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President Donald Trump’s membership in QAnon sparks backlash from some prominent Republicans, who say his comments Wednesday about the group that believes they are saving the world from a satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals have “no place “in the party.
Trump on Wednesday refused to disown the QAnon movement, saying that the followers of the extreme conspiracy theory are “people who love our country.”
QAnon, once considered marginal, has emerged in recent months as a sort of centralized hub for totally bogus conspiracies and alternative health communities, say researchers and experts.
The group, linked to several violent criminal incidents, including a train hijacking, kidnappings, police chase and murder, sees Trump as their hero in a secret war on pedophiles. Asked about this part of the theory specifically by an NBC News reporter, Trump replied, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?”
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and main opponent of the president in 2016, tweeted his displeasure with Trump’s remarks about the group, whose conspiracy theories, according to the FBI in 2019, “very likely motivate some domestic extremists.”
“Why on earth wouldn’t the president kick Q’anon supporters in the butt?” Nut jobs, rascals, haters have no place in either party, ”he wrote, misspelling the“ racists ”.
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska told NBC News in a statement, “Q-Anon is crazy – and real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theories.”
Republicans should consider the possible electoral consequences of Trump’s comments, he said.
“If Democrats take the Senate, blow up the filibuster and wrap the Supreme Court – garbage like this will be a big part of why they won,” Sasse said. “Real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theories.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted “a reminder of QAnon’s background” and said, “Let’s be clear, Complete BS.”
“Anyone who wrote this does not like ‘our country’, they seek to deceive and destroy it,” he wrote.
During a Fox News panel, Karl Rove, GOP strategist and former adviser to George W. Bush, said Trump “should disown” QAnon, whom he called “a bunch of lunatics.”
“They may love him, but they love him because they think he’s waging an incredible war on ‘pedographic’ evil forces, and that’s just ridiculous,” Rove said, referring to the theory. of the group’s pedophilia plot. “Disavow them, end them.”
Trump’s embrace comes as the Republican Party has become further entangled in the group.
Prior to running for office, Georgia Republican Congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote dozens of articles on a now-defunct website that supported the QAnon conspiracy theory, NBC News has found. In the posts, Greene also suggested that Hillary Clinton murdered her political enemies and reflected on whether mass shootings had been orchestrated to dismantle the Second Amendment.
Julie tsirkin contributed.
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