Trump is overtly embracing and amplifying QAnon now
Former President Donald Trump held a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, over the weekend, "during which there were many bizarre moments, including what many observers have noted appears to be echoes of the propaganda put out by adherents of the deranged and occasionally deadly QAnon conspiracy theory," CNN's Jake Tapper said Monday night, "propaganda that Trump has repeatedly and unequivocally shared in recent weeks on his social media accounts."
A Trump spokesman told CNN that the music playing at the rally wasn't the QAnon anthem "WWG1WGA" — for "Where we go one, we go all," the QAnon rallying cry — but just a royalty-free song called "Mirror." At the moment the music started playing. though, much of Trump's Youngstown audience raised one finger, in what appears to be the sign for "Where we go one, we go all."
Stephen Colbert's Late Show has a lighter explanation for that one-finger salute.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
People who study QAnon don't find Trump's overt embrace of the baseless conspiracy theory to be a laughing matter. "These are people who have elevated Trump to messiah-like status, where only he can stop this cabal," Georgia State University professor Mia Bloom told The Associated Press last week. "That's why you see so many images (in online QAnon spaces) of Trump as Jesus."
As Trump asserts his dominance in the Republican Party and faces increasingly perilous legal threats, "his actions show that far from distancing himself from the political fringe, he is welcoming it," AP reports. "Trump's recent postings have included images referring to himself as a martyr fighting criminals, psychopaths, and the so-called deep state," and he reposted an image last week of him wearing a Q lapel pin behind the phrase "The storm is coming."
"The 'storm is coming' is shorthand for something really dark that he's not saying out loud," Janet McIntosh, an anthropologist at Brandeis University who studies QAnon, tells AP. "This is a way for him to point to violence without explicitly calling for it. He is the prince of plausible deniability."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Sitting in judgment on Trump
Opinion Who'd want to be on this jury?
By Susan Caskie Published
-
Ukraine cheers House approval of military aid
Speed Read Following a lengthy struggle, the House has approved $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Peter Murrell: Sturgeon's husband charged over SNP 'embezzlement' claims
Speed Read SNP expresses 'shock' as former chief executive rearrested in long-running investigation into claims of mishandled campaign funds
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
How could the Supreme Court's Fischer v. US case impact the other Jan 6. trials including Trump's?
Today's Big Question A former Pennsylvania cop might hold the key to a major upheaval in how the courts treat the Capitol riot — and its alleged instigator
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mark Menzies: Tories investigate MP after 'bad people' cash claims
Speed Read Fylde MP will sit as an independent while party looks into allegations he misused campaign funds on medical expenses and blackmail pay-out
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published