Conspiracy Theories, Right on Q

To people who live on learning facts, conspiracy theorists are maddening. Conspiracy theorists’ beliefs border on religiosity, clinging together as if enough supporters vindicates their position. They come from all sides of the political spectrum, but their positions are personally unshakeable and clearly subject to manipulation by anyone who knows how to play their game. Since much of what they believe is “hidden” by their own admission, there is often no way to dissuade such believers from their stated theory.

Until recently, political conspiracy theorists have mostly arisen from that segment of any population that is out of political power, attacking the incumbents with dark secrets about how the winners stole that power from “the people.” Mostly, these people sit on the periphery of activism and usually do not vote in what they think is a system that will ignore their choice no matter the election process. But a strange phenomenon has occurred: today’s dominant conspiracy theorists come from the political party that controls both houses of Congress, the presidency, and most state legislatures and governorships. Huh?

It started with an unlikely, highly illogical, candidate whose political positions shifted like desert sands. To knock off a substantial flock of Republican presidential wannabes, Donald Trump instinctively understood that he could not use convention tactics. He needed a destabilizing political campaign laced with allegations against opponents that were devastating but unproveable. Like accusing Ted Cruz’ father of having participated in the assassination of John F Kennedy. Conspiracy theorists perked up their ears.

They also joined in a chorus of accusers that fabricated a litany of truly absurd claims against Hillary Clinton… and Donald Trump knew he had found a force that no presidential candidate had ever used before. “Lock her up!” they cried. Trump quoted statements from popular conspiracy theorists, people who had been making a living as “shock jocks” in the radio world where there were enough listeners to create a viable ad-supported model, as if they were true. The Internet was born to support conspiracy theories, and particularly older users – used to believing what they read in public media without question – were particularly vulnerable.

Beleaguered Trump used conspiracy theories to dislodge his opponents, one-by-one, with catchy epithets (Lyin’ Ted Cruz, Crooked Hillary) and totally fabricated statistics that resonated with this “whacky” conspiracy theory body of people… who actually became voters again. Trump was the underdog, and the old-line GOP and their “liberal” Democrats were the enemy, up to dirty tricks and rigging elections. Conspiracy theorists love underdogs.

But Donald Trump actually won the election! So how could Donald hold conspiracy theorists into his base, a group of voters that he needed desperately to retain? Simple, he and his administration, he has consistently maintained, were still under attack, by old line GOP incumbents, a disloyal cadre of anti-American Democrats and, most of all, by a lying mainstream press that became the “enemy of the people.” Somehow, a victorious president managed to keep his underdog status and add even one more leg to generate further support for his presidency.

Though he never actually states that he believes in this theory, choosing to hint instead, Trump has found an ally in one or more conspiracy theorists, known to the faithful as “Q” or “QAnon,” who sprinkle ambiguous verbal “hints” over the Web, that Trump is secretly using everything from the Mueller inquiry to various GOP and Senate actions to plans secretly being implemented by his cabinet appointees, to take out, arrest and erode that “dark state” that somehow remained embedded in the federal bureaucracy, the dark powers that rob the people and are trying to bring him down. Understanding this undercurrent easily explains Trump’s attack on the F.B.I. and James Comey (its former director) and his ripping away form C.I.A. head John Brennan’s security clearance.

The BBC.com (August 2^nd), provides this insight into that “Q” phenomenon: “The story began in October 2017, when an anonymous user posted a series of messages on 4chan - a very loosely moderated message board which has been a breeding ground of a number of online movements, including the alt-right.

“The unidentified user, who signed off as ‘Q’, claimed to have top security clearance within the US government.

“The baseless core of the QAnon story is that the Mueller investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is actually an investigation into global elites, and that the president is masterminding a secret plan to arrest top politicians and Hollywood stars for corruption and child abuse.

“For some reason, this plan is being revealed to niche internet message boards, via Q, through cryptic messages that frequently do not appear to make any sense (or are open to countless interpretations). For example:

“‘Do you believe in coincidences?’

“'Blunt & Direct Time'

‘BDT.’

“‘Think currency.’

“‘Think fireworks.’

“‘Despite the farfetched, open-ended and inscrutable nature of Q's messages, they quickly gained a cult following. Other users began to interpret the clues - or ‘breadcrumbs’ - and elaborated on the theory…

“The resulting QAnon conspiracy theory - also known as ‘The Storm’ - is a collection of these interpretations. The ‘Anon’ part of the name comes from the fact that 4chan posters are, by default, anonymous.

“It echoes the debunked ‘pizzagate’ saga - which resulted in a man opening fire in a Washington pizza restaurant in 2016. He believed a Democratic Party-run paedophile ring was based there.

“Despite there being no real evidence that Q has any special insight into the inner workings of the government, the conspiracy theory has been pushed by various celebrities in the US.

“The actress Roseanne Barr, former baseball player and current Breitbart podcast host Curt Schilling, and Infowars host Alex Jones - who has spread other conspiracy theories, including one which claimed that a massacre at a Connecticut school was staged by the government - have all promoted the theory.”

In the end, Trump needs these supporters given his slim hold on the voting public. He needs them to believe he is the underdog who can only work his agenda in secret. He needs lots of folks to blame for trying to take him down and rob power from “legitimate” Americans. Where have we seen this before? Jews in Hitler’s Germany? Colombian and American supported agitators and assassins trying to depose Venezuela’s left wing dictator, Nicholas Maduro? Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un arresting political heavyweights challenging the incumbent? Feeling a bit uncomfortable when the whackies are calling the shots?

I’m Peter Dekom, and it would otherwise be humorous to examine the firmly-held but absurd beliefs of these new American conspiracy theorists… if they weren’t so totally dangerous to very fabric of our democracy.