How the QAnon Conspiracy is Adapting to Help Trump in 2020
The Mother Jones Podcast
Mother Jones
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2020
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Remember "Pizzagate"? That far-right fever dream about Hillary Clinton's allies running a pizza parlor child-sex ring turned out to be a precursor to QAnon, a bizarre and sprawling trove of pro-Trump conspiracy theories. Its strains have been mutating and adapting ever since 2017, finding new ways to infect our politics. Mother Jones' disinformation reporter Ali Breland and digital producer Mark Helenowski will take you inside the Trump rallies that served as offline nerve centers for the movement to ask supporters clad in Q-paraphernalia if the conspiracy is still alive and thriving, or has it peaked? They found that this once unmissable presence has faded to a crew of Q-diehards as a decline in the volume of related social media content took hold. But in an election year, QAnon is still shaping Trump's base and could be just one presidential tweet away from roaring back to life stronger than ever. Listen to hear how this far-right mega-conspiracy lives on, and about the danger it poses to an election already steeped in disinformation.
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Mother Jones podcast. I'm Jimmy |
| 0:03.0 | King in New York. |
| 0:04.0 | On today's show, |
| 0:08.0 | on today's show, |
| 0:12.0 | You remember Pizza Gate, right? |
| 0:15.0 | That far-right fever dream about Hillary Clinton running a pizza parlor child's sex ring. |
| 0:20.0 | That was just a precursor to QAnon, a sprawling mother load of pro-Trump |
| 0:27.1 | conspiracy theories. Since then, QAnon strains have been adapting, finding new ways to infect our politics. |
| 0:35.0 | Today, Mother Jones's Ollie Breland and Mark Hellenowski will take you inside the |
| 0:41.2 | Trump rallies that have become offline nerve centers for the QAnon movement. |
| 0:46.6 | Is the conspiracy still alive, thriving, or has it peaked? |
| 0:50.8 | That's coming up. |
| 0:51.8 | Stick around. theories are as old as time. But there's a new one. |
| 1:04.0 | Trump's saved the country. |
| 1:07.0 | Trump supporters saved the world. |
| 1:09.0 | And it sounds fucking crazy, but it's just not. |
| 1:12.0 | People rule again. it sounds fucking crazy but it's just... |
| 1:13.0 | People rule again. |
| 1:15.0 | Born in the dark corners of the internet |
| 1:18.0 | and spreading on the most popular social media platforms. |
| 1:21.0 | I don't think it's conspiracy at all. It's true. If it's a |
| 1:24.0 | if it's a hoax and it's an elaborate one. A sort of super conspiracy which |
... |
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