The loosely connected cohort that follows Q, known as QAnon, exists in a symbiotic relationship with the president, and sees Trump as an almost messianic figure. Q has prophesied an upcoming event dubbed “The Storm,” when Trump will reveal the mass arrest — and potentially even the mass execution — of the Washington figures responsible for everything from a worldwide child sex ring to murdering a Democratic National Committee staffer. Meanwhile, Trump has flirted right back,
inviting one of QAnon’s top promoters to pose with him in the Oval Office, and retweeting over 130 tweets that directly reference QAnon-related claims.
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“This is a community who is intensely, intensely devoted to Trump, to the extent that they see him as the savior of mankind,” said Travis View, a QAnon researcher and the host of the QAnon Anonymous podcast, which tracks the growth of this community. “It's certainly advantageous to have a community of people who will never, ever, find any fault in you whatsoever, and will work to defend you, and advocate [for] you, and would even spread conspiracy theories that defend you, online.”
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Depending on where one looks, Q-adherent beliefs range from untrue theories that spring from actual events — DNC staffer Seth Rich was murdered by gang members hired by Democratic leaders, the Rothschild family was behind Princess Diana’s death, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is Adolf Hitler’s grandchild — to the arcane and metaphysical. One more nebulous belief: that the most prominent members of this cabal
harvest adrenal glands from childrens’ brains and
sacrifice them to the Satanic ancient god Moloch. Another
alleges that Trump has arrested these evildoers — not physically here on earth, but spiritually, on an interdimensional plane.
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QAnon followers have not lost faith in Trump or Q even when the cult figure’s elaborate predictions have not come true — like one that theorized Trump was working with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and special counsel Robert Mueller to
purge the deep state. And to this point, Trump has yet to disavow the group, even as the FBI has labeled it a potential
source of domestic terrorism. Across the country, people radicalized by QAnon have been charged with crimes, ranging from attempted
kidnapping to
murder, inspired by the conspiracy theory.
View, the QAnon tracker, argued that Trump has always gravitated toward groups, like QAnon, that consider him a “Jesus-like figure.” And the belief among QAnon that it has Trump’s covert approval — divined by Q supporters from his tweets and random hand gestures — has turned into political energy.
With Greene, the woman running for Georgia’s soon-to-be vacant 14th Congressional District seat, the political aspirations will likely succeed. Greene is heading into a runoff for the Republican nomination as the clear favorite. And if she claims the nomination, her district is considered a safe seat for Republicans, meaning she would likely be headed to Washington.
Having a Q supporter in Congress will inevitably fan the flames of the conspiracy, even if Greene decides to remain silent about Q or even disavow her previous beliefs, which involve her calling Q a
“patriot” back in 2018.
“if you think about it, it's a whole new pipeline for information that can feed into the Q movement,” said Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, who himself has been the target of QAnon conspiracies. “Because now they have a person in office that has the imprimatur of that congressional pin, who is going to have access to information either that others can't get access to, or that's a lot harder for them to get access to.”