How the Trump campaign came to court QAnon, the online conspiracy movement identified by the FBI as a violent threat

Washington Post ^

[MNDude]

The viral online movement, which took root on Internet message boards in the fall of 2017 with posts from a self-proclaimed government insider identified as “Q,” has triggered violent acts and occasional criminal cases. Its effects were catalogued last year in an FBI intelligence bulletin listing QAnon among the “anti-government, identity-based, and fringe political conspiracy theories” that “very likely motivate some domestic extremists to commit criminal, sometimes violent activity.”

The Trump campaign’s director of press communications, for example, went on a QAnon program and urged listeners to “sign up and attend a Trump Victory Leadership Initiative training.” QAnon iconography has appeared in official campaign advertisements targeting battleground states. And the White House’s director of social media and deputy chief of staff for communications, Dan Scavino, has gone from endorsing praise from QAnon accounts to posting their memes himself.

The president has repeatedly elevated its digital foot soldiers, sharing their tweets more than a dozen times on the Fourth of July alone. His middle son, Eric, who is 36 and a campaign surrogate, recently posted, and then deleted, an image drumming up support for his father’s Tulsa rally that included a giant “Q” and the text, “Where we go one, we go all.”

Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his communications with a Russian diplomat in late 2016, recently recorded a video of himself repeating an oath originating on 8kun, a message board where Q, who claims high-level security clearance, posts esoteric references and half-baked ideas that followers call “bread crumbs.”

“Where we go one, we go all,” intoned Flynn, his right hand raised, at the end of the oath, which otherwise follows a generic script administered to new members of Congress. Flynn did not respond to a text message seeking comment

[yesthatjallen]

Graham says FBI chief 'committed to being helpful' after Trump criticism

[enduserindy]

What riots? /sarc

[Steve_Seattle]

Excellent job of pointing out that the article is based on fuzzy accusations and hypotheticals with no specifics, whereas for two months we have seen ongoing ACTUAL violence and open anti-American, “anti-government,” and anti-police rhetoric in the streets of major cities, yet the WaPo either can’t see it or brazenly lies about it.

[Steve_Seattle]

"What is 8kun? Does the WaPo reporter mean 8chan?"

Who knows? The left is always pointing out the existence of "right-wing" organizations, symbols, and "dog whistles" that the vast majority of conservatives and Trump supporters have never heard of.

[familyop]

"How the Trump campaign came to court QAnon,..."

By being enticed by Democrats who managed to fool too many feeble minded individuals.

[Hot Tabasco]

Why do folks keep posting to a site that requires a paywall? I couldn’t access the article so what’s the point?

[rhinohunter]

QAnon

Trust Sessions! He’s playing 4D Chess...

/sarc

[bagster]

When in fact they are a bunch of wanna-bes pretending to know something.

Now you're just saying stuff.

I'm a lot of things, but boring ain't one.

I would say that the Q thread is perhaps the least boring dedicated thread on FR.

But it does get mighty boring beyond the trees, with the constant whining and kvetching over and over every day on every thread. One thread looking exactly like another, with the same tired people saying the same tired lines. Over and over and over.

pretending to know something.

We do seem to know a lot of stuff way before you people know it. I mean, that's just a fact. What's funny is, you don't even know what you don't know.

But we do. You'll find out sooner or later and to you it will be fresh information. Sorta like Epstein and NXIVM and Trump's North Korea negotiations, to list just a few examples.

You're just saying stuff.

You know better, right?

[familyop]

"Q folks wipe their behinds with trashed WaPo’s."

Then they should stop buying the Washington Post.

[bagster]

FBI intelligence bulletin. No doubt put together by acolytes of the Deep State.

Yep.

One memo from one agent in the Phoenix field office all of a sudden is FBI policy.

The derp media loves to quote that one.

[bagster]

I agree—but neither do the “Q” crazies.

Lemee get this straight, fungus.

The Q crazies don't know anything about Q? Did I read that right?

[TangoLimaSierra]

Does the WaPo reporter mean 8chan?

Nope. 8kun is the new iteration.

[familyop]

The QueerAnon stuff is typically artistic but getting old and tiresome.

[bagster]

Something’s up.

Something's happening here
what it is ain't exactly clear.

And its bigger than we can imagine.

[McGavin999]

The Compston didn’t say why the FBI sees them as a threat. It’s because they know the real threat s many in the FBI. Starting to Wray.

[bagster]

Q is nonsense supported by misguided people on the right as well as what is probably a bit of foreign influence

Wrong.

[bagster]

Even here on the vaunted Free Republic you see people siding with the likes of the Washington Compost.

Yea, ain't that somethin'?

Makes you wonder.

[bagster]

Just the mention of Qanon seems to trigger a royal tissy fit in some ppl.

Yea, its the strangest thing.

The derp media working in tandem with certain elements on Free Republic.

I didn't think I'd ever see such a thing. But here we are.

[euram]

I’m sure the WaPo is going to run an in-depth article about how the dem party came to support Antifa and Black Lies Matter who are actually violent and actually threatening people right now.

[euram]

I’m sure the WaPo is going to run an in-depth article about how the dem party came to support Antifa and Black Lies Matter who are actually violent and actually threatening people right now.