QAnon gets Trump’s endorsement

QAnon’s inroads into the Republican mainstream got a big boost last week, said Jonathan Zimmerman. President Trump gave the nutty conspiracy theory his imprimatur, saying that QAnon followers are patriots who “love our country” and, most importantly, “like me very much.” When a reporter pointed out to Trump that QAnon followers believe Trump and a mysterious figure called “Q” are secretly saving the world from a satanic, “deep state” cabal of pedophiles who eat children, Trump responded, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing? If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it.” QAnon followers, who number in the millions on Facebook, no doubt were thrilled by their leader’s endorsement. But is this “the future Republicans want?” Back in the early 1960s, conservative journalist William F. Buckley urged Republicans to distance themselves from the extremist nuts of that era, the John Birch Society, who insisted much of the U.S. government was “communist controlled.” Presidential candidate Sen. Barry Goldwater refused to fully disown the Birchers, which helped Democrats portray Goldwater as a dangerous, far-right extremist. He lost in a landslide. It’s not only “cowardly and dishonest” for Trump and Republicans to play footsie with QAnon, it’s “bad politics,” too.