Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Donald Trump at Wednesday’s press briefing.
Donald Trump at Wednesday’s press briefing. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock
Donald Trump at Wednesday’s press briefing. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Trump tacitly endorses baseless QAnon conspiracy theory linked to violence

This article is more than 3 years old

President says followers of movement, which claims Trump is fighting ‘deep state’ paedophiles, ‘love our country’

Donald Trump has tacitly endorsed QAnon, a baseless rightwing conspiracy theory identified as a potential domestic terrorism threat by the FBI, claiming its followers “love our country” and “like me very much”.

Followers of the QAnon movement believe without evidence that Trump is fighting a satanic “deep state” of global elites involved in paedophilia, human trafficking and the harvesting of a supposedly life-extending chemical from the blood of abused children.

Yet asked about the theory at Wednesday’s White House press briefing, the US president failed to condemn it. “I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate,” he said. “I have heard that it is gaining in popularity.”

Supporters of QAnon share Trump’s concerns about rising crime in Democratic-led cities, the president continued. “These are people that don’t like seeing what’s going on in places like Portland and places like Chicago and New York and other cities and states. I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it.”

A reporter followed up, pointing out that QAnon supporters believe Trump is “secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals”. The president replied flippantly: “I haven’t heard that but is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

“If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it, I’m willing to put myself out there and we are, actually. We’re saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country and, when this country is gone, the rest of the world will follow.”

The evasive remarks and implicit support were reminiscent of Trump’s reaction last week when he praised the author of a magazine article floating the equally preposterous notion that Senator Kamala Harris, a woman of colour born in California, might be ineligible for the vice-presidency.

His latest remarks were greeted with jubilation within QAnon communities online, including remaining Facebook groups that are scrambling to deal with a crackdown announced by the platform on Wednesday. QAnon followers have long awaited acknowledgment from Trump and will probably view it as confirmation of their worldview.

Brian Friedberg, a senior researcher at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, who has followed QAnon closely for years, said: “This moment was an inevitability. The only real hope now is for a large group of Republicans with power – and with power among Republicans – to come out against this despite what Trump said today.”

But Trump’s comments also earned fierce condemnation. Tommy Vietor, a former spokesman for Barack Obama’s national security council, tweeted: “This QAnon answer is a fucking disgrace. It’s a death cult. The FBI identified QAnon as a violent domestic terrorism threat and Trump is pretending not to know what it is while absolutely encouraging them and incentivizing more insane behavior.”

QAnon was identified as a potential domestic terrorism threat by the FBI last year and has been linked to numerous attempted acts of violence. Yet last week Trump praised Marjorie Taylor Greene, a supporter of QAnon who won the Republican nomination in Georgia’s 14th congressional district, describing her as a “future Republican Star”.

Joan Donovan, research director at the Shorenstein Center, said: “People should realize that QAnon isn’t just this outlandish conspiracy theory about child-trafficking and satanism. It is incredibly antisemitic … It’s driven by tropes about Jewish people and the one world government narrative.”

Most viewed

Most viewed