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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

From Defense One [defenseone.com]:

You probably heard about QAnon this week. When a reporter asked Donald Trump about it; the president said, “I don’t know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate” and called them “people that love our country.”

When asked about “this belief that you are secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals,” Trump said “I haven’t heard that. But is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing? I mean, you know, if I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it.”

Mainstream media outlets ran reports about the conspiracy theory, bringing it to new audiences. By focusing on Trump’s involvement — supposedly leading a secret war against a “deep state” of child sex traffickers — many reports left out the public aspect. QAnon followers believe a government official with high-level “Q” clearance feeds them cryptic but decipherable messages via the imageboard website 4chan (then migrated to 8chan, now 8kun) in preparation for a violent, holy, revolutionary event called “the Storm,” in which they, Trump, and their secret allies will rise up and free the world from an evil pedophile cabal, complete with mass arrests and executions.

Many reports describe it as fringe, but while QAnon started on the fringes, it now has millions of followers, presidential validation, and widespread media coverage. Some 20 QAnon believers — including 19 Republicans and one Independent — are running for Congress. One of them, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, won her primary in a red district and is likely headed to Washington. QAnon, in some form, is here to stay.

Bummer, man!

It’s an online movement whose members collectively fantasize about violence. A few have committed real-world violence, including two murders and arson. In May 2019, an FBI report [yahoo.com] warned that “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” posed a domestic terrorism threat, naming QAnon. A July report from West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center [usma.edu] drew comparisons to conspiracy theory-driven terrorism outside of the United States. QAnon researchers, such as Travis View [usma.edu] and Kevin Roose [nytimes.com], have been warning about the potential for violence.

That is some serious organizations.

But what raises QAnon to a pressing national security concern is the 2020 election.

And as has been repeatedly pointed out here on SoylentNews,

As Peter W. Singer pointed out in early 2018, the deadliest terrorist threat to Americans in 2008–17 was not jihadists, who accounted for 26 percent of extremist killings, but far-right ideologies, such white nationalists, who were responsible for 71 percent (left-wing extremists made up the last 3 percent). Since then, the U.S. has faced sizable white nationalist terrorist attacks, including the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting (October 2018, killed 11) and the El Paso Walmart shooting (August 2019, killed 22).

So not mostly harmless.

Assuming 99 percent are harmless still leaves 10,000 potential terrorists. And if the QAnon community is larger than a million — which it likely is — or if the group who really believe and might act violently is closer to 3 percent than 1, that’s tens of thousands.

Whatever the actual number, it’s safe to say QAnon has crossed the threshold between (1) small enough that it’s best not to bring it up to avoid amplifying it and inadvertently helping it grow, and (2) sufficiently large, publicly known, and dangerous that it’s better to understand it, inform the public, and think about how to prevent violent attacks it could inspire.

Just the numbers are scary. A critical mass of stupidity? Right here in River City?

Trump’s claim not to know much about QAnon didn’t faze believers. They think he’s lying. And in this they’re right, but for the wrong reasons.

Trump is lying. He must be aware of QAnon. Not because he started paying attention to things like FBI threat reports, but because QAnon has been part of internet culture for over two years, and has a substantial presence in circles that intersect with the Trumps’.

QAnon is a conspiracy theory from the internet and Donald Trump is an internet troll/conspiracy theorist. He has retweeted QAnon-promoting accounts 216 times. Mainstream media outlets have covered it. Maybe the just-saw-something-praising-me excuse works a few times, but it increasingly becomes absurd.

If Trump somehow didn’t connect the Q signs at his rallies to the Q hashtags in his replies, people close to him would have. His former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn shared a video of himself and his family taking the QAnon oath. Speechwriter Stephen Miller, recently demoted campaign manager Brad Parscale, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, and presidential son Don Jr. spend a lot of time in right-wing internet circles. They might not have studied QAnon closely, but they’re aware of it.

Oh, dear.

If Trump starts tweeting things like “RIGGED! They’re trying to take your country. Don’t let them! THIS IS IT! Second Amendment!” — let alone if he uses QAnon lingo like “the Storm is upon us” — there’s a risk that some violence-embracing QAnon followers decide to act. And if some do, it could encourage others.

Maybe I’m wrong, and the election will pass without self-starter terrorism connected to QAnon, white nationalism, or other far-right ideologies. I hope so. But the probability is far enough from zero that counter-terrorism and law enforcement should make it a top priority, at least until the results of the election settle in.

Entire article well worth the read.

Original Submission