Anonymous ID: 35160d March 29, 2019, 2:59 p.m. No.5967841   🗄️.is đź”—kun

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-michigan-rally-qanon-supporters-f96d723d4bed/

 

QAnon supporters flock to Trump’s rally in Michigan

>Perhaps an even more depressing note than all those things, however, was the prevalence of QAnon-related merchandise in the audience — proving no amount of failed predictions can convince the supporters of one of America’s most prominent conspiracy theories that they just might be on the wrong track.

>“Q” is the shadowy figure at the center of the conspiracy who claims to have high level security clearance inside the Trump administration, but who is widely regarded as an extremely dedicated troll.

>The theory has been circulating on the internet since October 2017, but only started to gain mainstream traction in August 2018 after QAnon supporters were seen at a Trump rally in Tampa, Florida. In response, more mainstream pro-Trump figures like right-wing pundit Kurt Schlichter and former press secretary Sean Spicer, disavowed Q. More recently, in January, former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka tweeted that “Q IS GARBAGE,” drawing the ire of Q supporters.

>Since then, Q conspiracy theorists have doubled down.

>The number of QAnon supporters and related merchandise at Trump’s Michigan rally this week proved the disavowals have clearly not worked. Travis View, a researcher who specializes in following QAnon, tweeted that the gathering “may have [been] the largest QAnon presence since” the Tampa rally.

>NBC also noted a large number of pro-QAnon Trump supporters in the crowd outside the rally. A QAnon sign was clearly visible in one of the rally photos that Trump tweeted later.

>Trump himself notably tweeted a video last week that originated from a pro-QAnon account called “Deep State Exposed.”

>According to The Daily Beast, QAnon merchandise was banned from Trump rallies by Secret Service after their mainstream exposure in Tampa. The agency did not respond to ThinkProgress’ inquiry about why such material was present at the Michigan rally.

>“Q’s” predictions, of course, have been repeatedly turned out to be false. In February, QAnon supporters claimed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was dead. She isn’t. “Q” also claimed that George H. W. Bush’s funeral on December 5 would be the cover for mass arrests. It wasn’t.

>The constant delay in mass arrests has left some prominent QAnoners irate, with supporter Liz Cronkin saying in January that she’ll have to “bow out” of the movement if there aren’t mass arrests this year.

>None of this seems to matter to QAnon supporters, who continue to make their presence felt over the internet in bizarre ways. In March, a QAnon book on Amazon climbed its way into the top ten list on Amazon. As Mother Jones noted, QAnon fans have created several petitions for the White House — including one demanding the Marines occupy the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where the Deep State is supposedly indulging in child sacrifice.