I avoid covering anything having to do QAnon like the plague. QAnon is this weird cult of right-wing conspiracists who believe that tons of prominent celebrities and Democratic Party people are, like, all Satanist sex traffickers and cannibals? Which is especially odd in this particular moment, given Donald Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and the many stories of Trump sexually assaulting, harassing and abusing women and girls. But whatever, QAnon exists and their members are basically Republicans with a belief in crazy fringe conspiracies. The FBI has designated QAnon a “domestic terrorism threat” and everyone with two brain cells understands that these people are f–king lunatics. Donald Trump just endorsed them though:
In case you can’t/don’t want to watch, Trump says: “I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. I’ve heard these are people that love our country. So I don’t know really anything about it other than they do supposedly like me.” He also suggested that QAnon approved of how he’s “handled” the BLM protests in Portland, Oregon, saying he’s “heard” that the QAnon movement is “gaining in popularity. I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it.”
So, that happened. In the middle of the week of the Democratic National Convention, Donald Trump said nice things about a right-wing terrorist fringe group just because they support him. The darkest timeline, my God.
Today, President Obama made an impassioned case for the constitution and the preservation of American democracy.
President Donald Trump happily accepted the endorsement of QAnon.
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) August 20, 2020
going to revise my timeline here and say QAnon will be GOP orthodoxy next year if Biden wins and takes office. https://t.co/h8vdmFPatA
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) August 19, 2020
Photos courtesy of Backgid, Avalon Red.
I don’t think it’s especially odd that he’s supporting them while his own sex trafficking and assualt controversies are swirling. Remember, with Trump every accusation is a confession.
This is exactly right. From the first iterations of the ‘lock her up’ mania to this insane cult (or should I say qult), his favorite strategy is to accuse his opposition of the precise thing that he himself is guilty of. It’s so simple – he says Hilary is a criminal and needs to be locked up, and the media and the masses on social media are instantly baited into a “NO, YOU ARE!” argument that, despite being true, immediately sounds hollow and defensive.
So it is with this insane conspiracy; these lunatics have been so thoroughly brainwashed with this dystopian fan fiction that any arguments that try to show them that no, this isn’t true but actually there’s a real criminal conspiracy and your fearless leader is involved are instantly dismissed as whataboutism. It is SO FRUSTRATING and I don’t think most people realize just how far down the rabbit hole these “believers” are; they don’t (just) need to be defeated in November, they need to be psychologically de-programmed because for at least the last 5 years (and possibly longer) they’ve subsisted on a media diet comprised solely of disinformation and propaganda, to the point that this disinfo has completely usurped reality for them.
Yes!!! All of that!
Scary thing is QAnon believes Trump was sent by God as the chosen one to clean up everything and that QAnon is meant to protect him and be his electronic cyber soldiers. It’s crazy! I have lost life long friends over this that I never would have guessed would fall into this craziness. They also believe John Kennedy Jr is alive and secretly hired and working with Trump and elite soldiers from our military to snatch people to our in Quatanamo prison and the Virus is a cover. So they can snatch people and lock them up (same time they say virus is made up by Dena to take down their hero Trump. They believe most celebrities are pos people replacing the real ones (Ellen, Hanks) he put in prison. Same time some (Hilary, Obama) are actually lizard people (aliens) and Michael Jackson is alive.. he was protecting children (yet they still called him a pervert just months ago). This is more than a lunatic cult.. these people are scary! They get violent quick and spend daysupom days going down the rabbit hole (chasing internet conspiracy theories) as they call it, most are made up some are real things twisted into craziness.. but to them it’s research and fact. I understand why the FBI calls them terrorists.. I’ve seen sane educated caring people become agitated at the drop of a hat and have taken oaths on the net to be a soldier and take down people. It’s scary.
What the fudge? That’s literally nuttier than squirrel poop. And if JFK Jr. wasn’t dead he wouldn’t be in league with the Republicans.
Ok, I was wondering what the references to JFK Jr meant. If you go into the comment sections for any of the network Facebook pages, those crazies are all over the place, and they kept referencing JFK jr. They really are sick, all over YouTube with crazy videos, looking for vulnerable people and trying to foment “revolution “.
One of my family members is deep into this. I am so worried for them and their mental health. Talking to them about “Q” is weird, uncomfortable, and frustrating. They just get this dreamy look on their face and say “The best is yet to come. You’ll see.” The rest of my family hopes they’ll snap out of it if/when Biden wins but I think that is going to send the group off the (even deeper) end.
Ooohhh
Every accusation is a confession.
He is such a narcissist, classic projection
When was the last time everyone commenting on this site last saw their psychiatrist? You can of course point to a Qanon terrorist act, right?
But they like him! That’s all that a severely narcissistic mind needs to know.
It’s as if a very unruly child with no boundaries is in a 74 year old body. Saying something to shock people, with a little disclaimer about “I really don’t know (them)”.
How there is anyone left who thinks this is a capable, functioning, decent human is beyond me. Greed and adulation drive everything.
Exactly. Add to his pathologies (narcissism, psychopathy, etc) decades of severe drug addiction & you are left with someone who is profoundly dysfunctional. He is not running anything. He has no strategy. He is propped up & enabled by a corrupt group of people (many of them family members) who are taking advantage of his dysfunction to accumulate power & loot public funds. That’s the game. Nothing more, nothing less.
Ugh terrifying
What has happened to the Republican Party? Are they so obsessed with “winning” that they will allow any type of whacko philosophy to take over if it means they might have a chance? Or are they really that dim not to see the threat in this? Or have they always been this way? But look at the Nazi party and how that spread once it took root (yes I’m going there). It’s frightening.
It’s both things, I think. The Republican party for some time now has viewed politics as a game to be won by any means necessary. Power is valued over principle (see Mitch McConnell & Lindsey Graham). It is also true that the party has “always been this way,” going back to the 1960s. It was a conscious pivot to embrace the “Southern Strategy”–the racism & corruption have just become more naked with Trump in power. But he is very much a symptom of what the party has allowed itself to become. He’s only an anomaly due to his own myriad pathologies, which make him impossible to control.
I highly recommend Rick Perstein’s book, “Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus.” Everything unfolding now basically has its roots in the choices the party made around the 1964 Presidential election.
What the actual f#*k. These people have no allegiance to facts, they “join dots” in ways that are completely fabricated yet of which they are completely certain, they mistake correlation for causation, and they have no doubt in their minds. Even if one of them hadn’t turned violent and tried to shoot up Comet Ping Pong, they would still be dangerous.
If anyone is interested, The Atlantic has a great project called Shadowland, which explores the rise of QAnon and related conspiracy theories. I found it fascinating.
Finally, I find it hilarious/devastating that it’s the dumb kids from high school who are clogging up my facebook feed with QAnon stuff, calling everyone else “sheeple”, and acting as though if they saw it on YouTube, it’s gospel truth. There also seems to be a big MLM/QAnon crossover.
One Year After Trump’s Election, Revisiting “Autocracy: Rules for Survival” By Masha Gessen remains the best analysis that I’ve read of Trump’s presidency. Nothing this awful fascist does can surprise me even tho it still depresses me.
I’m given solace by courage of Christine Blasey Ford, Viola Davis, Jane Fonda, everyday activists and countless warriors of truth. I’m genuinely praying to the Goddess because Trump & the bigots he represents are heartbreakingly dangerous.
Look when it comes to this moron, i would guarantee that he doesn’t even know the ins and outs of what these people are doing and saying. all he knows is they love him and that’s what matters to him. that’s ALL that matters to him. don’t give him so much credit that he actually knows what is going on one way or another
but the person who asked him about QAnon followed up by TELLING him what they believe.
his response?…”would that be a good thing or a bad thing?” SMDH
I wish the person would have followed up (again) with, “neither, it’s a bat-sh*t crazy thing.”
How is this lunatic the President of your country? It’s bad enough that Qanon supporters are winning primaries. My God. I feel so stressed for you regarding the election and I’m not even American. Trump is so desperate to be lauded. that he is willing to take support from literally anyone. White supremacist are good people. Qanon whackos, “love their country”.His lies, science denials and stupidity have cost 170.000 American lives. How can Republican politicians just sit there and let him destroy your democracy? I don’t understand how there is even a question of him being re-elected. How removed from reality does someone have to be to think that he has done a good job?
We have an entertainment network with “news” in the title that too many watch and fully believe. That plus other misinformation (social media) and lack of critical thinking skills are big parts of the problem.
Time and time again I come back to the lack of critical thinking skills, all over the world (I’m in the UK), it’s terrifying the impact this, coupled with the internet, and active players sowing dissent, are having on politics and the general population.
It’s like your country has literally been infected by Trumpism and the Republican Party has become some cult-like fringe group, filled with conspiracy theorists and Trump sycophants. Lack of critical thinking skills is obviously a major problem amongst Trump and Qanon supporters, but god, they are accusing the Clintons and Obamas (oh and of course, Chrissy Teigan), to name a few, of sex trafficking children and holding Satanic rituals in pizza parlours etc? It is such an extreme level of delusion and inability to think rationally that it seems to be much more like a bunch of brainwashed cult members than anything else I’ve seen. During the early days of the LeAnn Rimes, Brandi Glanville saga, I used to follow someone on Twitter who seemed like a reasonable person. She started posting non-stop right wing, pro-Trump stuff that was literally insane. Not just Fox news crap, but things that literally made me think that someone had hijacked her Twitter handle. Turns out it was her all along. She complained about people unfollowing her and blocking her because “they always knew she was Conservative”. There is no Trump lie, racist behaviour or incompetence that she doesn’t defend. It really shocked me.
QAnon is gaining a following globally. I’m from Germany and read in a national newspaper that the second biggest following (after the USA) is actually here. They have been showing up at Nazi demos and also anti-corona demos – claiming it’s all a hoax and Gates and whatnot. It’s crazy and frightening. Even a big national pop star and some otherwise famous people are spreading their BS on their Telegram channels, crying in videos about panda-eyed babies being rescued from pedos. I have no words for this anymore.
I have watched QAnon videos because I do believe we need to know what we face. Yes, they are fruitcakes who believe every liberal is involved in sex trafficking five year olds through the basements of pizza shops and JFK Jr is still alive and going to lead them to victory but the videos make no secret of their aim. They openly call for “extermination” of those who represent different views. And in case their followers miss the point, the videos end with images of people like Obama, Hillary Clinton, Speaker Pelosi, with the word “exterminate” stamped across them. The FBI is correct to label them a terrorist organization
And people argue with me when I say the GOP is a fascist organization. Unbelievable. And good on you for being able to stomach those videos; I don’t think I can.
Now I have forgotten why they latched onto JFK Jr as their returning hero. Is it because there were unfounded rumors he might have run for NY Senate against or instead of the dreaded Hillary?
I guess he was part of the Clinton “body count” conspiracies, but somehow they thought he was returning this summer? I assume he’s been living with Elvis in Michigan all this time.
It’s been known for decades that JFK, Marilyn, James Dean, and Elvis are all living in a nursing home in Texas. I haven’t heard about any move to Michigan.
Jerusha, are you by chance a fan of Bubba Ho-Tep? your post would indicate so…
🙂
@Jerusha – In the late 80s, there was an alleged sighting of Elvis at a Burger King in Michigan. Obviously he moved to Texas later. Lol
I really wonder about the people who fall for Q. I’ve read articles about them, why they’re susceptible, why they finally fall for it, but it doesn’t seem to answer it. It’s as if their real brains have been harvested and are being stored somewhere else, or as if they’re being manipulated through frequencies or something. These little scenarios sound like I’m in the terrorist organization myself (I’m not!(, but I just don’t get it. What leads people to believe something that’s so patently stupid?
I only know one person who is an out and proud Qanon supporter. He regularly posts the craziest conspiracy theories on Facebook as if they are confirmed facts. The reason I haven’t deleted him or written him off is that he is a diagnosed schizophrenic and currently off his meds, and I like others around him am very worried for his safety.
Schizophrenia definitely sounds like a reason someone would fall for these conspiracy theories, but that doesn’t explain most of them!
It gives them a sense of power and control in a world where both are in short supply. More importantly, it gives them somebody to direct that fear and terror onto, a subject upon which they can visit their anger and frustration. If you get to believe you’re in on a dangerous secret, you get to cast yourself as the hero in your own fantasy.
Thing is, I wouldn’t be shocked to find out plenty of people in power levels of government are involved in human trafficking. The very rich and powerful tend to be pretty short on morals. What I find baffling is the idea that you can twist yourself into pretzels thinking the guy at the top of the pyramid is actually removed from it.
I have actually started reading several threads of one QAnon Twitter conspiracy account without knowing of the name QAnon. This guy started tweeting about a celebrity and his wife (celebrity well known but wife completely unknown) and how the wife plus her family (also completely unknown people) are all part of the pedo ring. Otherwise this twitter account tweets about the big names that they blame (Clinton, Gates etc.). And the twitter claims that for ex. Boris Johnson (and others)has been replaced by a body double. As I said I stumbled upon the account kind of by chance. It was because fans of the celebrity where asking other fans to report the twitter account for harassment against their fave and his family. Completely weird the whole thing. I am also astounded that Twitter is not banning the account just for spreading conspiracy theories, after all they just recently said they would fight against conspiracy theory tweets.
Ok now I wanna know. Which celebrity?
Benedict Cumberbatch is the celeb and his wife is being attacked. They are so much under the radar and she is so off-scene with her own smallish gigs but acclaimed, it’s utterly weird that the QAnon acccount fixates on her and even doxxed some of her family. I mean given that the twitter attacks very, very famous ppl like Oprah or Meghan Markle.
Hi, since you mention Trumps connection to Jeffrey Epstein I was just wondering if you’re planning to mention Clinton’s connections to Epstein as well as the picture of him getting a massage from one of Epstein’s girls. My guess is probably not since it doesn’t suit the lefts narrative. Have a wonderfully biased day.
Is Bill running for President? Or the subject of the post?
Would that be the “Epstein Girl” who is on record as saying that Bill Clinton behaved like a “perfect gentleman” towards her? Or another one you just made up?
Hi Gaby Solana!
If we all concede that if Bill Clinton is guilty of crimes around Epstein that he should be prosecuted, will you concede that Donald Trump should also be prosecuted?
I sense not. For those who scream “bias! BiAS*!” they really don’t mean “bias” at all; they just want one side to be punished.
Since you clearly have not been paying attention, this site DOES bring up the many wrongs of Bill Clinton. Now, I am going to say to you the EXACT same thing I said to Donald Trump Jr and Charlie Kirk on Twitter the other day when tweeted what you just did pretty much word for word. If you have actual evidence of Clinton engaging in criminal activity, then by all means, PROSECUTE. But this constant whining and sniping about “narrative” serves no purpose other than to whine and snipe, which we have now been hearing since Clinton was governor of Arkansas 30 years ago. Again, if you have something, PROSECUTE. But bear in mind, those pictures you are talking about are not evidence of wrongdoing, the woman in the picture was of age and she definitely is not going to testify against Clinton if you have heard what she had to say; Clinton is not president , is not seeking any political office, and has been out of office for nearly 20 years – he’s just not that newsworthy any more.
So, again, if you have something real PROSECUTE. But otherwise, just stop with the “narrative” and “bias” and the poor Trumps. It is ridiculous. Any wrongs done by Clinton do not justify, excuse, or give license to the wrongs of anyone else, particularly not to those who hold power NOW.
If you feed the trolls we can’t delete them. Comment “troll” and we can delete and ban.
Troll
I don’t think anyone here would have a problem with prosecuting anyone is found guilty regardless of their political leanings.
Troll.
Bahaha! Totally
Where was trump or Epstein mentioned? Wacko! I live in the neighborhood and was walking nearby when this Comet Pizza shooting went down. I have no tolerance for your chosen ignorance.
I’m reading one of five books I have on Drumpf. Qanon? Any group that will massage his fragile ego he considers, “good.” After more crazy tweeting from him last night, I tweeted to Rick Wilson, Lincoln Project, “Why is it anytime I read one of his tweets I feel as if I’m in a psych ward.”
For Fs sake…
If it is awful, he will come.
Warning to all Celebitchiers, I’m. Gonna. Rant.: This FOOL-ASS-CREATURE-FEATURE is definitely mentally ill and needs to be committed to an insane asylum far. far away in an all-white (favoritwe color, no doubt) suit with no sleeves on lockdown; with no one to talk to but himself and put on a liquid diet (no solid food, i.e., hamburders, fries, fried chicken, oreos, diet sodas) and if he cries and screams, take him to room where he is sedated to S.F.F.U. RANT OVER!
Okay, phaedra7, I’m ready. When will you begin this rant?
Here’s what the right doesn’t understand: if Bill Clinton participated in Epstein’s crimes, we want him to pay, just as we want All participants in the crimes to pay. But they can’t say the same, can they? Anyone still supporting Trump isn’t a patriot, they just want to hate everyone who isn’t them.
QAnons=Tinhats. They’ve just crawled out of their basements where they’ve been since JFK “was shot on the grassy knoll”. They’ve always been there lurking and no Trump they are not good citizens or patriots. They create conspiracies that cause others to react in the real world, with guns. They were behind that recent crazy conspiracy about Wayfair that anyone with half a brain could see was a listing mistake.
I heard on NPR that he will be sending feds/troops to my city, like he did to Portland. Some other cities were mentioned but when I heard mine I went “huh?” We aren’t even having any protests/riots- if there are protests they are so small i havent heard about them recently. What we DO have is the usual random folks shooting each other because it is summer and it is Memphis. Idk what the hell he thinks federal troops are gonna do, our Police Department responds quickly and usually apprehend the shooter.
Oh wait is it because Memphis proper has a large African American population? Hmmm….. i wonder……(sarcasm on the last part guys)
I would expect his secret cops to hurt black people to stir up more rioting. So he can then shut down areas so people can’t vote
Same with my city. It is called Operation Legend and is there allegedly to remove illegal guns from the “inner city”. Meanwhile in the suburbs people are buying guns and ammo like crazy and nobody bats an eye. What are they prepping for?
My father’s entire retirement plan is rebuilding assault weapons for people. But he is a white, male, Republican so it’s okay for him!!!
(I hate guns and try my darnedest to never be around them. This is why my son only sees his grandfather at a 3rd party location)
Q Anon is terrifying and we should be paying more attention to its continued rise. Twenty some cult members are up for election and if they win, will have access to all sorts of potentially sensitive government information. Not to mention the many, many, many threats of violence.
Reddit’s “QAnon Casualties” is something I don’t know how we come back from. For many of these people, I suspect there will need to be some large scale projects launched by cult experts to fight back against the programming. A former friend is deep into Q and has been for years. Her husband is a high ranking doctor in the navy…. he also believes in Q.
If that Navy doctor has a security clearance, I would report him. Being involved in a domestic terrorist organization is a huge no-no if you serve. I’m a Navy vet and I find that appalling.
And this just in, Steve Bannon got arrested for fraud this morning.
On a boat in Connecticut. Fraud, money laundering. More to come, fortunately.
And the list of people connected to that fraud….whew chile *sits back with popcorn*.
Just a reminder: Trump is a twunt.
I’d like to offer additional context about QAnon. Steve B@nnon — previously a managing editor at the videogame website ZAM!, and by 2014 the tech editor at Breitb@rt — was promoting conspiracy theories and encouraging his readers to pile onto various random videogames-adjacent women online. (“Doxxing,” the practice of finding and sharing home addresses with others, is done to terrify individuals with the vague but real possibility of “SWATting,” or death-by-cop. The actress Felicia Day describes in her memoir, at length, the experience of being doxxed in 2014.)
Later on, the messageboard 8chan was invented *only* because the harassment campaigns being organized at 4chan — an anime messageboard where everything is posted anonymously — had become a serious legal liability.
QAnon is an anonymous account (or collection of accounts) that began on 4chan, then moved over to 8chan. QAnon’s whole thing is claiming that an incredible collection of celebrities, including Chrissy Teigen and Tom Hanks, are all secretly involved in pedophilia; meanwhile, QAnon champions Trump for fighting these sex rings all alone. It’s bizarre, since 8chan is practically a hub for pedophilia itself. It almost seems like the entire point of QAnon is to monitor exactly how far 8chan’s influence can spread. And… it’s far. A lot of “true believers” who believe in “Q” are middle-aged folks who have never even heard of 8chan.
Exactly. The Chans are basically p0nr sites and dip into every taboo imaginable. Sure you score some illegal crap or join terrorist groups, yes, but like anything else online, it is p0nr heavy with children and teens notoriously at the top. So here we are again shining blinding sunlight on the incredible hypocrisy that defines Shades of Orange.
I’ll just share this story about the lunatic fringe from Narratively. My actual thoughts on this are unprintable. https://narratively.com/my-father-the-qanon-conspiracy-theorist/
Thanks for the link. It explained a lot of things that I’d vaguely heard but didn’t know what it meant. Like the term red pilled. Crazy!
My parents are part of this Q-Anon Republican chaos pit. It is indescribable how brainwashed they are. Talking to them is like trying to talk to a brick wall. It’s frightening.
Republicans are truly, truly invested in spreading chaos and disinformation. What’s diabolically clever is that this particular barrage of deceit obviously hides and shields *actual predators* like Trump — even more than our laws and judicial system and police already do.
And for the record I don’t care what the political party is — ALL predators need to be prosecuted, not by their victims necessarily but by a functional and just justice system… which we DO NOT have in this country.
QAnon is an intense and frightening level of misinformation. It must be really rough dealing with parents that believe in it. I’ve known committed conspiracy believers and they’re just difficult. In my experience they relate EVERYTHING and ANYTHING to their pet theory. If I disagree or ignore it then they’ll just talk at me in an attempt to make me agree with them. It’s a lot of emotional labour trying to communicate with people who are fanatical about conspiracy theories.
ITA that all predators must be prosecuted. Because supporting survivors is a vitally important political act that helps dismantle the patriarchy. Unfortunately, QAnon is just weaponising sexual abuse to silence people and isn’t actually interested in supporting survivors or holding predators accountable.
“I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate.”
Thats as far as Trumps mind goes as a narcissist, you like me great! I need all the fans and friends i can get to fill me up to get through the day. His mind cannot get beyond that, hes just totally consumed with needing to be liked
He’s lying he knows exactly what these groups are about. He just says that to give himself cover in case things go badly. But he was friends with Steve Bannon who is hip deep in all of that conspiracy theory sh!t. So Trump knows and I’m sure agrees with the whole thing.
He doesn’t know anything about them, how can he say they love America? God, I am so sick of this idiot. He’s infantile in every way possible. Even most infants and toddlers are smarter. He’s just… Amoebic?
Ya know… this makes sense. I recently bought a garden flag (don’t judge, it’s for my political statements)… and I saw a flag for Q Anon!!!! Like, right next to other flags with the flag on them. I thought someone must not have known…? Or had a last name that began with Q?
but suddenly. It’s all come together. 🙁
We also gotta boycott Goodyear, right? Like any good law-breaking President would do.
My mom, who used to be the sanest person I knew, the most open, the most acceptable and the most liberal, an immigrant woman to boot, has gone down the Q rabbit hole. She is now saying the craziest things and wants to vote for Trump to save the kids ( insert eye rolling and pulling hair out emoji here) she’s voted Democrat all her life. I don’t even like talking to her now because she will not stop bringing this up. After seeing my mom fall for this, its so worrying to think how many have and how this will impact these elections.
That is awful! I’m sorry. I often wonder how Q can get its hooks in otherwise sane, rational people. I know how, but I don’t know HOW, you know? It’s like a little mental Trojan horse.
Trust me Valerie, I ask myself the same question everyday! I never ever in a million years would have thought my mom of all people would have fallen for this, that’s what worries me about it, so many people are and I think things might get worse because of it.
I can’t believe Trump and his followers are too stupid to think this through. If they think it’s ok to use violence as long as you claim the object of your violence is ruining America, then they are saying it’s ok for people who think Trump is ruining America to use violence against HIM and HIS supporters.
By his reasoning, he should adopt the endorsement of the KKK and have David Dukes talking at his itty-bitty-shitty convention. After all, it’s a democracy. Oh, and burn a cross at the convention and have the KKK members wear their full-on uniforms, including the pointy hat. Good times.
Facebook algorithms drive traffic directly to qanon sites, which have grown by the thousands into a bona fide domestic terror organization. Now Zuckerberg pretends like he’s doing something by pulling down a few hundred qanon accounts a couple days ago.
In my opinion, Facebook’s sole purpose is to divide Americans and kill democracies by giving a global forum to anti-democratic and racist propaganda operations like qanon. I don’t believe for a minute that Facebook was ever intended to do anything else. Remember, Facebook was out of cash by 2008, and then Zuckerberg took a trip to Russia for investment cash to save the day. I think that cash was essentially a takeover of the app so that it could be used to “destroy us from within” as Khrushchev had always planned.
https://techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/facebook-takes-that-200-million-investment-from-the-russians-at-a-10-billion-valuation/
I 100% agree with you.
Y’all, this is probably the thing that scares me the most these days. Because ordinarily, there will be a subset of people who can’t ever be convinced to vote Dem for a number of reasons that are usually pretty clear. Ok, fine. The reverse is likely also true (though I’ve rarely met a rabidly dogmatic Dem voter unless you count the 2 Bernie bros who accosted me in Trader Joe’s one time).
But in theory, there should be a group of people open to persuasion. In fact, that should be the greatest number of people, because that’s how democracy should work. We should be voting for ideas, platforms, plans, and only secondarily for people to implement them.
QAnon is something different. It’s a genuine cult, with the same kind of blind adherence that led people to drink Kool aid and murder their own children in Jonestown. But this time it’s hundreds of thousands of people. You can’t use cult deprogramming strategies en masse.
There’s no way to convince or persuade these people. They feed on the feeling that they are special, that they have inside info. They won’t let go of this stuff willingly. They are immune to reason, science, facts, legitimacy, expertise…
Like… What do we do with them? Where do we go with this poison in the veins of the body politic? I’m at a loss.
I hear you, Lindy. Trump is making a coalition of fanatic, extremist groups, fanning racism and quietly counting on the rich people whose taxes he cut. Will it be enough? I really don’t think so. America needs to re-boot and vote as if their lives depended on it– and they do. Covid is raging and Trump has been obstructing states instead of helping them. Guess he hopes his enemies (anyone not voting for him) will die.
These people are nut jobs. This is the first time I’m very afraid for all of us in the USA. If Biden does win this election, I’m truly afraid of what these people will do. At least the FBI has labeled them a domestic terrorist threat.
I’m just here for the Community reference 💗
I mean, if you ask me and this is really not backed up by evidence only anecdotes, but Qanon is sort of a psyops from the trump administration. I would not be surprised if it turned out that Qanon is being managed by someone in the trump administration. It’s probably why also Trump keeps mentioning it.