Police agencies are stepping up security at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday ahead of reports that QAnon supporters are convinced Donald Trump would become president that day he could become violent.
U.S. Capitol police have already reported a possible plot by the militia to attack the Capitol on March 4 and said in a statement that they have “taken immediate steps to improve our security stance” for several days.
What is unclear is how many QAnon believers are actually on board with the idea that Trump will return to power that day or plan to take some action for themselves.
Proponents of QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a nefarious cannibal of cannibalistic Democratic Party and other liberal institutions, were well represented during the Capitol Revolt. January 6.
Of the more than 250 people who have been charged with assaulting the Capitol on Jan. 6, dozens have openly posted about their belief in QAnon and other conspiracy theories. The hair-covered conspiracy advocate known as “QAnon Shaman” entered the Senate chamber and left a threatening note for Vice President Mike Pence, while another QAnon supporter in a “Q” shirt was captured. threatening police officers, later claiming that he helped lead an attack on the Capitol to make sure QAnon got credit for the attack.
Many QAnon believers who had been promised that the Trump presidency would provoke a kind of American utopia, along with a violent purge of their opponents at a time known as “The Storm,” were stunned on 20 January when Joe Biden was sworn in. . In the chat rooms of QAnon, some supporters said that the success of the Biden inauguration made them suspect that the conspiracy theory was extravagant, while others described a physical revulsion at the feeling it had given them. deceived.
However, at least some QAnon believers decided that Biden had not really become president. Instead, they took an elaborate theory of the anti-government sovereignist citizen movement that holds that the United States has been, since the 1870s, a corporation, not a country. According to this account, the United States is a business in debt to London bankers and there is no law passed since then that is legitimate.
A faction of QAnon supporters claimed that Trump would return on March 4 — the original date of the inauguration until 1933 — as head of the “real” American government.
The March 4 theory has been more popular among average QAnon believers than the promoters who make up the public face of conspiracy theory, according to Travis View, co-host of the QAnon Anonymous QAnon follow-up podcast. While many QAnon leaders have claimed that March 4 is a trap intended to arrest QAnon believers or blame them for violence, “Q”, the anonymous character of the entire movement, has not posted online since December, which means there is no force to accept or reject the idea of March 4th.
View compared the March 4 beliefs to the idea, controversial even within QAnon, John F. Kennedy Jr. he faked his death to help Trump take on the “deep state.”
“I think this is another situation where basic QAnon fans picked it up, but it seems like a shame for some of the more established QAnon promoters,” View said.
In Telegram, the messaging app and social networking site where many QAnon believers ended up after being banned for the most common platforms after the riot, top QAnon leaders have urged their followers not to meet on March 4, claiming the focus on the date is a hoax intended to undermine them. With “Q” silent, others have cited a “clue” from Q that mentioned both the word “trap” and the phrase “March 4” as proof that the date makes no sense in the QAnon canon.
Both QAnon supporters and other Trump supporters on Jan. 6 were hugged as a key date, as it marked the counting of congressional election votes. The conspirators openly discussed plans to violently attack the Capitol to disrupt the vote count, and protesters made plans to share in Washington to increase pro-Trump numbers in the city. In comparison, there has been a significantly less open debate on March 4th.
“The main promoters of QAnon: they’re not on board, they deny it as a false flag,” View said.
Whatever happens on March 4, QAnon has already been linked to three murders. More recently, a QAnon believer allegedly murdered an amateur legal expert who deployed sovereign citizen tactics in court.
QAnon’s role in the Capitol riots has also continued to be highlighted in the alleged riot police court cases.
Jacob Chansley, the self-described “Q Shaman” who was one of the first to storm the Capitol while carrying a spear and a megaphone and wearing a headdress, claimed to be a “leader” of the violent conspiracy. He even wore the elaborate suit at several Arizona arrests to release QAnon, prosecutors previously reported.
A Federal Aviation Administration employee who took a selfie in front of the House Speak Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) office was arrested after he claimed he had a “Q permit” to enter the Capitol. State prosecutors Kevin Strong allegedly told a QAnon witness who had stated that World War III would take place on January 6 and that he had a “WW1WGA” flag, which represented the popular QAnon slogan “where let’s go, let’s all go “- to his house. Strong also told the witness that he believed QAnon’s “storm” was going to cover the cost of a truck he had recently purchased, according to a criminal complaint.