TYB
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-pape-transcript-face-the-nation-09-18-2022/
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT
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MARGARET BRENNAN: And to be clear, non-U.S. citizens cannot vote in federal elections in the midterm races just to be abundantly clear.
PAPE: That's right. That is correct. It is a conspiracy theory but it's not just on fringe social media like Parler or Gab, 4chan, 8chan. This is every day on Fox News, it's on Newsmax, it's on One America, it's on talk radio. So this is driver number one.
Driver number two is a belief in the Qanon cult idea, which at first blush sounds a little, almost laughable, that said they would believe a satanic group of pedophiles, runs the US government.
But we've done focus groups with these folks. And what they really mean by that, Margaret, is that there are politicians that have gotten on the Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein, and have taken money for foundations, for political support–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Corruption.
PAPE: For corruption. That's what's really going on. So if you marry those two together, you have a dangerous cocktail. You have the fear of this Great Replacement happening by a Democratic Party, and then you have the fear of corruption and immorality, and that's that dangerous combination that's leading to violent support against our democracy.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you just mentioned Qanon. And as you just explained, it's a set of conspiracy theories involving sex trafficking, and there is this belief that President- former President Trump is the one person or one of the people who can end it all. And I want to play some video here because at a political rally last night, Mr. Trump used a song titled after a Qanon slogan. I'm going to play the sound, and and listeners will have to listen to the music, not necessarily what the President is saying, listen to the background music.
DONALD TRUMP SOT: It would never have happened with me as your Commander in Chief. And for four long years, it didn't happen. and China, with Taiwan is next.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That is a QAnon song. The former president has posted images of himself wearing a Q on his lapel on social media with the phrase, "The storm is coming." That's another one of their slogans. What- what does all of this mean, and is it threatening?
PAPE: First, it is threatening, just to cut right to the heart of it. What it means is that the former president is willing to court not just supporters of his but those who support violence for his goals, number one of which is being restored to the White House. This is extremely disturbing, because well, in the fall of 2020, in a presidential debate, Donald Trump could be asked, 'Well, do you know what a proud boy is, or do you know what QAnon is?' And he could say, 'Oh, I'm not so sure.' That's not the case today. Today, it's quite clear. And the problem that we face is that over and over in tweets by the former president, he is deliberately stoking not just the fires of anger getting him political support, but the fires that are leading to that violent 13, the equivalent of 13 million. And that is really the heart of our problem that we face as a threat to democracy. Because if it's just a political threat, well, then we can have elections, but once it's not just denying an election, but using violence as the response to an election denial, now we're in a new game. And that's why it's so important we have this conversation.