BY EWAN PALMER ON 1/21/21 NEWSWEEK
There are fears that followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory may be pushed into more violence as some of the most ardent believers realize they have been had and one of the movement's most important figures appears to call it quits.
The inauguration of President Joe Biden was seen as the last throw of the dice for many supporters whose faith in QAnon had been severely tested down the years.
It didn't matter that Hillary Clinton was not arrested in 2017 or that Donald Trump never took down the "deep state" during his time in office, or that he lost the election then failed to overturn the result—despite an insurrection attempt by some of QAnon's extremist followers—because "the plan" all along was a showdown on January 20.
In the days leading up to the inauguration, high-profile figures in the QAnon movement claimed Trump would implement the Emergency Alert System during the ceremony in Washington, D.C. to announce the arrests and even executions of Democratic "traitors" and satanic pedophiles—a hugely anticipated moment known as "the storm," which has been predicted on several dates down the years.
QAnon advocate Invisible_ET pushed this belief as far as he could, posting on messaging service Telegram "Enjoy the show!" minutes before Biden was sworn in.
As the ceremony ended with no mass arrests or intervention from the military under Trump's secret orders, a number of QAnon supporters described "feeling sick" and let down, announcing, "I've had enough of this," and appearing to accept defeat.
QAnon supporters posting on Telegram after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president.SCREENSHOT/TELEGRAM
For many, the moment the towel was thrown in was a message from Ron Watkins, one of the leading figures in the movement.
Watkins is the former admin of messageboard 8kun, originally known as 8chan, which is owned by his father Jim Watkins.
The QAnon conspiracy theory first appeared on 4chan—a forerunner of 8chan—in late 2017 as a series of cryptic messages posted by a figure known only as "Q." These posts were interpreted to form the outlandish claims of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Q's coded messages or "drops" would later appear on 8kun, although they essentially stopped around the time of the presidential election last November.
On Election Day, Ron Watkins announced that he was stepping down as the 8kun admin, fueling speculation that he played some role in posting Q's drops, which he denies.
For many, the moment the towel was thrown in was a message from Ron Watkins, one of the leading figures in the movement.
Watkins is the former admin of messageboard 8kun, originally known as 8chan, which is owned by his father Jim Watkins.
The QAnon conspiracy theory first appeared on 4chan—a forerunner of 8chan—in late 2017 as a series of cryptic messages posted by a figure known only as "Q." These posts were interpreted to form the outlandish claims of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Q's coded messages or "drops" would later appear on 8kun, although they essentially stopped around the time of the presidential election last November.
On Election Day, Ron Watkins announced that he was stepping down as the 8kun admin, fueling speculation that he played some role in posting Q's drops, which he denies.
Writing on Telegram, where he has nearly 120,000 followers, Watkins seemed to concede that it was time to move on from QAnon, adding that he was "currently fleshing out" a new project.
"We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able," Watkins wrote. "We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics or details regarding officials who are sworn in.
"As we enter into the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years."
Many QAnon supporters saw that as the final straw, questioning why Watkins would leave the movement he has been pushing for more than three years at its most crucial time.
"We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able," Watkins wrote. "We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics or details regarding officials who are sworn in.
"As we enter into the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years."
Many QAnon supporters saw that as the final straw, questioning why Watkins would leave the movement he has been pushing for more than three years at its most crucial time.
SCREENSHOT/TELEGRAM
A moderator on 8kun even took out his frustration on the site itself, deleting all the messages on the thread used by "Q" and attacking Watkins and the conspiracy theorists in a lengthy post.
"By the way, this is not a punch to your face to strike you down, you poor dumb cattle that you are... no, consider this more a shaft up your a** to wake you up," the moderator wrote.
"I have no allies nor do I want any, I am just performing euthanasia to something I once loved very very much."
The thread and most of its posts were later restored to 8kun.
Experts fear that the divisions in the QAnon movement, which is listed as a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI, and the non-appearance of "the storm" on January 20 may push its followers further into extremism.
Colin P. Clarke, director of policy and research at security consultancy the Soufan Group, tweeted: "If QAnon begins to splinter soon, we'll need to pay attention to the emergence of potentially violent offshoots.
"We know some adherents possess the propensity for extreme violence, those who feel duped could grow exceedingly desperate & seek to lash out. Humiliation fuels rage."
Author and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild added: "I know it seems like QAnon is sinking into history, but Q was always made of reused parts of other conspiracy theories and scams.
"If Q is finished, all those parts will be recombined into something else—and easily pull in believers of all its previous components."
In a series of posts on Twitter, Marc-André Argentino, a researcher who studies the movement, wrote that followers would be "going through the stages of grief which will make them quite vulnerable."
"The one thing I am sure about is QAnon as a whole may change, it will likely metastasize, it will likely balkanize, and QAnon adherents no matter what they become will likely remain a threat until they can exit the QAnon space," Argentino wrote.
"Even without QAnon, without 'Q', without Trump, the core elements that lead these individuals to believe in QAnon will still remain and they will need to find outlets for their conspiratorial mindsets and their anti-democratic ideals."
Predictably, many QAnon supporters believe "the plan" is still in place—a claim they have made in the wake of every previous prediction being wrong.
"The plan doesn't care if you don't like it or understand it. Just Sayin," Invisible_ET wrote on Telegram. "This moment is for the whole world and every demographic. We will never forget what is about to happen. Ever. It had to be this way."
A moderator on 8kun even took out his frustration on the site itself, deleting all the messages on the thread used by "Q" and attacking Watkins and the conspiracy theorists in a lengthy post.
"By the way, this is not a punch to your face to strike you down, you poor dumb cattle that you are... no, consider this more a shaft up your a** to wake you up," the moderator wrote.
"I have no allies nor do I want any, I am just performing euthanasia to something I once loved very very much."
The thread and most of its posts were later restored to 8kun.
Experts fear that the divisions in the QAnon movement, which is listed as a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI, and the non-appearance of "the storm" on January 20 may push its followers further into extremism.
Colin P. Clarke, director of policy and research at security consultancy the Soufan Group, tweeted: "If QAnon begins to splinter soon, we'll need to pay attention to the emergence of potentially violent offshoots.
"We know some adherents possess the propensity for extreme violence, those who feel duped could grow exceedingly desperate & seek to lash out. Humiliation fuels rage."
Author and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild added: "I know it seems like QAnon is sinking into history, but Q was always made of reused parts of other conspiracy theories and scams.
"If Q is finished, all those parts will be recombined into something else—and easily pull in believers of all its previous components."
In a series of posts on Twitter, Marc-André Argentino, a researcher who studies the movement, wrote that followers would be "going through the stages of grief which will make them quite vulnerable."
"The one thing I am sure about is QAnon as a whole may change, it will likely metastasize, it will likely balkanize, and QAnon adherents no matter what they become will likely remain a threat until they can exit the QAnon space," Argentino wrote.
"Even without QAnon, without 'Q', without Trump, the core elements that lead these individuals to believe in QAnon will still remain and they will need to find outlets for their conspiratorial mindsets and their anti-democratic ideals."
Predictably, many QAnon supporters believe "the plan" is still in place—a claim they have made in the wake of every previous prediction being wrong.
"The plan doesn't care if you don't like it or understand it. Just Sayin," Invisible_ET wrote on Telegram. "This moment is for the whole world and every demographic. We will never forget what is about to happen. Ever. It had to be this way."
Others seem to have seen this coming. One of the biggest figures in the QAnon movement, Joe M, or The Storm Is Upon Us, appeared to jump ship in the days before the inauguration, telling his massive following that he would be "going dark for a while" on January 16 while holding onto a glimmer of hope that something might happen.
"Next week, either Q turns out to be an elaborate well-intentioned hoax promising a level of control that patriots never had, or we are all about to watch the Red Sea part and the unfolding of a new biblical-level chapter in human civilization. I believe it is the second one."
Joe M has yet to comment on President Biden's inauguration.
READ MORE
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Fears QAnon Preparing for 'Second Revolution' With Repeat of Capitol Riot
Joe Biden Inauguration is Reality Check That QAnon Zealots Will Refuse
'No plan, no Q, nothing': QAnon followers reel as Biden inaugurated
Joseph Menn, Elizabeth Culliford, Katie Paul and Carrie Monahan
Wed, January 20, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - For three years, adherents of the sprawling QAnon conspiracy theory awaited a so-called Great Awakening, scouring anonymous web postings from a shadowy "Q" figure and parsing statements by former U.S. President Donald Trump, whom they believed to be their champion.
On Wednesday, they grappled with a harsh reality check: Trump had left office with no mass arrests or other victories against the supposed cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile cannibal elites, especially Democrats, he was ostensibly fighting.
Instead, Democratic President Joseph Biden was calmly sworn into office, leaving legions of QAnon faithful struggling to make sense of what had transpired.
In one Telegram channel with more than 18,400 members, QAnon believers were split between those still urging others to 'trust the plan' and those saying they felt betrayed. "It's obvious now we've been had. No plan, no Q, nothing," wrote one user.
Some messages referenced theories that a coup was going to take place before the end of Inauguration Day. Others moved the goalposts again, speculating that Trump would be sworn into office on Mar. 4.
"Does anybody have any idea what we should be waiting for next or what the next move could be?" asked another user, who said they wanted to have a 'big win' and arrests made.
Jared Holt, a disinformation researcher at the Atlantic Council, said he had never before seen disillusionment in the QAnon communities he monitors at this scale.
"It's the whole 'trust the plan' thing. Q believers have just allowed themselves to be strung from failed promise to failed promise."
"The whole movement is called into question now."
A poll with more than 36,000 votes conducted in another QAnon Telegram channel before Biden's swearing-in ceremony showed that more than 20% of respondents predicted nothing would in fact happen and Biden would become president, according to the Q Origins Project, which tracks the movement.
However, 34% believe "the military & Trump have a plan coming in the near future," even while acknowledging the transfer of presidential power.
JARRING REVERSAL
The anonymous person or people known as "Q" started posting the vague predictions that would become the basis of the QAnon movement on message board 4chan in 2017, claiming to be a Trump administration insider with top secret security clearance.
The number of followers exploded with the arrival of the coronavirus last year, providing a sense of community missing in many people's isolated pandemic lives by encouraging participants to "do their own research" and contribute findings to the crowd.
Q interpreters have become mini-celebrities in their own right, spreading the gospel on mainstream sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and raising money with appeals to charity or merchandise sales, before the social media platforms cracked down late last year.
Among them was Ron Watkins, who was among a small group of movement leaders who stepped up their public activity after Trump's loss in the Nov. 3 election, as the "drops" from Q slowed and then stopped.
The longtime administrator of 8kun, an unmoderated forum where Q posted alongside violent extremists and racists, Watkins adopted the cryptic tone of Q in the past two months on Twitter and then Telegram.
At the same time he positioned himself as an expert on election fraud, getting retweeted by Trump and interviewed by Trump-favored media outlets such as One America News Network.
In one of the most jarring apparent reversals on Wednesday, Watkins appeared to admit defeat, posting: "We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics."
"Please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years." He said he was working on a new venture, but gave no further details.
On TheDonald.win, a reconstituted version of the Reddit forum "The Donald" that long served as an online home for Trump loyalists, users turned on Watkins and accused him of being a "shill" and a CIA plant.
Other fringe groups, including neo-Nazis, said they intended to capitalize on the disarray by stepping up recruitment from among QAnon followers.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn, Elizabeth Culliford, Katie Paul and Carrie Monahan; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
Supporters wearing shirts with the QAnon logo, chat before U.S.
President Donald Trump takes the stage during his Make America
Great Again rally in Wilkes-Barre
Joseph Menn, Elizabeth Culliford, Katie Paul and Carrie Monahan
Wed, January 20, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - For three years, adherents of the sprawling QAnon conspiracy theory awaited a so-called Great Awakening, scouring anonymous web postings from a shadowy "Q" figure and parsing statements by former U.S. President Donald Trump, whom they believed to be their champion.
On Wednesday, they grappled with a harsh reality check: Trump had left office with no mass arrests or other victories against the supposed cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile cannibal elites, especially Democrats, he was ostensibly fighting.
Instead, Democratic President Joseph Biden was calmly sworn into office, leaving legions of QAnon faithful struggling to make sense of what had transpired.
In one Telegram channel with more than 18,400 members, QAnon believers were split between those still urging others to 'trust the plan' and those saying they felt betrayed. "It's obvious now we've been had. No plan, no Q, nothing," wrote one user.
Some messages referenced theories that a coup was going to take place before the end of Inauguration Day. Others moved the goalposts again, speculating that Trump would be sworn into office on Mar. 4.
"Does anybody have any idea what we should be waiting for next or what the next move could be?" asked another user, who said they wanted to have a 'big win' and arrests made.
Jared Holt, a disinformation researcher at the Atlantic Council, said he had never before seen disillusionment in the QAnon communities he monitors at this scale.
"It's the whole 'trust the plan' thing. Q believers have just allowed themselves to be strung from failed promise to failed promise."
"The whole movement is called into question now."
A poll with more than 36,000 votes conducted in another QAnon Telegram channel before Biden's swearing-in ceremony showed that more than 20% of respondents predicted nothing would in fact happen and Biden would become president, according to the Q Origins Project, which tracks the movement.
However, 34% believe "the military & Trump have a plan coming in the near future," even while acknowledging the transfer of presidential power.
JARRING REVERSAL
The anonymous person or people known as "Q" started posting the vague predictions that would become the basis of the QAnon movement on message board 4chan in 2017, claiming to be a Trump administration insider with top secret security clearance.
The number of followers exploded with the arrival of the coronavirus last year, providing a sense of community missing in many people's isolated pandemic lives by encouraging participants to "do their own research" and contribute findings to the crowd.
Q interpreters have become mini-celebrities in their own right, spreading the gospel on mainstream sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and raising money with appeals to charity or merchandise sales, before the social media platforms cracked down late last year.
Among them was Ron Watkins, who was among a small group of movement leaders who stepped up their public activity after Trump's loss in the Nov. 3 election, as the "drops" from Q slowed and then stopped.
The longtime administrator of 8kun, an unmoderated forum where Q posted alongside violent extremists and racists, Watkins adopted the cryptic tone of Q in the past two months on Twitter and then Telegram.
At the same time he positioned himself as an expert on election fraud, getting retweeted by Trump and interviewed by Trump-favored media outlets such as One America News Network.
In one of the most jarring apparent reversals on Wednesday, Watkins appeared to admit defeat, posting: "We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics."
"Please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years." He said he was working on a new venture, but gave no further details.
On TheDonald.win, a reconstituted version of the Reddit forum "The Donald" that long served as an online home for Trump loyalists, users turned on Watkins and accused him of being a "shill" and a CIA plant.
Other fringe groups, including neo-Nazis, said they intended to capitalize on the disarray by stepping up recruitment from among QAnon followers.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn, Elizabeth Culliford, Katie Paul and Carrie Monahan; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
‘I’m About to Puke’: QAnon in Chaos as Biden Takes Office
Wed, January 20, 2021
Wed, January 20, 2021
THE DAILY BEAST
Win McNamee
As the rest of the country waited for Joe Biden to be inaugurated, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory thought they were about to see something else: the long-awaited mass arrests of Biden and a host of other “deep-state” Democrats, followed by the restoration of the Trump presidency.
“Trump will walk out during the arrest and thank America for reelection,” one QAnon supporter posted on a forum shortly before the inauguration. “This will be remembered as the greatest day since D-Day.”
As Biden was sworn in, though, the mass arrests that QAnon believers call “The Storm,” stubbornly refused to happen. Trump really did appear to have left office, rather than springing the sly trap as they had all hoped. The Democrats really did have control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The tens of thousands of National Guard soldiers QAnon believers thought would help Trump retake Washington instead appeared to be there for a more obvious purpose: protecting the city from the same crazed QAnon believers who had violently attacked the Capitol two weeks earlier.
“I’m about to puke,” one QAnon fan watching Biden take the oath of office wrote.
For more than three years, tens of thousands of QAnon believers have pinned their hopes for the future on a second Trump term. They’ve become convinced that the government is run by a cabal of satanic pedophile-cannibals and that Trump is the only way to restore justice. Many of them, egged on by promises that Trump’s “plan” included the eradication of diseases and personal debt, pinned their dreams on QAnon as well, alienating friends and family with their ideas.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the QAnon future vanished, presenting the ever-expanding conspiracy theory with its greatest challenge yet.
As Biden’s inauguration became ever more certain on Wednesday, QAnon believers rapidly cycled through rationalizations. They claimed that Trump was stepping down as the head of the United States “corporation”—an idea borrowed from fringe sovereign citizen legal theories—to become the head of a restored republic. Some QAnon leaders claimed that Biden himself was in on the scheme, and would soon help Trump carry out the arrests.
As Biden finally took office, however, the mood changed quickly on QAnon forums. QAnon channels on messaging app Telegram filled with gifs of far-right mascot Pepe the Frog crying, as believers claimed they had been duped. Believers said they felt sick, or wanted to throw up.
“Trump fooled us,” complained one Telegram commenter.
“All my family and co-workers think I’m crazy,” wrote another.
“I feel stupid,” wrote a third.
Even major QAnon boosters saw their faith in the bizarre conspiracy theory shaken on Monday. QAnon booster Roy Davis co-authored a bestselling book promoting QAnon under the alias “Captain Roy,” even getting his sports car painted with a giant, blazing “Q” on the hood.
As Biden was sworn in, Davis initially told The Daily Beast he didn’t want to comment until he was sure Biden was really president. But as Biden’s new title became official, Davis said he was ready to move on from Q—something his doctor has long urged him to do anyway.
“We misinterpreted it,” Davis said. “Maybe we should have done something different.”
Biden’s Intelligence Pick Pledges Threat Assessment on QAnon
Other top QAnon figures appeared to be backing away. As the former administrator of QAnon clues website 8kun, Ron Watkins had control over who posted as the mysterious “Q”—and has been accused of being Q himself. But on Wednesday, Watkins suggested that the QAnon fight was over.
“Please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years,” Watkins wrote in a Telegram post.
Still, there are many signs that QAnon and the kind of unreal world it promoted will persist.
As Trump’s defeat became more certain, QAnon followers changed their claims, beginning to insist that the president’s war against the “deep state” had only begun. As the shock of Biden’s inauguration wore off on Wednesday, QAnon forum posters encouraged one another to “hold the line,” claiming that they had merely misunderstood the QAnon clues.
QAnon believer Jenny Hatch has followed the conspiracy theory since 2018, when she thought Trump referenced QAnon in a speech he gave at a White House Easter Egg Roll. Hatch had felt sure that Biden would have already been arrested on Jan. 6, and was “quite demoralized” when Biden was instead sworn in two weeks later.
“I fully expected some sort of military arrest of Joe Biden and many of the people who were on the dais with him,” Hatch said.
Hatch, a Colorado resident, said her husband doesn’t believe in QAnon, and she suspects her adult children have read articles about how to handle a family member believing in QAnon. But while Hatch was saddened that the mass arrests failed to happen on Wednesday, QAnon’s utter failure to come true somehow hasn’t shaken her faith in the conspiracy theory.
“I’m still all in with Q,” Hatch said. “I have not distanced myself from what Q meant to me personally.”
The problem created by QAnon seems set to remain as well. QAnon has been tied to three murders and a terrorist incident near the Hoover Dam, along with a series of other crimes. Biden’s top intelligence chief has promised an analysis of the threat posed by the conspiracy theory.
Even as he distances himself from QAnon, for example, Davis still thinks “Q” really was a government whistleblower revealing the truth about the world.
“It wasn’t some kid in a basement,” Davis said.
As the rest of the country waited for Joe Biden to be inaugurated, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory thought they were about to see something else: the long-awaited mass arrests of Biden and a host of other “deep-state” Democrats, followed by the restoration of the Trump presidency.
“Trump will walk out during the arrest and thank America for reelection,” one QAnon supporter posted on a forum shortly before the inauguration. “This will be remembered as the greatest day since D-Day.”
As Biden was sworn in, though, the mass arrests that QAnon believers call “The Storm,” stubbornly refused to happen. Trump really did appear to have left office, rather than springing the sly trap as they had all hoped. The Democrats really did have control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The tens of thousands of National Guard soldiers QAnon believers thought would help Trump retake Washington instead appeared to be there for a more obvious purpose: protecting the city from the same crazed QAnon believers who had violently attacked the Capitol two weeks earlier.
“I’m about to puke,” one QAnon fan watching Biden take the oath of office wrote.
For more than three years, tens of thousands of QAnon believers have pinned their hopes for the future on a second Trump term. They’ve become convinced that the government is run by a cabal of satanic pedophile-cannibals and that Trump is the only way to restore justice. Many of them, egged on by promises that Trump’s “plan” included the eradication of diseases and personal debt, pinned their dreams on QAnon as well, alienating friends and family with their ideas.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the QAnon future vanished, presenting the ever-expanding conspiracy theory with its greatest challenge yet.
As Biden’s inauguration became ever more certain on Wednesday, QAnon believers rapidly cycled through rationalizations. They claimed that Trump was stepping down as the head of the United States “corporation”—an idea borrowed from fringe sovereign citizen legal theories—to become the head of a restored republic. Some QAnon leaders claimed that Biden himself was in on the scheme, and would soon help Trump carry out the arrests.
As Biden finally took office, however, the mood changed quickly on QAnon forums. QAnon channels on messaging app Telegram filled with gifs of far-right mascot Pepe the Frog crying, as believers claimed they had been duped. Believers said they felt sick, or wanted to throw up.
“Trump fooled us,” complained one Telegram commenter.
“All my family and co-workers think I’m crazy,” wrote another.
“I feel stupid,” wrote a third.
Even major QAnon boosters saw their faith in the bizarre conspiracy theory shaken on Monday. QAnon booster Roy Davis co-authored a bestselling book promoting QAnon under the alias “Captain Roy,” even getting his sports car painted with a giant, blazing “Q” on the hood.
As Biden was sworn in, Davis initially told The Daily Beast he didn’t want to comment until he was sure Biden was really president. But as Biden’s new title became official, Davis said he was ready to move on from Q—something his doctor has long urged him to do anyway.
“We misinterpreted it,” Davis said. “Maybe we should have done something different.”
Biden’s Intelligence Pick Pledges Threat Assessment on QAnon
Other top QAnon figures appeared to be backing away. As the former administrator of QAnon clues website 8kun, Ron Watkins had control over who posted as the mysterious “Q”—and has been accused of being Q himself. But on Wednesday, Watkins suggested that the QAnon fight was over.
“Please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years,” Watkins wrote in a Telegram post.
Still, there are many signs that QAnon and the kind of unreal world it promoted will persist.
As Trump’s defeat became more certain, QAnon followers changed their claims, beginning to insist that the president’s war against the “deep state” had only begun. As the shock of Biden’s inauguration wore off on Wednesday, QAnon forum posters encouraged one another to “hold the line,” claiming that they had merely misunderstood the QAnon clues.
QAnon believer Jenny Hatch has followed the conspiracy theory since 2018, when she thought Trump referenced QAnon in a speech he gave at a White House Easter Egg Roll. Hatch had felt sure that Biden would have already been arrested on Jan. 6, and was “quite demoralized” when Biden was instead sworn in two weeks later.
“I fully expected some sort of military arrest of Joe Biden and many of the people who were on the dais with him,” Hatch said.
Hatch, a Colorado resident, said her husband doesn’t believe in QAnon, and she suspects her adult children have read articles about how to handle a family member believing in QAnon. But while Hatch was saddened that the mass arrests failed to happen on Wednesday, QAnon’s utter failure to come true somehow hasn’t shaken her faith in the conspiracy theory.
“I’m still all in with Q,” Hatch said. “I have not distanced myself from what Q meant to me personally.”
The problem created by QAnon seems set to remain as well. QAnon has been tied to three murders and a terrorist incident near the Hoover Dam, along with a series of other crimes. Biden’s top intelligence chief has promised an analysis of the threat posed by the conspiracy theory.
Even as he distances himself from QAnon, for example, Davis still thinks “Q” really was a government whistleblower revealing the truth about the world.
“It wasn’t some kid in a basement,” Davis said.
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