The embrace of President Donald Trump of QAnon draws backlash from some prominent Republicans, who made his remarks Wednesday about the group that believes he is saving the world from a satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals have “no place” in the party.
Trump on Wednesday denied denying the QAnon movement, saying that the followers of the extreme conspiracy theory “are people who love our country.”
QAnon, once thought of as fringe, has emerged in recent months as a sort of centralized hub for completely false collusion and alternative health communities, say researchers and experts.
The group, linked to several violent, criminal incidents, including a hijacking of trains, kidnappings, a police chase and a murder, sees Trump as her hero in a secret war against pedophiles. When specifically asked about this part of the theory by an NBC News reporter, Trump said, “Is that meant to be a bad thing?”
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and primary opponent of the president in 2016, tweeted his displeasure with comments from Trump about the group, whose conspiracy theories the FBI said in 2019 “probably motivate some domestic extremists.”
“Why should not the president in the world kick the butts of Q’anon supporters? Nut jobs, racists, haters have no place in any of the Parties, ‘he wrote, and mispronounced “racists.”
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska told NBC News in a statement, “Q-Anon is notes – and real leaders call collusion theories collusion theories.”
Republicans should consider the possible electoral implications of Trump’s remarks, he said.
“If Democrats take the Senate, blow up the filibuster and pick up the Supreme Court – garbage like this will be a big part of why they won,” Sasse said. “True leaders call collusion theories collusion theories.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted “a reminder of QAnon’s track record,” saying, “Let’s be clear, full BS.”
“Whoever wrote this ‘does not like our country’, they are trying to deceive and destroy it,” he wrote.
In a Fox News panel, GOP strategist and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove said Trump should reject “QAnon”, which he “called a group of nuts and cooks”.
“They may like him, but they love him because they think he’s fighting an incredible war against forces of ‘pedographic’ evil, and it’s just ridiculous,” Rove said, referring to the group’s conspiracy theory. about pedophilia. “Forget them, get ready.”
On Thursday added rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives and the highest-ranking GOP woman in Washington, added her name to the growing chorus of critics.
“QAnon is dangerous madness that should have no place in American politics,” Cheney said in a statement.
Trump’s embrace comes as the Republican Party has become more familiar with the group.
Before running for office, Republican nominee Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote dozens of articles published on a now-defunct website that were favorable to the QAnon collusion theory, NBC News found. In the reports, Greene also suggested that Hillary Clinton murdered her political enemies and rumored about whether mass shootings were orchestrated to dismantle the Second Amendment.
Julie Tsirkin, Kasie Hunt and Haley Talbot contributed.
