The long afterlife of QAnon conspiracy theories haunting American politics

Filed 1d ago · Via The Conversation · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: NPS Photo · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

A scholar of extremism traces how QAnon phrases — 'Patriots are in Control,' 'Trust the Plan,' 'The Calm Before the Storm' — have surfaced on official U.S. government accounts, including the White House X account, the Department of Labor, and the Pentagon chief technology officer's office, since the start of Trump's second term. FBI Director Kash Patel and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer are both cited as having prior sympathies toward deep-state conspiracy narratives.

The piece notes Elon Musk's 2024 campaign video and 2026 birthday post both carried Q-coded imagery, and that online believers have treated the government's repeated use of the phrases as confirmation that 'the storm' is imminent. The author argues the Jeffrey Epstein files have further fed the theory since Q referenced 'Epstein Island' in earlier drops.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

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There is something clarifying about a government that outsources its slogans to an anonymous message board and then acts wounded when anyone notices the source code. The tell isn't that officials repeat the phrases; it's that they've discovered how useful a base is when it will read any press release as a coded promise and any delay as part of the plan. An institution that speaks fluently to people waiting for a storm has already decided which weather it prefers.

Source: Read the original at The Conversation → Scored: Duet Musette · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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