Donald Trump has come under fire for his descent into the QAnon conspiracy theory movement during his Youngstown, Ohio rally in support of Republican Senate candidate JD Vance.
“This is the week when Trump became Qanon. This isn’t a political statement; it just is, however disturbing. Week began with images of Trump on Truth Social wearing a Q pin and promoting their slogans; it ends with Q music and the Q ‘one’ sign by crowd at his rally,” CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem tweeted on Saturday.
Author Kurt Eichenwald added that “this week, Trump posted QAnon memes, played QAnon theme music at his rally, and stood by as the crowd raises their fingers in the QAnon salute. This is the GOP’s supposed leader. Every Republican needs to be asked about it - and don’t let them walk away. ‘Do you support QAnon?’”
“He has gone full QAnon, and that cult knows it. Trump has always been mentally ill, but this is a whole new level. He has gone completely insane,” he tweeted.
The author went on to lay out a lot of the bizarre theories within the movement.
“With Trump now leaning so hard into QAnon, anyone who interviews him *must* ask ‘Do you believe there is a global cabal of elites who are kidnapping children, taking them to underground tunnels, murdering them, eating them and drinking their adrenochrome to stay young forever? Have you secretly been president since 2020, while Biden has actually been a clone? Were Hillary Clinton and Anthony Fauci taken to gitmo and executed? And if you don’t believe these things, why are you posting QAnon memes, playing their music, and encouraging their salutes?’” he tweeted.
“After last night’s rally, there’s no denying that Trump’s fully embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory. Republicans in Congress will still try, claiming they haven’t seen the video. If you’re interviewing them, SHOW IT TO THEM, then ask again whether they support Trump and QANON,” Citizens for Ethics wrote.
“New analysis shows Donald Trump is overtly encouraging his base to embrace QAnon and related violence; experts say that’s encouraging actual violence, including a Michigan man who shot his family and a Pennsylvania man who brandished a gun at Dairy Queen,” gun control advocate Shannon Watts write, citing a report from the Associated Press.
“Donald Trump is openly promoting a dangerous conspiracy about the ‘storm,’ where he’ll regain power & his political enemies will be tried & potentially executed on live TV. This is incredibly dangerous & irresponsible -- just like Trump always has been,” Illinois US House candidate Jesus Garcia tweeted.
