President Trump addressed the baseless, far-right QAnon conspiracy theory directly for the first time on Wednesday, saying he didn't know much about the internet community and its own followers besides"they like me very much."
"I discovered these are people who love our nation," Trump added in response to a query about the conspiracy community during a media briefing in the White House.
After a reporter partly awakened the conspiracy concept to him -- that it revolves round a false story that Trump is directing a secret, government-led charge against pedophiles, cannibals and satanic worshippers -- Trump responded:"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"
"If I can save the world from issues, I'm willing to take action," Trump said.
It is the first time Trump has provided lengthy comments concerning the conspiracy theory, though previously he's retweeted posts from QAnon-affiliated accounts on his Twitter account.
From the almost 3 decades since it first popped up on anonymous online message boards, the QAnon conspiracy has changed from a fringe movement to some significant player in far-right politics and civilization.
Research in the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America counts 20 candidates for Congress who will appear on the general election ballot in November who have both identified themselves as believers in QAnon or have given credence to its dogma.
Among these candidates, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, is probably headed to the House of Representatives. Greene handily won the GOP primary in the state's heavily Republican 14th Congressional District, defeating an opponent who ran as"all of the conservative, not one of the humiliation."
Greene has professed her belief in the QAnon conspiracy, together with posting racist statements regarding Muslims, Hispanics and Black folks on the internet.
Many high-energy Republicans in Congress distanced themselves from Greene prior to her chief. A spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., known as her views and remarks"appalling."
But after her victory, Trump tweeted his praise, calling her a"future Republican celebrity."
Though the conspiracy community originated on online message boards, its followers and followers have migrated to more mainstream programs.
Hours before Trump's opinions on Wednesday, Facebook declared it had removed nearly 800 groups, 100 pages and 1,500 ads associated with QAnon and enforced limitations on hundreds more pages and tens of thousands of accounts on Instagram.
In July, Twitter announced it had removed more than 7,000 accounts associated with the conspiracy and promised a sweeping ban on articles related to QAnon.
But the conspiracy theory is not only confined to online harassment and posting of public figures. Followers of this conspiracy have committed acts of violence.
In 2017, a man driving an armored car and carrying two guns shut down a street near the Hoover Dam. As The Daily Beast has reported, followers of QAnon have been linked to a series of kidnappings and 2 killings.
The connection with violence prompted the FBI in 2019 to classify QAnon as a domestic terrorism threat.
"The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories quite likely will emerge, disperse, and evolve into the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and human extremists to perform violent or criminal acts," stated an internal intelligence document obtained by Yahoo! News.
A spokesman for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Wednesday blasted Trump for expressing his support for QAnon.
"After calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville'fine people' and tear-gassing calm protesters following the murder of George Floyd, Donald Trump simply sought to legitimize a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a national terrorism threat," spokesman Andrew Bates stated.
"I discovered these are people who love our nation," Trump added in response to a query about the conspiracy community during a media briefing in the White House.
After a reporter partly awakened the conspiracy concept to him -- that it revolves round a false story that Trump is directing a secret, government-led charge against pedophiles, cannibals and satanic worshippers -- Trump responded:"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"
"If I can save the world from issues, I'm willing to take action," Trump said.
It is the first time Trump has provided lengthy comments concerning the conspiracy theory, though previously he's retweeted posts from QAnon-affiliated accounts on his Twitter account.
From the almost 3 decades since it first popped up on anonymous online message boards, the QAnon conspiracy has changed from a fringe movement to some significant player in far-right politics and civilization.
Research in the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America counts 20 candidates for Congress who will appear on the general election ballot in November who have both identified themselves as believers in QAnon or have given credence to its dogma.
Among these candidates, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, is probably headed to the House of Representatives. Greene handily won the GOP primary in the state's heavily Republican 14th Congressional District, defeating an opponent who ran as"all of the conservative, not one of the humiliation."
Greene has professed her belief in the QAnon conspiracy, together with posting racist statements regarding Muslims, Hispanics and Black folks on the internet.
Many high-energy Republicans in Congress distanced themselves from Greene prior to her chief. A spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., known as her views and remarks"appalling."
But after her victory, Trump tweeted his praise, calling her a"future Republican celebrity."
Though the conspiracy community originated on online message boards, its followers and followers have migrated to more mainstream programs.
Hours before Trump's opinions on Wednesday, Facebook declared it had removed nearly 800 groups, 100 pages and 1,500 ads associated with QAnon and enforced limitations on hundreds more pages and tens of thousands of accounts on Instagram.
In July, Twitter announced it had removed more than 7,000 accounts associated with the conspiracy and promised a sweeping ban on articles related to QAnon.
But the conspiracy theory is not only confined to online harassment and posting of public figures. Followers of this conspiracy have committed acts of violence.
In 2017, a man driving an armored car and carrying two guns shut down a street near the Hoover Dam. As The Daily Beast has reported, followers of QAnon have been linked to a series of kidnappings and 2 killings.
The connection with violence prompted the FBI in 2019 to classify QAnon as a domestic terrorism threat.
"The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories quite likely will emerge, disperse, and evolve into the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and human extremists to perform violent or criminal acts," stated an internal intelligence document obtained by Yahoo! News.
A spokesman for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Wednesday blasted Trump for expressing his support for QAnon.
"After calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville'fine people' and tear-gassing calm protesters following the murder of George Floyd, Donald Trump simply sought to legitimize a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a national terrorism threat," spokesman Andrew Bates stated.