QAnon slogan spoken from Trump rally podium as FBI warns about conspiracy theory-related violence

8/11/19
 
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from The Washington Examiner,
8/2/19:

“ Where we go one, we go all.”

That popular slogan of the far-right QAnon conspiracy movement was said from the podium of Thursday’s Trump rally by online personality and founder of the “Walk Away Movement” Brandon Straka as he warmed up the crowd a few hours before President Trump took the stage in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Earlier that day, a 15-page FBI memo from the Phoenix field office warning of possible dangers stemming from fringe online conspiracy theories specifically named QAnon as a source of concern.

Beyond QAnon, the FBI memo warned that a variety of other conspiracy theories could also lead to violence and even domestic terrorism too.

“We are all in this together. Where we go one, we go all,” Straka said last night in a recitation of the QAnon slogan. “We are Making America Great Again, but this time it is great for everyone.”

Trump has never expressed support for the conspiracy, though he has retweeted QAnon-linked accounts a number of times. Bill Mitchell, a conservative radio show host who has promoted the conspiracy theory, was invited to the White House Social Media Summit in July.

QAnon supporters are generally pro-Trump and often have a small but noticeable presence at Trump rallies, waving signs and wearing “Q”-themed clothing, but the comments from Straka seem to be the first time the conspiracy theory has explicitly been promoted from the stage at a Trump rally.

Straka told the Washington Examiner he is not a supporter of the QAnon movement, but “my feeling about the QAnon movement is that many people who wouldn’t previously have done their own research, but instead blindly followed the media have now been inspired to do so.”

Straka complained about the media coverage of his speech, saying that “the liberal media are blatant liars” for calling him a QAnon supporter.

“If people are now inspired to search for the truth that’s a positive thing,” he said.

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