QAnon

How QAnon Catchphrases Took Over the KBJ Hearings

by Donald Moynihan

"QAnon, a sprawling set of baseless conspiracy claims, is built on nods and winks, which has allowed it to move from the fringes to the center of American politics without toppling the mainstream conservative politicians who are courting its adherents."

Hawley's Attacks on KBJ Part of Long History of Politicizing Child Abuse Panics

Historian Paul Renfro explains the rising fears of child abduction in the 1980s and the way those fears have been used politically. 

The Apocalypse Never Dies, It Just Gets Weirder

by Thomas Lecaque

"Not only has the apocalypticism of the last few years not died out, but things aren’t getting better." A historian considers the intensification of apocalyptic rhetoric in American evangelicalism, and its fusion with the Trumpist political movement.

The Conspiracy Theorists Are Coming for Your Schools

by Thomas Lecaque

"Over the past year, as the conspiracy theorists have come together under one big apocalyptic tent we have seen organized campaigns of harassment, threats of violence, attempts to harm members of school administrations, and physical altercations at school board meetings when masks are mandated."

Bad Information: QAnon is a Social Problem, Not a Cognitive One

by Nicolas Guilhot

"The champions of debunking and the new information vigilantes are not interested in entertaining the possibility that the root cause of conspiracy theories may be located outside the mind and may require a reexamination of our economic and social arrangements."

Does Ridiculing Q Followers Fuel the Fire? Historical Lessons in Applied Social Science

by Jayson Dibble

The January 6 Capitol riot brought the QAnon conspiracy into public view, including the toll on families when a member adopts the worldview. Looking historically at social science research on cults suggests that while aggressive ridicule might be tempting, it's counterproductive. 

QAnon and the Satanic Panics of Yesteryear

by Daniel N. Gullotta

"The perception of a Christian nation in religious freefall fits almost seamlessly with QAnon’s conviction that the United States is under spiritual assault."

QAnon Is Destroying the GOP From Within

by Ben Sasse

The Republican Senator from Nebraska, who holds a doctorate in American history, warns that his party cannot continue to "preach the Constitution while winking at QAnon," and suggests ways to repair the frayed social fabric in which conspiracy theories thrive.

A Scholar of American Anti-Semitism Explains the Hate Symbols Present During the US Capitol Riot

by Jonathan D. Sarna

The presence of conspiracy theorists and overt and coded anti-Semitic messages at the Capitol riot shows that far right ideology continues to target Jews in a conspiratorial, eliminationist worldview.

How America Escapes Its Conspiracy-Theory Crisis

by David Rhode

Trump's indulgence of conspiracy theorists risks casting the government as the enemy of the people. A new social contract is needed to ensure that this breach doesn't widen. 

When Democracy Ails, Magic Thrives

by Samuel Clowes-Huneke

A new book by historian Monica Black suggests that the irrational was never absent from the postwar order—and, moreover, that florid eruptions of mystical thinking often accompany periods of extreme political upheaval. 

How QAnon Crept Into the Mind of Donald Trump

by Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet has long examined the role of true believers in politics. As the influence of the QAnon conspiracy theory among Trump's base comes in for scrutiny, he asks what if "he isn’t selling a dream, he’s dreaming it?"

Conspiracy Theories Make Sense of a Topsy-Turvy World — But Undermine Democracy

by Zachary R. Goldsmith

While the “paranoid style” in the various conspiracy theories of QAnon are nothing new, they certainly bode ill for democracy.

Max Boot the victim of a fake headline apparently concocted by QAnon, the rightwing conspiracy pro-Trump troll

by Max Boot

A photoshopped headline made it seem that Boot had changed his opinion about troops in Syria.

Fact-checking QAnon conspiracy theories: Did J.P. Morgan sink the Titanic?

106 years later, the pro-Trump online conspiracy-theory group QAnon has made Morgan the villain of a wildly implausible story.