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Law enforcement is stepping up security around the U.S. Capitol on Thursday before reports that QAnon supporters who believe Donald Trump will become president that day could turn violent.
US Capitol Police have previously reported a possible militia plot to attack the Capitol on March 4 and said in a statement that they had “taken immediate action to improve our security posture” for several days.
What is not clear is how many QAnon believers actually agree with the idea that Trump will return to power that day, or consider taking action himself.
Supporters of QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory that Trump is waging a secret war against a nefarious cabal of Satanist cannibals within the Democratic Party and other liberal institutions, were well represented during the January 6 riot in Capitol.
Of the more than 250 people who were accused of storming the Capitol on January 6, dozens have openly published their beliefs in QAnon and other conspiracy theories. The furry-covered plot supporter known as “QAnon Shaman” entered the Senate Chamber and left a threatening note for Vice President Mike Pence, while another QAnon supporter in a “Q” shirt was captured threateningly by police, later claiming he had helped lead the attack on the Capitol to ensure QAnon got credit for the attack.
Many QAnon believers who had been promised that Trump’s presidency would cause some sort of American utopia, as well as a violent purge of his opponents in a moment known as “The Storm,” were stunned on the 20th. January when Joe Biden was sworn in. . In QAnon chat rooms, some supporters said Biden’s successful inauguration led them to suspect the extravagant conspiracy theory was wrong, while others described physical revulsion at the feeling of being duped.
At least some QAnon believers, however, have decided that Biden hasn’t really become president. Instead, they borrowed an elaborate theory from the sovereign anti-government citizen movement that argues that the United States has been, since the 1870s, a society, not a country. In this account, the United States is a company in debt to the bankers of London, and no law passed since then has been legitimate.
A faction of QAnon supporters claimed that, as a result, Trump would return on March 4 – the initial inauguration date until 1933 – as head of the “real” US government.
The March 4 theory was more popular with average QAnon believers than proponents who make up the public face of conspiracy theory, according to Travis View, the co-host of the QAnon QAnon Anonymous follow-up podcast. While many QAnon leaders have claimed that March 4 was a trap designed to stop QAnon believers or blame them for the violence, “Q” – the anonymous figurehead of the entire movement – did not posted online since december which means there is no force for it either. adopt or reject the idea of March 4.
View compared the March 4 beliefs to the idea, controversial even within QAnon, that the John F. Kennedy Jr. faked his death to help Trump confront the “deep state.”
“I think this is another situation where the core QAnon followers have picked it up, but it seems to be an embarrassment for some of the more established QAnon promoters,” View said.
On Telegram, the messaging app and social media network where many QAnon believers have found themselves after being banned from more traditional platforms in the wake of the riot, top QAnon executives urged their supporters not to assemble on March 4, saying the focus was on the date. is a ruse intended to undermine them. With “Q” silent, others cited a “clue” from Q that mentioned both the word “trap” and the phrase “March 4” as evidence that the date does not make sense in the QAnon canon.
January 6 was widely adopted by QAnon supporters and other staunch Trump supporters as a key date, as it marked Congress’s electoral vote count. The plotters openly discussed their intention to violently attack the Capitol to disrupt the vote count, and protesters planned to carpool in Washington to inflate pro-Trump numbers in the city. In comparison, there was much less open discussion on March 4.
“The main promoters of QAnon – they are not on board, they are decrying this as a false flag,” View said.
Whatever happens on March 4, QAnon has already been linked to three murders. More recently, a QAnon believer allegedly murdered an amateur legal expert who deployed sovereign citizen tactics in court.
QAnon’s role in the Capitol Riot has also continued to come to light in the court cases of suspected rioters.
Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed “Q Shaman” who was among the first to storm the Capitol carrying a spear and megaphone and wearing a headdress, claimed to be a “leader” of the violent conspiracy. He even wore the elaborate costume in several arrests in Arizona to raise public awareness about QAnon, prosecutors previously alleged.
A Federal Aviation Administration employee who took a selfie outside the House Speak Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) office has been arrested after claiming to have “Q clearance” to enter the Capitol. Prosecutors say Kevin Strong allegedly told a QAnon witness that he said World War III was going to happen on January 6 and that he had a “WW1WGA” flag – depicting QAnon’s popular slogan “where we are going an , we all go ”- to his home. Strong also told the witness that he believed the QAnon “Storm” would cover the cost of a truck he had recently purchased, according to a criminal complaint.
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