Conspiracy theoryQAnon’s Growing Threat to the November Election and to Democratic Processes Worldwide

Published 27 August 2020

Russian government-affiliated organizations are playing an increasing role amplifying and disseminating conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, raising concerns not only of interference in the coming November U.S. election. There were no signs Russia had a hand in the early days of the QAnon movement, but the growth of the movement’s following have persuaded Russia’s disinformation and propaganda specialists that spreading QAnon’s conspiracies further would help Russia achieve its goal of weakening America by sowing division and acrimony; deepening polarization; discrediting democracy; and undermining trust in the government; judiciary; courts; and the media.

Russian government-affiliated organizations are playing an increasing role amplifying and disseminating conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, raising concerns not only of interference in the coming November U.S. election: Experts say that the steady growth of the audience exposed to the outlandish fantasies of QAnon believers contributes to the corrosion and coarsening of political discourse in the United States, the weakening of democratic institutions, and the undermining of trust in scientific, medical, judicial, and media bodies.

A few days ago HSNW ran a story on QAnon, opening with the following paragaphs:

In May 2019, The FBI, in an assessment of security threats to the United States, said that the QAnon conspiracy theory is a domestic terrorist threat: “The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts.”

QAnon is a broad-scale internet-based conspiracy theory begun in early 2017. It is based on a belief that there is a high-level government official — “Q” — who sprinkles clues on internet message boards like 4chan and 8chan about a massive “deep state” conspiracy (or series of conspiracies) at work in the country. QAnon backers believe that Donald Trump was recruited by the military to run for president in 2016 because he alone wasn’t beholden to the secret power brokers of the world, and he alone could break the hold that they have on American society.

One of the QAnon conspiracies of which the general public became aware was the assertion that Hillary Clinton, Senator Chuck Schumer, and other leading Democrats were running a child-sex trafficking ring out of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria (this particular story was circulated by both former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his son to their Twitter followers).

QAnon’s conspiracy theories may appear bizarre and unhinged to most people, but a few QAnon adherents have gained entry into mainstream politics. Six GOP Congressional candidates in the November election openly embrace QAnon, and one of them, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon true believer, last week won the Republican primary in Georgia’s 14th District, and is likely to win the safe Republican seat in the November election.