Who Is QAnon?

It’s one thing to believe that a powerful elite exerts an outsize influence on American democracy. But it’s another thing to believe that this elite is involved in an organized conspiracy of Satanic worship and pedophilia, and further, that the only person who can save the children--and America--is President Donald J. Trump. This is the general thesis of QAnon, a bizarre and baseless ideology that has been embraced by as many as several million Americans, who organize primarily on social media. Although QAnon isn’t real, the rapid spread of extremist belief at the far right fringe--and the domestic security threat this represents--is real, and indicates that a small but not insignificant subset of Americans no longer inhabits the same reality as the rest of us. That’s a problem for democracy, and the democratic institutions on which society depends. On this episode of Who Is?, join Sean Morrow for a trip down the rabbit hole.  Amarnath Amarasingam, a professor at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, where he studies radicalization, terrorism, diaspora politics, post-war reconstruction, and the sociology of religion Nancy Rosenblum, the Harvard University Senator Joseph Clark professor of ethics in politics and government emerita. Her most recent book is “A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy” Brandy Zadrozny, a reporter at NBC News, where she covers disinformation, extremism, and the internet  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices