Donald Trump Is Gone, But QAnon's Sex Trafficking Conspiracies Are Here To Stay

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/otilliasteadman/qanon-sex-trafficking-conspiracy-extremism

Christine Priola had worked in the Cleveland public school district for nearly 20 years when she resigned suddenly on Jan. 7, the day after she stormed the US Capitol, marching into the Senate chamber with a sign that said, “The children cry out for justice.”

“I will be switching paths to expose the global evil of human trafficking and pedophilia, including in our government and children’s services agencies,” she wrote in her resignation letter.

“This world is run on the blood of innocent children, please look into it,” she told a local news crew a few days later.

Others in the crowd on Jan. 6 held similar beliefs, bearing signs and shirts referencing QAnon, the mass delusion that a secret cabal is operating a global child trafficking network that Donald Trump was trying to stop. Among QAnon’s followers were two women who died at the Capitol insurrection: Rosanne Boyland overdosed on amphetamines, and Ashli Babbitt was shot by a Capitol Police officer. Priola now faces federal charges for unlawful and disorderly conduct for her role. (She did not respond to an interview request.)

Conspiracy theories about sex trafficking and child abuse have been a core feature of the online fever swamp that bloomed under Trump, acting as a powerful recruitment tool and call to action. During Trump’s years in office, believers cited these conspiracies to argue that Hillary Clinton should be arrested, discussed spreading them to divert attention from stories about children separated from their families at the US-Mexico border, and wielded them as a cudgel against mask-wearing policies, claiming that covering up faces would abet traffickers. And, after Trump called on his supporters to defend his false claims of election fraud, some who showed up to the “Stop the Steal” rally believed him to be on the verge of taking down the cabal.

*snip*

[Blue Owl]

1. Two Words: Matt Gaetz

Go suck on that you QAnon fucks

[Mme. Defarge]

2. Sex trafficking, however,

happens. Conspiracies happen. It’s important that real sex traffickers and their wealthy “clients” do not get a free pass. Credible witnesses can help separate the real from the fake.

[hlthe2b]

3. Yes. The saddest part of all this is that it deflects from REAL incidents of sex trafficking to the

point that I fear some active investigations will be disrupted.

[struggle4progress]

4. "When the police start snooping around my meth lab, I make anonymous phone calls

complaining about that family down the street"