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| Conspiracy theory group QAnon, whose members think that Obama is part of a group of Satanic pedophiles and cannibals, just got praised Wednesday by Donald Trump. |
Let's be clear about one fact - Trump is an incompetent, desperate character who will kiss the ass of any person or group who can get him re-elected. And we need to say it more times than we do. It needs to be hammered in. Particularly after his latest hot mess.
Trump just gave his blessing to a group of dangerous conspiracy theorists:
Speaking during a press conference at the White House, Trump courted the support of those who put stock in the conspiracy theory, saying, "I heard that these are people that love our country." It was his first public comment on the subject.
A lot of people aren't familiar with QAnon, but to put it nicely, they are a bunch of nuts:
The QAnon conspiracy theory baselessly claims that there is a "deep state" apparatus run by political elites, business leaders and Hollywood celebrities who are also pedophiles and actively working against Trump. View described it as meta conspiracy theory that provides an underlying narrative for other baseless theories. According to View, its followers believe that this "worldwide cabal of satanic pedophiles" run "all the major levers of power," including government, media, business and Hollywood.
QAnon theorists believe that were it not for Trump's election in 2016, the cabal would stay in power, View says. But Trump, working with the military, is actively putting an end to it, according to the theory. An anonymous poster named Q shares cryptic tips that followers then decode to learn the ways in which the "deep state" controls the world, how Trump is battling and marching orders to join in, said Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters for America, a nonprofit that researches misinformation in the United States.
QAnon members haver accused celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Hanks or government officials such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama of being pedophiles. They also think that children are being harvested for chemical compounds and that JFK is still alive.
And yes,they are dangerous:
A Yahoo News report from August 2019 says that the FBI identified fringe conspiracy theories as a domestic extremist threat, and it specifically mentions QAnon. The majority of QAnon supporters say they are peaceful and most of their activities remain online, View said. "The danger is essentially that there have been multiple instances where QAnon followers have taken their beliefs offline in violent or dangerous ways," he added. View cited multiple cases of violence connected to QAnon believers. In June 2018, Matthew Wright, motivated by his belief in QAnon, blocked the bridge near the Hoover Dam with a homemade armored vehicle. He later pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat.
Last year the FBI declared the group as a domestic terrorist threat. But guess what? One of these conspiracy theorists is going to Congress next year.
Marjorie Taylor Greene won a GOP primary in a heavily red Georgia district. That almost guarantees her a Congressional seat. Greene has been called out several times for posting Islamic, racist, and anti-Semitic statements.
In addition:
She's repeatedly expressed strong support for the QAnon conspiracy theory. Broadly, the conspiracy claims that the world is run by a Satanic cabal of elites intent on bringing down the Trump presidency. It alleges, among other things, that the former special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and other top Democrats who opposed Trump; and that the so-called American "deep state" tried to shoot down Air Force One before Trump's summit in North Korea last year.
When Greene won her primary, Trump endorsed her.
These folks and their supporters congregate on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and both entities have been steadily deleting them. Last week, Facebook deleted one group with 200,000 members. On Wednesday, Facebook announced the removal of 800 more groups. Since July, Twitter has deleted over 150,00 QAnon groups. All of these removals had to do with members promoting or threatening violence.
However, it was discovered last week that QAnon groups are highjacking another movement and assembling groups using its name:
QAnon’s most recent strategy to gain more followers involves piggybacking on the anti-human-trafficking movement with the hashtag #savethechildren, according to the New York Times. The hashtag began as a legitimate campaign for the Save the Children charity but has since been overrun by baseless conspiracy theories about who is doing the trafficking.
The picture posted above having to do with Obama is from one of those false #savethechildren Facebook sites.
Trump seemed to be not put off in the least when reporters sought more information about his friendly words about QAnon:
When a reporter explained the basics of the conspiracy theory — including that QAnon supporters think the president will save the world from pedophiles and cannibals — the president responded: "If I can help save the world from problems, I'm willing to do it."
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