It seems that everyday there is another crisis to be faced and for a lot of people, they have to face it alone. It may seem overwhelming, exhausting, confusing, and depressing all at the same time. We are fighting a virus that has killed over 200,000 Americans. And those that do recover, they may face serious health problems down the road. The economy is in a deep recession and it may be years for it comes back to where it was in January of 2020. The stock market rises and falls on whims that baffle ordinary Americans. And any money that people do have, will earn a whopping .02% if they give it to the bank.
And if this isn't enough, the Supreme Court lost a loved and respected member, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With her death, it makes three vacancies during the Trump administration. Well not quite, the first vacancy was a holdover from President Obama that the Senate refused to bring forward for a vote. But not this time. With 44 days until the Presidential election, Mitch McConnel vows to bring any Trump nominee to the floor for a vote.
As bad as this all seems, there is a growing menace, much worse than any of these problems that we are facing. And it is called Q Anon.
Q showed it's ugly face for the first time on October 28, 2017. An anonymous caller to an alternative radio station claimed to be working covertly to inform the public of President Trump's battle with the 'deep state'.
Q said the world is in danger from a group of pedophiles who are bent on world domination using child sacrifice. He went on to say young children are being kidnapped, murdered, their blood is drunk, and their flesh is cannibalized as a way to preserve the youth of the ultra-left. There is cabal of Hollywood moguls, Jewish bankers, and antifas bent on turning America into a socialistic society that will teach your children to hate you for your 'whiteness'.
Q offers wish fulfillment that at any moment Trump will liberate people from debt and unemployment. Hate bankers and immigrants? Trump will revamp the banking system and ban all asylum seekers. Trump is fighting a conspiracy against him and his believers fomented by George Soros. Q is sowing distrust in liberal democracies and putting forth the belief that liberals are Satanists planning the 'New World Order".
Q has been spreading its ugly indoctrination across the world. And the world is ripe for this type of cult promotion, eerily similar to the rise of the Nazi party; mass unemployment, a plague, not unlike the Spanish flu of the 20s, and people who are seeking a savior who will deliver them from society's disorder. The difference between the the 1920s and today - the internet, and the speed with which such doctrine can spread across the globe.
The lockdown has exacerbated the growth of Q Anon, membership increased 120% in March alone, and Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all have experienced an increase in volume of Q conversations during the lockdown. Converts spent hours augmenting their beliefs and expanding their grievances in concert with other who feel the world is spinning out of their control.
People who fall into Q and other conspiracy thinking are those who have deep insecurities about their place in the world, and in society. They lack understanding of science, history, and politics. they have difficulty with 'critical thinking' instead lean toward 'magical thinking', such as Evangelical beliefs and other 'new-age' spirituality. How fast can the vulnerable be sucked in? Experts say five days into believing, and buying into the mania, a week at most.
The top five countries espousing Q Anon are; the United States, the UK, Canada , and Australia. Q is growing, driven by Trump's retweets, and the failure of the United States government to renounce it. President Trump says he doesn't know much about it but - "they like me very much" and "I heard...these are people who love our country". This is just the acknowledgement that Q Anon needs to keep expanding its reach and spewing its poisonous rhetoric.
In 2019, the FBI labeled Q Anon a domestic terrorist group. In fact, Q Anon is a cult, a cult by definition is: 1) A small group of persons with beliefs regarded by others as strange and sinister and 2) Misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person, i.e. Trump.
Q Anon is an opportunist ideology,. Extremist ideologies are often dismissed until they take power as did the Nazis, the communists, and Isis did. There have been hundreds of such cults though out the years but most do not achieve the prominence of Q Anon. They come and go in just a few months when exposed to the light of reason. The difference with Q is the acceptance by the Republican Party and its leader, Donald Trump. In the 2020 election there are fifteen congressional candidates on the Republican ballot who support the Q Anon theory. And many have garnered Trump's support.
The well known cult expert, Steven Hassan has said: "Donald trump fits the stereotypical profile of all destructive cults. These traits include malignant narcissism. Trump can easily be compared to Jim Jones, Sun Myung Moon and other cult leaders." However Trump is worse than any religious cult leader, because political cults are far more destructive. And what makes him doubly dangerous is he knows there is no one left in the Republican party who will stand up against him. Those who did, were forced out - to our shame.
The Republicans have one more chance to wrest control of their party from this megalomaniac. They can stand up now, it is not too late, they can tell Trump and his evil cabal that they have had enough. There once was a man who brought down a Republican who terrorized the party when he asked, "Sir, have you no sense of decency?"
I'm just sayin'
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