At a press conference on Wednesday, when asked by a reporter what he thinks of QAnon, Trump focused on their love of him, and tried to connect their beliefs to his own agenda, saying he’s not very familiar with the movement but that he believes its followers “love our country.”
“I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate,” Trump said, reports Politico. The president’s comments on Wednesday go the farthest yet toward his embracing QAnon, which the FBI has labeled as a potential domestic terrorist threat.
QAnon followers believe, without evidence, that Trump is fighting a Satanic “deep state” of global elites involved in paedophilia, human trafficking and the harvesting of a supposedly life-extending chemical from the blood of abused children, according to The Guardian.
NEW: Trump at a press conference claimed that he doesn't know much about the fringe conspiracy theory QAnon, but that he understands its supporters “like me very much” and that they “love America.” August 19, 2020
Trump addressed QAnon’s beliefs when asked about them by a reporter. The president replied flippantly: “I haven’t heard that but is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?”
“If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it, I’m willing to put myself out there and we are, actually. We’re saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country and, when this country is gone, the rest of the world will follow.”
QAnon’s conspiracy theory has been blamed for violent incidents, and social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have taken action in recent weeks to suspend groups and accounts associated with it. On Wednesday, Facebook announced that it was stepping up efforts to punish accounts linked to groups like QAnon, according to The Hill.
Some observers believe the Republican party has been moving to the right for a number of years. Now, under Trump, even white supremacists and Nazis openly identify with him and echo his rhetoric. And Trump has been very vocal in pushing his own conspiracy theories.
Accurate August 20, 2020
Trump’s conspiracy theories include everything from climate science denial to mass-scale vote fraud to Birtherism and various wild pseudoscientific beliefs about the coronavirus, going so far as to support the MyPillow guy’s belief in an herbal extract that cures the coronavirus in two days.
Needless to say, but QAnon followers have waited a long time to be acknowledged by Trump, and Wednesday was their “rainbow moment.” Brian Friedberg, a senior researcher at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, has followed the group for a number of years.
Freidberg said: “This moment was an inevitability. The only real hope now is for a large group of Republicans with power – and with power among Republicans – to come out against this despite what Trump said today.”
