How will QAnon influence U.S. politics in 2020 and beyond?
“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.
What’s happening
Over the weekend, hundreds of Save the Children rallies were held in cities across the country. On the surface, the demonstrations appeared aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking. But many of the marches were planned and carried out by followers of a growing and dangerous conspiracy theory known as QAnon.
The core of QAnon is a belief that a high-ranking government insider — known as “Q” — is working alongside President Trump to take down an international child-trafficking ring run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles led by prominent Democrats and Hollywood celebrities. The conspiracy sprouted up on the fringe website 4chan in 2017 and has gradually spread to become more popular on mainstream social media sites, especially Facebook. The FBI declared QAnon a “domestic terror threat” in 2019 following a string of violent incidents carried out by followers.
QAnon has also slowly begun to have an impact on U.S. politics. Signs featuring QAnon slogans have been spotted at Trump rallies. Dozens of candidates who either openly follow QAnon or hinted at their support have run for Congress. One of those candidates, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, appears likely to be elected to the House of Representatives in November.
Trump has amplified QAnon-affiliated social media accounts hundreds of times throughout his first term in office, but hadn’t directly addressed the conspiracy until last week, when he said he has heard “these are people that love our country.” Some other prominent Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have dismissed QAnon despite the president’s qualified endorsement of the movement.
Why there’s debate
As QAnon has grown, conspiracy theory experts have become increasingly concerned about the movement’s infiltration into politics. One of the dangerous things about QAnon, they say, is how it can overlap with mainstream political movements — like combatting human trafficking or supporting Trump — with messages that either obscure or subtly hint at the the more extreme elements of the conspiracy. As a result, many voters may find themselves unwittingly spreading QAnon propaganda or supporting candidates they may not know follow the conspiracy.
Trump’s willingness to accept support from QAnon followers could help the movement further entangle itself in GOP politics, to the point where it becomes a prominent wing of the party for years, some argue. Greene’s probable election to Congress could mark the birth of a QAnon caucus similar to the tea party movement that exerted heavy influence over the GOP in the early years of the Obama administration, some observers say. There are also fears that the movement’s most committed acolytes, who hold an almost religious devotion to the cause, may seek to influence the upcoming election through violence.
Others are doubtful that QAnon will have a lasting influence on American politics. Despite its current rise in popularity, most voters know little or nothing about QAnon. As the public becomes more informed about the movement’s absurd and disturbing beliefs, the thinking goes, it’s more likely to become a turnoff than a rallying cry. QAnon’s foundational myth centers on Trump being an all-knowing puppetmaster in the nation’s highest office. The conspiracy may fizzle if he loses the election in November and has to give up the presidency.
The vision of QAnon as the next tea party has many logical holes in it, some argue. The tea party’s central ethos — low taxes and a reduction of the federal deficit — meshed well with traditional Republican beliefs. QAnon’s radical conspiracies lack a coherent policy platform for GOP politicians to latch onto. Outside of Trump, virtually no prominent mainstream Republicans have embraced QAnon supporters. Many, including Vice President Mike Pence, have dismissed the movement. Greene has even attempted to distance herself from previous statements supporting QAnon. All this suggests that the conspiracy’s ability to infiltrate the party may be extremely limited.
Perspectives
QAnon could become the new tea party
“Like the Tea Party before it, QAnon stands poised to march, overrun town meetings, and get out the 2022 vote to thwart any meaningful action on climate change, on structural racism and sexism, and economic inequality in America.” — Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer
QAnon has lacks the policy agenda it needs to be a lasting political force
“QAnon … lacks the leadership structure and the dark-money connections of the early tea party. It also lacks realistic goals or anything resembling a coherent policy agenda. Its followers are internet vigilantes gripped by paranoid and violent revenge fantasies, not lower-my-taxes conservatives or opponents of the Affordable Care Act.” — Kevin Roose, New York Times
The conspiracy doesn’t motivate voters
“There’s no evidence at all that the fact that these candidates won has anything to do with Q.” — Conspiracy theory researcher Joanne Miller to Los Angeles Times
Republicans are helping QAnon grow
“QAnon has been supported, amplified, and winked at enough by far-right Republicans — the president and his sons, Michael Flynn, the freedom caucus — that dozens of candidates for office are using it to reach potential voters.” — Disinformation researcher Molly McKew to CNN
The movement is smaller than media reports make it seem
“The rise of Q shouldn’t be exaggerated. Surely, most Republicans aren’t even aware of this dreck from the far reaches of the internet, and the Q caucus in the House might number around one or two in the next Congress. Almost every political movement has an outlandish fringe that marinates in paranoia and is prepared to believe — or invent — the worst about the other side.” — Rich Lowry, Politico
The conspiracy allows voters to overlook the failures of the Trump administration
“The rise of QAnon makes sense. It's the perfect mechanism, in Trump's America, for conservatives to tell themselves a story about how they're noble warriors for truth and justice in the face of overwhelming evidence that they're not. Hardly anyone likes to face the genuinely bad things they've done, and QAnon provides Trump-loving conservatives a fable to justify all their dreadful choices.” — Amanda Marcotte, Salon
A small number of QAnon supporters in Congress could influence the entire GOP
“What House Republicans are looking at next year is a minority in which the people who know how to govern will be gone, and their replacements will include people who either subscribe to or don’t rule out! the dumbest conspiracy theory in existence, or have otherwise been marinated in a very-online conspiracy media bubble that make the days of Fox News as the central misinformation organ look quaint.” — Jim Newell, Slate
The overlap between QAnon beliefs and Republican political interest fuels the conspiracy
“The erroneous ideas defining QAnon — that Trump is a messianic figure fighting the so-called deep state, that he alone can be trusted, that his opponents include both Democrats and Republicans complicit in years of wrongdoing and that his rivals are not just misguided but criminal and illegitimate — represent core tenets of the president’s reelection campaign, especially as his poll numbers slump. — Isaac Stanley-Becker, Washington Post
The GOP is hesitant to reject the conspiracy because they need the votes of supporters
“Of course, most Republicans are fully aware that QAnon peddles absurdities and falsehoods. But they’re afraid to cross Donald Trump, and they think QAnon can help them win in November.” — Jonathan Zimmerman, USA Today
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