QAnon believers are seeing things again, this time in a video message posted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Ms Pelosi, 82, released a video announcing that she is once again running for Congress despite rumours that she would retire at the end of her congressional term.
As SFGate reports, the video is not unusual for campaign announcement videos. It features Ms Pelosi speaking in front of a green screen and b-roll of San Francisco's iconic locations.
However, QAnon adherents have once again drawn supposedly hidden messages from the mundane, claiming there are devilish clues to Ms Pelosi's true intentions hidden in the footage.
QAnon is a conspiracy movement that has spawn a cult-like following of largely conservative Americans who believe that the country is run by the "deep state" and a cabal of Satan-worshipping, child-sacrificing, cannibal paedophiles, who all happen to be Democrats or other politicians and public figures they don't like. They believe that a secret government agent code-named Q – for the supposed "Q-level" security clearance they have – is working in league with former President Donald Trump and possibly the not-actually-dead John F Kennedy Jr to bring down the deep state.
"Q" spoke to his followers using vague, word salad "drops" that adherents would pore over and attempt to decode. To them, "cofefe" was not just Mr Trump having difficulty spelling, but a secret message intended for them to glance behind the curtain. Likewise, Ms Pelosi's video, the argument goes, is not just a video, but a message to the deep state that needs to be decoded.
For example, some have argued that the inclusion of the "Painted Ladies" in the video – San Francisco's iconic colorful Victorian homes – was actually a reference to the ‘90s sitcom "Full House." Because comedian Bob Saget, the star of that sitcom, died recently, they believe it has some deep, hidden significance.
"Using the 'Painted Ladies' the background this close to Saget’s death makes me think it’s comms," a popular QAnon figure said, suggesting the video is actually a secret message for other elites. "There are plenty of other iconic SF backgrounds that could be used. 95% of the pop couldn’t tell you where those houses are. Not that common."
Others agreed, but no one seemed able to parse exactly why the speaker of the House would be referencing a dead comedian in her campaign announcement video.
Ms Pelosi mentions in her video that the "three most important issues facing the Congress" are "our children, our children, our children."
Because QAnon adherents are convinced that the Democrats are actually demon-worshipping cannibal paedophiles, Ms Pelosi's statement raised red flags for them. In their estimation, Ms Pelosi actually meant that she had to continue harvesting children for some reason, and thus has to remain in Congress.
Ms Pelosi's continued political career may confuse some QAnon adherents, as some actually believe she was arrested in 2020. Though not all agree, many QAnon adherents think that most major Democratic politicians have already been secretly arrested and some tried and executed. When asked why they continue to make appearances on TV, rudely ignoring the supposed executions, QAnon believers have explained that those Democrats are body doubles, deep fakes, or holograms.
QAnon is not relegated to the political fringes. Media Matters' QAnon tracker found that at least 52 current or former members of Congress have expressed support for QAnon in the past, including Representatives Laura Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Mr Trump himself said that QAnon adherents were people who "love our country.”
