All the QAnon political conspiracy theories setting the internet on fire

After current U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned he knew of internet conspiracy group QAnon in a recent press conference, the White House did some backpedaling. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows released a statement saying that Trump has no clue what QAnon is.

QAnon claims to be an operation of government workers, fewer than a dozen. They specifically imply they’re NSA or working in the White House itself. Q’s “Plan” is to save citizens from the “deep state” or a cabal of elitist pedophiles who may be harming children.

The latter claims echo back to the Satanic Panic of the 1970s and 80s. Since you can be anyone on the internet, we wanted to take a look at who Q claims to be and if they really are as dangerous as mainstream media says they are. 

The Q Manifesto

The Q Manifesto (outlined in a series of several thousand forum posts since October 2017) reads like a power fantasy. You, an average joe, live your life, work your 9-to-5, raise your kids, and bake your cupcakes. However, “they” are going to come and get you soon. Who’s “they”? Hillary Clinton and her cabal of child sex-trafficking elitists. The only one who can save you is duly elected U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

Why? You believe in Q, a small cadre of government workers trying to save you from a cabal of cannibalistic pedophiles that run the government behind the scenes. Q claims to be government workers dismantling the deep state – but it’s the internet. They could be anyone.

While QAnon may seem like harmless internet fun, mainstream talking heads claim to be concerned that QAnon conspiracy theories may lead to violence instigated by its adherents. Here are some of the juiciest conspiracy rumors making the rounds now. 

COVID-19 is meant to rig the 2020 election

QAnon claims that misreported COVID numbers are fuel for a government coverup or control exercise. Linking a Fox News report on Florida’s COVID-19 numbers, someone on a Q board claimed the fraudulently altered numbers in Florida are meant to harm the U.S. election for Donald Trump.

The fraudulent numbers were released after the GOP announced its plan to host a live convention in Jacksonville, Florida. After the numbers were released, the GOP pulled their convention from the city. After they abandoned their plans for the convention, the number of new COVID cases dropped. 

A QAnon drop detailed a New York Times article about contaminated labs claiming the same thing. The drop warned Q followers “the swamp runs deep, the news is fake, the war is real.” One of Donald Trump’s campaign promises was to “drain the swamp” and he consistently blasts “fake news” on Twitter. 

The Clintons & QAnon

In 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested for running a sex-trafficking ring which may have involved multiple world leaders from all political walks of life. In 2020, his girlfriend/assistant Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested and is awaiting trial for her part in Epstein’s crimes. The names involved added fuel to the conspiracy fire while we were in lockdown.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, for instance, frequently flew in Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express, the private jet with which he trafficked girls & women. Bill Clinton partnered with Epstein to secure contributors for his charity The Clinton Foundation, which Q claims was a front for money laundering and other more serious crimes. 

QAnon claims this relationship with Epstein is the tip of the iceberg in the Clintons’ crimes including trafficking in children and uranium. 

After Jeffrey Epstein’s death, Donald Trump tweeted about Clinton & Epstein’s association. When asked to clarify his remarks, Trump pointed out that Clinton said he only flew with Epstein four times, when according to the flight manifests the former president traveled with Epstein twenty-seven times. 

The Wayfair Conspiracy is still going strong

Wayfair sold industrial-quality cabinets with people’s names, which is a common practice in furniture sales. Ikea, anyone? The prices, on the other hand, were astronomical, some exceeding $20,000. One observant Redditor pointed this series of products out and the story spread through the web like wildfire.

Wayfair’s convoluted explanation as to why the cabinets were so pricey (automated pricing algorithms gone haywire) didn’t go far to convince many. As for why many of the furniture names were similar to missing childrens’ names (and not common ones)? No word on that at all.

The theory rose in popularity. QAnon followers spread it all over social media like wildfire. It implicated celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, who had a line of pillows with inexplicably jacked-up prices. While these incidents might just have been data entry errors, both the overpriced cabinets and the corporation’s suspiciously swift explanations gave QAnon some confirmation bias. 

CEO exits last winter were part of a pedo coverup 

A target of Republicans for decades has been “the Hollywood elite”. QAnon’s theories echo a distrust of the elite, which is evident in this conspiracy about CEOs. Q claims they were agents of the deep state, forced to resign as part of some nebulous surrender plan to “the patriots” – but made to look like business as usual so as not to alarm the public. 

QAnon released a list this summer of a bunch of surprise exits from major CEOs, which Q predicted in 2018, including Disney’s Bob Iger. Many of the CEOs were known to be leaving well before their departure, and for well-explained reasons such as retiring. Some, however, left their posts early with weak explanations.

Donald Trump is arresting more human traffickers than anyone before

Q followers are sharing this story on the basis that the Trump Administration is stamping out sex trafficking for good. While the Trump Administration has pledged to “end human trafficking” – and even appointed a special advisor in January to address the issue – Seal Team 6 is not coming to a town near you to smoke out slave traders. 

Or are they? The Trump administration reportedly busted more human trafficking operations than Obama, according to a Washington Examiner report. However, independent researcher Travis View debunked the numbers as being a release from QAnon with no verifiable sources backing them up. 

QAnon hijacked the #SaveTheChildren hashtag

Save The Children bills itself as a legitimate group that’s been helping children for years. However, bloggers & influencers are now using the hashtag to vilify their political opponents – and many of them follow QAnon.

The use of the hashtag got so bad that the organization Save the Children released a statement in which they reiterated their name was trademarked and “while many people may choose to use our organization’s name as a hashtag to make their point on different issues, we are not affiliated or associated with any of these campaigns.” 

Save the Children has worked with charities like the aforementioned Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation mentions working with Save The Children on their website and Save The Children tweeted about their work with Clinton.

—

The source of QAnon’s drops might be anyone, anywhere. However, the circumstantial evidence around what they’re claiming to be true is troubling, to say the least. What do you think? Are you a follower of Q, or do you think the information in the drops is false & dangerous? Is it possible this is one big prank by some guy in his basement that went too far? Let us know!