have more on the MSNBC interview next bread
moar on the MSNBC interview (notes/transcript)
QAnon Conspiracy Theorists Increase Their Presence At Donald Trump Rallies | The Last Word | MSNBC
https://youtu.be/_VJG91FQpJ4
This just-released video is part of a spate of articles that have just appears today after Thursday's rally. The MSM seems shocked that (a) so many harmless-looking, mainstream-ish types embrace Q and (b) that they were so boldly visible at the Michigan Trump rally.
Interviewer [totally clueless, note the inaccuracies]: What is Qanon? Well, it went mainstream during the so-called Pizzagate affair, which led one man to walk into a pizzeria in Washington, DC, with an assault rifle because conspiracy theorists claimed that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta ran a sex ring out of the basement. [Than relates the incident with the guy wearing a Q patch in Florida.]
But what IS it? Well, it's kind of a conspiracy theory…that started and is based on anonymous postings on an Internet message board in which someone–or… many someone's–falsely posting as Q claim that the world is run by a Satanic Cabal of elites led by Barack Obama, HIllary Clinton, and the Deep State. And that Donald Trump with the help of secret allies, includint Special Counsel Robert Mueller, will expose and defeat this "Deep State." [pauses for effect, then snarkily:] Now, where have we heard THAT term before? [plays a DJT clip from rally today with lots of booing to make Trump supporters look crazy.]
She then says that we're talking about it tonight "because supporters of QAnon were out in full force at Grand Rapids MI on Thursday"….Also says there's "no evidence" to back up any of the QAnon claims–"absolutely no evidence at all". Goes on to interview Ben Collins, who took a video of all the Q people waiting in life in the crowd for the rally–who points out that no one on the Trump team has denied Qanon.
Interviewer: What's the danger here?…
Collins: This is a militant group. Like, there's been two murders tied to this group this year alone….One happened two weeka ago. Someone tried to kill a mob boss. He held up his hand and it said "Q" on it. In court. Someone also tried to burn down Comet Pizza a couple of weeks ago and an hour and ten minutes before he did it–[she interrupts].
By the way, Pizzagate is part of Qanon; every conspiracy theory from the right is part of QAnon. . But an hour before he tried to burn this place down, he posted a QAnon video, from a very famous You Tuber, who has tens of millions of views. [doesn't identity who it is]
Interviewer: So why has this popped up at Donald Trump's rallies? It wasn't a huge thing during the 2016 campaign, it's suddenly much bigger now….[plays a soundbite of Trump at the end of 2016 election campaign asking viewers to note the terminology that Trump is using; leads to "lock her up". Goes on to inquire whether Trump's approach attracts conspiracy theorists.]
Collins: He primes the pump, like you said. [Collins goes on to talk about how people might search for a YT video on Trump, but the second one that follows automatically might be about pedophilia and "killing and eating children" There was a lot of this kind of thing last year because it's a DOOMSDAY CULT about how, one day there's gonna be a video that comes out that say, "Hillary Clinton is gonna chop the face off a child." It never came because it doesn't exist. [Frazzledrip reference?] But that doesn't matter because the whole purpose is to extend the boundaries of how evil this set of people in the Deep State can be.
Interviewer: What is the remedy here, then?…
Collins: They [the social media providers] can give you better videos. [They both identify the auto-play as a problem.]….
Collins: This is how it [the problem of "radicalization"] grew….people wanted to learn about politics and got radicalized over time because they were trying to solve this mystery. [WHAT mystery, Ben??]
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Collins has so far written 14 hit pieces on Q for MS-NBC.