It seemed as though QAnon was everywhere a few years ago, but in recent months, the name of this infamous Donald Trump-worshipping cult has faded from headlines. Sadly, it's not because they went away. Instead, the already-porous boundary between the mainstream GOP and the conspiracy cult has collapsed completely. Elected Republicans now spend taxpayer money hyping debunked conspiracy theories, while popular MAGA influencers keep up a steady stream of ever-stranger claims that mysterious forces run the world — and are, of course, out to get Trump.
The surest sign of the merger of QAnon and the larger GOP is the right's obsession with the Jeffrey Epstein case. At first blush, you'd think MAGA thought leaders would want to throw the story down the memory hole, since Trump was a close friend and a big fan of the deceased rapist. Instead, MAGA pundits and news outlets have become obsessed with finding the fictional "Epstein files," which they falsely believe will produce a "client list" kept by the infamous sex trafficker. QAnon is the key to understanding the MAGA fixation on Epstein.
