QAnon Is Terrifying. This Is Why.

It’s what motivates Trump’s base to believe in so byzantine a conspiracy

Washington Post
The Washington Post

--

Photo: Rick Loomis/Getty Images

By Molly Roberts

“The Storm is coming,” say the conspiracy theorizers whose grotesque imaginings terrified the country to attention this week. Maybe they’re right.

QAnon adherents encourage those seeking the truth to “follow the White Rabbit,” but it’s hard to hop down this hole without getting totally lost in their horrorland. The simplest description of the plot line goes something like this: President Donald Trump isn’t under investigation; he is only pretending to be, as part of a countercoup to restore power to the people after more than a century of governmental control by a globalist cabal. Also, there are pedophiles.

A figure named “Q,” who supposedly possesses Q-level security clearance, disperses “crumbs” that “bakers” bring together to create a “dough” of synthesized information. (This is not how baking works, but that seems the least of our worries.) Because Q is the 17th letter in the alphabet and 17 is also a number Trump has said a few times, among other clearly-not-coincidences, he is the real deal, not an Internet troll engaged in an elaborate example of live-action role-play.

--

--

Washington Post
The Washington Post

News and analysis from around the world. Founded in 1877.