'Are we the sheep?': QAnon believers struggle to process Gavin Newsom recall election in California

[Demovictory9]

One day before the Gavin Newsom recall, adherents of the QAnon conspiracy belief system are busy attempting to invalidate the election results before they even come in — but they're torn on what exactly comes next.


Although most people likely assume QAnon has its deepest roots in places like Florida or Texas, the extremist ideology has made significant inroads in California. It’s particularly noticeable in Orange County and San Diego, where people sporting QAnon flags and shirts have been seen at anti-lockdown and anti-Newsom protests over the past year. In addition, four of the candidates running to replace Newsom have expressed support for QAnon, Media Matters reports.

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“DETHRONING Newsom is THE catalyst for the MAIN EVENT,” wrote QAnon influencer John Sabal (who goes by QAnon John) on Telegram last week.


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If you were struck by the dubiousness of California’s 10 million-plus registered Democrats suddenly being swayed by this argument, keep this in mind: Many QAnon believers think California is majority Republican. In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, QAnon discourse was full of baseless assertions that Trump won California; in reality, Biden received 11 million votes to Trump’s 6 million.

In an attempt to sow the seeds of this “rigged” election narrative, one popular QAnon forum has been filled with stories pushing California election misinformation. One highly upvoted story in recent days was headlined: “Gov. Gavin Newsom warns Californians: ‘You will all die of COVID if I’m recalled.’” Although this is written as a direct quote, Newsom never said this.

Another story gaining fast traction is from Los Angeles TV station KTLA. “San Fernando Valley residents have trouble casting recall ballots” quotes only one 88-year-old voter as having issues at her polling place. When she raised the problem to poll workers, she was given a provisional ballot and allowed to cast her vote.

https://www.sfgate.com/gavin-newsom-recall/article/QAnon-conspiracies-california-governor-recall-16455748.php

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