He needs the love
Will Sommer, who follows the crazy right wing for the Daily Beast, was interviewed at Public Notice by Thor Benson on the subject of Trump’s footsie-playing with QAnon:
Notably, Trump is stepping up his QAnon outreach while his favorability numbers with the broader public are tanking. But Sommer suggested ego is playing a large role in his decision to buddy up with a conspiracy theory the FBI has described as a domestic terrorism threat.
A transcript of Benson’s conversation with Sommer, lightly edited for clarity, follows.
Thor Benson
Do you see Trump’s use of QAnon music at his rallies as an increase or escalation of his embrace of QAnon, compared to his previous winks at the movement?
Will Sommer
I do. This is pretty clearly a much more concerted effort. When Trump was still on Twitter, he would retweet Q people a lot.
But this is a new level where it’s not just some guy named “where we go one, we go all” who says, “I love Trump!” and Trump says, “Yeah, this guy gets it!” Now he’s reposting images of himself wearing Q pins and stuff like that.
Then there was obviously this use of the “WWG1WGA” song that had already been reported to have this QAnon connection. It’s not like that would be an accident.
Trump has relied on this plausible deniability about QAnon. He would say, “How was I supposed to know?” if he retweeted an account called Q Army or whatever. The reality is that more recently it seems much more deliberate.
Thor Benson
Why do you think he’s doing this?
Will Sommer
I think Trump sees QAnon as the sort of ultimate Trump fan club. These are guys who by comparison make many Trump devotees look pretty lightweight. The average Trump fan thinks he was the greatest president ever and can save America, but these are people who see him as a messianic figure who is basically going to defeat the devil. Of course, they also think all of the people opposed to him are satanic pedophiles.
We can’t see inside his head, but I think he’s in these kind of dire straits legally, potentially politically, and I think he’s trying to throw some bait to rev up his hardest core fans.
Thor Benson
Do you think Trump is embracing them because QAnon fans might be willing to engage in political violence on his behalf?
Will Sommer
Certainly he wouldn’t be wrong to think so. Trump’s embrace of QAnon at his rally [in Youngstown] came just days after a man obsessed with the conspiracy theory murdered his wife and injured one of his children.
There were many QAnon believers at the Capitol on January 6. Ashli Babbitt thought she was participating in the storm.
If we think it’s in Trump’s best interests to really heighten the polarization in the country and cast everything in these sort of doomsday terms if Democrats retain power, then I think it makes a lot of sense for him to promote QAnon. They literally think this is a battle between heaven and hell.
Thor Benson
Is QAnon a growing threat, or just a persistent thing now?
Will Sommer
In terms of people who identify as QAnon believers and wear QAnon pins and stuff, I think they’ve gotten a little quieter since Biden took over. But I think the threat is in a way worse, because QAnon has become a respected faction within the Republican Party. We can see this from the fact that basically no Republicans want to denounce QAnon — with a few exceptions like Adam Kinzinger.
Trump endorsed JR Majewski in Ohio, who’s a hardcore QAnon believer and who if he wins would grow the QAnon caucus.
More broadly, I think the issue is that the conspiratorial thinking that QAnon represents has become mainstreamed in the party — whether it’s a majority of Republicans believing the 2020 election was stolen, or Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s a crackpot but seen by many as a rising star and was the first QAnon supporter elected to Congress.
Thor Benson
Is QAnon even about Q or the QAnon mythology anymore? Or is it now just a kind of hardcore, deranged Trump-supporting group?
Will Sommer
That’s a great question. I do think QAnon has sort of moved beyond Q.
Now, you can buy into the basic QAnon mythology — which is that the world’s elites sexually abuse children and drink their blood and Donald Trump was recruited by the military to take them down — but then you can kind of branch off in whatever direction you want. You can make it about vaccines or you can buy into these utopian visions of the future to come once Trump does the storm. There are even wannabe Qs you can choose from. You can get your cryptic messages from Michael Flynn or Sidney Powell or Lin Wood.
Thor Benson
What are their main platforms for communicating with each other now?
Will Sommer
I would say it’s Telegram. Since Trump left office, people have generally tried to be less obvious about being QAnon fans. That makes it harder to figure out how widespread it is. A lot of these groups have realized that if you don’t call yourselves QAnon you can still promote all of this QAnon stuff and conspiracy theories online.
Thor Benson
As someone who focuses on this stuff a lot, what do you think is important to understand about this?
Will Sommer
It can be easy to say this won’t affect your life or will never happen to you or someone you love, but I’ve talked to so many people who have lost family members or friends to QAnon. Often someone will get into QAnon on the basis of really anything — there are yoga communities that have been overrun with QAnon. These are essentially normal people who get sucked into QAnon.
This is a dangerous, violent, murderous movement that Trump is willing to promote to increase his political odds.
They love him. That’s all he needs to know.