That community is also growing at a rapid pace in 2020, according to a report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The result is more of a community than just a belief in an outlandish theory. “There is a sense of group solidarity,” Uscinski said, which makes it different from most other conspiracy theories. died in 1999 when the plane he was flying crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. , while others believe Q to be Trump himself. For example, some believe that the founder of QAnon, dubbed simply “Q,” is actually JFK Jr. It’s an online centralized cult,” Joseph Uscinski, a professor at the University of Miami who specializes in conspiracy theories, told the Mirror.Įach member can adopt their own beliefs and are encouraged to do their own “research,” and there are as a result a wide variety of QAnon beliefs, Uscinski said. “It’s different in the aspect that it’s not just a conspiracy theory. In its simplest form, QAnon is a conspiracy theory that alleges that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles are running a global sex-trafficking ring, control world governments and are trying to bring down President Donald Trump - who is himself single-handedly dismantling the cabal. “Quite frankly, I don’t have time to look into things like that,” he said.įarnsworth also stood by his claims that he believes Epstein did not commit suicide.įarnsworth isn’t the only Arizona politician who dabbles in the conspiracy theory and is not the only tie the state has to it. Farnsworth wouldn’t identify those people.įarnsworth also denied knowing that QAnon had been deemed a domestic terror threat by the FBI more than a year ago. He added that he has never done his own research and has instead relied on the research of other “credible people” he trusts. “My basic impression is that they are a credible group,” Farnsworth said. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, and Ethan Watkins. However, when presented with his text messages, he acknowledged believing in the baseless claims that the group propagates. In an interview this month, Farnsworth first told the Mirror that he “didn’t know anything about” QAnon. “I feel like people need to know these things about their elected officials.”įarnsworth has often courted people with beliefs that are on the political fringe - or beyond. “I think it’s dangerous, and I think it’s corrupting some honest foundations of the Republican Party and the conservative foundation that has existed for some time here in Arizona,” Watkins said. Watkins, a conservative from Mesa and political ally of Farnsworth, shared the text messages with Arizona Mirror in the hopes that it will expose just how deeply the QAnon conspiracy theory is permeating the Republican Party and the broader conservative movement. But, from all I have read, I have come to this conclusion,” Farnsworth told Watkins. In another text, Farnsworth wrote that he believes billionaire Jeffrey Epstein didn’t commit suicide in a federal prison in 2019, but was murdered because he could blow the lid off of the alleged sex-trafficking network that is at the core of QAnon. “You’re the first person I have known who doesn’t think they make sense.” “I have talked to quite a few people who really believe they are good people who are trying to bring out the truth. David Farnsworth, a Mesa Republican and Watkins’s friend. If this absurdly evil thing is being run in a bipartisan manner, how can you tell the difference between the elected officials and politicians who are involved and those who aren’t? The response came quickly: This evil global cabal is also made up of some Republicans. Ethan Watkins was deeply troubled by the responses he was getting in his late-night text exchange last month as he pressed his friend on QAnon, the dangerous conspiracy theory that has been linked to violent acts across the nation.ĭo you believe, Watkins asked, that there’s a secretive cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophile Democrats who are running a global sex-trafficking ring? And that Donald Trump is working to dismantle it?
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