conspiracy theories

Vox has an interesting piece on the future of QAnon as described by journalists and researchers who have covered and studied the group. While the entire article makes fascinating reading, here is a crystallization of the experts’ thinking:

QAnon should be thought of as a religion, not a political movement.
Its religiosity enables it to survive, despite its prophesies failing to materialize.
To the QAnon devout, Q’s true identity does not matter.
The recent purging of QAnon believers from mainstream social media has reinforced their self-perception as persecuted renegades.
Democratic lawmakers should be careful about framing the GOP as the “QAnon party” because it could drive the GOP deeper into the fringes.
Violent extremists are actively working to radicalize QAnon believers for their own purposes.
Even in the absence of Trump and regular messages from Q, the tagalong theories — 5G, vaccines and alternative medicine — represent significant risks to the public.

Tag: conspiracy theories

Experts Parse the Future of QAnon

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“I hope that at the end of the day this resolves quickly for Matt because I don’t want him to miss the prom.”

— Michael Cohen, talking about Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on MSNBC.

“I don’t beat anybody up, it’s not really my style, except that jerk.”

— Former House Speaker John Boehner, in an interview with CBS News, on Sen. Ted Cruz.

“A lot of people want me to. The Border Patrol and all of the people of ICE, they want me to go. I really feel I sort of owe it to them, they’re great people.”

— Former President Donald Trump told Fox News that he will visit the southern border “over the next couple of weeks.”

“Oh, come on. I don’t even think about — I don’t — I have no idea. I have no idea if there will be a Republican Party, do you?”

— President Biden, quoted by the Washington Post, when asked if he was going to run against Donald Trump in 2024.

“Some of them went in and they’re — they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards. You know, they had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.”

Numerati

$13.7 million

Wall Street Journal: “Median pay for the chief executives of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million last year, up from $12.8 million for the same companies a year earlier and on track for a record.”

35

“A new report examining voting access across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., finds that more than 70% of states offer all voters access to a mail ballot and early voting, while 15 others lag in the methods available to cast a ballot,” CBS News reports.

100

“More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia,” the Washington Post reports.

$3 trillion

60%

A new Pew Research poll finds the 60% of Republicans think the coronavirus pandemic — which has killed 550,000 Americans so far — has been made a bigger deal than it really is.