Thursday, August 1, 2019

Can't See This Ending Well

Over the course of the last year-and-a-half, I have written almost a dozen posts about the Qanon conspiracy theory, a sort of conspiracy Unified Field Theory, which has subsumed a lot of conspiracy theories, ranging from Flat Earther crap to Reptilian Alien lunacy to Protocols of the Elders of Zion crap. Today, on the day after many of them believed that the declassification of arrest warrants for their hated political enemies was to have taken place, something terrible happened... the FBI released a document warning that conspiracy theorists posed a domestic terrorism threat:


The FBI intelligence bulletin from the bureau’s Phoenix field office, dated May 30, 2019, describes “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,” as a growing threat, and notes that it is the first such report to do so. It lists a number of arrests, including some that haven’t been publicized, related to violent incidents motivated by fringe beliefs.

The document specifically mentions QAnon, a shadowy network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against President Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring including Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant (which didn’t actually have a basement).


In a bizarre case of synchronicity, a lot of Qanon true believers showed up at Trump's rally in Cincinnati:



Trump himself has retweeted Qanon boosters, which poses a threat to domestic security. Who is to say that Republican Party operatives won't try to goad some of the dead-enders into committing acts of politically-motivated violence? The Bully has the world's biggest bully pulpit, and he's not above engaging in 'stochastic terrorism', and now he has a cult that is hankering for a bloodbath. I really don't see how these people can be deprogrammed, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see some VERY BAD MOJO sometime soon.
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5 comments:

  1. StringOnAStickAugust 2, 2019 at 10:17 AM

    I suspect the R's want these G Anon idiots around, but at arm's length. The way we're going to win in 2020 is by boosting turnout, and having roving packs or lone wolves threatening violence could easily reduce the turnout effort. Helping GOTV shouldn't mean risking an attack by these loons, but we'd be fools to think it's not a potential issue; that's part of why the R's won't disavow them. That, and the fact that the True Believer elected officials actually agree with a lot of the crap they are spewing.

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  2. Sirius LunacyAugust 2, 2019 at 2:32 PM

    "Where we go one, we go all"

    Where I go #1 I also go #2 and on a couple of occasions after a bit of overindulging in alcohol I have gone all there as well. So, I guess I can relate.

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  3. AnonymousAugust 3, 2019 at 10:47 AM

    Trump doesn't care how plausible his denials are, but he does like his denials to have some smattering of plausibility.

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  4. Professor ChaosAugust 3, 2019 at 3:38 PM

    QAnon has already been responsible for one killing. Fortunately, the nut who did the killing targeted a mafia boss in Staten Island whom he believed was part of the "deep State" conspiracy against Trump. Next time, it could be an innocent person. Or a member of the government. This shooter had already tried to serve citizen's arrest warrants on several elected officials.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/anthony-comello-gambino-mob-boss-shooting-suspect-radicalized-by-qanon-far-right-sites-even-trump-lawyer-says

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  5. EdAugust 4, 2019 at 8:14 PM

    It appears that the "resistance" didn't anticipate getting resistance.

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