Donald Trump is done flirting with QAnon.
After years of playing dumb about the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, the former president has gone full, unabashed Q. Of course, it's incredibly disturbing that the frontrunner for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination has publicly embraced a political narrative accusing elite liberal pedophiles of trying to destroy him. But it's also plain embarrassing. Just look at Trump's most recent Q promotion, as reported by David Corn:
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.
Excuse me? Online memes dressed in Game of Thrones posters? From a former president and effective face of the GOP? Yes, I know it's been six long years of being force-fed this steady diet of insanity. But let's never normalize this.
And speaking of unhinged, my colleague Stephanie Mencimer has been reporting from the trial of John Strand. I highly recommend you catch Stephanie's full dispatch on the insurrectionist underwear model here. But don't miss her thread explaining the trial's small but critical role in a functioning democracy. I was particularly struck by Stephanie's detail that she was just one of two reporters in the room today, something especially disheartening considering that the other reporter was from an outlet that regularly amplifies far-right movements.
And if you're looking for a whole different kind of mess, more insider Don't Worry Darling drama just dropped in New York. Click.
—Inae Oh
