QAnon

"Where we go one, we go all" is a common QAnon slogan, often abbreviated to WWG1WGA. A capital letter "Q" is also frequently used as a symbol of QAnon.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory and cult based in the United States that began in October 2017 when an anonymous user called "Q" posted on the far-right website 4chan. It is likely that the original Q posts were made by several different users, but over time it appears a more consistent user or users have perpetuated the Q identity. It has been speculated that one of the principal individuals posting as Q has been Ron Watkins, administrator of the 8chan imageboard website. His father, Jim Watkins, operator of 8chan and 2channel, has also been speculated to have posted as Q.

QAnon Anonymous, a podcast dedicated to analyzing and debunking the QAnon movement, has called QAnon a "big tent conspiracy theory" due to its ability to constantly evolve and add new claims.

Q has called for regime change in Iran.

Beliefs

QAnon followers believe that Donald Trump is trying to save the United States from a satanic pedophile network run by the Democratic Party. They believe that Trump will organize an event called "The Storm" to prevent Jews from supposedly taking over the United States. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier; it claimed that the Comet Ping Pong restaurant was the hub of a satanic child sex abuse ring associated with top Democratic politicians.

Apophenia, the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, is a highly prevalent and encouraged phenomenon among QAnon followers as they seek to "decode" what they perceive to be secret messages transmitted through the use of numerology, codewords, and analyzing symbols in media, and in politician and celebrity tweets. A common slogan among QAnon followers is "There are no coincidences." Game designer Reed Berkowitz has likened the mechanics of the QAnon conspiracy to an Alternate Reality Game (ARG), calling it a "gamification of propaganda." Describing the way in which the QAnon conspiracy operates and outlining the general beliefs in the QAnon cluster, Berkowitz writes:

QAnon revolves around a fantastical narrative that “Q,” allegedly a top-secret government operative, has been leaving clues on websites about a cabal of Satan-worshiping, child-abusing Democrats and “deep state” elitists who run the nation’s power centers, and that Trump and his allies were working clandestinely to fight back against them. Believers pick up guidance from multiple sources, including rabbit-hole-like social media hashtags, TikTok influencers, popular YouTubers, even mainstream news articles. They click on links, search hashtags, “do their own research” and ultimately end up at various sources of Q’s material. [...] The QAnon call to “do the research” (this is the notion that people shouldn’t trust “experts,” but should come to their own conclusions, instead) breaks down resistance to new ideas. Guiding people to arrive at conclusions themselves is a perfect way to get them to accept a new and conflicting ideology as their own. It also instills a distrust for society and the competence of others — and confers an unearned sense of importance on the player. Only the believers can discover what’s really going on! Initiates are given the tools — ways to look for ostensibly hidden messages in videos and text, and online communities to share their results — to arrive at “their own conclusions,” which are in every way more compelling, interesting and clearer than real solutions.

An article in the New York Times characterized the dynamics of the QAnon following, which waits for Q "drops", supposed hints and clues which the followers must then assemble in order to help "patriots" inside the government defeat the satanic forces within the government:

[QAnon] has been spreading its “crumbs” across the web [...] “Your President needs your help,” writes Q in one “Q drop” — that’s what Q’s followers, or “bakers,” call each bread crumb. Q engages the bakers as collaborators who “research” lines of inquiry and offer possible answers to Q’s hypnotic flurries of leading questions. (“Las Vegas. What hotel did the ‘reported’ gunfire occur from? What floors specifically? Who owns the top floors?”) But Q balances fear-mongering with notes of reassurance: The bakers are, by poring over each nonsensical hint, supposedly aiding their fellow “patriots” on the inside. Bad news is merely a “distraction.” The president’s behavior is merely a ruse. The good guys are secretly in control, and they are going to win. So the baker-followers assemble the crumbs into what they call “dough” or “bread,” to be circulated online — feverishly complex diagrams and bulletin-board collages of words and images. [...] Whoever posts as Q postures as a government insider with a high-level “Q” security clearance and an enigmatic connection to Trump’s inner circle. “I can hint and point but cannot give too many highly classified data points,” Q wrote, in one of the earliest posts. A bit later: “These are crumbs and you cannot imagine the full and complete picture.” To reveal too much, Q claims, would be dangerous. Repeated and prolonged exposure to the crumbs — there are more than 2,000 of them, as of early September [2018] — is, supposedly, the only path toward comprehension.

The beliefs that fall under the QAnon umbrella are a cluster of conspiracy theories, most of which existed prior to the development of QAnon. Elements of the "satanic panic" wave that arose in the U.S. in the 1980s and peaked in the 1990s are widely present in the cluster of ideas prevalent in QAnon-related conspiracies. QAnon is also rooted in anti-Semitic tropes, noticeable in its fixation on Jewish financier George Soros and conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, a frequent target of antisemites. It also incorporates elements of many other conspiracy theories, including features from much older conspiracy theories, such as those about the Kennedy assassination, U.F.O.s and 9/11. Some QAnon adherents have expressed belief in the reptilian conspiracy theory, asserting that the Satanic cabal alleged to be in power consists of shapeshifting reptilian humanoids. The QAnon conspiracy is highly flexible and able to incorporate a wide range of other conspiracy theories under its umbrella, drawing in adherents from a diverse range of adjacent conspiracy and cult circles.

Support

Right-wing figures such as Sean Hannity, Roseanna Barr, and Alex Jones have promoted QAnon. In addition, many police are supporters of QAnon. As of September 2020, a third of Republicans believe in QAnon and 23% more partially believe in it.

Violence

In 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch entered a Washington, D.C., pizzeria and fired a rifle into a door, claiming he was investigating the debunked "Pizzagate" rumor. The Pizzagate conspiracy theory is one of the principal predecessors to QAnon.

In 2021, a California father took his two young children to Mexico and killed them with a spearfishing gun after he claimed he had been "enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories." According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in California, the father reportedly told investigators he had been "receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children" and that by killing them he was "saving the world from monsters."

In September 2022, a man shot and killed his wife and dog at their home, and injured one of his daughter. Another daughter, in a Reddit post, explained that her father "went down the Q rabbit hole after Trump lost in 2020" and "snapped after an argument at 4AM".