The Strange and Curious Cult of QAnon
The conspiracy states that Trump’s tweets and other public communications contain coded messages to the faithful, which are interpreted by the prophet of the movement: an anonymous poster known as “Q” who first appeared on the message board 4chan. “Q” is supposedly a high-ranking government official, and in some interpretations, even Donald Trump himself.
Like*other conspiracy theories, QAnon is rife with contradictions and logical gaps. For example: if secrecy is essential and Heroic-Pedophile-Fighter-Trump can’t show his hand until the moment of victory,*why is he sending messages telling everyone what’s going on?*Surely an international ring of Satanic child traffickers could read Q’s posts for themselves and realize that he’s on to them.
But neither these gaps in logic nor the lack of evidence ultimately matter to QAnon faithful, because they’re not in it out of sincere concern for the truth.
The conspiracy attracts them for baser emotional reasons: it gives them a sense of control in a chaotic world, the thrill of being among the privileged few who understand what’s really going on, and the comfort of believing that everything will work out for them in the end. And, like many true believers, defeat only gives them a sense of martyrdom and prods them to cling even harder to their delusions. Whether the good guys win or lose in November, the Republican party, and therefore the United States, will be dealing with the repercussions for a long time to come.
