--- title: Why People Believe QAnon's Trump Conspiracy Theory description: An online conspiracy theory promoted by a group called QAnon has garnered national attention after a Trump rally. canonical: https://time.com/5356851/what-is-qanon/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-03T19:21:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:41:27.390Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Why Experts Worry About the Popularity of QAnon's Conspiracy Theory og:description: Followers made themselves known at two recent rallies for President Trump og:url: https://time.com/5356851/what-is-qanon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a9a9c27bfdb28d/698936f6db29870ea326057c/trump-rally-qanon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: What-Is-Q-Anon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Experts Worry About the Popularity of QAnon's Conspiracy Theory twitter:description: Followers made themselves known at two recent rallies for President Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a9a9c27bfdb28d/698936f6db29870ea326057c/trump-rally-qanon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why Experts Worry About the Popularity of QAnon's Conspiracy Theory > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6d9f5116-a6a1-4d83-aafd-51775ffb1160&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Continues to Push Conspiracy Theories [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Continues to Push Conspiracy Theories](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wXkEaMac.m3u8) (3:53)  _Published 2017-12-05. Donald Trump built his political career on a conspiracy theory: The false claim that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States._  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Aug 3, 2018 7:21 PM UTC Donald Trump built his political career on a conspiracy theory: The false claim that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Aug 3, 2018 7:21 PM UTC The bizarre pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory has burst from fringe websites into the real world this week, as dozens of attendees at two recent Trump rallies in Florida and Pennsylvania promoted it. “It’s a movement, man. It’s the shift. I can feel it coming,” one Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania rally-goer [told CNN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGVXmuLmEM) on Thursday. “Some call it the great awakening,” he added. The theory, which originated from anonymous messages posted online, purports to explain everything from the sinking of the _Titanic_ to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, weaving them into a grand narrative where President Donald Trump is a secret mastermind – and hero. QAnon’s online clues — called “breadcrumbs” — are so vague, they can be hard to follow. But there has been [no evidence](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/what-qanon-guide-conspiracy-theory-taking-hold-among-trump-supporters-n897271) to prove them. At a [press conference](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-press-secretary-sarah-sanders-080118/) on Wednesday White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders denied that Trump supports the group, “The President condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual, and certainly doesn’t support groups that would promote that type of behavior,” she said. Footage from [Trump’s rally in Tampa on Tuesday](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/1/17253444/qanon-trump-conspiracy-theory-reddit) and a rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday shows attendees wearing T-shirts and carrying posters with the letter “Q” — a shorthand to identify followers of the conspiracy theory. Here’s what experts say you need to know about QAnon and why the conspiracy theory has spread. ## **How did QAnon’s theories spread?** Conspiracies take off because the world is complex and people like things to make sense, according to Brooke Binkowski, former managing editor at the fact-checking website Snopes.com, which frequently debunks online theories. “Conspiracy theories offer a neat package that wrap up all these events,” she says. Sometimes, conspiracy theories can be debunked before they draw national attention. This is especially true when the source of the false information is identifiable and can be approached and corrected, Binkowski says. But when theories explode on platforms with anonymous posters — like[ 4chan,](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/09/25/absolutely-everything-you-need-to-know-to-understand-4chan-the-internets-own-bogeyman/) one of the sites where QAnon started — Binkowski says they can be much harder to stop. “You don’t know who is spreading \[the conspiracies\] and why, or who is picking them up and why,” she says. “You can’t really confront the people who are responsible for these to their face or on social media, because you don’t know who is doing it.” ## **Is the QAnon conspiracy theory dangerous?** Before their recent appearance at Trump rallies, QAnon conspiracy theorists have mostly stayed online – at the fringes of most mainstream message boards and social media platforms. Though [an armed man with an armored truck](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/qanon-believer-arrested-hoover-dam) did block a highway near the Hoover Dam in June with a sign reading “Release the OIG report,” a demand that was prominent among QAnon followers. But experts warn that conspiracy theories can lead followers to more dangerous behavior. That happened in December 2016, when a [28-year-old North Carolina man,](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/pizzagate-gunman-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison-as-prosecutors-urged-judge-to-deter-vigilante-justice/2017/06/22/a10db598-550b-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.1eb7b31a42d3) who believed a conspiracy theory — one that is still spread by QAnon followers — showed up at a Washington, D.C. pizzeria where he believed children were being harbored because of baseless claims relating to Hillary Clinton’s, John Podesta. The “Pizzagate” believer fired several shots from an [AR-15 rifle](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/22/533941689/pizzagate-gunman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison), though nobody was injured. More recently, an Arizona man used an armored vehicle to block traffic on the bridge near the Hoover Dam has [used QAnon phrases](https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/suspect-in-hoover-dam-standoff-writes-trump-cites-conspiracy-in-letters/) in letters he wrote from jail to Trump and other elected officials. Binkowski says she thinks the QAnon conspiracy theory could lead followers to commit acts of violence if they became convinced it was the only way to stop some imminent harm. ## **How can this kind of conspiracy theory be stopped?** The best way to stop the spread of misinformation is through the pursuit of actual information, according to psychologist Michael Wood, who specializes in the [psychology of conspiracies](https://www.winchester.ac.uk/about-us/leadership-and-governance/staff-directory/staff-profiles/wood-1.php) and is a lecturer at the University of Winchester. “If you hear a claim, even if it fits with the rest of what you believe or it sounds appealing, really think hard about whether it makes sense,” Wood says. “It’s very easy to think critically about things you already disagree with — the trick is to think critically about things that flatter what you believe.” ## **What role has President Trump played in QAnon?** The QAnon conspiracy [may have gotten started](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/01/we-are-q-a-deranged-conspiracy-cult-leaps-from-the-internet-to-the-crowd-at-trumps-maga-tour/?noredirect=on&utm%5Fterm=.4793d3c07e90) when Trump made an off-hand remark about the “calm before the storm,” but the President appears to have no personal ties to the people behind it. However, some say Trump’s [repeated endorsements of other conspiracy theories](http://time.com/5050621/donald-trump-conspiracy-theories/) – for example those about Barack Obama’s birth certificate, [Ted Cruz’s citizenship](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/01/07/yes-ted-cruz-is-a-natural-born-citizen/?utm%5Fterm=.9b19acd20bf9) and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death – have helped lay the ground for more dangerous conspiracy theories like QAnon. “Trump hasn’t talked about Q specifically, but the popularity of Q probably owes something to Trump’s general usage of conspiracy theories — on the campaign trail, in speeches, in tweets and so on,” Wood says. “People’s idea of what are acceptable political beliefs depends, to some extent, on what kind of cues they get from political elites. Trump is, by usual standards of U.S. politics, quite a conspiracy theorist. So it makes sense that his base has followed suit.” But Binkowski noted that people of any political persuasion can fall victim to conspiracy theories. “Authoritarian conspiracy theories can prey on anyone across the political spectrum,” she says, adding that she doesn’t think “who is doing it really cares about politics so much as they care about control of power, and division and separation.” ## Transcript " Donald Trump built his political career on a conspiracy theory: the idea that President Obama was not born in the United States ." [ MUSIC ] " Trump repeatedly pushed the idea in interviews and on social media, long after it was disproved ." Why doesn't he show his birth certificate. And I have my own theory on Obama. It's one of the greatest scams in the history of politics. But it's not the only conspiracy theory he's indulged, on a campaign trail and in the White House he's toyed with some outlandish ideas. That Ted Cruz's father might be involved in the Kennedy assassination. His father ws with Lee Harvey Oslwald what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oslwald Right. Shortly, before the deaths, before the shooting. Did anybody ever deny that it was the father? They're not saying," that wasn't really my father ." It's a little hard to do, cuz it looks like him. That Marco Rubio may not be elligible to run for president, an argument no contstitutional scholar supported. You're really not sure that Marco Rubio is elligible Eligible to run for president. I don't know. I really, I've never looked at it George. Honestly, I've never looked at it. Somebody said he's not and I retweeted it. That routine vaccation cause autism a theory scientests have long debunked. The child, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back, and, a week a later got a tremendous fever, got very very sick, now is autisic. We have extremely. [ MUSIC ] Well documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. That supreme court justice Anton and Scalia might have been murdered. Scalia was he murdered? I know it's pretty brutal to say that. It's a horrible topic but they say they found the pillow on his face, which is a pretty unual place to find a pillow. I can't tell you what, I can't give you an answer. That Muslims in New Jersey cheered after 9 / 11. A claim no one has ever substantiated. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering. And the other side of New Jersey where you have large Arab populations, they were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. That millions of Americans voted illegally in 2016. Sixteen, a claim with no factual support. Does the president believe that millions voted illegally in this election? He continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him. What evidence do you have? I, I, as I said, I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has. That Climate Change is a hoax. All of this with the global warming and the that a lot of it's a hoax. It's a hoax. I mean it's a money making industry okay? A Sussian meddling in the 2016 election is a hoax. [ MUSIC ] And according to a recent New York Times report that the Acess hollywood viideo of him admitting to grabbing women's genital Is a hoax even though he apologized for it when it came out. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize. It's not clear how much Trump really believes these ideas. He's backed down from some in the past. Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period. Only to indulge them again later. [ MUSIC ] Some of the theories have helped Trump politically by tearing down rivals or creating doubt about policies he opposes. Others have hurt him, as polls show voters increasingly question his judgment. But one thing is clear, Donald Trump is not going to stop talking about conspiracy theories. 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