Trump tacitly endorses QAnon conspiracy after being asked to denounce it

published 16 October 2020

President Trump has once again refused to disavow the QAnon conspiracy theory.

During his town hall event with NBC News on Thursday, moderator Savannah Guthrie explained the concept of QAnon — "Democrats are a satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior" — to Trump and asked him to debunk it. "I know nothing about QAnon," Trump responded, to which Guthrie made it clear, "I just told you."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

As Guthrie explained, the far-right QAnon conspiracy purports Democrats and Hollywood elites are part of a cannibalistic, pedophilic cabal and that Trump is leading a resistance against them. Trump's refusal to denounce the theory for the first time led QAnon supporters to celebrate. And NBC News' Ben Collins, who covers QAnon, suggested in a tweet that Trump's Thursday comments were "about as close to a dream scenario for QAnon followers as is humanly possible."

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox