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Republican congressman at CNN to urge Trump to denounce QAnon after pro-conspiracy candidate wins
Story from Russia Times [rt.com]:
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger has called on President Donald Trump to debunk the QAnon conspiracy, saying that it has gone “mainstream” after a theory-backing Republican candidate all but secured a seat in congress after a primary win.
Kinzinger, who has locked horns with Trump in the past, came out swinging against the conspiracy theory during an episode of CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter on Sunday.
Reliable Sources.
Before his appearance on Trump’s least-favoured channel (well, maybe after Fox News [rt.com]), Kinzinger posted a YouTube video [youtube.com], talking about why people fall for conspiracy theories like the fake Moon landing theory and QAnon, which originally sprang up at the 4-chan website in October 2017.
The theory is based on online postings or “Q-drops” from an alleged government insider known only as “Q,” who casts himself as a “patriot.” The theory alleges that there exist child sex trafficking rings among the powerful, as well as Satan-worship and occultism. Some QAnon devotees believe that deep state actors are trying to undermine the Trump administration.
Speaking to Stelter, who called the four-minute YouTube clip “outstanding,” Kinzinger said that he believes that top Republicans, who have generally kept mum about the theory, should speak up against it since it has gone “mainstream.”
Trigger for all this fuss, of course, is the primary victory of Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia.
Greene has come under fire from both left and right for her support of the QAnon theory, as well as her harsh criticism of Democratic mega-donor George Soros. However, that did not stop her slide to a primary victory, gaining over 57 percent of the vote.
Arguing that Republicans should distance themselves from the theory, Kinzinger took a thinly-veiled swipe at Trump, saying: “The president hasn't fully denounced it or denounced it at all,” adding that “now it's time” for leaders to come out against it.
Ball is in Trump's court. Or green, as it were.
