QAnon

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy movement built around the false belief that a secret cabal of elites controls events and Donald Trump is fighting it. It spread through online communities that interpreted cryptic posts attributed to “Q” as clues.

Q drops: Cryptic online posts attributed to the anonymous figure Q, presented by followers as clues about hidden events. Followers treated these posts as predictions and evidence for QAnon’s central claims.
Donald Trump: The 45th and 47th president of the United States, serving from 2017 to 2021 and from 2025 onward. QAnon cast Trump as the central figure fighting its alleged secret cabal.
Q (anonymous figure): An anonymous online persona that posted cryptic messages claiming access to classified U.S. government information. Messages attributed to Q supplied the movement’s recurring clues and authority.
2021 United States Capitol attack: The January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump crowd seeking to disrupt electoral-vote certification. Some participants displayed QAnon symbols or acted on related beliefs during the attack.
Satanic Panic: A wave of public fear, especially in the 1980s, involving false claims of widespread satanic ritual abuse. Both movements featured unsupported claims of hidden child abuse and powerful conspirators.
Pizzagate: A debunked 2016 conspiracy theory falsely alleging a child-trafficking ring operated from a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. Its claims and imagery helped establish themes later absorbed into QAnon.
2016 United States presidential election: The election in which Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton for the U.S. presidency. QAnon emerged during the election’s political conflict and inherited its partisan framing.
Jim Watkins: An American businessman who owned 8chan and later operated its successor, 8kun. His control of the platform where Q posted made him central to questions about the account’s access.
Wayfair trafficking conspiracy theory: A false 2020 online claim that furniture retailer Wayfair was involved in child trafficking. QAnon communities helped spread this allegation as a supposed lead in a child-trafficking plot.
Boogaloo movement: A loose anti-government extremist movement whose adherents anticipate or advocate a second U.S. civil war. It shares online extremist networks with QAnon but centers on anticipated armed conflict rather than Q’s cabal narrative.

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