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."
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.
-
How will the new tax deductions on auto loans work?
the explainer Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced a tax deduction on auto loan interest — but eligibility for the tax break is limited
-
Is Trump actually going to prosecute Obama for 'treason'?
Today's Big Question Or is this just a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal?
-
5 best movie sequels of all time
The Week Recommends The second time is only sometimes as good as the first
-
'Spending is what card issuers are hoping you will do'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump executive order targets homeless
Speed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election
-
Deportations: The growing backlash
Feature New poll numbers show declining support for Trump's deportation crackdown
-
Is Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' cancellation an omen of something worse?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION CBS said its decision to end the talk show was strictly business. But the timing and nature of the announcement has some observers wondering if there's more at play behind the scenes.
-
Trump administration releases MLK files
Speed Read Newly released documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not hold any new revelations, King historians said