Law enforcement agencies are stepping up security around the U.S. Capitol on Thursday ahead of reports that QAnon supporters convinced that Donald Trump will become president that day could turn violent.
The US Capitol Police has already reported a possible plot by the militia to attack the Capitol on March 4 and said in a statement that it “took immediate steps to improve our security posture” over the course of several days.
What is not clear is how many QAnon believers are actually on board with the idea that Trump will return to power that day, or plan to take action themselves.
Supporters of QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory that holds that Trump is conducting a secret war against a nefarious conspiracy of cannibal-Satanists in the Democratic Party and other liberal institutions, were well represented in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
Of the more than 250 individuals who were accused of breaking into the Capitol on January 6, dozens have openly posted about their belief in QAnon and other conspiracy theories. The fur-covered conspiracy supporter known as “QAnon Shaman” entered the Senate chamber and left a threatening note for Vice President Mike Pence, while another QAnon supporter with a “Q” shirt was captured threatening police officers, claiming later that helped lead the attack on the Capitol to ensure that QAnon received credit for the attack.
Many QAnon believers who had promised that the Trump presidency would bring a kind of American utopia, along with a violent purge of his opponents at a time known as “The storm”, were shocked on January 20, when Joe Biden was installed. In QAnon’s chat rooms, some supporters said the success of Biden’s tenure led them to suspect that the strange conspiracy theory was false, while others described physical disgust at the feeling that they had been cheated.
At least some QAnon believers, however, decided that Biden had not become president. Instead, they borrowed an elaborate theory of the anti-government sovereign citizen movement that states that the United States has been, since the 1870s, a corporation, not a country. In this narrative, the United States is in debt to bankers in London, and no law passed since then has been legitimate.
A faction of QAnon supporters claimed that as a result, Trump would return on March 4 – the original inauguration date until 1933 – as head of the “real” American government.
The March 4 theory has been more popular with ordinary QAnon believers than the prosecutors who make up the public face of conspiracy theory, according to Travis View, co-host of QAnon Anonymous tracking podcast. Although many QAnon leaders have said that March 4 is a trap to arrest QAnon believers or blame them for the violence, “Q” – the anonymous figurehead of the entire movement – hasn’t posted online since December, which it means that there is no strength for any of them to embrace or reject the idea of March 4th.
View compared the March 4 beliefs to the idea, controversial even within QAnon, John F. Kennedy Jr. faked his death to help Trump take on the “deep state”.
“I think this is another situation that ordinary QAnon followers have realized, but it seems to be an embarrassment for some of QAnon’s most established promoters,” said View.
On Telegram, the messaging app and social media network where many QAnon believers ended up being banned from more conventional platforms after the turmoil, top QAnon leaders asked their followers not to meet on March 4, claiming the focus on the date is a ruse to undermine them. With “Q” in silence, others cited a “clue” from Q that mentioned the word “trap” and the phrase “March 4” as proof that the date is meaningless in canon QAnon.
January 6 was widely accepted by QAnon supporters and other staunch Trump supporters as an important date, as it marked the counting of Congressional electoral votes. The conspirators openly discussed plans to violently attack the Capitol to interrupt the counting of votes, and the protesters made plans to hitchhike to Washington to increase pro-Trump numbers in the city. In comparison, there was significantly less open discussion on March 4.
“The main promoters of QAnon – they are not on board, they are condemning this as a false flag,” said View.
Whatever happens on March 4, QAnon is already linked to three murders. More recently, a QAnon believer allegedly murdered an amateur legal expert who used sovereign citizen tactics in court.
QAnon’s role in the Capitol riot also continued to be highlighted in the lawsuits of alleged protesters.
Jacob Chansley, the self-described “Q Shaman” who was one of the first to invade the Capitol while carrying a spear and megaphone and wearing a headdress, claimed to be a “leader” of the violent conspiracy. He even wore the suit designed in several prisons in Arizona to raise awareness of QAnon, prosecutors previously alleged.
An employee of the Federal Aviation Administration who took a selfie in front of Nancy Pelosi’s office (D-CA) was arrested after claiming to have “Q authorization” to enter the Capitol. Prosecutors claim that Kevin Strong allegedly told a QAnon witness that he had declared that World War III would take place on January 6 and that he had a “WW1WGA” flag – representing the popular QAnon slogan “where we go one, we go all” – in your home. Strong also told the witness that he believed the QAnon “Storm” would cover the cost of a truck he recently purchased, according to a criminal complaint.