President Donald Trump praised supporters of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory because they “like me very much.” Part of the conspiracy theory claims Trump has a secret plan to stop an elite group involved in child-trafficking and controlling the world, but it also includes conspiracies about the coronavirus pandemic, vaccines, and other major issues. In 2019, the FBI labeled QAnon as a “domestic terror threat.”
During Wednesday’s briefing at the White House, NBC News reporter Shannon Pettypiece asked Trump about QAnon, which has spread among his followers and gained support among Republican candidates running for office this year. “I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate,” Trump replied. “It’s this belief that you are secretly saving the world from this Satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals,” Pettypiece noted, before asking if that “sounds like something you are behind.”
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“Is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?” Trump said, notes BuzzFeed News. “If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it, I’m willing to put myself out there.” Trump later said he is “saving the world from a radical left” and said those who believe in QAnon “love our country.”
Following Trump’s comments on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News she “never heard” the president mention it before. “I talk to him oftentimes, 10 times a day,” McEnany said, reports Politico. “Not once have I heard him mention this group. The media can focus on QAnon, but this president is focused on the American people.”
Vice President Mike Pence also told CNN he doesn’t “know anything” about QAnon. “I have heard about it. We dismiss conspiracy theories around here out of hand,” Pence said. “I called it a conspiracy theory, I said I don’t have time for it, I don’t know anything about it.”
The QAnon conspiracy theory spun out of the 2016 Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which claimed Democrats were running a sex-trafficking ring in a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant. The theory was completely false, but one North Carolina man who believed the theory fired a gun inside the restaurant. The QAnon theory claims there is a secret government source known only as Q who is dropping hints and clues of Trump’s secret fight against Satanic forces. Twitter and Facebook have both banned accounts linked to the conspiracy theory.
Although the theory is not true, Republicans are facing more questions about it because candidates who believe in it are winning local elections. In Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene won a Congressional primary and is a known QAnon supporter. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said she would be welcomed to Congress, even though he later told Fox News, “There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party.” Greene also told Fox News she is not a “QAnon candidate.”
