QAnon has increased since Trump left the White House.

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mma 7 22

Podcast host Shemane Nugent said during an interview with QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin that she knew “you’ve been with” former President Donald Trump previously.

Savin, whose real name is Wayne Willot, is a QAnon influencer who has warned of “civil war” if people “move[d] past” false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, and is part of a coalition to recruit and elect secretary of state candidates around the country in order to control election administration as part of an effort to push false voter fraud claims.

During the interview posted on July 12, Nugent — a fellow QAnon supporter and wife of former National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent — discussed meeting Trump previously, including in a “private roundtable discussion,” and said to Savin, “We went to the White House before, I know you’ve been with him, too.” Savin has previously claimed he’s been to Mar-A-Lago, where he said he’s been around Trump, and has also previously claimed he was in a “meeting … with someone that’s very close to the president [Trump] on a weekly basis." [aud]

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sHEMANE NUGENT (HOST): So what — what can we do? What are our marching orders? What are the tools that we need to get through these difficult times? Because we were with President Trump about a month ago, Ted played the national anthem at his rally in Austin, and we had an opportunity to speak to him. And I got to tell you, it was funny. We were sitting around this — we had a private roundtable discussion with President Trump, and there were about ten other people there. And each person got a chance to go around. They went around the table and each person had a chance to say something to President Trump. And we — we went to the White House before, I know you’ve been with him, too. We had dinner with him and Kid Rock and Sarah Palin at the White House when he was president.…

And so, anyways, I’m asking you the difficult questions, but what I wanted to tell you is that President Trump said — I quoted Ephesians. I said, “This is spiritual warfare. We know what's going on. We know we need to put on the full armor of God. What can we do?” I'm asking you that, too. And he said, “You know, I think this had to happen so people could wake up.” And then he also said, Juan, “It's going to get worse.”

JUAN O. SAVIN: Yes, it’s going to get a lot worse. This is a near-death experience for America. You have to see what these people would do if they were in control permanently here in the country.

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/soverign-citizen/

yikes militia have guns, xians want Armageddon

remix?

no lnx

Sovereign-citizen members bolster their audiences by adding QAnon beliefs to their mix

Image via Screengrab.

David Neiwert and Daily Kos June 26, 2022

The “sovereign citizen” movement—comprising scam artists and their gullible followers who claim that, by filling reams of documents full of pseudo-legal babble, ordinary citizens can declare themselves free of government rule at any level, thus becoming the law unto themselves—seems to have figured out how, after a couple of decades of mostly lurking on the fringes of the extreme right, to expand its reach and revive (if not entirely rebrand) itself: Go full QAnon.

Last weekend, onetime Pennsylvania Republican candidate Bobby Lawrence boasted that he and his “American State Nationals” operation filled a room in Keene, Texas, with 650 people who paid $120 each to take their special “training”—which teaches that birth certificates are satanic documents that enslave people by subsuming them under a corporation, but they can free themselves by filing their prescribed “redemption” documents. They also ardently promote Qanon conspiracy theories, including the claim that John F. Kennedy Jr. was secretly Trump’s real vice president.

The Anti-Defamation League has been warning about this coalescence since January, with Lawrence and his cohort David Straight, who have been holding these seminars around the country and, thanks to the fresh appeal of absorbing QAnon beliefs into the similarly conspiracy-fueled worldview of sovereign citizens, have increasingly been packing them in.

As their backgrounder explained:

Lawrence teaches sovereignty with a QAnon bent, urging his followers to become “American State Nationals” before Trump is reinstated as president. “American State National” is one of many terms that sovereign citizens use to distinguish themselves from citizens under the jurisdiction of the illegitimate, de facto government. “Trump is working on the ‘Fall of the Cabal’ which will allow our Constitutional Republic to Rise again, however the newly partially restored Constitutional Republic will need We The People of restored status via ‘The Great Awakening’ to fill and function in the newly partially restored Constitutional Republic,” Lawrence posted toTelegram in October 2021. “This will only be accomplished via We The People reclaiming our Birthrightby becoming American State Nationals... As the number of American State Nationals and one of the People increases, so will the Function of the [sic] our Constitutional Republic. It will start at theabsolute local level(you and your neighbors) and then grow and grow and grow.”

Sovereign-citizen and QAnon beliefs meld together almost seamlessly, as the ADL explains, because their fundamental worldviews involving a massive global cabal nefariously conspiring to enslave mankind are so similar. The sovereign movement’s belief that the current U.S. government is illegitimate serves to support their view of the Biden presidency as fraudulent, as well as the means for “freeing” themselves from such “tyranny.”

Lawrence primarily promotes a version of sovereign-citizen beliefs called “Redemption Theory,” which deals with the core concept that everyone who is an American citizen is designated a “strawman” corporate entity at birth, making them subsidiary properties of America Inc. “Redemption” is the process by which they split the strawman from the flesh-and-blood human, and its purpose is two-fold. As the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) explains:

Once separated from the corporate shell, the newly freed man is now outside of the jurisdiction of all admiralty laws. [Arrrrh me hearties] More importantly, by filing a series of complex, legal-sounding documents, the sovereign can tap into that secret Treasury account for his own purposes. Over the last 30 years, there have been hundreds of sovereign promoters packaging different combinations of forms and paperwork, attempting to perfect the process.While no one has ever succeeded, of course, they know with the religious certainty of a true cult believer that they’re close. All it will take is the right combination of words, say the promoters of the redemption scam.

Lawrence regularly regales his audiences with his version of the “redemption” scam, but with a powerful QAnon flavor. At an April 21 “Patriots Arise” event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—where he shared the stage with Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano—Lawrence launched to into a rant that manifested that commingling two conspiracist universes produces twice the crackpottery.

He explained how modern births and the birth-certificate process are actually satanic rituals:

Fred read a quote from [Woodrow Wilson adviser] Edward Mandell House where they talk about this construct, where they’regonna make slaves of us all, through a system of pledging, where we pledge our children as surety through something called a birth certificate, and a satanic ritual that takes place. …

So I’m gonna walk you through a satanic ritual that takes place, and it started with the birth certificate, which was actually chartered under the Department of Transportation. And everything is Admiralty. We all live under the water, and what is law, and where does law come from? Where does the word “law” come from? Land, air, and water. And where the founders of this nation thought about what law was, was the Bible, the Geneva Bible, the King James Version 1611 edition, where we got the word law from.And land, air, and water was in Genesis Chapter 1, verse 24 through 28, “and God created the heaven and the earth.” And God giveth man dominion over the earth, and God giveth man dominion over the land, and all the creatures that walk and creepeth. And God giveth man dominion over the air, and all the birds that fly, and God giveth man dominion over the water, and all the fish that swimmeth. And this is law.

Lawrence then repeated stock sovereign-citizen beliefs (all every bit as risibly false as his etymology for the word “law”) that there are three tiers of law: Canon law, common law, and Admiralty law, each reflecting rule over air, land, and water respectively. Then he went on:

So how do they get you to pledge your child, and how did our parents and our grandparents pledge us as property[slavery?] , as surety, in our personification, all capital names? It was through an evil, satanic ritual called the birth of a child.

You see, a mother goes into a foundling center, and she goes to see the doc—tor; a tor is a bill of lading when a ship arrives at the dock—and the mother puts her feet up on the stirrups and the mother’s waterbreaks, and the child comes out of the water through the birth canal, like you berth a ship, into the air, into the hands of the dock—tor. And then, historically speaking, a satanic ritual would take place—a child was smacked on the butt, turned upside down, cried out in fear and pain. And then before the child could put their feet on the land and take the breath of God as a free creation of God, a legal bond document came out. It’s on bond paper because it’s a banking instrument, it’s a surety bond.

And the child’s soul was taken on the back of that document. It was called the soul print. And then the umbilical cord and the afterbirth was thereby dead and abandoned by the mother, because that was part of your birth, part of your being born. The construct, the evil says that now that is dead, a part of you died and now you are a dead vessel, you are an all-capital legal fiction. They called you a person. If you look at your driver’s license, if you look at every document that government or any business sends you, it’s in your all-capital name. Your personification. Now the Bible tells us not to take on the persona, not to take on the person.

Lawrence also harkened to the stock radicalization belief in “red-pilling”: “We are living in Babylon right now,” he said. “It’s a corporate construct. It’s a Matrix. Keanu Reeves has said publicly that The Matrix is a documentary of how we are living our lives. Your money’s not real, you don’t own anything.”

And near the end, he wrapped it all up with a classic QAnon-style claim that Donald Trump is secretly One Of Them:

Yes, President Trump has done many things for us. And I won’t go into a lot of them, because quite frankly a lot of folks aren’t ready for it. And it’s hard to verify. But Donald Trump has told you all, if you go back to his speeches, he’s told you that when he comes back, he’s gonna be little letters, lower case. Look to his speech in 2021 at CPAC in Texas. He said when we go back to the White House this time it’s going to be in little letters. He told you at another rally that people are sovereign. He told you at another rally that you’re all millionaires. He told you in another rally that you’re the elite. And they’re the scoundrels. He told you at another rally that the Bar Association is corrupt. He tells you on and on—he might talk for two hours, but only four sentences are for those who are awake. And there’s a huge difference between being woke and awake, is it not?

Lawrence has formed close associations with leading QAnon influencers such as Ann Vandersteel, Allen and Francine Fosdick, the Pennsylvania-based hosts of the QAnon show Up Front in the Prophetic, and David Straight.

Vandersteel posted proudly announced onGab that she was “officially an American State National,” meaning she no longer was beholden to the U.S. government. She touted the supposed benefits of becoming an “American state national,” such as freedom from paying federal taxes to getting to “vote as a delegate, which has the power of four votes,” in an appearance on “The Conservative Daily Podcast,” hosted by Joe Oltmann and Max McGuire.

She said she had been introduced to these ideas by Lawrence, who ran for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 2018.Vandersteel indicated that Lawrence was radicalized afterward through his contacts with David Straight, a sovereign citizen activist who also promoted QAnon theories. Vandersteel claimed that Straight was a “commissioner on President Trump’s child sex-trafficking commission.”

ADL analyst Mark Pitcavage explained Lawrence’s rant on Twitter, noting that “redemption theory” originated with a sovereign-citizen guru named Roger Elvick back in 1999, and it became widespread within the movement.

“Basic redemption theory is something like this: In 1933, the US went off the gold standard and could therefore no longer pay its debts to the international bankers. To get around this, the government turned humans into collateral by converting birth certificates into stock,” he wrote. “They did this in part by creating fictional duplicates of every person (dubbed ‘strawmen’). You can tell when a document refers to the straw man instead of the flesh and blood person because the name will be in all caps, not upper and lower case.”

He also noted that much of the talk is devoted to explaining the sovereign-citizen belief that the conspiracy which infiltrated and subverted and replaced the original, legitimate government with a de facto tyrannical government had done so by replacing constitutional law with inferior “maritime” or “admiralty” law.

“Finally,” he noted, “the Satanic references thrown in there are derived from QAnon and presumably designed to make these theories more palatable to QAnoners.”

Given the size of Lawrence’s audiences now, and the regularity and breadth of “American State Nationalist” training sessions, the ADL’s January warning—“Given the flexibility of the sovereign citizen movement and its pseudo-legal tactics,it is quite possible that increasing numbers of QAnon adherents will find sovereign citizen ideas attractive in the future”—seems more than prescient. It may, in fact, prove to be understated.

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mma 6 22

no lnx many vid

jerone Davison, a Republican running for Congress in Arizona, confirmed that QAnon influencer Austin Steinbart is running his campaign, weeks after Steinbart boasted of his new role as campaign manager.

Steinbart, known online as “Baby Q,”has previously claimed that QAnon was ​​”a military intelligence operation” that used “space age quantum technology to post messages from the future to internet forums in the present,” and that former President Donald Trump was personally involved. Steinbart has served time in prison for hacking the medical records of celebrities, and, as noted by The Daily Beast, he got in legal trouble for using a “synthetic penis, in an apparent attempt to evade drug tests for marijuana while out on bail.”

In early June, Steinbart released a video to his supporters on Discordin which he said that Davison, who is running for Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, “made me his campaign manager last week, like officially.” According to Steinbart, he created a campaign site for Davison to go “really hard” on the “Q stuff” as a core part of his campaign messaging, and he plans to continue working with Davison “from the Capitol” should he successfully win a seat in Congress this November.

In a June 16 interview on an online show, Davison said, “I have somebody on my campaign who had a past, Austin,” adding that the “FBI set him up” and that he is a “guy on my team.” He also suggested that someone was creating “dummy websites” of his campaign, even though his social media promoted as his own campaign site a site that had the QAnon slogan -- “where we go one, we go all,” or “WWG1WGA” -- in its metadata, listed next to “breadcrumb,” another QAnon term. (Davison during the interview also said, “I was at January 6.”)

Video file

Video CitationFrom the June 16, 2022, edition of The Jim Price Show

Additionally, a Facebook post from Davison on June 20 was even more specific on Steinbart’s role in his campaign, stating, “Austin is my campaign manager,” and claiming that “the left is so afraid of my campaign that they tried to force me to fire” Steinbart.Davison also lashed out at Media Matters for allegedly “attempting to stop” his supposed campaign momentum by reporting the connections between himself and the QAnon movement, a conspiracy theory that has inspired internal warnings from multiple government agencies.

Jerone Davison site Facebook post

In response to Davison’s Facebook post, Steinbart wrote on Discord, “Jerone has our back. Let’s make sure we have his!”

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omg

an 6 22

in Nevada, far-right MAGA Republican, QAnon ally and conspiracy theorist Jim Marchant has been a loud, aggressive promoter of the "big lie" — falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. And he is now the GOP nominee for Nevada secretary of state, which means that if he defeats the Democratic nominee, attorney Cisco Aguilar, in November, he will be the state’s top election official in 2023.

On Monday, June 14, Marchant was the clear winner in Nevada’s GOP secretary of state primary, picking up 38 percent of the vote and defeating second-place candidate Jesse Haw by 18 percent. The position Marchant is running for is presently held by Barbara Cegavske, a conservative Republican who was censured by the Nevada Republican Party for refusing to promote the "big lie" after now-President Joe Biden won the state in 2020. Cegavske, who is term-limited, maintained that there was no evidence to show that Biden didn’t win Nevada fair and square — and she was inundated with death threats from Trump supporters after certifying Biden’s victory in Nevada.

But Marchant has stressed that had he been Nevada secretary of state in 2020, he never would have certified Biden’s victory. Marchant is president of an organization called the America First Secretary of State Coalition, which has been promoting MAGA Republicans and Trump loyalists who are running for secretary of state positions — including Mark Finchem in Arizona and Kristina Karamo in Michigan. The group also promoted Rep. Jody Hice’s primary campaign against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, but that primary didn’t go well for the Trump-endorsed Hice; Raffensperger, who refused to go along with Trump’s "big lie," enjoyed a landslide victory.

In Pennsylvania, the America First Secretary of State Coalition is supporting Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, a “Stop the Steal” conspiracy theorist who has falsely claimed that Trump won Pennsylvania in 2020. If elected governor in November, Mastriano will have a chance to pick Pennsylvania’s next secretary of state; in Pennsylvania, the secretary of state is chosen by the governor.

The term “voter suppression” is usually used to describe all the ways in which GOP-sponsored laws at the state level are making it more difficult to vote, such as eliminating or reducing early voting and mail-in ballots —and it is no coincidence that they are targeting heavily Democratic areas. But what Marchant and others in the America First Secretary of State Coalition are proposing is much more dangerous than making voting more difficult or inconvenient. Marchant is part of a movement in which MAGA Republicans are trying to take over the administration of elections and be in a position to simply throw out election results they don’t like.

One of Marchant’s main allies is QAnon extremist Wayne Willott, a.k.a. Juan O. Savin, who co-founded the America First Secretary of State Coalition. Members of QAnon were among the extremists who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, but Willott’s involvement in QAnon obviously doesn’t bother Marchant.

If the 2022 midterms see a major red wave and enough MAGA Republicans are victorious at the state level, it could affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. MAGA secretaries of state could refuse to certify any Democratic Electoral College victories in swing states, making false claims of election fraud just as Trump’s allies did in 2020.

From Pennsylvania to Michigan to Arizona, the MAGA movement and “Stop the Steal” Republicans are determined to be in control regardless of the actual outcome of elections — and in Nevada, that includes secretary of state nominee Jim Marchant.

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https://www.alternet.org/2**022/06/**qanons-influence-trumpified-radicalized-gop/

no lnx twt

Anon conspiracy theorists suffered a major disappointment when Donald Trump was voted out of the White House in 2020, but their presence in the Republican Party and the MAGA movement didn’t go away. QAnon’s ideas have been promoted by far-right members of the U.S. House of Representatives such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado — and QAnon devotee Lauren Witzke, who lost to Democratic Sen. Chris Coons in Delaware’s 2020 U.S. Senate race, is a pundit in Christian nationalist media broadcasts.

Moreover, QAnon’s influence in the GOP has grown to the point that a QAnon activist — Wayne Willott, a.k.a. Juan O. Savin — is trying to get MAGA Republicans elected to secretary of state positions so that they will play key roles in the administration of elections. Journalist Will Sommer, in an article published by the Daily Beast on June 1, takes a disturbing look at Willott’s “growing influence” both inside and outside the QAnon cult.

According to Sommer, Willott is doing a lot more than promoting conspiracy theories online. He is the co-founder of a group called theAmerica First Secretary of State Coalition, and his candidates have been running in GOP primaries in the 2022 midterms.

“While the 65-year-old Willott remains all but unknown outside of QAnon,” Sommer reports, “he’s a figure with growing influence in both the conspiracy-theory universe and the broader conservative movement…. The America First Secretary of State Coalition now stands poised to have its candidates win offices in key battleground states. One of the group’s candidates, Kristina Karamo, has already won the Republican nomination for the position in Michigan.”

Sommer adds, “Another candidate, 2020 election denier and Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem, has won Trump’s endorsement and looks set to win his state’s primary as well. If victorious in the general election, both candidates could play a key role in how electoral votes from their states are allotted in 2024.”

Alex Kaplan, a researcher for Media Matters, warns that Willott’s extremism should not be taken lightly.

Kaplan told the Beast, “If one of these candidates in the future gets elected, there is a QAnon influencer that could help lead to a constitutional crisis.”

QAnon conspiracy theorists have no problem believing ludicrous things. Supporters of QAnon claim that the United States’ federal government has been hijacked by an international cabal of child sex traffickers, Satanists, pedophiles and cannibals and that Trump was elected president in 2016 to fight the cabal. And some QAnon extremists, according to Sommer, believe that Willott is really John F. Kennedy, Jr.

“Thanks to his ties throughout the conspiracy theorist community and rumors that he’s JFK Jr.,” Sommer reports, “Willott’s star shot up on the right in 2020 and 2021. Signed copies of his book promoting QAnon have sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay. With Q, the originator of QAnon, silent since December 2020, Willott quickly became one of the leading sources of QAnon information.”

Sommer adds, “Willott’s rise to the top of the QAnon heap was abetted by the other QAnon promoters’ refusal to take the coronavirus vaccine. In the course of just a few months, two anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists who had promoted Willott, Robert David Steele and Cirsten Weldon, both died of COVID-19.”

A recurring theme with QAnon is that Democrats, including teachers, are “groomers” who are trying to harm childrenby promoting homosexuality and bisexuality in schools and pushing a transgender agenda. In 2022, anti-trans bills sponsored by far-right Republicans have been plentiful in state legislatures.

Journalist Kristi Pahr, reporting for Fatherly.com in late April, noted that at least 150 anti-trans bills had been introduced in state legislatures in 2022 — many of which were passed and signed into law.

“Given the onslaught of hundreds of bills that are under consideration, it can be hard for parents of trans kids or parents who are transgender themselves to know what’s happening where they live — and how to press lawmakers to fight against anti-trans laws,” Pahr reported. “That’s why one group, the Trans Formations Project, developed a tool for tracking discriminatory legislation so the public can find out what’s happening in their states. The project also lists contact information for state legislators and provides descriptions of any proposed legislation in easy-to-understand language, without all the legal jargon and vagueness that tends to obfuscate what passed laws would actually do to our kids.”

Pahr cited Texas, Utah, West Virginia, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana, Arkansas and Mississippi as examples of red states where anti-trans bills have become law. And Florida, a swing state, is the home of what has been widely criticized as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Pahr describes it as the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law, reminding Fatherly readers that the law is not only anti-gay, but also, anti-trans.

The anti-trans laws being introduced by far-right Republicans in state legislatures don’t mention QAnon specifically, but they underscore QAnon’s influence on the Republican Party. When Republicans talk about “groomers” in defense of anti-trans bills, it is right out of QAnon’s Democrats-want-to-harm-your-children playbook.

Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the GOP nominee in Pennsylvania’s 2022 gubernatorial race, is among the far-right MAGA Republicans and conspiracy theorists who hasn’t been the least bit shy about promoting QAnon. In July 2021, Media Matters’ Eric Hananoki reported that Mastriano had promoted QAnon in more than 50 tweets.

Christian nationalist Witzke has been another outspoken QAnon promoter. When Witzke ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Delaware that was once held by now-President Joe Biden, she lost badly: In 2020, Democratic incumbent Coons defeated her by 22%.

But the fact that Delaware Republicans nominated someone as extreme as Witzke in the first place is a frightening example of the GOP’s radicalization. And Witzke hasn’t grown any less extreme or any less kooky since 2020.

These days, Witzke is making her presence felt in Christian nationalist broadcasts. Witzke praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a symbol of Christian piety in February and applauded the invasion of Ukraine. And now, she is implying that Democrats in the federal government and their "RINO" (Republicans In Name Only) allies are behind a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas on May 24 that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Witzke believes that Democrats targeted Robb Elementary School not only to promote gun control, but also, because they are worried about Latinos voting Republican.

Witzke said, “I think about the conspiracy behind all of it. I’m like, OK, what do they gain from it besides the gun control push? But also, Hispanics are starting to vote Republican and conservative. They specifically targeted a school in an area that is majority Hispanic. It’s essentially Mexico is what it is.”

Witzke went on to say, “They’re watching as Hispanics are starting to lean more conservative, and these people are crazy. Midterms are coming up. And there’s no limit to how far they’ll go to change the public narrative on things. So, I think it was multi-faceted. Of course, it was a federal operation in order to implement gun control…. All this stuff is organized and operated.”

The claim that Democrats in the federal government are orchestrating mass shootings of schoolchildren because they believe it will help them politically is exactly the type of ludicrous conspiracy theory QAnon supporters are coming up with. And this type of thinking has become mainstream in the Trumpified, radicalized GOP.

From Willott and Witzke to Mastriano, Boebert and Greene, QAnon is more than a movement of fringe conspiracy theorists who make wacky claims online. It is now a prominent influence in the Republican Party, even influencing anti-trans, anti-gay laws they are passing. And if Republicans enjoy a major red wave in the 2022 midterms, QAnon’s influence will only grow.

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rww random 5 22

• clay Clark excitedly announced that Donald Trump Jr. will be joining Michael Flynn and the cavalcade of COVID-19, election, and QAnon conspiracy theorists at an upcoming “ReAwaken America” event in Virginia.
• Speaking of QAnon conspiracy theorists, Johnny Enlow is if the Earth is round or flat.
• The leader of the group “protecting” a Catholic church from pro-choice protesters last weekend appeared on “The Stew Peters Show” Tuesday night, where he claimed that the protesters were following “literal direct orders from the devil himself.” The individual was identified as “Chad McDowell” on the show, but his real name appears to be Max Bernegger.
• Last weekend, Jaden McNeil and Simon Dickerman, two former associates of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, spent dishing dirt about Fuentes, who subsequently responded with a nearly 5-hour livestream defending himself and attacking his critics.
• Finally, a message from white nationalist Vincent James: “We’re going to ban abortion and contraceptives. We’re going to ban gay marriage. We’re going to ban gender studies, and bring JESUS CHRIST back into public schools. You can cry all you want, but there’s literally nothing you can do about it. And you don’t like it, you can move back to the shithole states you destroyed.”

Tags: Clay Clark Donald Trump Jr. Jaden McNeil Johnny Enlow Max Bernegger Nick Fuentes Simon Dickerman Stew Peters Vincent James Leftovers ReAwaken America

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note bad faith; note violence is always defensive and he is careful never to explicitly call for it.

180 pp gt replace manifesto, dad bought him one of the guns?

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/matt-gaetz/

amanda

in the 16 months since Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump and the hosts Fox News hosts — especially its top-rated personality, Tucker Carlson — haven't exactly been subtle in approving of what happened and longing to see more right-wing violence. Trump has publicly mused about issuing pardons to the Capitol insurrectionists if he wins back — or rather steals back — the White House in 2024. Like many of the far-right Republicans in Congress, Trump has also made a martyr out of Ashli Babbitt, the QAnon believer who was shotduring the Capitol riot when she tried to break into a secure area and quite likely attack members of Congress. Carlson, meanwhile, has been at the forefront of popularizing various often contradictory conspiracy theories, mostly intended to portray the Jan. 6 insurrectionists as noble patriots and lambaste any Republican who dares say otherwise. While these GOP leaders and media personalities are generally careful to avoid direct calls for violence, their overall message of sympathy and support for right-wing terrorism is undeniable.

So Saturday's mass shooting in Buffalo, while horrifying, is really no surprise.

The alleged shooter who killed 10 people and injured three others in a Buffalo supermarket is 18-year-old Payton Gendron, who appears to have target a busy location in a predominantly Black neighborhood. As has become far too common with these kinds of mass murders, Gendron reportedly live-streamed the massacre on video, and apparently also published a manifesto that echoes many of the paranoid right-wing talking points one can hear every day streaming from the mouths of Fox News hosts and Republican politicians: a series of scurrilous lies about "critical race theory," George Soros and the "great replacement."

Now a familiar refrain will commence. No doubt we will be hear a great deal of umbrage in the coming days from Republican leaders and right-wing pundits. "How dare you blame us?" they will proclaim, in almost hysterical terms, acting shocked, shocked, that anyone would suggest that their words have had horrible consequences. The point of this fake outrage will be to make it too emotionally exhausting to hold them accountable, and to reinforce the ridiculous victim complex that fuels the American right as it increasingly slides into fascism. But let's not mince words: These folks share the blame. They have been encouraging violence, and violence is what they got.

The "great replacement" theory has been a favorite of Carlson's for some time now. This particular paranoid hypothesis is deeply rooted in neo-Nazi and other white nationalist circles. A cabal of rich Jewish people, the theory holds, has conspired to "replace" white Christian Americans with other races and ethnic groups in order to gain political and social control. Carlson doesn't actually say "Jews," and generally blames the sinister plan on Democrats, socialists or unspecified "elites," but otherwise has kept the conspiracy theory intact. (Antisemitism remains the mix by singling out individual Jewish people especially Soros, as the alleged ringleaders.)

It's not like Carlson only invokes this narrative on occasion. As Media Matters researcher Nikki McCann Ramirez has documented, Carlson is obsessed with this idea that the people he calls"legacy Americans" — a not-so-veiled euphemismfor white Christians of European ancestry — are under siege from shadowy forces flying the banner of diversity. He uses anodyne terms like "demographic change" to make the point, but has gotten bolder more recently, using the word "replacement" to make it even clearer that he's borrowing his ideas from the white-supremacist fringe.

Carlson has also explicitly linked this conspiracy theory to the threat of violence, repeatedly "warning" that America faces a new civil war unless these fictional conspirators stop trying to "replace" his cherished "legacy Americans." The GOP base has been getting the message. A poll conducted in December showed that nearly half of Republican respondents buy into the idea that there's a conspiracy to "replace" white Christians with different racial and ethnic groups. That proportion has probably risen since then, as Carlson's deluge has further mainstreamed this delusional and dangerous notion. Unsurprisingly, there has been a concurrent rise in hate crimes, of which this Buffalo shooting is merely the most dramatic recent example.

When called out for stoking a conspiracy theory that is likely to inspire violence, Carlson inevitably plays the victim, accusing liberals of being "hysterical" and characterizing these criticisms as "cancel culture." This only encourage his viewers to embrace the conspiracy theory even more, telling themselves that they (and he) are bold truth-tellers fighting against the forces of liberal oppression.That's why the how-dare-they posturing we will almost certainly see from Carlson and other right-wing pundits in coming days so predictable. This article, for instance, will quite likely be characterized as hysterical name-calling or an attempt to censor bold political speech. But let's understand this feigned outrage for what it is: an attempt to leverage an act of terrorism in a way that leads people to accept it or even condone it.

The "great replacement" theory fits in with the larger pattern of right-wing Republicans (especially our former president and his allies) and Fox News pundits encouraging not just right-wing paranoia, but the inevitable acts of violence that flow from it. The most straightforward example of this, of course, is the relentless rewriting of the history of Jan. 6, which began in the immediate aftermath and continues to this day. Republican leaders in Congress voted down Trump's impeachment only weeks after the riot and have tried to block congressional efforts to uncover exactly how the attempted coup went down.

Over this past winter, Fox News, Trump and other GOP leaders made another big push towards political violence, hyping outrageous conspiracy theories about COVID vaccines and encouraging their audiences toward aggressive acts of so-called resistance. As with Carlson, these threats are often packaged as "warnings," as when Trump declared on Fox News in February, "You can push people so far and our country is a tinderbox too, don't kid yourself." Around the same time, Carlson, Sean Hannity, Carlson and Glenn Beck all started pushed the idea that anti-vaccination fanatics were potentially justified in using violence as "self-defense."

Indeed, as the shooting was unfolding in Buffalo, there was an overt call for right-wing violence at Trump's rally in Austin, Texas, where oock geezer turned gun advocate Ted Nugent told the crowd of 8,000 that he'd "love" it if they all "went out and just went berserk on the skulls of the Democrats and the Marxists and the communists." In his speech afterward, Trump praised Republican politicians in Texas, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who have slavishly proven their loyalty to him.

Many of the people arrested for their actions on Jan. 6 , 2021, have stopped being apologetic about what they did, and are now portraying themselves as martyrs and heroes. Last week, one of the most prominent ringleaders on the insurrection,Tim "Baked Alaska" Gionet, a troll to the very end, dramatically declared at a hearing that he was changing his plea. He had agreed to plead guilty to a lesser offense, but now wants to plead not guilty, even though he filming himself inside the Capitol during the riot and put the evidence online. Other Jan. 6 defendants have also become more confrontational, including pulling a gun on probation officers, acquiring new guns in defiance of a court order, or claiming that their actions on that dayamounted to "self-defense." In fairness, why shouldn't they feel emboldened? Most Republican voters, along with the party's leadership, are more interested in making excuses for Trump's coup than holding anyone accountable for it.

And all of the above doesn't even touch on the way Republican politicians and right-wing media have mainstreamed the QAnon conspiracy theory by regularly slurring Democrats, LGBTQ folks and their allies as "groomers." Demonizing political opponents with false allegations of pedophilia is unbelievably slimy, even by Republican standards. It also serves to inspire or encourage potential acts of violence, by dehumanizing their targets and creating a delusional narrative that makes such attacks seem justified.

Perhaps the horror unleashed in Buffalo on Saturday will cause Carlson and his allies to rethink their paranoid, racist and inflammatory rhetoric. That is doubtful, however. After all, this is just the latest in a series of mass shootings inspired by the "great replacement" theory, including the

Just this week, the conspiracy theory got another round of hype as Republican pundits and politicians pretended to believe that President Biden was stealing baby formula from Americans to feed "illegals," their slur for refugees applying for asylum. Those who would support deliberately starving babies for racist and xenophobic reasons aren't likely to feel any real empathy for the victims and their families in Buffalo. We cannot legitimately hope that they will be chastened by this latest round of violence, but we can make clear that their hateful rhetoric helped to unleash it.

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twt  https://twitter.com/BonginoReport/status/1522648982585065474

[pix of garland]

BonginoReport on Twitter: "Woke Biden Admin. Unleashes New "Green ...

Bongino Report @BonginoReport. Woke Biden Admin. Unleashes New "Green Police" To Target YOU [emoticons eyeballs, thumb?] rumble.com. Woke Biden Admin. Unleashes New "Green Police" To Target YOU. What does "environmental justice" even mean? 6:46 PM · May 6, --> qanon

aug 21?  biden senile russ disinfo

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an ah 4 22

The GOP’s authoritarian MAGA insanity isn’t getting better — and it won’t: conservative

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia speaking at the 2021 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona on December 19, 2021, Gage Skidmore]

Alex Henderson April 29, 2022

In an April 28 column for the conservative website The Bulwark, Never Trump pundit Tim Miller reviews the new Jonathan Martin/Alexander Burns book “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future.” Miller’s disturbing takeaway: the far-right MAGA extremism that has overtaken the Republican Party — which Miller was once a member of — isn’t going away. And it won’t.

“So, I’ve been paging through ‘This Will Not Pass’, the book by my pal Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns,” explains Miller, a one-time aide to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “And for all the SHOCKING REVEALS — with audio! — about Kevin’s cowardice, Mitch’s cravenness, and Kamala’s ennui, the thing that keeps striking me throughout is that none of the ostensible political professionals being profiled seems to understand the reality of the political situation they find themselves in.”

Miller continues, “By January 6th, (2021), Trump had been the number one story in politics for five years, upending all the conventional wisdom that came before. He was in the middle of an extended, multi-pronged effort to undermine our democracy. It may have been boobish, but it captured the imaginations of tens of millions of Americans. Yet most of the characters in ‘This Will Not Pass’ act as if they are caught up in some 24-hour fever that will subside with liquids and a good night’s rest.”

The Kevin, Mitch and Kamala that Miller is referring to are, of course, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Kamala Harris.

A “good night’s rest,” Miller emphasizes, isn’t going to cure the political sickness that ails the United States in 2022. Liberal democracy, according to Miller, continues to face a dire threat in the U.S. from the MAGA far right — and pundits and politicians who believe the GOP will return to traditional old-school conservatism are being hopelessly naïve.

“You fucking idiots. You maroons,” Miller writes with obvious frustration. “You really thought all this — waves hands — was over? That you were going to be let off that easy? That bipartisanship was coming back to Washington? That the radicals who stormed the Capitol wouldn’t get their dander up over Joe Biden? That the Republicans were going to bring back some old-timey comity?”

To illustrate his point, Miller points to a video from the Republican Accountability Project — an anti-Trump conservative group — that shows Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, and other GOP candidates expressing their unwavering devotion to Trump:

Miller laments that Republicans who have the courage to stand up and publicly call for Trump to be excised from the Republican Party — for example, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — are few and far between.

“Here is a reality check,” Miller warns. “This will not pass because people in power refuse to take on the risk required to force change. Some days, it seems like the only one who gets this is Liz Cheney. And that’s why, in the book, Kevin McCarthy’s bestie Jeff Miller is quoted as saying ‘Fuck that bitch.’ Because anyone who shows actual courage and bursts the comfortable bubble where these Republicans tell themselves that things might magically get better if they just keep on doing the same shit they’ve been doing for seven years must be debased, degraded, and expelled from the club.”

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top of escalor is senate scotus confirmation?!

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/david-mamet-teachers-pedophilia-fox-news-1335736/

David Mamet Comes Out as Right-Wing Culture Warrior, Claims Teachers Are Inclined to Pedophilia

April 11, 2022

David Mamet’s latest plot twist is a dud.

The award-winning playwright and screenwriter went on Fox News on Sunday to rail against pedophilia in the education system, alleging that teachers are “inclined” to pedophilia and that children are being “groomed” for sexual abuse, a popular conservative talking point around Florida’s controversial new “Don’t Say Gay” law. Said law prohibits the discussion of sexual orientation and gender in certain grade levels of the state’s public schools.

“We have to take back control,” Mamet told Mark Levin. “There’s no community control of the schools. What we have is kids not only being indoctrinated but groomed, in a very real sense, by people who are, whether they know it or not, sexual predators. Are they abusing the kids physically? No, I don’t think so. But they are abusing them mentally and using sex to do so. This has always been the problem with education. Teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia.”

Mamet went on to suggest that sex education is a way for teachers to ensure children are familiar with sex so that they can use it to abuse them.

The idea that teachers are grooming children for sex has been used by right-wing ideologues to argue in favor of Florida’s new “Parental Rights in Education Bill” — or, as detractors dubbed it, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — which Governor Ron DeSantis signed late last month amid controversy. Christian Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, call it “anti-grooming” legislation in early March, implying that teachers are trying to force gender identity discussions on young children in an effort to “groom” them for sex.

“If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer, or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8-year old children,” she tweeted. “Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.”

The discourse has since spiraled to the point that congressional Republicans are now painting Disney as a pedophilia factory because the company opposed the bill. The party-wide paranoia over rampant child molestation has largely trickled down from QAnon, a baseless conspiracy theory alleging the Democratic Party and Hollywood are run by Satan-worshipping child traffickers. The fringe theory has slowly infected mainstream political discourse and now, apparently, the mind of the guy who wrote Glengarry Glen Ross.

Mamet also, it might be worth mentioning in light of his recent comments, wrote a screenplay for Lolita....

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https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/conspiracy-theory-about-hunter-biden-and-ukrainian-biolabs-went-qanon

no lnx twt pix vid

a conspiracy theory about Hunter Biden and Ukrainian biolabs went from QAnon supporters and far-right message boards to the Kremlin and Tucker Carlson

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN

PUBLISHED 03/28/22

A version of a false conspiracy theory about Ukrainian biolabs that holds that Hunter Biden is connected to those labs was spread by the Russian government, Chinese state media, and Fox News host Tucker Carlson, after supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory and users on far-right message boards pushed the claim.

In late February, a false conspiracy theory spread online -- spurred on by a QAnon-supporting Twitter account known as “Clandestine” -- that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was targeting U.S.-linked labs working to create bioweapons. In reality, the labs are focused on detecting diseases, the U.S. program aims to prevent the development or spread of biological weapons, and the conspiracy theory has its roots in a longstanding Russian disinformation effort. The false claim has spread online among far-right figures and QAnon supporters, and the Russian government has invoked the conspiracy theory to justify the invasion following its spread in parts of the American right.

In the months before the invasion, a separate conspiracy theory circulated online suggesting that Biden was tied to labs involved in potentially nefarious activity around the world, including possibly causing the coronavirus pandemic.Although Ukraine was not the only focus of the conspiracy theory, it was mentioned as one of the countries supposedly involved in these efforts; this claim also followed previous allegations from right-wing media about wrongdoing by Biden in that country.

In particular, a thread from a QAnon-supporting Twitter account called “Blue Canaries” claimed in October that Biden was connected to an effort to manufacture “bio agents under diplomatic cover at ‘secret’ labs” and sell “pandemic insurance and trackers to help countries get ahead of what they are putting out.”

Blue Canaries Twitter

Blue Canaries’ Twitter thread quickly spread among some online conspiracy theorists, including on 8kun’s “/qresearch/” message board, the forum dedicated to “Q,” QAnon’s central figure. It was shared on-air by Infowars host Owen Shroyer, who hyped the thread as “unbelievable,” as well as by Jeffrey Pedersen, a QAnon influencer and show co-host known online as “intheMatrixxx,” who called it “a very interesting thread/dig.”

8kun Hunter biolabs1

CitationFrom 8kun's “/qresearch/” message board

Soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in late February, and as Clandestine’s biolabs conspiracy theory Twitter thread took off online, the Blue Canaries Twitter thread mentioning Biden was invoked again and began to spread among users on far-right message boards.

QAnon forum Hunter biolabs

It was also featured onPedersen’s MatrixxxGrooove Show(also known as MG Show) just one day after Russia’s invasion began. Pedersen -- who had by that point shared Clandestine’s claim about biolabs as a reason for the invasion -- extensively discussed Blue Canaries’ Twitter thread, linked it to Biden, and suggested “President [Vladimir] Putin and Russia have been worried about this.” Co-host Shannon Townsend added, “This looks like the biggest thing that they would be worried about considering what we’ve experienced in the world for the last two-plus years. Why would he not be afraid that this was going on? And what if we could prove that it was going on all over the country of Ukraine, right next door to him?”

Video CitationFrom the February 25, 2022, edition of the MatrixxxGrooove Show

Following that MatrixxxGrooove Show episode on February 25, both Blue Canaries’ Twitter thread and the claim that Biden was tied to Ukrainian biolabs continued to spread via some social media accounts and on far-right message board site 4chan. On February 28, RedPill78’s Zak Paine, a QAnon show host who participated in the Capitol insurrection, discussed Biden “in regards to those biolabs in the Ukraine” and the “ongoing conversation about biological weapons facilities in the country of Ukraine that were set up by the United States government.”

On March 8, Infowars published an article claiming Biden was “connected to US biolabs in Ukraine,” mentioning some of the same organizations cited by the Blue Canaries thread -- repeating claims that the outlet had pushed on-air months earlier. Two days later, far-right blog The Gateway Pundit came out with its own piece claiming Biden’s investment fund had “provided capital for the firms behind the creation of Biolabs in Ukraine,” citing Infowars’ “excellent article with connections between Hunter Biden” and the supposed biolabs. Pedersen shared both articles and wrote, “You heard it on the MG Show first,” adding that “we also beat infowars” on pushing the conspiracy theory.

Gateway Pundit Hunter biolabs

CitationFrom The Gateway Pundit

Following The Gateway Pundit’s article, the conspiracy theory gained more exposure on some mainstream social media platforms, getting thousands of total engagements on those platforms.

The Russian government invoked this particular version of the conspiracy theory on March 24, with the Ministry of Defense accusing Biden’s investment firm of having a “close connection” to military contractors responsible for “Pentagon biolaboratories around the world” -- similar to what Blue Canaries had suggested those months prior. Russia’s Defense Ministry also released a diagram of supposed connections between Biden, the Democratic Party, George Soros, various U.S. companies and federal agencies, and foreign governments as evidence for the conspiracy theory,and the claim was subsequently pushed by Russian state media. Chinese state media also pushed the claim, citing the Russian government.

Russian and Chinese state media Hunter biolabs

On the evening of March 24, Fox News host Tucker Carlson -- who had previously pushed the broader biolabs conspiracy theory to justify Russia’s invasion -- pointed to a National Pulse article from earlier that day to say that “a private equity firm run by Hunter Biden funded some of the research into pathogens in these biolabs.” The on-screen chyron said, “Report: Hunter Linked To Ukrainian Biolab.” (The MatrixxxGrooove Show’s Townsend had also shared the National Pulse article and claimed that his show found what the article claimed “over a month ago.”)

Video fileCitationFrom the March 24, 2022, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight

For his part, Clandestine -- the QAnon supporter who caused the initial biolabs conspiracy theory to spread widely online following the invasion -- joined in hyping the Biden angle and cheered Carlson’s points, calling them “digestible doses for the normies” that are “culminating into a mass realization the likes of which the world has never seen.”

THE LATEST

Piers Morgan plugs new show on Fox Nation: “I'm going to lead the charge to save our language to let pregnant people go back to being called women.”

04/01/22 3:32 PM EDT

This far-right website funnels Russian propaganda into the conservative echo chamber

04/01/22 3:17 PM EDT

Joe Rogan: “Imagine” getting “into bed” with White House press secretary Jen Psaki

04/01/22 2:39 PM EDT

Accounts spreading QAnon, anti-vax, and election fraud misinformation are still being hosted by Twitch, despite the platform’s alleged crackdown

04/01/22 2:01 PM EDT

Fox News is using the “Libs of TikTok” Twitter account like a wire service for anti-LGBTQ attacks

04/01/22 1:52 PM EDT

Pagination

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IN THIS ARTICLE

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Tucker Carlson

QAnon Conspiracy Theory

Related

Facebook and Instagram have allowed and profited from advertising pushing the false Ukraine-US biolabs conspiracy theory

03/16/22 11:59 AM EDT

YouTube is making money off a false Ukraine-biolabs conspiracy theory that is tied to Russian disinformation and QAnon

03/08/22 3:27 PM EST

QAnon supporters and far-right figures hail Russian invasion of Ukraine as Putin taking down the “cabal”

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right-wing QAnon self-proclaimed "prophet" Johnny Enlow blessed three Republican candidates for public officeduring the Restore: Government and Economy summit at Eagle Mountain Apostolic Resource Center in Bend, Oregon on Saturday.

The bizarre ritual led by Enlow – a conspiracy theorist who has glued himself to and made innumerable false predictions about former President Donald Trump's 2020 election lies – even pantomimed sprinkling holy water on the GOP hopefuls: "Marc Thielman, who is running for governor, Darin Harbick, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Patti Adair, who is seeking reelection as a county commissioner," according to Right Wing Watch.

“Lord, we commission them in your name. They have asked for that as well, Lord, so we commission them. And whatever that means, represents, and is imparted to them in the spirit realm of apostolic commissioning, let that be released over them. Even right now, Lord, let the new angels that come with that commissioning be released to them right now; angels that protect their household, angels that protect their relationships– the husband and wife, the family, the children, all aspects of it – let that new shield come around all of them even at this time, Lord," Enlow proclaimed.

“Lord, you’re showing me and want me to tell them all that you’ve already won, and it's winning from his standpoint, which means he's shown me before that whatever we contend for we actually get. Whatever we contend for, we penetrate with the kingdom of God," Enlow continued. "So when you have that interest, what you’re contending for, it will leave a mark of Heaven in that place, no matter what. And so if he considers it best for you to win, then you’re going to officially win out there. But it’s a win for the Kingdom of God just the fact that you have said, ‘We’re going for this position.’ He says it will be penetrated in the spirit: it will forever be marked as kingdom territory.”

Watch below via Right Wing Watch:

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/gop-qanon/

Over the last few years, QAnon has slowly infiltrated the Republican Party, replacing its traditional conservative values with far-right conspiratorial theories that have nothing to do with reality.

Now, NY Mag's Jacob Silverman is explaining how QAnon has practically overtaken the Republican Party. While the radicalized beliefs were previously verbalized among factions of the political party, Silverman notes how those beliefs are progressively becoming more mainstream.

"QAnon’s adherents tend to espouse some selection of bizarre beliefs from the conspiracist’s buffet that includes accusations of pedophile politicians eating children, secret political tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, a great bloodletting, and Donald Trump swooping in to free us from evil. One day. Or maybe the day after. The prophecy is flexible, which is why it has evolved and endured."

Explaining the timeline of the political party's downward spiral, Silverman noted how the actions of Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, are an example of the radical shift in Republican values and belief systems.

"The latest exemplar of the GOP’s descent into anything-goes nuttery is Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a well-connected conservative activist who recently admitted to attending the January 6 Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C.," he writes. "Ginni’s right-wing beliefs have long been known, but leaked texts between her and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows revealed Thomas’ commitment to overturning the election, based on an apparently sincere belief that Joe Biden had stolen the presidency. She encouraged Meadows to help put a stop to Democratic perfidy. 'The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History,' went one message to Meadows, encouraging him to stand strong."

Silverman is also highlighting Republican lawmakers' latest actions that signal the party's shift toward more extremist beliefs.

"The signs of the Republican slide towardfull epistemic crackup are all around us," Silverman writes. "One can see it everywhere lately, not only in the 'why do you want to hurt children?'-type questions hurled by Republican senators at Jackson, but also in the revanchist anti-LGBTQ laws being introduced in Texas and Florida and in fearful talk of teachers 'grooming' children on Fox News. The ginned-up moral panic, centered around the child exploitation themes that helped give life to QAnon, is now a regular part of Republican political rhetoric."

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wow putin is anti-commie?!

an 3 22

Conspiracy theorists in the United States and around the world appear to have anew obsession: the "New World Order."

Ever since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, politicians and political pundits on cable have tossed about the phrase while predicting that Vladimir Putin's war, however it concludes, has reshaped the geopolitical landscape. In their shorthand, that equates to the dawning of a "new world order."

As Vice News points out, President Joe Biden name-checked the “new world order” conspiracy in a mid-March to the Business Roundtable. “Now is a time when things are shifting,” Biden said when asked about the United States’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “There’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it.”

The “New World Order” is solidly ensconced in American conspiracy theory culture. To those who believe, those three words represent a multitude of dystopian horrors, such as forced depopulation programs, a secretive ruling class of reptiles and “elite globalists” on a satanic mission to bring about the “end times.”

References to the “New World Order” have been frequent on some of the large Telegram channels dedicated to the“freedom convoy” movement that started in Canada in January. “Ukraine falls, and it will, it is the end of the New World Order,” wrote someone on that Telegram channel. “Believe it or not,Putin is a white hat and working to take downSatanists, corruption, bioweapons sites, and the New World Order,” wrote another. “Mainstream media is not your friend.” “Vladimir Putin is a traitor to the NWO!” someone else wrote in another convoy channel. “That's why we like him.”

At least one far-right U.S. politician appears to buy into the theory. Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, who was censured by her colleagues for participating in a white nationalist conference, recently listed the names of people she believes are part of “one big happy New World Order club.” Her list, shared to Telegram on Tuesday, included top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, billionaire philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Mark Zuckerberg, the Clintons, and the Bush family. She also called the European Union “New World Order tyranny.”

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maga q vaxxers self ID as good marks for grift, so they are targets for extraction?  will pay for simple immediate  solution?

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/these-anti-vaxxers-and-wellness-influencers-have-been-applauding-putins-ukraine-invasion-report/

no lnx

These anti-vaxxers and ‘wellness influencers’ have been applauding Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion: report

Alex Henderson March 25, 2022

Support for Russian President Vladimir Putin is by no means universal on the America right. Many conservatives, from Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah to media Never Trumpers like The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and the Washington Post’s Max Boot, have been blistering critics of Putin — especially during the brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Yet in the MAGA cult, Putin has had his share of apologists — from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson to “War Room” host Steve Bannon to former President Donald Trump. And Mother Jones’ Kiera Butler, in an article published on March 24, focuses on a bizarre trend: far-right anti-vaxxers and online “wellness influencers” who have become cheerleaders for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Butler previously reported on pro-Putin anti-vaxxers in a March 2 article, and since then, the Mother Jones journalist stresses,the “overlap” between pro-Putin propagandists and anti-vaxxers “has only grown.”

“(On March 19), the Toronto Star reported a startling correlation between vaccination status and beliefs about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Butler explains. “More than 80% of vaccinated Canadians said they believed their country should help defend Ukraine, compared to less than a quarter of unvaccinated people. This dynamic is especially pronounced in extremist spaces. Some of the anti-mandate trucker convoy chats on Telegram now seem dominated by Putin cheerleading.”

Some online “wellness influencers,” according to Butler, have been claiming that President Joe Biden is “trying to pull a fast one on them by painting Russia as the aggressor” in Ukraine.

“Should social media platforms flag influencers’ content as disinformation,” Butler observes, “it only serves to reinforce their belief that they are being punished for their righteous truth-telling. Some influencers have monetized their self-proclaimed martyrdom by sharing disinformation about Ukraine and hawking their own wellness items.”

twt

Instagram, according to Butler, is one of the social media platforms where pro-Putin anti-vaxxers and “wellness influencers” have been plentiful.

“Beyond the oils and the tinctures, influencers are selling something much more valuable: a sense offierce and uncompromising maternal identity,” Butler observes. “The account bios frequently mention natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and attachment parenting — and their posts and stories tie events in Ukraine back to defending their families from what they see as government overreach.”

Anti-vaxxers who are sympathetic to Putin, Butler writes, are also more likely to be influenced by the far-right pro-Trump conspiracy group QAnon.

“Factions of anti-vaccine groups increasingly embraced COVID denialism and dabbled in QAnon,” Butler notes. “The Russians’ initial plan of dividing Americans had worked better than they could have possibly expected — so that by the time Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, anti-vaccine activists were primed to believe that Putin was the good guy.”

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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/peoples-convoy-fails-to-disrupt-washingtons-roads-meets-with-far-right-congress-members/

no lnx

rww thus trifecta 3 22

the convoy ofanti-vaccine-mandate, pro-Trump, andQAnon-conspiracy activistswas determined to disrupt Washington, D.C., by circling the Beltway, the 64 miles of highway that’s generally a hellscape for commuters. Organizers of the “People’s Convoy” modeled their efforts after the trucker convoy in Canada that took over downtown Ottawa and shut down the bridge connecting Ontario to Michigan, disrupting trade and business in both countries. U.S. organizers demanded an end to vaccine and mask mandates and an end to the national emergency around COVID-19 that was declared under former President Donald Trump and extended under President Joe Biden.

On Monday, the truck convoy entered the Beltway with instructions to take up two lanes of traffic. By 2 p.m., the convoy was “struggling to occupy one lane of traffic let alone two,” The Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo reported. Regular traffic separated convoy vehicles as it had on Sunday. With diesel hitting $4.75 this week, driving their gas-guzzlers slowly around the Beltway seemed like an expensive effort in futility, especially since D.C. had lifted its mask and vaccine mandate and the Biden administration and Congress had. Brase stated the convoy’s demands to “end the state of emergency, end the vaccine mandates” and to hold “our elected and unelected officials accountable for their actions that led to this,”” the AFCLF representative told Cruz and Johnson. “We have a pendulum that’s swinging from ‘woke’ to ‘the great awakening’.”

Shortly thereafter, a larger group met with Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie for a “trucker round table” on Capitol Hill. The truckers and adjacent activists complained about rising gas prices, mask and vaccine mandates, critical race theory, and government tyranny, with one trucker calling on the legislators to simply stop funding the government. When one convoy member from Michigan asked how to prevent stolen elections, Gaetz repeated debunked voter fraud claims about the state. 

“Michigan, where they waited, the center in Detroit, to see how the rest of the state voted to figure out how many ballots they needed,” Gaetz said. “You want to be very suspicious of federalizing elections. If we federalize elections, then we have the swamp and the Washington, D.C., Beltway telling you how to count votes in Lansing, Michigan.”

Massie decided to focus on mail-in ballots—which Trump baselessly insists was a source of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election—warning that “they may have to find some excuse to go back to mail-in ballots.”

Greene was in agreement. “The last thing you want is the federal government to be involved in your election,” she said.

Gaetz tried to wrap up the questions, joking that if the group stayed over its allotted time in the room he reserved, they would be accused of “an insurrection.”

“We don’t want to be accused of that,” Greene said. “It’s frowned upon here.”

The meeting with far-right members of Congress and the focus on the Big Lie from a convoy demanding an end to COVID-19-related mandates might be surprising to those just tuning in. But the rhetoric exhibited on rally stages and social media throughout the convoy’s two-week trek across the country and the organizations supporting the convoy have always indicated that this was never just about public health mandates.

A new report from the nonprofit research organization Advance Democracy, Inc., details the ties that three organizations supporting the effort have to the so-called Stop the Steal movement, whose massive rallies to overturn the 2020 presidential election attracted many of the same elements featured in the People’s Convoy.

AFCLF, whose representative met with Cruz and Johnson, has faced scrutiny over its connections to dubious efforts to overturn 2020 election results in Michigan. It claims to have raised more than $1.6 million for the convoy as of Monday, but it’s unclear how that money has been used.

The People’s Convoy also partnered with Freedom Fighter Nation on strategic and logistical planning, Brase, the convoy organizer, said on a Feb. 12 livestream.

“We don’t want to end up on the news for weird money stuff, we’re making sure that accountants and attorneys are handling it personally through freedomfighternation.org. They have helped set up a lot of this infrastructure. They are working with us one on one to help guide us,” Brase said.

Freedom Fighter Nation is led by Leigh Dundas, a COVID-19 and election conspiracy theorist who was seen near the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection. The day before the attack, she told Trump supporters at a D.C. rally that they would be “well within our rights to take any alleged American who acted in a turncoat fashion and sold us out and committed treason, we would be well within our rights to take ’em out back and shoot ’em or hang ’em, because that is what we did when they tried to overthrow our government by way of assassinating Abe Lincoln, and it is not too good of an end for the guys who sold out our government on our own soil.” Dundas and Chris Marston of AFCLF say they are https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/04/peoples-convoy-donations-fraud-afclf

Before the convoy left from California to make its way across the country, it was also supported by The America Project, an organization founded by election conspiracy theorists Mike Flynn and Patrick Byrne.

The organization frequently promotes election fraud claims and contributed $3.2 million to fund the 2020 election audit in Maricopa, Arizona. The group was listed as a supporter of the convoy in a Feb. 20 press release, but by Feb. 23—when the convoy began its trip and...Byrne announced The America Project was “stepping away” from the convoy, alleging that it had been “penetrated by the left.” The convoy—which an estimated 1,000 people committed time and money to join—doesn’t appear to be penetrated by the left in the least bit.

At a Sunday night convoy rally in Hagerstown, Maryland, speakers railed against tyranny, stolen elections, and the mainstream media. QAnon conspiracy theorists ...;Christian nationalists, members of the Proud Boys hate group, and likened the rally to a “county fair,” with music, food, and speeches building community and connections among factions of the fringe right-wing.

The convoy continues its Beltway circling this week. It has yet to be as successful as its Canadian counterpart in bringing gridlock to the nation’s capital, but it has served a purpose for far-right organizers, attracting Republican star power and bringing activists from different factions of the movement together under the banner of “freedom.”

Tags: Marjorie Taylor Greene American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom Freedom Fighter Nation People's Convoy

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3 22

https://www.mediamatters.org/lara-logan/fox-refuses-clarify-its-relationship-lara-logan-she-interviewed-qanon-influencer

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no lnx

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/pro-putin-anti-gay-qanon-supporter-lauren-witzke-continues-to-be-delawares-most-embarrassing-republican/

Pro-Putin, anti-gay and QAnon: Meet Delaware’s most embarrassing Republican

[Lauren Witzke, from Facebook]

Alex Henderson March 04, 2022

In Delaware, the most famous Democrat is President Joe Biden, who commutes between the White House and his home in that heavily Democratic state. Delaware’s most famous — or infamous — Republican, meanwhile, isfar-right Christian nationalist and QAnon supporter Lauren Witzke, who drew widespread condemnation in late February when she praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a symbol of Christian piety. But Witzke’s praise of Putin is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her extremism and her ability to embarrass the state of Delaware.

During an appearance on the Christian Right program “Cross Talk,” the 34-year-old native of Delmar, Delaware — who suffered a landslide defeat when she ran against Sen. Chris Coons in Delaware’s 2020 U.S. Senate race — made it clear that she supports Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

The QAnon Republican said, “Russia is a Christian nationalist nation…. I actually support Putin’s right to protect his people and always put his people first, but also, protect our Christian values. I identify more with Putin's Christian values than I do with Joe Biden.”

Witzke went on to say, “Christian nationalist countries also are a threat to the global regime — like, the Luciferian regime that wants to mash everything together. But Putin takes care of his people. He looks out for his people.”

Witzke’s comments were slammed by everyone from Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison to Rep. Eric Swalwell of California to Mother Jones’ David Corn, who pointed out that the Delaware GOP “fully supported” her.

Indeed, Delaware Republicans passionately rallied around Witzke when she received the GOP nomination in the state’s 2020 U.S. Senate race. Democrats had their share of disappointments in 2020, losing U.S. Senate races in Maine, Iowa and North Carolina. But Coons, running against Witzke, was reelected by 22%. Nominating someone as extreme as Witzke did not serve Delaware Republicans well.

Witzke gave Coons’ reelection campaign a wealth of material to use against her. She happily accepted the endorsement of White nationalist Nick Fuentes, praised the violent Proud Boys as examples of “patriotic masculinity,”called for a ten-year ban on all immigration to the United States, described Black Lives Matter as “violent terrorists,” proudly said she was a “Christian nationalist,” and called Coons a “Christian-hating baby killer.”

Witzke is vehemently anti-gay and anti-trans, and she has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory — which claims that the United States’ federal government has been taken over by an international cabal of pedophiles, child sex traffickers, Satanists and cannibals and that Donald Trump was elected in 2016 to fight the cabal. QAnon also believes that R&B superstarBeyoncé isn’t really Black, but is only pretending to be Black and is really an Italian woman named Ann Marie Lastrassi who works for billionaire Democrat George Soros.

Delaware Republicans had options other than Witzke in 2020, when she ran against former U.S. Marine James DeMartino in the state’s GOP U.S. Senate primary. But Witzke slammed the conservative DeMartino as a RINO(Republican In Name Only). Although the Delaware GOP endorsed DeMartino during the primary, Delaware Republicans gave Witzke the nomination and got behind her in the general election — which wasn’t enough to save her from losing badly to Coons.

In 2022, Witzke continues to make the Delaware Republican Party look bad every chance she gets — and when she praised Putin during its invasion of Ukraine, Witzke did exactly that.

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/twisted-and-warped-maga-republicans-fears-justin-trudeau-more-than-vladimir-putin-conservative/

wingnuttery c owen no twt

'Twisted' and 'warped' MAGA Republicans fear Justin Trudeau more than Vladimir Putin: conservative

Alex Henderson February 22, 2022

At a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin appears likely to invade Ukraine, many right-wing media outlets — from Fox News to the Daily Wire to Breitbart News — are vigorously defending Putin and Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán while arguing that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the real authoritarian. Trudeau’s unforgivable sin, according to the MAGA far right, is enforcing vaccine and testing requirements for people entering Canada from the United States.

Conservative Daily Beast opinion writer and Never Trumper Matt Lewis, in a February 22 column, compares the MAGA movement’s views on Trudeau versus Putin — arguing that the American right has truly gone off the deep end when it considers Trudeau the enemy but defends Putin.

“If you want to understand someone’s values or worldview,” Lewis writes, “take a look at who and what provokes outrage and who and what evokes sympathy. The cognitive dissonance inherent in much of the American right can make such an examination problematic. That’s because some of the most prominent voices on the right today view Vladimir Putin as a misunderstood victim. Meanwhile, they cast Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as an authoritarian strongman.”

Lewis goes on to offer specific examples, noting that theDaily Wire’s Canace Owens tweeted, “STOP talking about Russia. Send American troops to Canada to deal with the tyrannical reign of Justin Trudeau Castro.”

The Never Trumper adds, “Or consider Fox News host Tucker Carlson, my friend — though we disagree profoundly on politics — and former boss. Carlson isn’t outraged over what is happening to Ukraine, but found time last week to bash ‘strongman’ Trudeau as ‘the dictator of Canada,’ while saying that ‘Canada canceled democracy.’ There’s also Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who says Trudeau has gone ‘full dictator.’And J.D. Vance, celebrated author and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, who recently declared that he ‘doesn’t really care what happens to Ukraine.’”

Lewis injects some humor into his column, noting that Marty McFly — the time-traveling Reagan-era teenager Michael J. Fox portrayed in the 1985 fantasy film “Back to the Future” — would be shocked to see so many Republicans fawning over a former KGB agent. Indeed, back in the days of Madonna, Run-D.M.C. and Duran Duran, Reagan Republicans railed against the Kremlin nonstop; now, MAGA Republicans consider Putin and his ally Orbán people to be admired.

“If the 1985 version of Marty McFly transported to 2022,” Lewis writes, “it would be impossible to explain to him why so many conservative Republicans are willing to look the other way on Russia invading a sovereign nation, while they simultaneously blast Canada for imposing consequences on protesters blocking traffic…. To be clear, Putin is a former KGB agent and an actual authoritarian. He literally kills and imprisons his critics. And don’t forget the little matter of 100,000 of his troops massed on the Ukrainian border.”

Lewis adds, “Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau is the elected leader of a free nation. He took action to restore law and order [and GNP!]after three weeks of truckers blocking traffic and generally disturbing the peace.”

The conservative Lewis has spent plenty of time bashing the left, but he has been a blistering critic of former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. And he wraps up his February 22 column by stressing that MAGA Republicans are as “warped” now as they were when Trump was still in the White House.

“If you find someone willing to defend Vladimir Putin for threatening to invade and kill his neighbors, while simultaneously calling Justin Trudeau a ‘dictator’ for shutting down a lawless protest after three weeks,you have found someone who either is intellectually dishonest or has a warped sense of reality,” Lewis warns. “If you thought the gaslighting would end with Trump, you were wrong. The American right is getting in the habit of calling evil good and good evil. It’s a truly twisted and perverse perception of a dangerous world, and the scary thing is, it’s catching on.”

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an 2 22

According to a report from the New York Times, two teams of "linguistic detectives" have arrived at the same conclusion pinpointing the founders of the conspiracy theory cult QAnon.

Noting that the QAnon phenomenon appears to have been kicked off on a popular online message board in 2017 with an ominous post reading "Open your eyes. Many in our govt worship Satan,” the report adds that Paul Furber, a South African software developer became the first "apostle" on the cult that later exploded and helped pave the way, in the long run, to the Capitol riot on Jan 6th.

As the Times reports, questions about who "Q" is has long bedeviled journalists, investigators and the public at large and now it appears that the answer is close at hand.

According to the Times' David Kirkpatrick, "... two teams of forensic linguists say their analysis of the Q texts show that Mr. Furber, one of the first online commentators to call attention to the earliest messages, actually played the lead role in writing them."

"Sleuths hunting for the writer behind Q have increasingly overlooked Mr. Furber and focused their speculation on another QAnon booster: Ron Watkins, who operated a website where the Q messages began appearing in 2018 and is now running for Congress in Arizona," the report adds. "And the scientists say they found evidence to back up those suspicions as well. Mr. Watkins appears to have taken over from Mr. Furber at the beginning of 2018. Both deny writing as Q."

Adding, "The studies provide the first empirical evidence of who invented the toxic QAnon myth," Kirkpatrick goes on to explain, "Computer scientists use machine learning to compare subtle patterns in texts that a casual reader could not detect. QAnon believers attribute this 2017 message to an anonymous military insider known as Q."

"The two analyses — one by Claude-Alain Roten and Lionel Pousaz of OrphAnalytics, a Swiss start-up; the other by the French computational linguists Florian Cafiero and Jean-Baptiste Camps — built on long-established forms of forensic linguistics that can detect telltale variations, revealing the same hand in two texts," the report continues.

According to mathematician Patrick Juola of Duquesne University, he thinks the two teams nailed it.

“What’s really powerful is the fact that both of the two independent analyses showed the same overall pattern,” he explained.

You can read in-depth details describing how they arrived at their conclusions here.

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/qanon-followers/

no lnx twt

QAnon followers are focused on 'a new project' in swing states

Meaghan Ellis February 11, 2022

QAnon enthusiasts, who believe former President Donald Trump represents some form of new world order, are now focusing on a different plot in hopes of regaining control of the White House.

According to The Guardian, QAnon advocates have turned their attention toward Secretary of State election races in various swing states.So, why do these races have the attention of QAnon followers? They believe these particular races could be the key to ensuring there is not a repeat of the 2020 presidential election. In many swing states, Republican election officials refused to assist Trump in overturning the presidential election.

Now, QAnon believers and far-right extremists are adamant about putting people in place who align with Trump's beliefs. Alex Kaplan, a senior researcher at Media Matters for America who has studied the evolution of conspiracy theories, explained how QAnon's actions could create more problems in the very near future.

“This is the way that QAnon could trigger a constitutional crisis,” said Kaplan. “QAnon is linked to an effort to recruit and elect candidates to positions directly controlling election administrations, and given their ties to harming democracy, that is very concerning.”

Per The Guardian, QAnon's agenda and their strategic plot to control the outcome of elections was detailed by former Republican lawmaker and Trump loyalist, Jim Marchant who is currently running to become a high-ranking election official in Nevada. Marchant revealed the moment he was propositioned by QAnon advocates and QAnon influencer Juan Savin about running for Secretary of State. It was at that moment when he realized those particular election races could be a key to controlling elections.

“I knew right then that they had figured out that we need to take back the secretary of state offices around the country. Not only did they ask me to run, they asked me to put together a coalition of other like-minded secretary of state candidates. I got to work, Juan O Savin helped, and we formed a coalition.”

Savin has also spoken out about the QAnon agenda. In January, Savin also shared details about the supposed "project" the movement had in place. Marchant explained, “We have a project that we are doing helping candidates across the country that we started here in Nevada that has prospered pretty well, with a number of Trump endorsements."

On Sunday, Savin also weighed in on “the secretary of state stuff”, as he boasted that “across the country we are gaining strength rapidly to get back into this game in an effective way. A lot of those offices that they thought they held and weren’t going to matter, we are going to flip those.”...

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no lnx

The Trumpified GOP has a whole new generation of power brokers and 'kingmakers': report

Alex Henderson February 04, 2022

The fact that so many well-known right-wing Republicans endorsed Joe Biden during the United States’ 2020 presidential race —from former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona to former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to Sen. John McCain’s widow Cindy McCain — speaks volumes about how dramatically former President Donald Trump remade the GOP in his image, and how alienated they fell from the party. The GOP landscape is radically different from what it was during the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama years, and journalists Jonathan Swan and Lachlan Markay describe that landscape in an article published by Axios on February 4.

“Paths to power and winning elections inside the GOP are changing rapidly and radically, spawning a new generation of kingmakers while diminishing the clout of many who lorded over the party for years,” Swan and Markay explain. “Why it matters: 14 of the Republican Party's top consultants and operatives across the country spoke in detail with Axios about how profoundly primary races have changed since 2014 — the last pre-Donald Trump midterm election and the last midterms in which a Democrat occupied the White House.”

The reporters continue, “What we found: Those sources — whose clients range from as Trumpy as they come to establishment Republicans — described a clear shift in the party's power brokers. They spoke of changes to the ecosystem across four categories: institutional upheaval, endorsements, conservative media and donors.”

Swan and Markay go on to list Republicans who “had the power” in the past — a group that includes the National Review, the National Rifle Association, the Drudge Report, Heritage Action and the “Koch network,” among others.

But their “who has the power now” list is much more MAGA.That list includesTrump and his “family and former aides” as well as Breitbart News, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro’s the Daily Wire, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and the Susan B. Anthony List.

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Swan and Markay also mention “online influencers, including Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino, Joe Rogan, Jack Posobiec, Charlie Kirk and Marjorie Taylor-Greene.”

“Most of these changes weren't gradual,” the Axios journalists note. “They were triggered by the shockwave of 2016. Much of the institutional GOP worked against Trump in 2016. Much of the heft they believed their endorsements carried evaporated as voters saw in real-time how Trump had little need for them and ultimately obliterated them.”

A Republican consultant, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Axios, “You wouldn't know that these groups were paper tigers — unless you ever ran against one of them."

In 2020, Never Trump conservatives hoped that if Trump were voted out of office, the Republican Party would return to a pre-MAGA brand of conservatism. But a year into Joe Biden’s presidency, that obviously isn’t going to happen.

“Many movement conservative brands are shadows of what they used to be,” Swan and Markay emphasize. “Many of the major conservative think tanks supported policy positions — such as reforming Social Security or free trade — that Trump obliterated and proved elderly GOP voters didn’t actually support.”

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sent quotes gandhi etc

https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/qanon-shaman/

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Sherri Tenpenny is an influential religious-right anti-vaccine activist who has testified before the Ohio state House, appeared on Charlie Kirk’s podcast, and been a speaker at multiple ReAwaken America events, where she has shared the stage with the likes of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Eric Trump, Mike Lindell, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone,and Alex Jones.

Despite the fact that Tenpenny is an osteopathic doctor with no expertise on vaccines, she regularly appears on right-wing programs where she spreads wild conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines.

Recently, she has begun to claim that COVID-19 vaccines are designed to create “quantum entanglement” between those who take them and the internet in an effort to turn humanity into “transhumanist cyborgs.”

“The stated goal is to depopulate the planetand the ones that are left, either make them chronically sick or turn them into transhumanist cyborgs that can be manipulated externally by 5G, by magnets, by all sorts of things,” Tenpenny said during an appearance on “The Stew Peters Show” Thursday night. “I got dragged through the mud by the mainstream media when I said that inMay of last year in front of the House committee in Columbus, [Ohio]. Well, guess what? It’s all true.”

“The whole issue of quantum entanglement and what the shots do in terms of the frequencies and the electronic frequencies that come inside of your body andhook you up to the ‘Internet of Things,’ the quantum entanglement that happens immediately after you’re injected,” she continued.

“You get hooked up to what they’re trying to develop. It’s called the hive mind, and they want all of us there as a node and as anelectronic avatar that is an exact replica of us except it’s an electronic replica, it’s not our God given body that we were born with. And all of that will be running through the metaverse that they’re talking about. All of these things are real, Stew. All of them. And it’s happening right now. It’s not some science fiction thing happening out in the future; it’s happening right now in real time

https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/tenpenny/

Anti-vaxx 'expert' claims vaccines will turn people into ‘transhumanist cyborgs' controlled by 5G"

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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-influencers-are-urging-followers-get-involved-locally-and-school

many lnx vod

QAnon influencers are urging followers to get involved locally and with school boards

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DANIL CUFFE, KAYLA GOGARTY & CLARA MARTINY

PUBLISHED 01/26/22

This past summer, a woman named Anna Desenze -- an anti-masker who has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory -- spoke at a school board meeting in Broward County, Florida. While railing against a school mask mandate, she falsely claimed that “there’s so much science out there that proves that the masks are more harmful than anything else” and that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine can effectively treat the coronavirus. She later made similar claims at another school board meeting in October.

In July, the hosts of the MatrixxxGrooove Show, a show dedicated to QAnon, noted that Desenze was a listener of the show and claimed that they had encouraged her to take action. She’s “actually thanking us for her getting out there,” a co-host of the show said. They also posted and hyped the clips of her school board rants on Telegram.

intheMatrixxx Desenze post2

Similarly, in September, a group of anti-mask protesters disrupted a closed meeting of a California school board, forced it to adjourn, and then voted themselves in as new members without any legal basis. One of the protesters, a man named Derek Greco, was named president of the new (illegitimate) school board.

Days before that meeting, Greco had posted a video on Facebook featuring QAnon show host Scott McKay claiming that he had been texting with Greco and that Greco had invoked a post from “Q,” the central figure of the conspiracy theory, while speaking before a city council meeting. Greco -- who has also posted a video about “the Great Awakening,” a QAnon-connected phrase -- wrote that he had met McKay in June and that he had “forever changed my view on how to address these issues in our local governments.”

McKay in turn posted praise for Greco’s school board takeover, writing, “This is where the war is being fought today.” And on his show, McKay claimed that Greco credited the QAnon show host for his actions at the school board meeting. McKay added that Greco “showed you how it works,” in that “you go after these milquetoast pussies and cowards, the dumbest people in America, on these school boards.” McKay declared, “It’s training ground for the city councils. It’s training ground for the town councils. It’s training ground for these city commissioners.”

CitationFrom a stream of Patriot Streetfighter uploaded on Rumble on September 13, 2021

In November, McKay posted an “update” from Greco about “taking over the school board,” claiming the government had “weaponized law enforcement against parent’s asking questions” and asking for help contacting other QAnon influencers.

Desenze and Greco’s actions appear to be part of an effort among QAnon influencers to get supporters more involved with local office elections and school boards. Michael Flynn, a QAnon-supporting former national security adviser for then-President Donald Trump, seems to have played a major role in spurring the movement, which appears to have already shown signs of impact.

In May, Flynn urged followers in a Telegram post to “get involved,” “take responsibility for your school committees or boards,” and “run for local, state and/or federal office.” He also added that “local action = national impact” (the MatrixxxGrooove Show used a similar phrase when it posted about Desenze at the school board meeting). Over the coming months, Flynn continued to make the case for people to take “local action” for a “national impact.”

Flynn May post

Soon after Flynn’s call in May, attorney Sidney Powell also urged supporters to get involved locally. (Powell advised Trump’s legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and also has extensive QAnon ties.) During a QAnon conference in May, Powell told attendees that “there are no military tribunals that are going to solve this problem for us” and “it’s going to take every one of us rolling up their sleeves.” She also specifically called for people to target school boards as part of this local effort.

And in July, Lin Wood, another QAnon-supporting attorneyinvolved with Trump’s election efforts and who unsuccessfully ran for chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, called for followers to “live local and take local action” and to “assemble and protest local school boards mandating masks or worse for our children.”

A number of QAnon influencers have since called for local action, such as telling people to go “to your school board meetings and demand they remove mask mandates and critical race theory.”

In August, “QAnon John,” the influencer who organized the May conference that Powell (and Flynn) attended, wrote that Flynn’s call was “VERY important.” An administrator for QAnon John’s group The Patriot Voice urged others to “get loud and in the face of school boards, city councils, county commissioners, [and] state reps.”

Zak Paine, a QAnon show host who participated in part of the January 6 insurrection, urged his listeners to “please consider running for school board,” adding, “Start going to the meetings and once you’re at the meetings, then you can start learning how they do their business and then you can go ahead and run for school board yourself.”

CitationFrom the October 28, 2021, edition of RedPill78

Jim Watkins -- the QAnon-supporting owner of 8kun, the site where Q posted -- argued that Q’s plan was “no more” and agreed with Flynn to “take action locally” instead. A major QAnon forum also added a banner featuring text from Flynn’s May post.

In October, amajor QAnon Telegram channel even posted a link to an article on how to join a school board, calling it “food for thought” because “this nation ain’t gonna save itself.”

QAnon school board link post

The influencers’ calls may be showing signs of impact, with some QAnon supporters claiming they’ve taken action in response. Some wrote that they were “running for school board” or were “in charge of my kids school board now.” Others wrote that they were helping to get “citizens involved on every level...city/county government, election boards, school boards, etc.,” or that they were “going to keep going every month” to school board meetings to attack mandates, noting that sometimes they were one of the few people there. “GhostEzra,” a neo-Nazi QAnon influencer, encouraged followers to run for office; in response, several said that they were “thinking about running for school board” or other offices like city council, including one follower who appeared to be a poll worker who was called as a “witness” by the Arizona state legislature following the 2020 presidential election to push voter fraud claims.

In response to a link shared in a QAnon channel about how to run for school board, users wrote that they “needed this” and asked for “a guide on how to become part of your city council and how to be appointed or elected to your county’s election board” as well. One follower of a QAnon influencer also bragged that she had joined her town council in West Virginia after encouragement from the influencer, sharing a video of herself being sworn in.

QAnon supporter school board post6

Some QAnon shows have also highlighted what they claim are signs of impact. The MatrixxxGrooove Show highlighted a video of a QAnon-supporting follower of the show making false claims about vaccines at a board of supervisors meeting in California and saying that “nothing can stop the awakening of humanity.” The man wrote that he credited the show’s hosts and Michael Flynn “for giving me the courage to do this,” with the hosts on the show urging Flynn to share the video and claiming that they had sent it to his brother. (Flynn did share the video as well, repeating his “national impact” slogan.)

CitationFrom the November 17, 2021, edition of the MatrixxxGrooove Show

Another QAnon show, SGT Report, has also featured an interview with an Ohio man who “read [his] school board the riot act, the legal riot act,” over mask mandates, and the man credited the show for his action. The host said the incident was part of “a great awakening,” and the man invoked Flynn’s “national impact” line for inspiring his strategy.

Video file

CitationFrom a stream of SGT Report uploaded on Rumble on November 17, 2021

There have also been multiple reported instances of school board members and candidates supporting QAnon in Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. (While responding to a question about her QAnon posts, the Michigan school board member falsely claimed, “There’s no such thing as QAnon.” She was echoing Q’s call from late 2020 urging followers to stop using the term “QAnon” and to instead deny its existence.) A Rhode Island woman who invoked the QAnon slogan -- “where we go one, we go all,” or “wwg1wga” for short -- formed an anti-critical race theory group to target her school committee and wrote that she planned to “run for school committee.”

Other people who have expressed support for QAnon have also been elected around the country or tried to run for office, such as Tracy “Beanz” Diaz, one of the first people to popularize QAnon, being elected to a position in the Horry County, South Carolina, Republican Party, and QAnon supporter Gene Ho unsuccessfully running for mayor of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The QAnon community’s focus on school boards was also noted at QAnon John’s follow-up QAnon conference in Las Vegas in October. While discussing how attendees could get more involved, the conference’s emcee said, “What's happening in the school boards is magic.” The National Education Association, a labor union, also warned in June about QAnon school board candidates as an increasing issue nationally.

Citation From the "Patriot Double Down" QAnon conference in Las Vegas on October 23, 2021

In addition to the “local action equals national impact” plan, the QAnon community has also embraced a plan called the “precinct strategy” to sign up as Republican precinct committee members -- who are involved with election activities -- which multiple QAnon supporters have also since done. Others on the far-right have also focused on local positions as a strategy for consolidating power and gaining influence in recent months.

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an me 1 22  https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/paul-gosar/

https://yyy.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/26/paul-gosar-far-right-republicans

Over the last two years, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has emerged as a heavy favorite among far-right conservatives. [GUK?] As an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, Gosar has managed to gain more than 90 endorsements as the midterm election season approaches.

During a recent rally, Gosar spoke before a crowd of right-wing supporters as he declared to be “considered the most dangerous man in Congress."

“This is where it all began,” Gosar said prior to Trump taking the stage. “This is where we questioned: ‘Was there fraud? Absolutely. Was it enough to overturn the election? Absolutely.’”

At the same event, per The Guardian, the Republican lawmaker also echoed the stance of other right-wingers who have criticized critical race theory (CRT), the military and food shortages. Last but not least, he pivoted toward a Trump favorite: voter fraud and illegitimate elections.

So what makes Gosar different from other Trump-supporting Republicans?

Per The Guardian, Gosar is "the kind of politician that Trump – who is embarking on a series of rallies to try to cement his allies’ power in the Republican party – is increasingly seeking to support."

"Gosar has extensive links to white nationalists and Capitol rioters and, many observers say, represents a dangerous new breed of Republican politician, who would have once been considered fringe, but whom Trump is increasingly making central to Republican party politics."

Joe Lowndes, a political science professor at the University of Oregon who also co-authored the book "Producers, Parasites, Patriots: Race and the New Right-Wing Politics of Precarity," weighed in on the rise of Gosar. “We no longer have an ability to make a clear delineation between the right and far-right in the Republican party,” said Lowndes.

He went on to explain how Gosar's rise underscores the problem within the Republican Party as Trump-like figures are taking center stage. The issue appears to be one that Republicans will be haunted by for quite some time.

“The Trumpist wing of the Republicans isn’t just ascending – it’s the dominant wing of the Republican party. It’s the dominant wing not just in national politics, but in state and local politics as well,” said Lowndes. “The Republican Party has committed itself to a party of minoritarian rule, figuring out ways to rule in the long term without having majority support of voters.”

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bannon/putin disinfo to destabilize, erode civil society to the pt --> authoritarian fascism // orban

no lnx

'To defy Trump's wishes is to defy God's plan': The scary truth about modern right-wing misinformation

https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/right-wing-misinformation/

John Stoehr January 13, 2022

Death threats will change a person. During previous testimony before a Senate panel, the nation’s top infectious disease expert was calm and deferential. This week marked a break from the past. Enough is enough, apparently. Dr. Anthony Fauci was no longer in the mood.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas kept pressing the question of financial disclosures, implying that Fauci was benefiting from the effort to vaccinate the country against the covid pandemic.

Fauci, as head of the White House pandemic response, is a public servant. By law, he must disclose financial information. So of course he didn’t understand Marshall’s question, because his “financial disclosure is public knowledge” and has been for more than three decades.

Two things. Marshall knew this and was pretending not to or he didn’t know this, which should be embarrassing for a sitting senator. Either way, Marshall said his staff could not find the document. Well, it’s here. Ultimately, he was pandering to believers of rightwing misinformation.

READ: One sentence from the Supreme Court's ruling against an OSHA vaccine rule reveals its upside-down logic]

After a heated exchange in which Marshall kept insisting Fauci was hiding something and Fauci kept insisting he’s not – “all you have to do is ask” for the disclosure – Fauci said, “What a moron! Jesus Christ!” (He said this to himself, obviously, not realizing his mic was still on.)

Is Fauci showing us how to handle rightwingers? That’s what I asked Sara Aniano on Wednesday. She’s a Monmouth University graduate student studying rightwing rhetoric and conspiracy theories on social media. She co-authored a new report for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology analyzing QAnon trends a year after J6.

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She said Fauci’s pushback felt good, but in the end, it probably doesn’t help. “The reality is pretty dire,” she said. Propaganda, conspiracy theory and misinformation have “already infected the population.” It’s too late even for the Washington press corps to do much about it.

The way Anthony Fauci talked to the Republicans is how everyone should talk to rightwing extremists. Am I on to something?

READ: A right-wing talking point about Jan. 6 just completely collapsed after indictment of the Oath Keepers]

Absolutely. For a lot of people on the left, Fauci's pushback was refreshing.People are tired of the pandering, and of watching misinformation be lumped into the category of “free speech.”[ = wht priv?]

While Fauci’s “moron” comment was indeed a great moment of transparency, we should also consider his ability to humanize the situation with the anecdote about his own harassment.

The left is often considered "soft” in contrast with the alleged "hard truth" attitude of the GOP. While Fauci's position is not about partisanship, anti-vaxx movements have unfortunately aligned with the right and the far-right. So it feels like Fauci is speaking for us, even though he's really speaking on behalf of everyone.

It seems to me speaking for everyone is often interpreted as soft. In other words, acting for the benefit of the common good immediately marks you as an enemy by rightwingers.

READ: DOJ unveils explosive sedition charges against the Oath Keepers for the Jan. 6 attack]

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For a party that increasingly demonizes collectivism, it's in their best interest to continue promoting "individual responsibility,” as it works for their messaging politically. But for the extreme far-right, it's more sinister. In their minds, there is a war going on between good and evil. And if you're not on their side, their black-and-white thinking places you into the "enemy" category.

The irony is that they are actually collectivists, too, no?

I hear that a lot. In comparison to other countries, America is not a collectivist culture. In my opinion, anyone who pushes extreme nationalism here is also pushing extreme individualism.

As a leftist researcher of far-right misinformation, I admit to a certain level of bias. But January 6 marked a clear turning point in how we view partisanship, I think, and we can't discard that.

READ: Michigan Republicans who circulated fake 'Electoral College' documents are being investigated by the Jan. 6 committee: report]

Why is it a turning point? We turned from what to what?

For a lot of us studying far-right extremism and misinformation, we couldn't help but feel this collective "we told you so" when January 6 happened. For the first time, we had a visual manifestation of far-right conspiracism that wasn't limited to social media or fringe news programs. In other words, everyone saw people act on the ideologies that misinformation researchers sift through every day.

Of course, how people interpret what they saw is what's shaping their opinion now.

Which is where misinformation comes back, right?

Here's something I tweeted on the anniversary of the insurrection: “By the end of January 6, 2021, Americans were left with the most damaging relic of all: Yet another unfathomable event, born of hate and delusion, for far-right conspiracy theorists to contort into a self-serving narrative that unfairly demonizes the innocent.”

I want to cry.

A lot of us can relate to that.

To what extent is anti-vaccination about purity of blood? To what extent is anti-vaccination cover for plain old white supremacy?

It's interesting, because even if anti-vaxxers don't realize it, the "pure blood" characterization of the unvaccinated has roots to eugenics, which of course has roots to white supremacy.

But to go back to the idea of "infiltration," I think vaccine skepticism ties into that too.

Please go on.

I've been thinking about what types of infiltration the far-right finds most threatening. So far I've come up with three categories: 1) member infiltration, 2) spiritual infiltration and 3) bodily infiltration.

Member infiltration seems to stem from a fear of the "other" hiding in plain sight, trying to live among them but with heinous intentions. We see that a lot with paranoia about Antifa, the feds, Jews or journalists "posing" as patriots.

Spiritual infiltration has a lot to do with "demonic forces" among us. Satanic panic stuff. With QAnon, we see allegations of Satanic rituals in Hollywood or even reptilians wearing skinsuits to pass as humans.

Physical infiltration is a lot about co-opting "my body my choice" messaging to push back against the vaccine, which many think is the mark of the beast or a 5G transmitter or radioactive or a microchip. A lot of crossover with pseudo-science.

There is so much overlap that it's hard to make exclusive categories, but you get the idea.

We haven't talked about religion. What does your research say?

Yes, religion or spirituality is inextricable from far-right narratives overall. My thesis, currently in progress, focuses on QAnon Instagram comments in the week leading up to J6.

Rhetoric that pushes a higher power is always mixed in with far-right narratives, and overwhelmingly, that's Christianity. A lot of people who believe election fraud theories in QAnon circles genuinely think that Donald Trump was anointed by God – he is the chosen leader to usher in "the storm" and defeat the evil Democrats, once and for all.

In their minds, to defy Trump's wishes is to defy God's plan. I wouldn't say that this is ubiquitous across the right, to be clear. That's a pretty extreme version. But religion presents itself across far-right rhetoric in general, even when it doesn't involve Donald Trump.

Trump abruptly hung up on Steve Inskeep after the host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” challenged him repeatedly on the big lie? Are such challenges what a democratic republic needs?

I think Inskeep did a great job, although many were upset with NPR for bringing Trump on in the first place. Your question is a hard one. People asked the same thing during and after the 2020 election when Trump alleged fraud on TV before the ballot counting was even complete. Some networks cut his speech off, while others aired it.

Any time we platform misinformation, especially when we can see it coming, we must provide context and a good reason for showcasing it. If we can shut it down in the meantime, then yes, we should.

But if I'm being honest, I think that ship has sailed.

I don't know if it matters anymore if we cut off conspiratorial rhetoric from Trump and others when it's already infected the population.

Are you suggesting the press can’t really mitigate the spread?

Once Trump normalized discourse that was hateful, xenophobic, conspiratorial and sexist, he made it more mainstream. People who previously self-censored those thoughts felt free to not only think them, but say them – particularly on social media, where anonymity removes accountability. That hasn't really changed.

I guess my point is – the press should do what it can to mitigate misinformation, of course, but the reality is pretty dire.

There's a serious epistemological crisis going on, and that's gonna require systemic change.[// heated pod occupy sunrise guy too late to stop authoritorian, congress paralyze so only prez can at,crisis will give opening]

Again, I want to cry.

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bill o and djt say they are boosted

https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/trump-qanon-believers/

qAnon believers, also known for their adamant disapproval of COVID vaccinations, have been left befuddled by former President Donald Trump admitting that he'd taken the COVID vaccine booster shot.

Following Trump's appearance on Bill Reilly's "No Spin News," Trump confirmed his third jab. When O'Reilly, "Did you get the booster?" Trump replied: "Yes. I got it too."

In addition to boos from the crowd, QAnon believers are speaking out. According to Newsweek, disgruntled QAnon believers have criticized and "turned on" Trump due to his latest announcement.

In wake of the latest controversy, John Sabal, also known as QAnon John, weighed in with explained why he believes Trump made the decision as he suggested that it would be a form of "political suicide" if he publicly disavowed the COVID vaccine and booster shot. He also urged QAnon believers to make their own decision.

"Knowing what we know. Whenever POTUS 45 promotes something, the other side does the total opposite. They get disgusted by that thing," Sabal said. "Trump derangement still runs deep. Trump still says that those who don't want the vax should not be forced to take it. That is the most important thing he said. The messaging here is clear.

"Imagine for one second what would happen if Trump all of a sudden started to backtrack on the vax. Operation Warp Speed was necessary for reasons I already discussed. He would lose all credibility with those who took the jab. It would be political suicide for him."

One QAnon influencer offered a delusional explanation for the former president's remarks but also condemned his support of the vaccination. Sharing a message with his 58,000 followers on Telegram, he admitted that he disagreed with Trump but still expressed support for him.

"We don't always understand everything," the influencer said, per Newsweek. "I love President Trump. I disagree here.I think we may find out something about this soon imo [in my opinion] either way, think for yourself. You are in the right spot here. Just don't cuss up a storm, we have so many twists and turns already."

The influencer continued, "I believe the end will explain the middle. But, we are all to think for ourselves and most of you guys are still with me on this vax crap. If we are confused by Pres Trump's comments, I'm sure Deep State is. Maybe he would be a danger to society arrested otherwise idk [I don't know] but I'm gonna continue locally and here doing what we all must every day."

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11 21

no lnx twt pix

QAnon MAGA cult refuses to leave Dallas after JFK Jr. no-show

Walter Einenkel and Daily Kos November 09, 2021

On Nov. 22, 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Many people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested and charged with Kennedy's murder, was not the only person involved in the assassination. Since that time there have been myriad conspiracy theories that run the gamut from a belief that director of the CIA Allen Dulles colluded with organized crime and Lyndon B. Johnson to get rid of Kennedy to the idea that JFK faked his own assassination in order to better fight against some shadowy New World Order from below the radar of the public eye.

The one consistent touchstone in most, if not all, JFK conspiracy theories is that Kennedy himself (and his brother Robert) were creating giant upheavals in the established order of the U.S. government. It is the belief that the Kennedys represented a light in the dark and shadowy world of true power and elitism that drives the conspiracy theory's staying power. At the beginning of November, QAnon Trumpists descended on Dallas and Dealey Plaza under the impression that one of the many Q-conspiracy theories would be realized: the resurrection of John F. Kennedy, or at the very least the resurrection of his son, John K. Kennedy Jr., who died in 1999 in a plane crash off of Martha's Vineyard. The MAGA-conspiracists went down to Dealey Plaza on Nov. 2 with the assumption that something big was going to be revealed. It wasn't.

They don't care. They're staying.

Reporter Steven Monacelli and VICE reporter David Gilbert have been following this QAnon crew in Dallas, and found that they've been led by an antisemitic QAnon activist, Michael Brian Protzman, to the grassy knoll in downtown Dallas for a reappearance of one of the deceased Kennedys. And while nothing happened to support the wild conservative Christian eschatological theories on JFK and/or JFK Jr. anointing Donald Trump the "king of kings," their belief in Protzman has not wavered.

But unlike most influencers, Protzman has effectively built a cult within the QAnon movement, where his followers refer to him as a godlike figure, are willing to travel across the country to see JFK resurrected, and most of all, continue to praise Protzman even when the miracle fails to materialize.

His rise within the QAnon world has been rapid. Back in March, his Negative48 Telegram channel had around 1,700 members; today, it has over 105,000 members. But aside from the number of followers Protzman has, what makes him stand out from other QAnon influencers is the loyalty and worship he has engendered in those people.

According to VICE, Protzman has promoted content to his audience like thefilm Europa: The Last Battle, which purports to explain how Jews created communism and orchestrated both World War I and its sequel, World War II, in order to get Israel created at the expense of the Nazis. True story. Anyways, this asshat has also been able to take advantage of the fact that President Joe Biden recently delayed the public release and declassification of thousands of remaining government documents related to the JFK assassination, which has not helped. Of course, the fact that Donald Trump first delayed the release of these documents in 2017 does not seem to have registered with this MAGA-adjacent QAnon crowd.

The motivations for the assassination in all of these conspiracy theories lead to the same the thing: the protection of a secret world power establishment. In these theories, whether Kennedy's death allows the escalation of war into Vietnam and Cambodia or it is simply the outgrowth of a sexual jealousy between Kennedy and organized crime boss Santos Trafficante is immaterial in the end. The important thing to understand is that in the end, the government and other secret establishment officials covered up the "truth" about the Kennedy assassination in order to protect their world order.

This unbelievably general and truly unsophisticated view of global power dynamics is at the center of these cult-level conspiracy theories. Are you ready for this? Hold on to your socks!

And after JFK Jr. didn't appear at the site of his father's assassination, QAnoners moved their goal post to the Rolling Stones concert that was In town. The irony that these QAnon folks are heading to see a rock and roll group that openly hates Donald Trump is lost on them, of course. In fact, it almost wouldn't be a story about QAnon if the logic wasn't so truly wrong-headed.

Guess what? They totally saw all kinds of people you thought were dead, including Michael Jackson, Prince, and Aaliyah. Plus, these QAnon music fans saw the original not dead musician, Elvis!

Sounds like a truly amazing concert. The most important thing to realize here is that while this sect of QAnon seems to be a bit more acutely delusional in their views of reality than maybe other QAnon conspiracists who are a little more shrewd in how openly ridiculous their theories are in practice, the results are the same: The concert these QAnon folks went to was a lot more exciting than the concert that the rest of the people enjoying the Rolling Stones saw.

And that's the point.

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/qanon/

no lnx

'Lost sheep': Conspiracy theory expert says QAnon believers are being swallowed by 'mass radicalization'

Jacob Chansley, dubbed 'The QAnon Shaman'/Channel 4 News screenshot]

Chauncey DeVegaand Salon November 03, 2021

America's mainstream news media has a short attention span [cits have /voters have of golden retriever], which has certainly played to the advantage of the long-running Republican-fascist assault on democracy (and on reality). Of late, the media has grown bored with QAnon, the antisemitic and racist conspiracy cult which claims to believes that a secret cabal of pedophile Democrats and other members of the "deep state" run the world — and gain superpowers from kidnapping and killing children and then ingesting their vital essence. In this demented worldview, only Donald Trump and other "patriots" can save America and the world.

It appears that QAnon followers played a significant role in the attack on the Capitol and coup attempt on Jan. 6. No leaders of that coup plot have been apprehended or punished, and most of the foot soldiers have received relatively lenient punishment to this point. President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland appear reluctant to apply the full power of the law to punish Donald Trump, along with his allies, operatives and followers.

QAnon followers are also attempting to undermine American democracy and civil society by infiltrating such "vulnerable" sites as local school boards, library committees and other ground-level institutions of local and state government. Their purported goal may be to ban the teaching of "critical race theory" (which is not taught in public schools), but the real goal is larger: to enforce punishment of "unpatriotic" thoughtcrimes, and to mainstream right-wing conspiracy theories and other lies about American history.

QAnon followers are also seeking to become election officials, where they are planning to use the fervor around Trump's Big Lie and other conspiracy theories to rig election results, overthrow multiracial democracy and replace it with one-party Republican rule.

In an article posted last June, the National Education Association explored the QAnon-fueled "radicalization" of school boards in communities all over America:

In a small town in Washington State, the newly elected mayor calls QAnon, "a truth movement," and recently fired the town's skeptical city manager. In coastal San Luis Obispo, California, a school board trustee's Facebook posts include a QAnon video, misinformation about COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, and promotion of the ex-gay, conversion movement. She won, says the town's mayor, who is calling for her resignation, because "people had no idea this was going on," and didn't have the "bandwidth to research the school board election," reports the local newspaper, the Tribune.

Meanwhile, in Florida, a newly elected county sheriff is now explaining why he posed for photos last year with a supporter in a "We are Q" t-shirt.

Across the county, conspiracy theorists and proponents of fake news are winning local elections. And their new positions give them a powerful voice in everything from local law enforcement to libraries, trash pickup to textbook purchases.

QAnon followers are also gaining influence and power within white Christian evangelical churches and other faith communities. This is integral to the worsening radicalization of white Christianity and the threat of a right-wing "holy war" against Democrats, liberals, progressives, Black and brown people and anyone else who believes in the separation of church and state, or who holds values and beliefs deemed "un-American" or "anti-Christian."

Public opinion polls and other research show that a large percentage of Republicans and Trump followers say they believe in at least portions of the outlandish QAnon fantasy and — not coincidentally — are also willing to support right-wing political violence to protect their "traditional way of life" and "save the country." This includes removing President Joe Biden from office by violent means if deemed necessary.

Matthew Rozsa of Salon summarized these findings this week:

New public opinion research from the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, part of its 12th annual American Values Survey, has returned alarming findings.

Close to one-third of Republicans in the survey, or 30%, agreed with the statement that "true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country." That was more than the combined total of Democrats and independents who say the same thing (at 11% and 17%, respectively).

PRRI CEO and founder Robert Jones said the large proportion of Republicans who appear ready to endorse political violence is "a direct result of former President Trump calling into question the election." Jones noted that according to the same survey, more than two-thirds of Republicans (68%) claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump, as opposed to only 26% of independents and 6% of Democrats.

The study also found that 39% of those who believed that Trump had won the 2020 election endorsed potential violence, compared to only 10% of those who rejected election misinformation. There were also signs of a split based on media consumption, with 40% of Republicans who trust far-right news sources agreeing that violence could be necessary, compared to 32% of those who trust Fox News and 22% among those who trust mainstream outlets. In addition, respondents who said violence may be necessary are more likely to report feeling like strangers in their country, to say American culture has mostly worsened since the 1950s and to believe that God has granted America a special role in human history.

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Sophia Moskalenko is a social psychologist and expert on conspiracy theories, radicalization and extremism. She is currently a research fellow at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (NC-START) and is the author of several books, including "Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us" and "The Marvel of Martyrdom: The Power of Self-Sacrifice in the Selfish World." Her new book, with co-author Mia Bloom, is "Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon."

In this conversation Moskalenko discusses the dangers QAnon poses to American democracy and national security. She explains that QAnon is a community where overwhelmingly white and often socially alienated followers find fellowship and meaning as they are radicalized into extremism and other potentially dangerous antisocial behavior. In her view, QAnon functions as a space that nurtures and satisfies white fantasies of right-wing masculinity, femininity, violence and heroism about "protecting" children and reasserting "traditional values".

Toward the end of this conversation, Moskalenko explains what she would tell Joe Biden and other senior members of the administration about the threats posed by right-wing terrorism, as well as about the ways hostile foreign powers are using disinformation and other forms of propaganda to weaken American democracy and society.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

You are an expert on terrorism and other forms of political extremism. You are also an expert on propaganda and disinformation. How are you feeling right now, given America's democracy crisis?

I've been feeling a little bit like Cassandra, the woman in Troy who was yelling as loud as he could about the city falling to ruin, and everybody was laughing at her. Then of course her warnings came true. It doesn't feel good. There was so much attention being paid to Islamic terrorism after 9/11. Unfortunately, there was not enough attention being paid to the trends right here in the United States domestically. This was all very alarming for somebody such as me who is an expert on terrorism and radicalization. These trends pointed to how right-wing groups were attracting more people and carrying out more and more lethal attacks.

There were people in positions of power and influence here in the United States who were beginning to pander increasingly to these groups. And of course, Trump's presidency was a type of pinnacle for that behavior. Those appeals to right-wing extremist groups are now crystallized in congressional representatives who are outspoken supporters of QAnon conspiracy theories.

There was also Trump's line after the riots in Charlottesville about "good people on both sides," which implies that maybe Nazis aren't so bad. This problem has been developing for a long time.

When you looked at the events of Jan. 6, what did you see? What jumped out at you?

I'm a psychologist, so I focused on the emotions that I observed in the faces, the screams and the actions of the Trump followers who were there that day at the Capitol.

It was just striking to me how angry and violent and ready to inflict serious damage a lot of those people were. On Jan. 6, I saw a huge crowd of people who look just like my neighbors but who were acting in a very threatening and menacing way. It was disturbing. I also, of course, saw many QAnon symbols and antisemitic symbols and other references to hate groups.

I was also struck by the composition of the people at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They were very diverse in terms of age and gender. From the Arab Spring to images from the Ukrainian revolution or Georgian revolution, we mostly see men carrying out these mass radical actions. But on Jan. 6 at the Capitol, we saw a lot of women. There were many young people and also people in their 60s and 70s. That is very unusual, in many ways, as far as radical movements go.

There were various right-wing extremist groups and other forces involved in the events of Jan. 6. What role did QAnon conspiracy believers play?

We know that between 10% and 20% of people present at the Jan. 6 insurrection were members of right-wing militia groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. A sizable proportion of those groups also consisted of active-duty military or veterans. Those militia groups also include active or retired police.

As for QAnon members, after Jan. 6 when the prophecy about Trump's return was unfulfilled, a number of QAnon followers became disenchanted. They went back online looking for answers, like they did before they found QAnon. Now they are looking for something else.

There was a concerted effort by the right-wing extremist groups to bring them in, because they were like lost sheep. The way these groups and individuals talk about the QAnon types is very dismissive. They call them idiots. They call the QAnon prophecy nonsense. But they felt this was an opportunity to recruit a bunch of disenchanted QAnoners into their ranks.

We know that both QAnon and the right-wingers I am discussing here are very antisemitic and racist. Whatever they may say about it, we know from the data we have collected from their own materials that they express clearly antisemitic and racist attitudes. In that aspect there is an overlap, at least psychologically, between QAnon and these right-wing extremists.

"I am Q." We see that language everywhere among the QAnon believers. What is the meaning?

"Q" is a mysterious person, or likely several people. This person or persons has "Q-level" government clearance, which indicates they are supposedly quite high in America's intelligence hierarchy. So while a given person may claim to be "Q," another way of thinking about the meaning of "Q" is that it is an expression of a larger identity.We are in the era of identity politics. Wearing some clothing that announces that one believes in QAnon is a way of projecting that membership and identity.

Wearing that symbol is also a way to connect to other QAnon followers. Because again, especially at these mass rallies or events, people come there for many different reasons, including a shared emotional experience, whether it's rage or hope or even fear. That is the attraction of being together with all these other people who are experiencing the same emotions – even if they are negative emotions. It's a way of establishing your tribe. In a rapidly changing world where we often do not know who our neighbors are, it can be very isolating and very unsettling to not have a tribe.

Carrying something like a big letter "Q" on your chest or over your head is likely an attempt to feel connected with other people who believe similar things.

One key aspect of QAnon is how it is a space forwhite male fantasies of power, home and family, and about using violence to "protect" children, women, faith and community. QAnon is also a space for fantasies about a particular type of white womanhood and femininity.

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Much of QAnon behavior and beliefs arerooted in entertainment. In fact, they borrowed many of their tropes from traditional folklore, like vampires and witches, and also from Hollywood movies. Experimental research has shown that people are compelled to conspiracy theories because they are a lot better at eliciting strong emotions. Some people seek out conspiracy theories because they offer a chance to feel fear, like a horror movie, or anger, such as in a revenge movie.

At the same time, QAnon fills a void that was created when single-earner households where the dad goes to work and the mom stays home in her white little apron were increasingly not viable for most Americans. Such an idea, that a lot of white middle-class men and women grew up with, is no longer available to them. What is left behind are feelings of disillusionment, anger, grievance.

Of course, many of these grievances are then redirected by these QAnon or right-wing narratives more broadly towardsimmigrants who are supposedly taking the good jobs or taking money out of the economy that would have been enough to make the American dream possible for "real" Americans. Channeling that anger into a hatred toward minorities or immigrants is one way to make sense of their new reality.

QAnon is also a fantasy of action and about the ability of individuals to have agency in their own lives— albeit in delusional, dangerous and unhealthy ways. For example, this deranged belief that children are being held hostage by evil forces who drink their blood is likely to encourage people to get their weapons and go save them. How do these QAnon fantasies play out on the individual level?

QAnon really grew in power and popularity when the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter protests were also becoming more prominent. For a lot of women, it was an uncomfortable political conversation that they did not feel ready to have. This idea about saving children then became a safe political alternative for white suburban women to discuss. In their minds, who wouldn't want to save the children?

These QAnon "save the children" ads often portray white children who are being held roughly or muzzled by dark hands. It's a man of color holding this child. This is in contrast to the real Save the Children charity's posters, which overwhelmingly depict children from African and Asian countries who are smiling and laughing in the pictures. By comparison, the QAnon pictures show horrified, abused and generally unkempt kids who elicit sympathy and distress by their appearance alone.

These QAnon "save the children" ads are just a kind of placeholder, I believe, to project their racial discomfort and political beliefs with people who feel the same way — and to do without really calling things by their actual name.

How do you assess the Republican Party and the larger right-wing movement's use of stochastic terrorism? Are we at a tipping point where that stochastic terrorism could become direct encouragements to violence against "the enemy"?

I believe that we are past the tipping point. Hate speech has been increasing for a number of years. I published a book in 2018 where I traced trends for hate speech online, including on Facebook and Twitter. There was a very sizable increase since before the 2016 election, with hate speech becoming more and more prevalent.

For example, the rise of Nazism involved the use of dehumanizing language and other propaganda comparing Jewish people and others to vermin and cockroaches. Jews were depicted as being less than human, which makes it easier to call on people to exterminate them.

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The language used by the Nazis might sound familiar in the present because it's also what we hear from places like OAN or Fox News about immigrants, especially in the context of COVID. As seen with the increasing number of attacks against the Asian and Asian American communities, we can see how such hate speech has an impact.

The question is now whether we will see more mass events such as the Jan. 6 insurrection, which require coordination, movement across the country, money and other resources. I am really hoping that the authorities who are tasked with preventing another such event are doing their jobs.

Donald Trump and his spokespeople and other agents have created a martyrs out of his follower who was killed by law enforcement in the Capitol on Jan. 6. The Trumpists and right-wing propaganda media are now referring to members of Trump's attack force as "political prisoners," who are by implication innocent and heroic.How do you explain to the public the importance of this narrative and the political work it is doing?

This is a classic move. We saw it in Nazi Germany. We also saw it in the Soviet Union. Mythologized martyrdoms manufactured sometimes literally out of nothing. In Nazi Germany before World War II, they created a fake martyr out of a man named Horst Wessel. He became a huge martyr, and it was completely fabricated.

Martyrdoms in general are a hugely potent mass radicalization weapon. A martyr always inspires followers who will make self-sacrifices of their own. And it always challenges opponents to prove that their values are not morally bankrupt and that they too can pay the cost in blood to support the cause they believe in. There is always conflict in the wake of a martyrdom, including a fake martyrdom.

What Donald Trump and his spokespeople are doing is capitalizing on the potential of right-wing martyrdom. Whether or not this is going to catch on like Horst Wessel's did depends on how ready the public is to carry the banner of fake martyrdom. Because any martyrdom is always a symphony between the individual and the public, even a true martyr will not inspire followers if they are not ready to make sacrifices in the name of the cause.

A fake martyr, on the other hand, can appeal to millions, as in Nazi Germany or in Soviet Union, if they are ready to jump on the bandwagon and express their rage in the name of the martyr.

What are you most concerned about in this crisis and going forward?

I am most concerned about mass radicalization and the related hatred and intolerance.

What advice would you give President Biden and other senior leadership?

Try not to pay attention to red herrings. Things like QAnon are a red herring. Try to not lose the forest for the trees. We have a massive right-wing radicalization problem in the United States where the followers are mobilized and armed and actively training. They have military or police training. They are also actively recruiting from those ranks. The resources should be going to confront that problem.

Do not discount the influence of malicious foreign actors, such as Russia and China. They are a lot more experienced with the weaponization of information and concocting propaganda narratives that are going to spread like wildfire and sow discord and mobilize people. The United States needs to catch up with their capabilities in that regard, and to protect ourselves in a way that we are not doing right now.

We need to do better with the social media giants about holding them accountable for what is taking place on their platforms.That means we need to demand that they become a lot more transparent, such as by sharing how they use algorithms and who they allow to dominate the discourse. At the moment, it's a complete black box. We need to hold those huge business entities responsible. They're like a type of public square — they need to be regulated.

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11 21 an

CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday expressed astonishment at a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) that found most Republican voters believe the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

While discussing the report, Tapper brought on PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones and asked him to comment on why white evangelical Christians are the only major religious group in the country that believes Trump actually won the election.

"They're all in for Trump," he said. "They believe this... this is a religion that not that long ago talked about itself as the moral values of the country, that kind of, 'turn the other cheek,' and all that stuff. And yet here we are, a major mainstream religion that's been all in for Trump, and we have among those whobelieve the election was stolen, which is most of them, nearly 4 in 10 saying they can imagine it being justified to resort to violence."

Tapper then turned to some of the even wilder conspiracy theories that a significant minority of Americans believe.

"One in six believe that the U.S. government is controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles running a global child sex-trafficking operation," Tapper said. "I mean, what?"

"I know," Jones replied. "Let me tell you, as a social scientist, I never thought I'd be in a position of actually writing that question."

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trumpistas wounded by gop neo-con BS corp sellout offshore jobs, so must punish someone?

--> cruelty, zealously protect whatever share of pie/priviledge they have left? the strong man will do it for them?  the Storm is massive numbers so power but also diffuse responsibility; they are doing the lord/dear leader's work/will?

aha threat used to be Koch CFG tea partiers freedom caucus, with the odd talk show jock but now soc med qanon wackos gohmert a kind to bridge to Anglo-saxon qnaon caucus??

yikes omg sys ampl fdbk? lack of diversity? not possible w/o SOC MED

an 10 21

Ron Watkins, the guy most QAnon experts believe is on half of the duo — with his father Jim Watkins — to be the infamous Q of QAnon (He denies it) is now running for Congress. Watkins has relocated to Arizona from Japan, where he was believed by most QAnon researchers to have written the "Q drops" — along with his father — by pretending to be a high-placed D.C. official in the Donald Trump administration. He's planning to run as a Republican against Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom O'Halleran.

Watkins didn't pick Arizona's 1st district out of any real connection to the area, or even the state. The district has become a hot commodity because, after a robust bout of gerrymanderingby the GOP-controlled state legislature, it's believed that that the congressional seat will likely turn over to a Republican.Subsequently, the race is a magnet for a lot of Republicans with congressional dreams and a better base of donors than the denies-he-is-Q guy.

GOP political consultants are quick to downplay the possibility that Watkins could win. Arizona Republican political consultant Stan Barnes told Will Sommer of the Daily Beast that a guy "who's allegedly related to the QAnon phenomenon has no chance of winning." But as Sommer pointed out, "QAnon connections haven't proved disqualifying" for Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.Indeed, Donald Trump incited an insurrection on the Capitol that was manned heavily by QAnoners, and he is the current favorite to win the 2024 election. Watkins is squirrelly, will likely be outspent, and his sleazy history includes giving an interview in a brothel — so I wouldn't bet in his favor. Still, he's not crazy to think that he's got a shot.

Blame gerrymandering.

Across the country, Republicans — who already control the majority of state legislatures — are working swiftly to redraw election maps to marginalize Democratic voters and create as many non-competitive Republican seats as possible. Most of the political coverage of this, for understandable reasons, is focused on how this will further enshrine the Republican power, giving them what could very well be permanent control of the federal government, despite the fact that most voters actually cast their ballots for Democrats.

But another, less intended consequence of gerrymandering is that it will speed up the Republican race to the bottom.

GOP gerrymandering empowers an ever-larger cast of idiots, conspiracy theorists, con artists, and open white nationalists to win national office. The situation is bad now, with Congress home to characters like Taylor Green, Boebert and Florida's Rep. Matt Gaetz, currently under federal investigation for sex trafficking of minors.But it's about to get much worse. Very soon the clown car will unload its passengers into primary campaigns for all of these newly safe Republican seats created by gerrymandering.

Here's how it happens: In districts with safe seats for one party or another, the election that counts is not the general, but the dominant party's primary election. This lack of general election competition creates all sorts of problems, but it's less of an issue in Democratic districts, where the diversity of the coalition at least creates real ideological debate in primaries. For Republican candidates, however, the incentives are completely skewed.

The kinds of people who vote in Republican primaries are ... well, not America's best. Without having to worry about running candidates who have to compete against Democrats for moderate voters, GOP primary voters can just go with whatever candidate excites them the most. And what speaks to Republican primary voters is sadism, racism, and a deep commitment to wild conspiracy theories. Gerrymandering makes it so that America's worst voters also happen to be the only voters who count at all in an increasing number of districts.

This is how we got Gaetz, who won with nearly 65% of the vote in his staunchly Republican district, Taylor Green, who drew nearly 75% of the vote, and Rep. Paul Gosar, who flaunts his white nationalist yearnings and got nearly 70% of the vote in his deeply conservative Arizona district. Having a heavily Republican district is an open invitation for the worst people to run, secure in the knowledge that as long as they can win over the Newsmax-addled, Facebook-meme-sharing hard right nuts that vote in GOP primaries. After that, it's a red carpet straight to national office.

Gerrymandering is not just a problem on the district level, either.

We can see from statewide offices what happens when Republicans don't feel they need to compete with Democrats in general elections. In both Florida and Texas, the incumbent Republican governors — Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbot, respectively – are running on what can be fairly described as a pro-COVID-19 platform. Both have waged all-out war on any effort to stymie the virus's ability to spread to as many bodies as possible, with a doggedness that is indistinguishable from what they'd do if they were trying to get their own constituents killed.

They aren't doing this to win any popularity contests in their states. On the contrary, polling shows repeatedlythat the majority of Americans want leaders to fight the virus, not help it spread. In fact, their actions are causing Abbott and DeSantis to see big dips in their approval numbers. But neither of them cares because both states passed draconian voter suppression laws that shield Republican politicians from having to answer to the majority of their state residents. Having secured what they likely see as an easy GOP win through voter suppression, both Abbott and DeSantis are focused instead on pleasing Republican primary voters. Doing that means maximizing the sadism and the plain old nuttiness. As Adam Serwer wrote in the Atlantic, Abbott is "too afraid of his own base to act responsibly."

Such fear-based governance will only become more and more the norm as Republicans shut Democrats out of the ability to compete in general elections, meaning that Republican primaries loom ever larger as the only elections that count. The only way to win in many Republican primaries is to show you can out-crazy the other candidate.

So it's no wonder the guy who is alleged to be Q is running for office in Arizona. When all the political incentives favor a race to the bottom, the people who are already living in the sewer have a strong advantage.

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/qanon-holy-war/

travis raw 10 21 an

"passion of the Christ" actor Jim Caviezel blurred the line between himself and his most famous role during a blood-soaked speech at a QAnon conference, and a historian signaled his alarm.

The once-prominent actor gave an 18-minute talk, titled ," last week at the right-wing conference "For God and County Patriot Double Down" in Las Vegas, where he called on "fellow Christian warriors" to martyr themselves against demonic forces, and historian Thomas Lecaque put the speech into context in a column published by The Bulwark.

"Caviezel does the bit that all the commentators have latched onto, performing Mel Gibson's speech from *Braveheart*," Lecaque wrote, "and we can laugh, but this is just yet another pulling of other words into a hodgepodge of pro-violence, pro-martyrdom, full-QAnon expression."

The audience cheers the call to arms, which is made up of a hodgepodge of religious symbolism, conservative political bromides from Ronald Reagan and QAnon jargon, but Lecaque said thespeech and the reaction it drew showed how badly some Americans want to kill their political enemies.

"We can laugh about the Braveheart,"wrote Lecaque, a history professor at Grand View University."We can wonder what an actor is doing at a QAnon conference. But that ending? That ending is a crusade. That ending is the sacral blessing of the enterprise — fight for freedom, fight alongside God against your demonic foes, fight into the apocalypse QAnon believes in, an apocalypse that ends with the mass murder of your political and cultural opponents. And Jim Caviezel, JC, the actor who played Jesus Christ and whose speech blurs the lines between sacred and secular, acting and preaching, reality and fiction, walks off stage to applause, having called down the apocalypse upon their foes."

Caviezel's speech has already been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, so clearly there's an audience for his apocalyptic fantasies.

"These talks are not harmless," Lecaque wrote. "These speeches are widely watched and listened to and disseminated. QAnon may have diminished as a distinct movement in the months since Q has fallen silent — despite the presence at the conference of both Ron and Jim Watkins, the people most likely responsible for creating the movement's mysterious pseudonymous central figure. But the spread of QAnon's message, especially in religious spaces, makes calls for sacred violence, for holy war, ever more dangerous. Especially if the messenger keeps promoting the possibility that he will once again take on the role of Christ.

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/the-qanon-movement-was-always-based-on-neo-nazi-conspiracies-now-the-mask-is-slipping/

hunter kos

We have noted in the past that the "QAnon" movement is not a set of new conspiracy theories, but a recasting of some of the most popular neo-Nazi, white supremacist, antisemitic themes of the last century for broader conspiracy consumption. Nazi-era antisemitic conspiracy theories declared that "Jews" were secretly controlling the world, that they were working to undermine governments and cultures, and that they drank the blood of children in secret rituals.

QAnon's version is identical: A shadowy cabal of "globalists" is secretly controlling the world, is working to undermine governments and cultures (for example, through a "great replacement" of Americans with new nonwhite immigrants, as supposedly funded by wealthy Jewish American George Soros), and is secretly trafficking children to harvest compounds from their blood.The most bizarre of Nazi and neo-Nazi themes have found eager new homes in the brains of supposed "real" Americans who have invariably settled on the same targets and solutions as their neo-Nazi enablers: Round up the "globalists"—meaning liberals, socialists, Democrats, those who fight for LGBT rights, those who treat immigrants with decency—and jail them. "Lock them up." Purge them.

The "everyday" Americans who have adopted QAnon beliefs as their own, insisting that the "child trafficking" or blood "harvesting" or something-something George Soros conspiracies are real, are Good Nazis. They are the sort of citizens who made Nazi Germany tick. They are sweet, patriotic parents of somebody, or children of somebody, and all they know in life is that their enemies must be defeated, even if defeating them means toppling democracy and/or supporting the most incompetent of tax-dodging lying rapist perverts.

Whether they can be reformed once they've gone down that rabbit hole is a subject for others to engage. Myself, I expect not. Human beings do not accidentally fall into believing their not-white or not-Christian or not-Republican neighbors are barely human saboteurs plotting behind the scenes to do whatever evil you might imagine. They started out that way, then fell into conspiracy holes that were pleasing because they ticked off all the boxes their previous paranoias needed to tick off.

The movement itself, however, has been drifting back to the rawer antisemitism that first crafted it.

VICE News reports that John Sabal, the influential QAnon promoter who will this week host a major QAnon conference at which four aspiring Republican lawmakers are scheduled to speak recommended on Sunday to his followers a notorious neo-Nazi conspiracy film blaming Jews as the architects of communism, World Wars I and II, and the sabotage of Naziism. "The most important historical film of all time," Sabal touted.

The posts were removed after they were "highlighted by extremist researchers," reports VICE—and Sabal claims through his partner that he never actually watched the film or knew that it was antisemitic. And yes, this is the "QAnon" provocateur with enough clout to collect Republican candidates from across the nation.

This isn't an isolated incident. VICE reports that other QAnon figures have similarly embraced the film, though none as prominent as Sabal has been.The "Q" movement is also attracting much attention and support among German neo-Nazis, who after all have a closer connection to many of the Q-adopted tropes now being exported by American conspiracists.

It hasn't stopped national Republicans from courting conspiracy leaders and allied militias, either.

QAnon may have taken some of its heaviest hits from being uniformly and absurdly wrong in all its preelection and post-election predictions about, well, everything, and from its top founder and likelyQ pretender Ron Watkins, who distanced himself slightly after Trump's loss. (He's now running for Congress himself—in Arizona, of course.) That doesn't mean it's dead.

It's unclear, however, if QAnon believers are becoming more enamored with antisemitism than they once were or if the movement is sloughing off now-bored, less-radical Americans, leaving behind a more radical, neo-Nazi-adjacent core. Conservatism in general is increasingly flirting with antisemitic speech and candidates: In Idaho, a Republican with a long history of antisemitic speech, one who claims "all Jews are dangerous," is enjoying his local party's support for joining the local school board.

Extremist rhetoric in general is being rewarded rather than scorned by Republican voters. It's probably not surprising that the Republican slide into fascism could not help but stoke the same antisemitic sentiments that past versions have relied on.The QAnon, Trump, and Republican movements are all coalescing into one ball of hate and hoaxes; in the House and Senate, party leaders are at worst helping to promote the conspiracies, and at best remaining silent in efforts to ride the hate to new election victories.

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ref vice

no lnx pix

QAnon Is Becoming Even More Antisemitic

One of the movement’s biggest influencers just encouraged his followers to watch a 10-part neo-Nazi film.

By David Gilbert

October 18, 2021,

[A man wearing a 'Defund the Media' QAnon shirt is seen at a "Stop the Steal" rally against the results of the U.S. Presidential election outside the Georgia State Capitol on November 18, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. ]

[Disinfo Dispatch Padding

Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.]

The organizer of a major QAnon conference in Las Vegas later this week, where at least four sitting GOP lawmakers speak on stage, shared a neo-Nazi film with his 70,000 followers on Sunday evening.

John Sabal, who’s known online as QAnon John, is preparing for Thursday’s “For God and Country: Patriot Double Down” conference, but on Sunday night he took time out of his busy schedule to share a post about people who had praised “Europa – the Last Battle.” It’s a 10-part film that claims Jews created Communism and deliberately started both world wars as part of a plot to found Israel by provoking the innocent Nazis, who were only defending themselves. 

“If you want to know the truth, well look no further. Here it is, escape the matrix and watch it today,” the post Sabal shared said.

Moments later, Sabal shared a direct link to allow his followers to watch the film on the alternative video-sharing site Rumble.

While this film has been shared by some of QAnon’s more fringe and extremist figures, the fact Sabal feels emboldened to share it so publicly is a testament to how antisemitic thinking has become normalized within the movement.

This was reflected in the comments under the posts from Sabal’s followers who offered no pushback against his support of such antisemitic content.

When one follower did attempt to criticize Sabal for posting the link, other members of the channel quickly attacked that user, claiming they were some sort of undercover agent of the “deep state.”

Others credulously claimed the user criticizing Sabal had misunderstood the film: “I'm sorry that's what you took away from our neo-Nazi film. It's really about how killing the Jews is necessary and good because they're not real Jews,” one of Sabal’s followers wrote.[CUFI red calf bs?]

After Sabal’s comments were highlighted by extremist researchers on Twitter, the posts mysteriously disappeared from his channel.

The video series is very well-known in extremist circles, yet apparently Sabal shared it completely innocently with his tens of thousands of followers.

“He had no idea that there was any anti-Semitism connected to that film,” Sabal’s partner Amy told VICE News in a message. “He has never even watched the movie. It was referred to him by a supposed ‘trusted’ source.”

Later this week, Sabal will host a raft of GOP lawmakers, including sitting Arizona Reps. Wendy Rogers and Sonny Borrelli. Also scheduled to speak are multiple Republican candidates running for secretary of state, including candidates in the swing states of Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada.

Despite calling himself “QAnon John,” and even though many of the movement’s biggest influencers will be sharing speaking time with members of the Republican Party, Sabal has in the past claimed this is not a QAnon conference. Among them will be Ron Watkins, who facilitated the rise of QAnon and who last week announced his plan to run for Congress.

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QAnoner wielding a tomahawk is now crashing school board meetings

Meaghan Ellis

October 16, 2021

Parents in Ankeny, Iowa, were not pleased with the school board's decision to reinforce its mask mandate to mitigate COVID-19. In fact, many outraged parents responded with lambasting remarks toward school...

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/qanon-extremists-have-been-making-inroads-with-mormons-report/

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omfg

https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/biden-trump/

A recent Washington demonstration supporting those charged with crimes for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol fizzled, with no more than 200 demonstrators showing up. The organizers had promised 700 people would turn out – or more.

But the threat from far-right insurrectionists is not over.

For months, my colleagues and I at the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats have been tracking insurrectionist sentiments in U.S. adults, most recently in surveys in June. We have found that 47 million American adults – nearly 1 in 5 – agree with the statement that “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president." Of those, 21 million also agree that “use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency."

Our survey found that many of these 21 million people with insurrectionist sentiments have the capacity for violent mobilization. At least 7 million of them already own a gun, and at least 3 million have served in the U.S. military and so have lethal skills. Of those 21 million, 6 million said they supported right-wing militias and extremist groups, and 1 million said they are themselves or personally know a member of such a group, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

Only a small percentage of people who hold extremist views ever actually commit acts of violence, but our findings reveal how many Americans hold views that could turn them toward insurrection.

A solid survey

[method grfx]

extreme beliefs

This polling found that 9% of American adults say they agree with the statement that “Use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency." And 25% of adults either strongly or somewhat agree with the statement that “The 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president."

Overall, 8% of the survey participants share both of those views.

The margin of error of this survey was plus or minus 4 percentage points. So when calculating the number of the 258 million adult Americans who hold these views, we looked at the range of between 4% and 12% – which gave us between 10 million and 31 million. The best single figure is the middle of that range, 21 million.

People who said force is justified to restore Trump were consistent in their insurrectionist sentiments: Of them, 90% also see Biden as illegitimate, and 68% also think force may be needed to preserve America's traditional way of life.

The fringe moving into the mainstream

Combined with their military experience, gun ownership and connections to extremist groups and militias, this signals the existence of significant mainstream support in America for a violent insurrection.

This group of 21 million who agree both that force is justified to restore Trump and that Biden is an illegitimate president has two additional views that are also on the fringes of mainstream society:

• 63% agree with the statement that “African American people or Hispanic people in our country will eventually have more rights than whites" – a belief sometimes called “the **Great Replacement."
• 54% agree that “A secret group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is ruling the US government," which is the key belief in the QAnon movement.

Some people with insurrectionist sentiments hold one of these political views but not the other, suggesting there are multiple ways of thinking that lead a person toward the insurrectionist movement.

Broader support

This latest research reinforces our previous findings, that the Jan. 6 insurrection represents a far more mainstream movement than earlier instances of right-wing extremism across the country. Those events, mostly limited to white supremacist and militia groups, saw more than 100 individuals arrested from 2015 to 2020. But just 14% of those arrested for their actions on Jan. 6 are members of those groups. More than half are business owners or middle-aged white-collar professionals, and only 7% are unemployed.

There is no way to say for sure when – or even whether – these insurrectionists will take action. On Jan. 6, it took clear direction from Donald Trump and other political leaders to turn these dangerous sentiments into a violent reality. But the movement itself is larger and more complex than many people might like to think.

Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/qanon-2653524968/

Reporter Laura J. Nelson, in an article published by the Los Angeles Times on June 23, takes a look at Californians who have an unlikely combination of beliefs: they are into new age ideology, but are also QAnon supporters.

"A world that has long embraced love, light and acceptance is now making room for something else: QAnon," Nelson reports. "More commonly associated with right-wing groups, the conspiracy theory is spreading through yoga, meditation and other wellness circles. Friends and colleagues have watched with alarm as Instagram influencers and their New Age peers — yogis, energy healers, sound bathers, crystal practitioners, psychics, quantum magicians — embraced QAnon's conspiratorial worldview and sprayed it across social media."

QAnon is a far-right movement that promotes bizarre and outlandish conspiracy theories. According to QAnon, the United States' federal government has been taken over by an international cabal of pedophiles, child sex traffickers, Satanists and cannibals — and former President Donald Trump was put in the White House to fight the cabal. Well-known pro-QAnon extremists in the Republican Party include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

The fact that QAnon has made inroads with far-right Christian fundamentalist evangelicals isn't surprising; the Christian right has long been prone to conspiracy theorists. But the new age community in California seems an unlikely place for QAnon to make inroads.

Nelson, however, reports, "The health, wellness and spirituality world has always been primed for that worldview, followers say. Though largely filled with well-meaning people seeking spiritual or physical comfort, the $1.5-trillion industry can also be a hotbed for conspiracies, magical thinking, dietary supplements with dubious scientific claims and distrust of institutional healthcare, including vaccines."

Julian Walker, a Mar Vista yogi who hosts a podcast called "Conspirituality," told the Times, "It's always been the water we were swimming in. Now, we're seeing what happens when the water rises."

The violent insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6 included supporters of QAnon as well as members of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other far-right Trump supporters. And some of those QAnon supporters, Nelson points out, embrace new age beliefs.

Nelson explains, "Several New Age spiritualists in Southern California interviewed by the Times said they knew a total of more than a dozen former friends and colleagues at the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol with ties to yoga, meditation, energy healing and dietary supplements hawked by multilevel marketing companies. Jake Angeli, whose face paint and horned headgear during the Capitol riot earned him the nickname'the QAnon Shaman,' carried a sign at earlier protests that read, 'Q Sent Me,' and successfully petitioned a federal judge on religious grounds to receive only organic food in jail. One of the best known of the rioters isAlan Hostetter, a ponytailed former police chief, yoga teacher and sound healer from Orange County who spoke at a QAnon conferenceand was indicted by federal officials this month."

Los Angeles-based yoga instructor Seane Corn, who co-founded the group Off the Mat, Into the World, has been warning others in the new age community that QAnon is dangerous.

"Corn was among the wellness leaders who shared a statement in September warning that QAnon's tactics resembled cult psychology and that the ideology would sow confusion, division and paranoia," Nelson reports. "Corn estimates she knows at least ten people who embraced 'hardcore QAnon,' including two people who participated in the attack on the Capitol — and is aware of more than 30 colleagues and peers who subscribe to some forms of the ideology, as well as a 'countless' number of yoga students. Corn said she has watched bots and real-life QAnon devotees try to harness her social media comment sections as a recruiting ground, using 'wellness language and nonviolent communication' in an attempt to lead her followers toward more conspiratorial thinking.

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Believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory are enthusiastically circulating a video of a contributor at the Trump-loving One America News calling for the mass execution of the former president's enemies.

Via The Daily Beast's Will Sommer, an OAN contributor this week went off on a rant in which he falsely claimed that "voter fraud" cost former President Donald Trump the 2020 election, and said it was time to think about how to deal with the purported perpetrators.

"Exactly how many people were involved in these efforts to undermine the election?" he asked. "Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? How many people does it take to carry out a coup against the presidency?"

He then pivoted to the consequences that the purported coup plotters will face once their treachery is exposed.

"In the past, America had a very good solution for dealing with such traitors: Execution," he said.

According to Sommer, the clip has gone viral in QAnon chat rooms.

"I came across the clip because QAnon people are see it as proof that the mass executions are right around the corner," Sommer explains. "Lots of glee in the Q chat rooms, demands for how exactly their imagined executions will be carried out and complaints they had to wait too long."

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mma621

https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-influencers-want-their-followers-infiltrate-republican-precinct

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an 621

fBI warns Congress of more possible QAnon violence targeting Democratic lawmakers

David Badash The New Civil Rights Movement  June 15, 2021

The FBI has briefed members of Congress that QAnon "digital soldiers" may become violent and engage in more acts of domestic violent extremism, like the January 6 insurrection. In an unclassified version of the threat assessment delivered to top lawmakers in April the Bureau warns that Democrats may be targeted.

Rather than walking away from the far right wing conspiracy movement that paints some top Democrats as part of a dark cabal of cannibalistic Satan-worshipping pedophiles being fought by Donald Trump, some QAnon cultists think "that individuals need to take greater control of the direction of the movement than before," CNN reports in an exclusive.

The shift is fueled by a belief among some of the conspiracy's more militant followers that they "can no longer 'trust the plan" set forth by its mysterious standard-bearer, known simply as "Q," according an unclassified FBI threat assessment on QAnon sent to lawmakers last week, which was obtained by CNN.

This might lead followers to seek to harm "perceived members of the 'cabal' such as Democrats and other political opposition — instead of continually awaiting Q's promised actions which have not occurred," according to the assessment.

CNN also reports FBI Director Christopher Wray "made clear the bureau is not investigating" the QAnon movement, but only crimes committed by its adherents.

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tom b raw

According to a report from the Guardian's Sam Levine, Republicans who have always dabbled in playing to the red meat crowd are now ramping up their efforts to use that voting bloc to remain in power by disrupting and questioning election results.

Faced with changing demographics and states -- - notably Arizona and Georgia --- that were once reliably Republican but are now sending Democrats to Congress, Republicans are looking for ways to stop the bleeding as their power melts away.

According to Levine, Donald Trump just gave them the roadmap by blatantly saying the election was stolen from him -- which has been well-received by more than just conservative extremists.

As his Guardian report notes, "... fanned repeatedly by Donald Trump throughout 2020, the myth of a stolen American election has shifted from a fringe idea to one being embraced by the Republican party. The so-called big lie – the idea that the election was stolen from Trump - has transformed from a tactical strategy to a guiding ideology."

According to UC Irvine law professor Richard Hasen, Republicans embracing Trump's "Big Lie" is a sign of an emerging trend that doesn't bode well for future elections.

"Voter suppression is not new, the battle lines have been drawn over that for quite some time. But this new concern about election subversion is really worrisome," he explained.

Edward Foley, a law professor at the Ohio State University, concurred, adding, "I do think it's a relatively new phenomenon, unfortunately, and disturbing. We've had disputed elections in the past, but we've never had the denial of the basic mathematical reality of counting votes."

With the Guardian's Levine noting polls show that a majority of Republicans still believe that Trump is the "true president," he spoke with a former GOP operative from Florida who made a very candid admission that Republicans are seeing their position of power wither away and are being forced to embrace Trump's tactics .

"In the past, party elders, party leaders … exploited the crazies in order to win elections and then largely ignored them after the elections," explained Mac Stipanovich. "What has happened since then is that Trump opened Pandora's box and let them out. He not only let them out, he affirmed them and provoked them. And so now they're running wild and they are legitimatizing these delusions."

You can read more here.

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an 621

the  second-most revered figure in the QAnon conspiracy firmament called for a military coup in the United States. Again. Retired three-star general and former Trump campaign national security advisor Mike Flynn called for the end of democracy during a question-and-answer session last weekend at a QAnon conference in Dallas.

"I'm a simple Marine," a grizzled audience member said, "I wanna know why what happened in Minamar (sic) can't happen here." The room erupted. Flynn waited for the cheering to subside and said, "No reason. I mean, it should happen here."

Flynn reportedly called the conference organizers to backtrack. He's now denying that he said what we all saw him say, but let's get one thing straight: Mike Flynn is a liar.

Trump fired him for lying to Mike Pence about Russia. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but he lied in his plea deal, so Trump had to pardon him. Now he's lying about how he called for a military coup in the United States. On video. This is nothing new for Flynn. After the 2020 election, Flynn privately urged then-president Donald Trump to send troops to "re-run" the election, an idea he'd previously floated in the media.

It's nothing new for QAnon either. QAnon supporters have been cheering on the coup in Myanmar since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in February. The junta has killed over 800 people, including more than 40 children, but QAnon supporters don't know anything about Myanmar's internal politics. They just like coups. After Trump's failed coup attempt on January 6, many of them found it comforting to know a military still could overthrow a democracy somewhere.

And why wouldn't they? The beating heart of QAnon's dark theology is The Storm, the military coup that is always right around the corner. The Storm is the day when Donald Trump and the armed forces liquidates QAnon's political enemies: Democrats, Hollywood celebrities, the media, and anyone who stands against them. The former president will retake his rightful place in the White House, democracy be damned.

According to a new poll, nearly a quarter of white evangelicals believe The Storm is coming to restore "rightful leaders." This mythology fits naturally with the Big Lie that Trump won the election. QAnon believers heard Donald Trump's call to come to Washington on January 6 as the coming of the storm. Many of them believed they were being summoned to take part in the long-awaited battle between good and evil.

Most normal people think of QAnon as the "pedo cabal" people. Indeed, QAnon talks a good game about saving the children from pedophiles. As disturbing as they sound, these child-abuse fantasies are good for recruiting unsuspecting converts. After all, everyone wants to prevent child abuse. QAnon has deep roots in evangelical Christianity and its most fervent proponents have thought long and hard—and written with uncharacteristic coherence—about how to best recruit. Attitude change begins with finding common ground. You can get almost anyone to agree that child abuse is a problem. That provides the common ground needed to begin a conversation in which the believer can plant seeds in the prospective convert's mind about other aspects of QAnon. This process is called "red-pilling," a reference to The Matrix, a movie during which the hero swallows the red pill to dissolve illusion and reveal ultimate reality.

The news media's focus on pedophilia obscures the core of QAnon's ideology, which is a longing for glorious, purifying and revelational violence. The pedophiles of QAnon mythology are the alter-egos of powerful Democratic politicians, Hollywood celebrities, journalists and Jewish financiers George Soros and the Rothschilds. These are the villains who will be purged by the military when The Storm is finally upon us.

Unfortunately for QAnon, normal people love democracy as much as they hate pedophilia. So recruiters don't open with talk of a coup. The faithful avoid talking about it to journalists. That's why Flynn is taking pains to walk back his comment. While The Storm is normal in QAnon circles, it's still taboo in the outside world.

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