Last week’s inauguration was a magnificent day for Democrats, historians, and much of the country. However, it was a horrific day for QAnon conspiracy theorists.
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In case you’re unaware, QAnon is a cult of Donald Trump-loving fanatics who are convinced that a secret band of Satan-worshipping pedophiles run by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and certain Hollywood elite, operate a deep-state organization out of a suburban Washington pizzeria and rape babies before eating them (In 2016, a North Carolina man drove to the Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria and shot-up the place, convinced that this was the satanic headquarters of the ring). They also believe that a high-level and anonymous government official named “Q” has been operating inside the Trump administration and sending them signals that the entire deep-state gang would be exposed, arrested, and executed.
“Q” told the flock that Trump was guaranteed to win the November election. It didn’t happen. “Q” promised that the states would overturn the results. It didn’t happen. “Q” said the Supreme Court (led by the 3 Trump additions) would save the day and hand Donald Trump his deserved election victory. It didn’t happen. “Q” commanded faithful followers to storm the US Capitol on January 6th to permanently defeat the certification of Joe Biden as president. It didn’t happen.
At every unfulfilled promise, “Q” continued to move the goal-post to some future “victory” that QAnon fanatics could one day rub in the faces of anyone who ever doubted them or called them crazy for following.
The final promise: Joe Biden would NEVER be inaugurated president.
According to “Q,” Donald Trump had planned an elaborate day of reckoning known as the “Storm.” Believers were convinced that while Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Hollywood celebrities were all collectively gathered at The Capitol for what they thought would be the Biden inauguration, Donald Trump would swoop in at the 11th hour, declare martial law, then arrest and/or shoot them all before reclaiming the presidency and making America great again.
QAnon extremists spent weeks preparing for what they expected would be a nationwide blackout starting at noon on Inauguration Day. They warned friends and family via text chains and Facebook messages to buy CB radios and to stock up on food. They were convinced Trump would announce martial law through the Emergency Alert System then carry out mass arrests and public executions of the perpetrators.
However, at the stroke of noon on January 20th when Joe Biden raised his right hand, swore an oath to defend the Constitution, and became the nation’s 46th president, nothing happened — sending QAnon disciples into a furor of dismay and disbelief.
Was QAnon all a make-believe hoax just like their families, friends, and the media tried to tell them??
Too bad for them, it was.
Needless to say, today, the world of QAnon is a topsy-turvy ball of confusion. The inauguration on January 20th hurled them into a tunnel of truth that what they thought was real was fake, and what they were convinced was fake is real.
Now, in the bowels of the internet (where the group was relegated after Parler and other communication tools were permanently shut down), one-time believers are being forced to recognize reality and renounce their once unflappable faith.
“The most hardcore QAnon followers are in disarray,” said Daniel J. Jones, president of Advance Democracy (a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks extremist groups and misinformation online). “After years of waiting for the ‘Great Awakening,’ QAnon adherents seemed genuinely shocked to see President Biden successfully inaugurated. A significant percentage online are writing that they are now done with the QAnon.”
Yes, with President Biden firmly in The White House and clearly the new commander-in-chief, panic has set in.
“We were promised arrests, exposures, military regime, classified documents. where is it????????” wrote a one-time believer on the Telegram channel.
“I’m scared, feeling sick in my stomach…” said another.
“Anyone else feeling beyond let down?” a poster on a popular conspiracy forum said. “It’s like being a kid and seeing the big gift under the tree thinking it is exactly what you want only to open it and realize it was a lump of coal.”
Others began acknowledging the truth.
“Wake up! We’ve been had,” said one follower. “We’ve all just been played,” wrote another.
“Biden is our president,” one Telegram user said. “It’s time to get off our devices and get back to reality. If something happens then something happens, but for now I’m logging out of all social media. It’s been fun guys but it’s unfortunately over.”
“I don’t think this [Biden inauguration] is supposed to happen. How long does it take the fed to run up the stairs and arrest him?” – QAnon follower
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“It’s a hot mess, frankly,” said Carla Hill, a research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “Frustration started seeping in. There is some embarrassment, some anger … A range of [new] conspiracies are spinning out of this and they are arguing among themselves.”
Interestingly, a wild new theory has been making the rounds, claiming that Donald Trump forced a surgical operation and switched faces with Joe Biden — meaning it’s really a disguised Trump who is still inside The White House. However, even the most committed conspiracists aren’t buying into that one.
“For the sake of hundreds of thousands of people who are still trapped in the QAnon alternate world and have no idea what to do, this is when Republicans who cynically and willfully spread the false ‘election was stolen’ rumor need to step up,” said Marc Ambinder, a senior fellow who studies disinformation at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Ron Watkins, who has long been suspected of being the pretend “Q” himself and continuously told followers to “keep the faith” and “trust the plan,” delivered a final message late last week to his faithful flock of followers.
“We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able,” he said. “We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution. As we enter into the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years,” he added.
According to authorities, a person named “Q” operating inside the upper-echelon of the US government never existed. In fact, “Q’s” real skill was making money from its website (with hundreds of thousands of followers and web traffic), highly-profitable merchandising, and the overall ignorance of those who were just gullible enough to believe that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were satanic pedophiles who raped and ate babies — and that Donald Trump would publicly execute them on inauguration day and seize the presidency.
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“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire
Yes. I was aware of all this nonsense. Incredibly sad and tragic state of affairs.. Because of my line of work, I’ve known since about 1995 that We have a HUGE problem with Undiagnosed and Untreated Mental illness in this country. As more and more poor and working class Americans (Black, White, Hispanic, Native American, whatever) are forced to deal with Overwhelming stressors and challenges they simply can NOT handle. So they retreat further and further into alternate realities looking for…answers….Love…in all the wrong places, which makes them easy prey for any predator out there waiting to pounce, chew them up and spit them out. Millions of Americans are scared to death of a Changing world and Our changing country – Not just racially but also culturally and socioeconomically. Unimaginable Fear and anxiety can breed all kinds of madness. Especially when traditional “pillars” of “safety” no longer exists (good jobs,… Read more »