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NY Times, August 20, 2020
Trump Says QAnon Followers Are People Who ‘Love Our Country’
When asked, the president did not question the truth behind the claims
of the QAnon conspiracy movement. Instead, he offered his help.
At a news conference on Wednesday, President Trump embraced proponents
of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
At a news conference on Wednesday, President Trump embraced proponents
of the QAnon conspiracy theory.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Katie Rogers <https://www.nytimes.com/by/katie-rogers>Kevin Roose
<https://www.nytimes.com/by/kevin-roose>
ByKatie Rogers <https://www.nytimes.com/by/katie-rogers>andKevin Roose
<https://www.nytimes.com/by/kevin-roose>
*
Aug. 19, 2020
*
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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday offered encouragement to
proponents ofQAnon
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/technology/facebook-qanon-groups-takedown.html>,
a viral conspiracy theory that has gained a widespread following among
people who believe the president is secretly battling a criminal band of
sex traffickers, and suggested that its proponents were patriots upset
with unrest in Democratic cities.
“I’ve heard these are people that love our country,” Mr. Trump said
during a White House news conference ostensibly about the coronavirus.
“So I don’t know really anything about it other than they do supposedly
like me.”
WHAT IS QANON?
Explainingthe “big tent conspiracy theory”
<https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article>that
falsely claims that President Trump is facing down a shadowy cabal of
Democratic pedophiles.
When told by a reporter about the central premise of the QAnon theory —
a belief that Mr. Trump is saving the world from a satanic cult made up
of pedophiles and cannibals connected to Democratic Party figures,
so-called deep-state actors and Hollywood celebrities — Mr. Trump did
not question the validity of the movement or the truth of those claims.
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Instead, he offered his help.
“Is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?” the president said
lightly, responding to a reporter who asked if he could support that
theory. “If I can help save the world from problems, I am willing to do
it. I’m willing to put myself out there.”
Mr. Trump’s cavalier response was a remarkable public expression of
support for conspiracy theorists who have operated in the darkest
corners of the internet and have at times been charged withdomestic
terrorism
<https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-pleads-guilty-terrorism-charge-blocking-bridge-armored/story?id=68955385>andplanned
kidnapping
<https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/judge-mom-accused-qanon-kidnapping-plot-stand-trial-72367294>.
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“QAnon conspiracy theorists spread disinformation and foster a climate
of extremism and paranoia, which in some cases has led to violence.
Condemning this movement should not be difficult,” said Jonathan A.
Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League. “It’s
downright dangerous when a leader not only refuses to do so, but also
wonders whether what they are doing is ‘a good thing.’”
Latest Updates: 2020 Election
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates>
7h ago
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates#night-3-featured-more-policy-a-focus-on-women-and-a-full-throated-rejection-of-trump-by-his-predecessor>
Night 3 featured more policy, a focus on women and a full-throated
rejection of Trump by his predecessor.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates#night-3-featured-more-policy-a-focus-on-women-and-a-full-throated-rejection-of-trump-by-his-predecessor>
9h ago
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates#trump-live-tweeted-obamas-speech-tonight-hell-appear-on-fox-news-right-before-bidens-tomorrow>
Trump live-tweeted Obama’s speech tonight. He’ll appear on Fox News
right before Biden’s tomorrow.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates#trump-live-tweeted-obamas-speech-tonight-hell-appear-on-fox-news-right-before-bidens-tomorrow>
9h ago
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates#advocates-for-domestic-violence-survivors-praised-biden-in-a-video>
Advocates for domestic violence survivors praised Biden in a video.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/19/us/dnc-convention-election?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-elections-2020®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&context=storylines_live_updates#advocates-for-domestic-violence-survivors-praised-biden-in-a-video>
Mr. Trump’s comments also elevated a group of people who the F.B.I. has
saidposes
<https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.html>a
domestic terrorism threat.
“QAnon is promoting political disinformation, medical disinformation and
carrying on a legacy of anti-Semitic tropes,” Joan Donovan, the research
director at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy,
said in an interview. “Attention from the president is only going to
embolden these groups to grow their ranks.”
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Although amajority of Americans
<https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/30/qanons-conspiracy-theories-have-seeped-into-u-s-politics-but-most-dont-know-what-it-is/>say
they remain unfamiliar with the particulars of the movement — research
shows that people who use social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit
are more likely to be familiar with QAnon — those who study the behavior
of fringe groups have warned of the power to produce extremism among
followers.
QAnon is a larger and many-tentacled version of thePizzagate conspiracy
theory <https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Pizzagate>, which falsely
claimed that Hillary Clinton was operating a child sex-trafficking ring
out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant.In December
2016
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/pizzagate-comet-ping-pong-edgar-maddison-welch.html?searchResultPosition=3>,
a man who said he was on the hunt for proof of child abuse was arrested
after firing a rifle inside the restaurant.
QAnon supporters often flood social media pages with memes and YouTube
videos that target well-known figures — like Mrs. Clinton and her
husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the actorTom Hanks
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/13/fact-check-tom-hanks-greek-citizen-but-pedophilia-claim-false/3353055001/>—
with unfounded claims about their links to child abuse. Lately,
activists have usedanti-child-trafficking hashtags
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/technology/qanon-save-the-children-trafficking.html>as
a recruitment tool.
“It’s not just a conspiracy theory, this is a domestic extremist
movement,” said Travis View, a host of “QAnon Anonymous
<https://twitter.com/QanonAnonymous>,” a podcast that seeks to explain
the movement. Mr. View said that Twitter and Facebook pages exploded
with comments from gleeful followers after Mr. Trump’s comments.
Mr. View pointed out that the president answered the question by
supporting the central premise of the QAnon theory — that he is battling
a cabal of left-wing pedophiles — rather than addressing the lack of
evidence behind the movement.
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“They are very practiced at trying to interpret any comment from Trump
as validation,” Mr. View said of the movement’s followers. “And Trump
very coyly indicated he would help if he could.”
In recent weeks, platforms including Twitter and Facebook have rushed to
dismantle a mushrooming number of QAnon-related accounts and fan pages,
a move that people who study the movement say is too little and too
late. On Wednesday, after a record amount of QAnon-related growth on the
site, Facebooksaid it removed
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/technology/facebook-qanon-groups-takedown.html>790
QAnon groups and was restricting another 1,950 groups, 440 pages and
more than 10,000 Instagram accounts.
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On Facebook alone, activity on some of the largest QAnon groups rose 200
to 300 percent in the past six months, according to data gathered by The
New York Times.
“We have seen growing movements that, while not directly organizing
violence, have celebrated violent acts, shown that they have weapons and
suggest they will use them, or have individual followers with patterns
of violent behavior,” Facebook said in a statement, adding that it would
also block QAnon hashtags like #digitalarmy and #thestorm.
But the movement made the jump from social media long ago: With dozens
of QAnon supportersrunning this year for Congress
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/13/why-qanon-supporters-are-winning-congressional-primaries/>—
including several who have won Republican primaries in Oregon and
Georgia — QAnon is knocking on the door of mainstream politics, and has
done so with the president’s help.
QAnon’s origins are murky. In October 2017, a post appeared on the 4chan
message board from an anonymous account calling itself “Q Clearance
Patriot.” This poster, who became known simply as “Q,” claimed to be an
intelligence officer with access to classified information about a war
Mr. Trump was waging against the global cabal.
According to QAnon lore, Mr. Trump was recruited by top military
generals to run for president in 2016 in order to break up the cabal’s
criminal conspiracy, end its control of politics and the media, and
bring its members to justice.
It has also incorporated elements of other conspiracy theories,
including claims about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,
the existence of U.F.O.s and the 9/11 “truther” movement.
For years, Mr. Trump and his campaign have flirted with the QAnon
movement. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, has
interviewed supporters in her role as a spokeswoman for the Trump
campaign, creating footage that was later promoted to Mr. Trump’s
supporters.
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“If you could say one thing to the president, what would you say?” Ms.
McEnanysaid to a supporter
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEopZYx437I&feature=youtu.be>outside a
campaign rally in February as several attendees shouted, “Q!” The two
talked about what it meant to be a “digital soldier” for Mr. Trump.
“Who is Q?” the man replied. Ms. McEnany said that she would pass the
message along.
For his part, the president hasoften reposted
<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/12/trump-tweeting-qanon-followers-357238>QAnon-centric
content into his Twitter feed. And QAnon followers have long interpreted
messages from Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media,as
promoting tongue-in-cheek symbols
<https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1277571323166941185>associated
with the movement.
“I’m not surprised at all by his reaction, and I don’t think QAnon
conspirators are surprised either. It’s terrifying,” Vanessa Bouché, an
associate professor of political science at Texas Christian University,
said in an interview. “In a democratic society, we make decisions based
on information. And if people are believing these lies, then we’re in a
very dangerous position.”
Last week, Mr. Trumptweeted his support of Marjorie Taylor Greene
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1293525010523578375?s=20>, a
QAnon follower who won her House primary runoff in Georgia, but he
declined to directly embrace the movement itself during a White House
news conference.
“She won by a lot,” he said. “She comes from a great state.”
But on Twitter, Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Greene, calling her a “future
Republican Star” and “a real WINNER!”
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