Wither Q?

 

Q is a cult, and its prophet and instrument of salvation is Donald Trump. As of last Sunday the faithful were still insisting that the Plan would be fulfilled. What’s the Plan? Why, it’s a brilliant, complex, breathtaking long-game effort to take down the hydra-headed pedophiliac crime syndicate that controlled The Swamp. While things may have seemed dark on Sunday, the faithful were assured that everything was still working. The president was not in Washington, but in Texas; the White House videos had been filmed in front of a green screen to distract the enemies. Trump was actually directing the military from a secret base. 

Later in the afternoon, some people on Twitter started a story about DC’s air traffic shut down completely, with massive numbers of troop-carrying planes on the runway. Debunkers posted shots of air traffic from flight-tracker apps; people whose accounts had lots of numbers in there names and eagles in their bios noted that jets had flown over their house very low and loud, so yes, it’s happening. 

Except it didn’t, and it won’t. Donald Trump will leave office without making the Q prophecies come true. You have to wonder what that means for the cult. There’s a precedent, after all. Some recalculate the date of the Rapture; some turn on the person who was supposed to lead them to heaven; some fall away, disheartened, and pull a caul over the episode in their life and move on, abashed. 

In a way, it already happened. After the election, Q had to revise its predictions to accommodate events, and for some the Stolen Election was proof of the existence of powerful contrary forces. But moving on past the inauguration means losing faith in Trump as the powerful force that will sweep away iniquity. Obviously, he wasn’t, and didn’t. The Deep State wasn’t supposed to win. Pelosi was supposed to be in Gitmo wearing Clockwork-Orange eyelid-spreaders watching film of all the things her minions did to children in the catacombs under a pizzeria.

The left is not burdened with Q-type nonsense. The Putin-Puppet stuff came close. Fitzmas was another. But compared to Q, those are garden-variety political-scandal narratives with an institutional conclusion. I wonder if the left can move past these things easier because they have deeper narratives that offer solace. They can always fall back on the comforting certainties of American sinfulness, the knowledge they are virtuously embroiled in a long twilight struggle against the idea of American exceptionalism. The country is fatally corrupted by racism, sexism, and capitalism, with slavery the Original Sin that taints every atom of ink in its founding documents – but that somehow this uniquely immoral construct can be redeemed by a devotion to a slow-grinding, never-ending rearrangement of its fundamentals,  punctuated by violence to encourage the stragglers.

Marxism is Q without the “best by” date printed on the label.

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  1. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Is this the same FBI that lies to the FISA court in order to spy on political opponents? Is this the same FBI that declared antifa to be an ideology and not an organization?

    I’m watching Dinesh D’Souza’s new podcast. Something he discusses in the first 10 minutes is why we are seeing an increase in the popularity and proliferation of conspiracy theories.

    Short answer: because people are bombarded by previously unbelievable stuff and real conspiracies like the FISA violations, Clinton’s illegal data servers, major media covering for the riots, etc… plus a year of COVID restrictions and the Trumpathon have thoroughly disrupted public life. 

    • #61
  2. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    If you’ve been a regular reader here on Ricochet, you have at least seen parts of it all. The insistences that Trump would be vindicated on X date, that “indictments are just around the corner from Sessions / Barr / Durham”, the way someone would be a hero in the Trump administration one day, than roundly condemned as a traitor / villain / swamp creature / looney the next – the higher the expectations that said person would unmask the “real” culprits of Russia-Gate, the lower their fall when they failed to do so.

    Skip – do you think there’s nothing more to see on Russia Collusion Hoax? Or do you still think that Trump actually was a Putin puppet?

    When have I ever said I thought Trump was a Putin puppet? Go on – I’ll wait for you to find it.

    I included the “still” in error. The questions stand:

    Do you think there’s nothing more to see on Russia Collusion Hoax? Or do you think that Trump actually was a Putin puppet?

    Otherwise you seem to be dismissing this as Q stuff. If there was a Russia Collusion Hoax then there should be indictments. You blithely dismiss this as Q stuff, but every time we heard that Comey or x or Y or Z were not going to be charged (even though they were disciplined and could probably also be charged) we’d hear analysis – mainstream analysis – about how this means that there are bigger indictments coming. That’s not Q stuff, and I’m just curious where you stand. I assume most people on Ricochet know that not only was Russia Collusion not correct, it was knowingly incorrect yet pursued anyway. If you dispute that then we can save some time through clarity.

    • #62
  3. ape2ag Member
    ape2ag
    @ape2ag

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Can you remember the good ol days when presidents like Reagan promoted what was good in America, and gave the bad guys the evil eye, and he did it respectfully, while yielding real results? Or how about the first George HW Bush, who upon losing re-election, left a heartfelt good luck note for Clinton in the Absolute desk? It wasn’t that long ago, yet it’s like a lifetime. What happened?

     

    The Bushes are big part of the reason that we are where we are.  While their gentility may be admirable, their policies and approach to politics left core Americans at the mercy of the left and rapacious anti-American globalists.

    • #63
  4. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    the higher the expectations that said person would unmask the “real” culprits of Russia-Gate, the lower their fall when they failed to do so

    I think there is a difference between a blind hope the system will work, and what you are talking about.  Both result in disillusionment.

    • #64
  5. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Is this the same FBI that lies to the FISA court in order to spy on political opponents? Is this the same FBI that declared antifa to be an ideology and not an organization?

    I’m watching Dinesh D’Souza’s new podcast. Something he discusses in the first 10 minutes is why we are seeing an increase in the popularity and proliferation of conspiracy theories.

    Short answer: because people are bombarded by previously unbelievable stuff and real conspiracies like the FISA violations, Clinton’s illegal data servers, major media covering for the riots, etc… plus a year of COVID restrictions and the Trumpathon have thoroughly disrupted public life. 

    Slightly extended short answer: all of these real things …. that never get resolved. Not only do they not get resolved, we get propagandized and censored and we get friendly fire about being conspiracists.

    • #65
  6. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Annefy (View Comment):

    Let’s do this. Let’s list every whacka doodle thought, and save the left the trouble.

    I think it’s high time we discussed “the meadows”

    “Head! Pants!”

    • #66
  7. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Guruforhire (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    the higher the expectations that said person would unmask the “real” culprits of Russia-Gate, the lower their fall when they failed to do so

    I think there is a difference between a blind hope the system will work, and what you are talking about. Both result in disillusionment.

    I wouldn’t call it blind hope either. I’d call it a reasonable citizen’s expectation. There’s also the related issue of politicians, administrators, and media types not seeming to care much about these matters when I view them as giant scandals. No, instead we need to talk about Q, frivolous impeachment (again), and insurrection.

    • #67
  8. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Nanocelt TheContrarian (View Comment):
    So we are supposed to move forward with healing?

    We’re supposed to move forward with healing; they not so much.

    • #68
  9. Ekosj Member
    Ekosj
    @Ekosj

    Henry Racette (View Comment):
    Are we talking chemtrails levels of buy-in here? Or 9/11 Truther?

    Apropos of nothing … In Santa Monica (where else?) I once came across a genuine Chemtrail’er.   At least it was a guy in a “Chemtrails are real” tee shirt emblazoned with a graphic of a large jet spewing mist behind it.   So I assume he was genuine.    I was fascinated.    I had never seen one in the wild before (or since).  I kept an eye on him as we both walked the pier.   I don’t know what I expected…drooling?…ranting at random passers by?   He seemed normal enough in all other respects.   Just a garden variety crazy.

     

    Then there was this guy I came across at the old WTC site…

    • #69
  10. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I have to laugh when our brothers and sisters of the Right say that Q isn’t real, Q doesn’t exist…but Pizzagate, you know, wasn’t crazy, because, uh…Podesta and…Hollywood and…Jeffrey Epstein! Where do they think this slime is coming from?

    Face it, gang, we’ve got kooks, just like they’ve got kooks.

    Sure, we’ve got our cooks. But they aren’t on MSNBC and when they try and get into Congress ….Sharon Angle is the posterdame for their fate. Their kooks? Their loons? One of them is Speaker of the House. 

    But I’m with Anne here. The only time I hear Q mentioned at all is when some leftwinger wants to use their looniness to smear all of us who oppose their political aims. 

    • #70
  11. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Guruforhire (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    the higher the expectations that said person would unmask the “real” culprits of Russia-Gate, the lower their fall when they failed to do so

    I think there is a difference between a blind hope the system will work, and what you are talking about. Both result in disillusionment.

    Q built on the blind hope in the system as a way to rationalize why the Russiagate conspirators have largely escaped scrutiny – I cannot tell you how many posts (mostly elsewhere, not on Rico – I have friends I’ve sadly lost to Q madness) where the very lack of filed charges or prosecutions was somehow evidence that Team Trump was really holding its fire, and would unleash something truly epic soon.  See, the reason they haven’t prosecuted Mueller is because their real target is [insert name here], and they’re just waiting for the right moment to spring the trap!  

    And at every cycle, the alleged trap would get larger, the conspiracy bigger, the lists of secret witnesses they’ve secretly flipped would get longer. 

    And at first this was all a blind hope that “the system” was working.  That twisted, disappointment by disappointment, into believing that the real reason “the system” wasn’t working was because the conspiracy was just too massive.

    The blind hope that “The TRUTH” must come hope sustains it all.

    • #71
  12. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Ekosj (View Comment):
    Apropos of nothing … In Santa Monica (where else?) I once came across a genuine Chemtrail’er. At least it was a guy in a “Chemtrails are real” tee shirt emblazoned with a graphic of a large jet spewing mist behind it. So I assume he was genuine. I was fascinated. I had never seen one in the wild before (or since). I kept an eye on him as we both walked the pier. I don’t know what I expected…drooling?…ranting at random passers by? He seemed normal enough in all other respects. Just a garden variety crazy.

    I have one in my family.  They’re perfectly respectable most of the time.  Until they see a jet flying overhead.

    Or until they are asked by a clerk to please put on a mask.

    Or until you mention Dick Cheney.

    Or a few other topics best not mentioned around them.

    • #72
  13. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    I have a friend that’s gone down that rabbit hole. He sends me stuff all the time. 

    When you ask what feeds it, I think the answer is at times both complicated and simple. Complicated in the fact that it is multi-layered and simple in the terms of human nature.

    It’s fed by the obvious double-standard of what constitutes acceptable behavior from our politicians and the price they pay for their policy failures and their corruptions. The left correctly blames James Comey for being a major part of Hillary’s loss. But it wasn’t what he did, it’s what he didn’t do. By refusing to hold her accountable for her arrogance, he reaffirmed that certain political types are above the law. And then he stupidly pursued the dossier, fed the news cycle about it and reaffirmed a lot of their deep state fears. 

    But five people died last week! Yeah, and 4 died in Benghazi. And according to the Left only one politician has “blood on his hands.” The news media abdicated their role to play partisan cheerleader. That fuels it, too, because nature abhors a vacuum, even an informational one. 

    • #73
  14. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Is this the same FBI that lies to the FISA court in order to spy on political opponents? Is this the same FBI that declared antifa to be an ideology and not an organization?

    I’m watching Dinesh D’Souza’s new podcast. Something he discusses in the first 10 minutes is why we are seeing an increase in the popularity and proliferation of conspiracy theories.

    Short answer: because people are bombarded by previously unbelievable stuff and real conspiracies like the FISA violations, Clinton’s illegal data servers, major media covering for the riots, etc… plus a year of COVID restrictions and the Trumpathon have thoroughly disrupted public life.

    Thank you Aaron. That was a concise and cogent summary by Dinesh. I’ll continue listening to the podcast but the first ten minutes is relevant.

    • #74
  15. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I have a friend that’s gone down that rabbit hole. He sends me stuff all the time.

    When you ask what feeds it, I think the answer is at times both complicated and simple. Complicated in the fact that it is multi-layered and simple in the terms of human nature.

    It’s fed by the obvious double-standard of what constitutes acceptable behavior from our politicians and the price they pay for their policy failures and their corruptions. The left correctly blames James Comey for being a major part of Hillary’s loss. But it wasn’t what he did, it’s what he didn’t do. By refusing to hold her accountable for her arrogance, he reaffirmed that certain political types are above the law. And then he stupidly pursued the dossier, fed the news cycle about it and reaffirmed a lot of their deep state fears.

    But five people died last week! Yeah, and 4 died in Benghazi. And according to the Left only one politician has “blood on his hands.” The news media abdicated their role to play partisan cheerleader. That fuels it, too, because nature abhors a vacuum, even an informational one.

    David Hines at The American Conservative put it this way:

    It’s easy and fun to mock people who fall down rabbit holes on internet conspiracy theories. But being overcome by their fantasies doesn’t mean people are stupid, or crazy. People fantasize when they have a need that isn’t being met. The central fantasy of QAnon isn’t adrenochrome, or cannibal cults, or mole children, or any of the myriad lunacies of the outlandish dystopia it presents. The central fantasy is the idea that *things will be better because somebody is going to do something.*

    The Lefty organizer Lisa Fithian was speaking about society in general, but she summed up the result of our particular pretty well: “We think that somebody else is in power, and therefore our problems are somebody else’s responsibility. If something is wrong, we feel powerless to fix it, always waiting for someone else to solve the problem, leading to resentment, weakness, apathy, or anger.”

    The Righty base desperately wants to do something, but doesn’t know how. And that’s because the elites don’t want it to learn. The root of our real problem on the Right is that elites and the base want different things. So elites don’t train the base in how to actually produce change. QAnon is what you get when a naïve, untrained base tries to fill that vacuum. What they fill the vacuum with is a story where somebody is doing something, and the end of the story is a great big WE WIN.

    • #75
  16. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    EJHill (View Comment):
    But five people died last week! Yeah, and 4 died in Benghazi. And according to the Left only one politician has “blood on his hands.” The news media abdicated their role to play partisan cheerleader. That fuels it, too, because nature abhors a vacuum, even an informational one. 

    And dozens died in the riots and looting over 2020 along with burned cities, ruined businesses, and crumbling civic cohesion. Not to mention the 700+ homicides in Chicago alone.

    • #76
  17. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Something that probably seems unrelated to most is the trans trend. That so many Republican voters have bought into it or dismissed it as a sideshow is depressing. It’s the perfect example of the Big Lie. If people can believe “man” and “woman” are interchangeable in every way, then they can believe anything.

    As others have said, the Democrat party does not merely tolerate conspiracy theories but promotes them at the highest levels of politics, media, and education. Tens of millions of Americans have a perception of reality thoroughly warped by persistent, organized lies about the nature of race relations, the sexes, American history, concepts like fascism, Republican policies, etc.

    Remember the entirely fictitious “War on Women” in which Republicans were supposedly poised to make contraception illegal, despite not a single Republican proposing such a thing? Remember how pathetically Republicans and conservative commentators responded?

    If it is necessary to address increasing influence of Internet memes originating in communities of deranged kooks, perhaps we should focus first on the kooks on TV and the Senate floor.

    • #77
  18. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):
    But five people died last week! Yeah, and 4 died in Benghazi. And according to the Left only one politician has “blood on his hands.” The news media abdicated their role to play partisan cheerleader. That fuels it, too, because nature abhors a vacuum, even an informational one.

    And dozens died in the riots and looting over 2020 along with burned cities, ruined businesses, and crumbling civic cohesion. Not to mention the 700+ homicides in Chicago alone.

    I’m probably running behind on the news because the MSM coverage is risible. But could we finally get to the bottom of the “five dead.”and how they died.  I guess it’s a bit OT for the thread, but I’m wondering about its conspiracy implications.  Yes, at least I know Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by an officer.  So that’s one that’s a direct result of the riot.

    • #78
  19. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Postmodern Hoplite (View Comment):
    Yet here we are, responding to a Ricochet post with the opening sentence of, “Q is a cult, and its prophet and instrument of salvation is Donald Trump.” (Italics added for emphasis.)

    Your mileage may vary on how credible you think the threats are, but the FBI reports of Q types planning further disruptions this weekend and on into next Wednesday’s inauguration does make discussion of the group not simply one to talk about what happened last Wednesday, but what might happen in the upcoming days (and where you’d think after the blow-back in the past five days, including and especially the social media bans attempted by the big tech companies, the only faction that would think doubling down on the Jan. 6 actions at the Capitol were a good strategic idea would be the “Q Anon for Biden/Harris” wing of the group).

    Is this the same FBI that lies to the FISA court in order to spy on political opponents? Is this the same FBI that declared antifa to be an ideology and not an organization?

    ….which is why I put the qualifier in at the beginning. The FBI certainly has taken a sledgehammer to its reputation over the past five years, but the actions of the Q types last Wednesday means the FBI’s claims about what might happen over the next eight days do not exist in some hypothetical vacuum anymore.

    That’s why Trump went ahead and issued the state of emergency order for the inauguration and it’s run-up on Monday. He knows whatever future viability he has as a political figure or threat to run again in 2024 goes in the dumpster if the Q Anon crowd follows up the Capitol incidents with similar acts this weekend or on Jan. 20, even though the Antifa/Code Pink types did the exact same thing on 1/20/17.  Violent protests next week might as well be a Q Anon in-kind contribution to the Democratic Party.

    • #79
  20. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    David Hines at The American Conservative put it this way:

    It’s easy and fun to mock people who fall down rabbit holes on internet conspiracy theories. But being overcome by their fantasies doesn’t mean people are stupid, or crazy. People fantasize when they have a need that isn’t being met. The central fantasy of QAnon isn’t adrenochrome, or cannibal cults, or mole children, or any of the myriad lunacies of the outlandish dystopia it presents. The central fantasy is the idea that *things will be better because somebody is going to do something.*

    The Lefty organizer Lisa Fithian was speaking about society in general, but she summed up the result of our particular pretty well: “We think that somebody else is in power, and therefore our problems are somebody else’s responsibility. If something is wrong, we feel powerless to fix it, always waiting for someone else to solve the problem, leading to resentment, weakness, apathy, or anger.”

    The Righty base desperately wants to do something, but doesn’t know how. And that’s because the elites don’t want it to learn. The root of our real problem on the Right is that elites and the base want different things. So elites don’t train the base in how to actually produce change. QAnon is what you get when a naïve, untrained base tries to fill that vacuum. What they fill the vacuum with is a story where somebody is doing something, and the end of the story is a great big WE WIN.

    In some senses we are powerless to fix it. If not our elected leaders and the media we support, then what? Then who? So the base and the elites want different things; well yeah – welcome to 2009 and Rick Santelli.

    Now there are many different questions we can ask and have asked in response to this basic reality. One is: what do the elites want if they don’t want what I want? Another is: how are they in charge if they are at odds with the electorate? Who is benefiting from this situation and how?

    You can dismiss this as conspiracy and Q and rabbit holes if you want. I see these as questions that need answering right away so we can figure out how to proceed. I’m most skeptical of people who poopoo these questions or who want to gloss over them or worse those who want to just accept that situation as good and normal.

    • #80
  21. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I have to laugh when our brothers and sisters of the Right say that Q isn’t real, Q doesn’t exist…but Pizzagate, you know, wasn’t crazy, because, uh…Podesta and…Hollywood and…Jeffrey Epstein! Where do they think this slime is coming from?

    Face it, gang, we’ve got kooks, just like they’ve got kooks.

    Sure, we’ve got our cooks. But they aren’t on MSNBC and when they try and get into Congress ….Sharon Angle is the posterdame for their fate. Their kooks? Their loons? One of them is Speaker of the House.

    But I’m with Anne here. The only time I hear Q mentioned at all is when some leftwinger wants to use their looniness to smear all of us who oppose their political aims.

    Maybe Q is a brilliant false flag operation run by the CIA. 

    • #81
  22. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Q built on the blind hope in the system as a way to rationalize why the Russiagate conspirators have largely escaped scrutiny – I cannot tell you how many posts (mostly elsewhere, not on Rico – I have friends I’ve sadly lost to Q madness) where the very lack of filed charges or prosecutions was somehow evidence that Team Trump was really holding its fire, and would unleash something truly epic soon. See, the reason they haven’t prosecuted Mueller is because their real target is [insert name here], and they’re just waiting for the right moment to spring the trap!

    And at every cycle, the alleged trap would get larger, the conspiracy bigger, the lists of secret witnesses they’ve secretly flipped would get longer. 

    Yeah, people are desperate for truth and justice. Ideally, everyone would remain calm and measured. But it’s probably better for the country if many people invest too much hope in politicians than if they lose hope and abandon politics. 

    Trump was the final desperate hope of many Republican voters. He remains so for people who think he will run again in 2024. Heck, some people think he will start a rival to FOX News or something similarly ambitious. That’s desperate hope. 

    If “moderate” Republicans and traditional conservatives want to stymie those wild dreams, then they must offer compelling strategies which give ground to that desperate hope. That’s a tall order since Republicans pissed away a majority of both houses of Congress under a Republican President. 

    • #82
  23. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Is this the same FBI that lies to the FISA court in order to spy on political opponents? Is this the same FBI that declared antifa to be an ideology and not an organization?

    I’m watching Dinesh D’Souza’s new podcast. Something he discusses in the first 10 minutes is why we are seeing an increase in the popularity and proliferation of conspiracy theories.

    Short answer: because people are bombarded by previously unbelievable stuff and real conspiracies like the FISA violations, Clinton’s illegal data servers, major media covering for the riots, etc… plus a year of COVID restrictions and the Trumpathon have thoroughly disrupted public life.

    Thank you Aaron. That was a concise and cogent summary by Dinesh. I’ll continue listening to the podcast but the first ten minutes is relevant.

    “I never would have thought that ______ would _____, but . . .”

    Andrew McCarthy

    • #83
  24. ape2ag Member
    ape2ag
    @ape2ag

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    I’m probably running behind on the news because the MSM coverage is risible. But could we finally get to the bottom of the “five dead.”and how they died. I guess it’s a bit OT for the thread, but I’m wondering about its conspiracy implications. Yes, at least I know Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by an officer. So that’s one that’s a direct result of the riot.

    As best that I can tell, Babbitt was the only person killed at the riot.  The other 4 deaths seem to be the result of some combination of natural causes and physical exertion.  There is debate about the officer who died.

    • #84
  25. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Postmodern Hoplite (View Comment):
    Yet here we are, responding to a Ricochet post with the opening sentence of, “Q is a cult, and its prophet and instrument of salvation is Donald Trump.” (Italics added for emphasis.)

    Your mileage may vary on how credible you think the threats are, but the FBI reports of Q types planning further disruptions this weekend and on into next Wednesday’s inauguration does make discussion of the group not simply one to talk about what happened last Wednesday, but what might happen in the upcoming days (and where you’d think after the blow-back in the past five days, including and especially the social media bans attempted by the big tech companies, the only faction that would think doubling down on the Jan. 6 actions at the Capitol were a good strategic idea would be the “Q Anon for Biden/Harris” wing of the group).

    Is this the same FBI that lies to the FISA court in order to spy on political opponents? Is this the same FBI that declared antifa to be an ideology and not an organization?

    ….which is why I put the qualifier in at the beginning. The FBI certainly has taken a sledgehammer to its reputation over the past five years, but the actions of the Q types last Wednesday means the FBI’s claims about what might happen over the next eight days do not exist in some hypothetical vacuum anymore.

    That’s why Trump went ahead and issued the state of emergency order for the inauguration and it’s run-up on Monday. He knows whatever future viability he has as a political figure or threat to run again in 2024 goes in the dumpster if the Q Anon crowd follows up the Capitol incidents with similar acts this weekend or on Jan. 20, even though the Antifa/Code Pink types did the exact same thing on 1/20/17. Violent protests next week might as well be a Q Anon in-kind contribution to the Democratic Party.

    The FBI reports, and you give great credence to, some extensive Q activity. To the extent that you’re preemptively attributing violence that might happen next week to Q. I’m not suggesting that we should stand down or expect nothing but peace and sunshine. I’m skeptical of the claims about Q and that your citing the FBI as support. Yes you qualified your statement, but why make it at all?

    I’ll say now: while Q (and Proud Boys for that matter) exist I do not believe they are the threats they’re made out to be. Certainly not to the level of antifa and the weaponized deep state/swamp.

    • #85
  26. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    ape2ag (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

     

    I’m probably running behind on the news because the MSM coverage is risible. But could we finally get to the bottom of the “five dead.”and how they died. I guess it’s a bit OT for the thread, but I’m wondering about its conspiracy implications. Yes, at least I know Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by an officer. So that’s one that’s a direct result of the riot.

    As best that I can tell, Babbitt was the only person “killed” at the riot. The other 4 deaths seem to be the result of some combination of natural causes and physical exertion. There is debate about the officer who died.

    Plus the two police suicides. That’s a weird response to this.

    • #86
  27. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Americans tend to have at least a grudging sympathy for underdogs saying “because [expletive] you, that’s why” but tend to resent it more the more they hear it from individuals with power over any aspect of their lives.

    • #87
  28. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Moderator Note:

    Please do not use demeaning insulting slang

    Putin puppet and the Russiagate hoax (and White House Chaos, and the Wars Trump was Going to Start, and so on) impacted the consciousness of America and dominated the news media and Democrats like nothing Q has come up with ever has.  Even as a conservative I never hear of Q except from the [redacted] supposedly on my side and only then in terms of derision.

    Q appears to me to be similar to the debunking of the stolen election claims — supposedly it exists but I’ve never seen it.

    • #88
  29. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Annefy (View Comment):
    I have a great idea. Let’s spend the next couple of years exposing all the whacka doodles on our side, while the people on the other side consolidate power! You first!

    VS excusing and hiding our nutjobs?   I think ridding our side of the wack jobs will make our side stronger.  “Consolidating” the wack jobs into the left hasn’t helped them in the least. 

    • #89
  30. ape2ag Member
    ape2ag
    @ape2ag

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    ape2ag (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

     

    I’m probably running behind on the news because the MSM coverage is risible. But could we finally get to the bottom of the “five dead.”and how they died. I guess it’s a bit OT for the thread, but I’m wondering about its conspiracy implications. Yes, at least I know Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by an officer. So that’s one that’s a direct result of the riot.

    As best that I can tell, Babbitt was the only person “killed” at the riot. The other 4 deaths seem to be the result of some combination of natural causes and physical exertion. There is debate about the officer who died.

    Plus the two police suicides. That’s a weird response to this.

    Can you say more about the 2 suicides?  It all does seem like a strangely high number of deaths not directly attributable to any violent confrontations.  But the MSM has been completely dishonest in how they’ve presented the deaths to the public.  There’s a big difference between 1 death (a protester shot with questionable judgement) and 5 deaths including an officer “due to the violent confrontations.”

    • #90
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