Donald Trump and the Birth of QMaga: A Storm Is Coming

By David Corn  September 21, 2022

Audience members at a Donald Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, raising their fingers in what might be a QAnon-related salute on September 17, 2022. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Those of us paying attention the past few years know that the answer to the oft-repeated question— have we reached the bottom of Trumpism?—is, there’s no bottom. Donald Trump and the Republican Party proved that once again in recent days, as Trump merged MAGA extremism with the conspiratorial lunacy of QAnon, and nary a Republican batted an eye.

In retrospect, the melding of MAGAism with QAnon—and toss in a helping of Christian nationalism—seemed inevitable. The QAnon conspiracy theory holds that the world is controlled by a cabal of satanic, baby-eating, sex-trafficking pedophiles—which includes, of course, top Democrats, assorted elites, Hollywood celebrities, and the Pope—and that Trump is engaged in titanic combat behind the scenes to crush this evil power and save humanity (and lots of babies). Under assorted variants of this nuttery, Trump is being aided by John F. Kennedy Jr. (who did not die in a 1999 plane crash), and he will be restored to power in a final cataclysmic battle that involves mass arrests of Lucifer’s allies (lock ‘em up in Gitmo!) and televised executions. Trump fully embraced the QAnon insanity last week, and this means that the Republican Party now supports a man who advances a dangerous derangement that exceeds his Big Lie about the 2020 election and that further delegitimizes American democracy and debases political discourse. And this party has a good shot at gaining control of Congress in seven weeks.

For years, Trump had played footsie with QAnon, claiming he didn’t know much about it but praising its adherents’ supposed patriotism, their opposition to pedophilia and, naturally, their cultish love of him. Offered the chance to denounce this perverse craziness, he bobbed and weaved, sending the signal to QAnoners—who are always looking for signals—that they did indeed possess the hidden truth. With nods and winks, he validated their paranoia and detachment from reality, as QAnon conspiracism led to numerous acts of violence.

QAnon flags and symbols blossomed at Trump’s 2020 campaign rallies, and they were present at the insurrectionist January 6 assault on the US Capitol. In the way previous Republicans over the years had encouraged and exploited right-wing extremism—a story I tell in my new book, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy—Trump capitalized on this bizarre and bonkers internet phenomenon without endorsing it. His plan looked obvious: take advantage of this brainsickness and boost his base of supporters without being tarred as a champion of this looniness.

No more. He went full QAnon the other day when he posted online a photoshopped image of him wearing a Q pin. To make the message clear, this picture proclaimed, “The Storm Is Coming”—a QAnon catchphrase referring to that ultimate showdown between Trump and the evildoers. And it contained the abbreviation for the QAnon slogan, “where we go one, we go all.”

The insanity of a former (and possibly future) president bear-hugging QAnon cannot be overstated. And this was no one-off, late-in-the-night shitposting from the former guy. He zapped out other posts with QAnon references. Then four days later, at a rally in Ohio, he delivered an apocalyptic speech against the backdrop of music resembling the QAnon theme song. It was here that Trump supporters raised their hands and pointed a finger—possibly signaling “one,” in an allusion to that QAnon slogan. The supposed purpose of the event was to whip up support for GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance. But the gathering demonstrated the fusion of MAGA extremism with QAnon and Christian nationalism. The crowd cheered as Trump proclaimed the country had become a hellhole with a crumbling economy, rampant crime, and no freedom of speech. It was all lies. But the fervor of the crowd and the arm waving were reminiscent of a religious revival meeting. Trump’s movement has morphed into QMaga. The irrationality has spread from the evidence-free belief that sinister players (China, Venezuela, the CIA, the media, Democrats, voting machine companies) conspired to steal the election from Trump to the conviction that American politics has become a clash between patriotic Christians and cannibalistic Satan-worshipping pedophiles.

The Ohio arena was not full, and the empty seats indicated that Trump’s mix of conspiracism, cult of personality, end-times ravings, and fundamentalism may not be a bestseller. But many of the GOP election denialists running in state elections this year—including gubernatorial candidates Doug Mastriano (Pennsylvania) and Kari Lake (Arizona)—have ties to QAnon. Both Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert were QAnoners before they were elected to Congress in the last election. But perhaps of greater concern is that the entire GOP, which has supported Trump’s authoritarian Big Lie crusade, is now willing to follow Trump further into the depths of fearmongering and madness.

Vance, a graduate of Yale Law School, bestselling author, and venture capitalist (who once referred to Trump as “America’s Hitler”) certainly knows QAnon is crap. But he eagerly lapped up Trump’s support at the rally. No prominent GOP official has come out and declared that Trump is guiding the party into the land of crazy. With their silence, they are legitimizing Trump’s promotion of an absurd delusion. Just as their silence regarding Trump’s recent vow to pardon the domestic terrorists who attacked Congress legitimizes political violence and likely will encourage more of it.

A few weeks ago, President Joe Biden excoriated MAGA extremism and election denialism as “semi-fascism” and warned the nation of the threat they pose. Republicans and conservatives turned snowflakes and cried foul. Since then, the danger has grown. As every pundit will tell you, the Republicans remain poised to win the House in the November elections and possibly the Senate. That will place in power a party that accepts and supports QMaga (and that backs as its leader a man who now excuses political violence). Without more media attention and more warnings from Biden and the Democrats, QMaga will spread into the halls of Congress not by mob violence but by the ballot box. A storm is indeed coming.

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com

American Psychosis in the News

The launch of a new book is an anxious time for an author. With all that is happening in the world—including the release of other books—how can you get attention for your own volume? As you know, mine was released last week, and despite some canceled media appearances due to the death of Queen Elizabeth, it went well. I was heartened by the fact that reviewers and interviewers could easily see the relevance and timeliness of a book that connects history to the present moment. This led to many substantial and fun conversations about American Psychosis. Once again, thanks to those of you who have ordered the book.

In case you’re interested, here’s a partial list of media hits in which I discussed various aspects of American Psychosis. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy or encouraged everyone you know to do so, I hope this prompts you to take those steps.

• I had a fascinating conversation with Mary Trump on her podcast. She has her own, well-developed views on her uncle’s manipulation of far-right fanaticism.
  
  
• I appeared on the Skullduggery podcast, co-hosted by Michael Isikoff, with whom I co-authored Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. He joshed that he was a big fan of my previous book. I joked that for some reason this new book had been so much easier to write.
  
  
• I took questions about American Psychosis for an hour on C-SPAN, and the callers on the Republican line proved my point. They were angry and irrational and spewed false talking points from Fox and Breitbart: The election was stolen from Trump, the Russia scandal was a hoax, and armed IRS agents are coming for you. It was rather sad. C-SPAN also reminded me how old I am:

• On MSNBC’s The Reid Out, I discussed with host Joy Reid the historical context for Trump’s embrace of QAnon.
  
  
• During an interview with Jonathan Capehart, I covered the similarities between McCarthyism and QAnon.
  
  
• With Katie Phang of MSNBC and NBC News, I explained that there was no going back to the mythical “good old days” of the GOP, noting that accepting and advancing extremism was always in the party’s DNA. I had a similar conversation with Mehdi Hassan for his MSNBC show.
  
  
• NBCNews.com posted the first chapter of the book. If you’re still not convinced, give this a read.
  
  
• I chatted with Rick Wilson and Tara Setmayer of the Lincoln Project about the long history of the GOP’s entanglement with extremism. Ditto with Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark. He picked up on the book’s epigram: “We know that the Furies do not come uninvited.” That’s a line from journalist/novelist Katherine Anne Porter. (She had quite the life. Look it up.)
  
  
• There was a rollicking conversation with Julie Mason of SiriusXM. Likewise with Molly Jong-Fast for her The New Abnormal podcast.
  
  
• Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell both praised the book.
  
  
• I had an intriguing back-and-forth with Joe Scarborough about American Psychosis—and we agreed.
  
  
• The social media team at Mother Jones produced a quick-cut video of assorted media appearances in which the book was discussed.

A lot of folks kindly sent me photos of them with copies of American Psychosis. This was one of my favorites because the sender looks like a serious reader:

The Watch, Read, and Listen List

House of the Dragon versus The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. I was never a big fan of fantasy literature. In high school, I read The Lord of the Rings books and decades later watched the faithful film adaptations directed by Peter Jackson. But I was no Middle-earth obsessive. And I fell into Game of Thrones accidentally, believing the series was historical fiction. Yes, I did. The early references to dragons and zombies quickly disabused me of that notion, yet by then I was hooked by the political gamesmanship at the center of the HBO series and became a devoted viewer. Consequently, I assumed that in the current face-off between GoT spin-off House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power, the $1 billion Amazon prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, I’d be on Team Dragon. Yet…I find myself enjoying the TRoP far more. Both shows are about half-way through their initial seasons, so it seems fair to reach at least a preliminary verdict.

House of the Dragon is claustrophobic and insular. It’s Succession in a dank and dark castle—but without the lovable rogues. Set 200 years prior to the GoT era, it focuses on who will succeed the current king of the Seven Kingdoms. He has a teenage daughter who yearns to be heir, but the patriarchal realm, we are told, won’t stand for a dame on the Iron Throne. And the king’s homicidal brother (a war hero) has his own ambitions. Plus, the daughter’s best gal-pal ends up marrying the king after his wife’s death. Should she birth a male, her son would also have a claim to the top job. There’s the usual palace intrigue, a touch of near-incest, a battle scene or two, and dragons—all the main ingredients of Game of Thrones—but the unintended rivalry of the princess and her best-friend-turned-stepmom gives the series the feel of a Y.A. novel.

Meanwhile, over in Middle-earth, an elf-warrior named Galadriel refuses to put down her sword, believing an ancient evil—long believed to have been vanquished—lurks beyond the horizon, with no one else accepting her gut feeling. Still, a fellow elf concocts a pact with dwarves to forge a powerful weapon, while an elven soldier patrolling the far-off lands of humans (who generations ago were allied with this nefarious force) finds out the hard way that Galadriel’s spidey-sense is on the money. Galadriel, lost at sea (literally and figuratively), hooks up with a human, also lost at sea, and they form a Sam-and-Diane-like relationship (think Cheers), as they land in the island kingdom of Numenor, a paradise where folks don’t like elves and are resistant to Galadriel’s pleas to prepare for battle. Oh, there are hobbits, too, a breed called Harfoots, and a precocious Harfoot girl discovers and protects a man who fell to earth from a shooting star. (It’s not David Bowie.)

The Rings of Power does a better job of delivering an entire world to the viewer. There are different lands, different kingdoms, and the action moves quickly from one plot to another. House of the Dragon (so far) seems stuck in the stuffy Red Keep and confined to the infighting within House Targaryen. There are no large existential threats, such as the zombie army of Game of Thrones, which could be viewed as a metaphor for climate change: winter is coming!

Moreover, I don’t know who to root for in the HBO show. The hangdog and beleaguered king is certainly not long for the world. Otherwise, there’d be no battle for the throne. His daughter, though a feminist embittered by the limitations she faces due to her chromosomes, is not compelling. Her onetime-BFF is uninteresting. The king’s brother is a bad guy that you do not secretly like. As of now, House of the Dragon lacks the wit and quirky characters of Game of Thrones. There are no noble Starks to cheer on. (Oh, Arya!) No wily or heroic protagonists like Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow. No pairings that deliver comic relief, such as Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth. It might be unfair to compare HotD to GoT, but it all feels a bit flat. Maybe my recently inflamed anti-monarchist sentiments are influencing my view. I don’t care that much about these Targaryens.

There’s more engaging human drama in the world of elves, dwarves, and Harfoots. Galadriel is wound far too tight and her dialogue is often wooden to the point of being laughable. But overall, the main characters in this Prime Video blockbuster are more interesting than the white-haired denizens of Westeros. The dwarves and Harfoots are also good for a giggle or snicker here and there. And the stakes in The Rings of Power are certainly higher than the question of who sits on an uncomfortable royal chair. The creators of each series assumed an arduous task: to produce a work that could stand up to the original masterpiece. As of this point, neither does. But I’d rather watch the derring-do of elves, dwarves, and Harfoots than the backstabbing machinations of an uninspiring and dysfunctional royal family.

Read Recent Issues of Our Land

September 17, 2022: American Psychosis and the reckoning of history; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

September 7, 2022: Donald Trump and gaslight fascism; the conservative crazy gets crazier; American Psychosis: the first review; a brilliant after-the-Vietnam War novel and Dark Winds; and more.

September 2, 2022: Snowflake fascists and the GOP politics of rubber and glue; American Psychosis tease of the week; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Blake Masters); Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table and Sara Watkins’ “You and Me”; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

August 26, 2022: In praise of preaching to the choir; American Psychosis tease of the week; J.D. Vance and the podcaster who said “feminists need rape”; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Mitch McConnell); comparing The Old Man, Westworld, and For All Mankind; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more

August 19, 2022: Has Biden learned from Obama’s big #fail?; American Psychosis tease of the week; conflicted feelings about Liz Cheney; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Ted Cruz); Better Call Saul’s magnificent finale; MoxieCam™; and more.

August 5, 2022: The January 6 Rudy Giuliani mystery; American Psychosis tease of the week; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Alex Jones); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

July 29, 2002: We need to worry about Christian nationalism; American Psychosis tease of the week; Stranger Things jumps a ghoulish shark; Steve Earle honors his forebears; Joni Mitchell’s glorious return; MoxieCam™; and more.

July 23, 2022: Trump’s trap for the GOP; American Psychosis update and tease; Dumbass Comment of the Week (John Cornyn); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.  

July 19, 2022: Announcing the forthcoming release of American Psychosis; Breitbart gets something right; The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and The Player (three decades later!); Simon Winchester’s The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology; and more.

Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.