Analysis: Trump’s new low on QAnon
Guthrie: Let me ask you about QAnon. It is this theory that Democrats are a Satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior of that. Now, can you just once and for all state that that is completely not true and disavow QAnon in its entirety?
Guthrie: I just told you.
Trump: You told me. But what you tell me doesn’t necessarily make it fact, I hate to say that. I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard, but I know nothing about it. If you’d like me to —
Guthrie: They believe it is a Satanic cult run by the ‘deep state.’
Trump: — study the subject. I’ll tell you what I do know about: I know about Antifa and I know about the radical left. And I know how violent they are and how vicious they are. And I know how they’re burning down cities run by Democrats, not run by Republicans.
Even by the embarrassingly low bar that Trump has set for himself, this is really, really, really bad. For a lot of reasons.
Let’s go through them.
1) It is absolutely impossible for Trump to “know nothing” about QAnon, a movement that believes, among other outlandish things, that Trump is working to root out, round up and jail pedophiles and Satan-worshippers embedded within the highest levels of the government. Not only does Guthrie tell Trump — in precise terms — what QAnon is right before she asks him whether he will denounce the group, Trump has been asked repeatedly about QAnon in the past. And he has repeatedly dodged — or worse.
“Well, I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. But I don’t know much about the movement. I have heard that it is gaining in popularity and from what I hear it’s — these are people that — they watch the streets of Portland — when they watch what happened in New York City in just the last six or seven months, but this was starting even four years ago when I came here. Almost four years, can you believe it?
“These are people that don’t like seeing what’s going on in places like Portland, and places like Chicago, and New York and other cities and states. And I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it.”
“Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK? I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with White supremacy or White supremacists. So I don’t know. I don’t know — did he endorse me, or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about White supremacists.”
Sound familiar?
2) Trump, despite pledging to “know nothing” about QAnon, manages to praise their fight against pedophilia. Pedophilia is, of course, one of the most grievous crimes in the world. (I, personally, would say it is the worst.) No one supports pedophilia and everyone backs the fight against it. But let’s be very clear about what QAnon thinks about pedophilia.
“QAnon is the umbrella term for a sprawling set of internet conspiracy theories that allege, falsely, that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who are plotting against Mr. Trump while operating a global child sex-trafficking ring.
” … Many of them also believe that, in addition to molesting children, members of this group kill and eat their victims in order to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood.”
So, yeah.
This is not, of course, what being president is about. Not even close. But at this point, nothing should be shocking.
