'An existential threat': The Republicans calling for their party to reject QAnon conspiracy theories

[DonViejo]

By Clare Foran, CNN

Updated 8:02 AM ET, Sat April 10, 2021

(CNN)Republican Rep. Peter Meijer has a warning for his party: He fears baseless conspiracy theories like QAnon will destroy the GOP from within if Republicans don't decisively and unequivocally condemn the false and dangerous beliefs and take action to stop their spread.

"The fact that a significant plurality, if not potentially a majority, of our voters have been deceived into this creation of an alternate reality could very well be an existential threat to the party," Meijer, who was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the deadly attack at the US Capitol, told CNN in an interview.

Frequently described as a virtual cult, QAnon is a sprawling far-right conspiracy theory that promotes the absurd and false claim that Trump has been locked in a battle against a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles made up of prominent Democratic politicians and liberal celebrities. Members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol had ties to QAnon, and the conspiracy theory has made its way from online message boards into the political mainstream in recent years.

"When we say QAnon, you have the sort of extreme forms, but you also just have this softer, gradual undermining of any shared, collective sense of truth," Meijer said. The Michigan freshman believes conspiracy theories fuel "incredibly unrealistic and unachievable expectations" and "a cycle of disillusionment and alienation" that could lead conservative voters to sit out elections or, in a worst-case scenario, turn to political violence, like what happened on January 6.

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/10/politics/qanon-republican-party-congress/index.html

[bearsfootball516]

1. Good luck with that.

Those conspiracy theories have penetrated deep into the GOP base. Force the base to reject them and they'll alienate several million voters.

[MissMillie]

2. He's talking sense, so...

they are unlike to pay him any mind.

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Yeah, like they're going to listen to someone who doesn't worship their messiah.

The Marjorie Taylor Greene Gene has proven to be dominant in the Qpublican DNA.

[Eyeball_Kid]

4. The infamous "Q" has apparently retired, but that's not stopping his legion of whackos.

"Q" apparently decided to take a long vacation after the Capitol insurrection. His followers are still living on Q's convoluted stories, but Q has given up. My guess is that, were s/he to keep on sending cynical memes, s/he'd got outed. And because the outcome of the riots resulted in dozens of arrests the failure of Qanon's predictions to come to fruition, Q had to get out before s/he's hunted down by disaffected believers, or law enforcement, whichever got there first.

Besides, it's likely that Q has already been identified as a 20ish fellow who just decided to extend an imaginative story into a veritable religion, with followers desperate to cling onto any sign that reality isn't what it is, that a subterranean world of machinations engineered by powerful evildoers is the authentic engine behind nearly all troubling feelings and perceptions. Qanon redefines or "reframes" the reasons that ordinary people are powerless and perpetually disconnected from the affairs of the nation and the world. It's one part real and nine parts fantasy.

[Botany]

5. QAnon's conspiracy theory is a rebranded version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Quotes from a Sept. 2020 article .... Can you recognize this stuff now? In both current republican political actions and in those shits that stormed the US Capitol or @ the Charlottesville, VA riot you can see anti Semitic crap, transgender "threats", and fear of the "brown people." Qgop

https://www.justsecurity.org/72339/qanon-is-a-nazi-cult-rebranded/

QAnon purveys the fantasy that a secret Satan-worshiping cabal is taking over the world. Its members kidnap white children, keep them in secret prisons run by pedophiles, slaughter, and eat them to gain power from the essence in their blood. The cabal held the American Presidency under the Clintons and Obama, nearly took power again in 2016, and lurks in a “Deep State” financed by Jews, including George Soros, and in Jews who control the media. They want to disarm citizens and defund the police. They promote abortion, transgender rights, and homosexuality. They want open borders so brown illegal aliens can invade America and mongrelize the white race.

QAnon true believers think Donald Trump will rescue America from this Satanic cabal. At the time of “The Storm,” supporters of the cabal will be rounded up and executed.

snip

Many people are perplexed at how any rational person could fall for such an irrational conspiracy theory. But modern social science shows that people in groups don’t always think rationally. They respond to fear and terror. They blame their misfortunes on scapegoats. They support narcissistic demagogues they hope will rescue them.

snip

In July, the Texas Republican party unveiled a new slogan, “We Are the Storm.” Over a dozen Republicans running for Congress have signaled support for the QAnon movement. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican candidate from Georgia who has endorsed QAnon’s views, is likely to win a seat in Congress. The President praises her as a “future Republican star.” The Trump campaign welcomes QAnon supporters to his rallies. When asked about QAnon on national television, the President replied, “I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate.”

snip

The Trump campaign welcomes QAnon supporters to his rallies. When asked about QAnon on national television, the President replied, “I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate.”

[Turbineguy]

6. RINO

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

7. Too late!

[Scrivener7]

8. If you decode his message, it means he is being held hostage in a Satanic baby restaurant

and would someone please rescue him.
(Please tell me I don't need the sarcasm thing!)

[CrispyQ]

9. The GOP has been courting the racist, zealots, & loons for decades.

Now they've lost control but know they can't win without them. Suckers.

[GoodRaisin]

10. I don't think it matters to their voters. They will still turn out to vote

over “guns” and “socialism” and “the border” and to give tax cuts to the rich.