NBC Reporter ‘Absolutely Shocked’ By Number Of Trump Supporters Joining ‘Deranged’ QAnon Cult

NBC News reporter Ben Collins said he was shocked by the sheer number of Trump supporters showing their support for the QAnon conspiracy cult while waiting in line to attend a Trump campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Thursday.

“I’ve been covering Qanon for a year, and the amount of pro-Q people in this video from yesterday’s Trump rally line in Grand Rapids is absolutely shocking,” tweeted Collins, who covers QAnon. “This is just a portion of it.”

So many things in American society had to fail for this many people to believe one party is run by an actual Satanic cabal that eats children, and Trump, Jesus and Bob Mueller are secretly ending it.

Social media companies helped it grow, but this is widespread systemic failure.

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) March 29, 2019

“So many things in American society had to fail for this many people to believe one party is run by an actual Satanic cabal that eats children, and Trump, Jesus and Bob Mueller are secretly ending it,” he added. “Social media companies helped it grow, but this is widespread systemic failure.”

Collins’ video filmed outside the Van Andel Arena showed a large number of Trump supporters who believe in QAnon, a group The Washington Post has called a “deranged conspiracy cult.”

Buzzfeed News last year described QAnon as “a nonsensical and evidence-free mega-conspiracy theory that claimed Donald Trump was appointed president by the military to save the nation from a pedophilia ring. The hysteria around it has recently placed people in real danger.”

Must-have Trump rally accessory: QAnon shirts. pic.twitter.com/6wznKqXBzU

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) June 28, 2018

“Adherents of the Qanon conspiracy theory falsely believe that the world is run by a Satanic cabal helmed by former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and that President Donald Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are secretly working in tandem to eliminate the cabal,” Collins reported earlier this month

“It’s every conspiracy theory built into one,” Collins said. “It’s the concept that a cabal has been running the United States government solely for the explicit purpose of having a child sex ring in the background.”

“It’s bananas. It’s wrong,” he said.

Some QAnon cultists believe that some liberals and Democrats are part of a child sex trafficking ring and that some prominent Democrats eat children.

I've been covering Qanon for a year, and the amount of pro-Q people in this video from yesterday's Trump rally line in Grand Rapids is absolutely shocking. This is just a portion of it. pic.twitter.com/hTDGEnPsEi

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) March 29, 2019

In response to Collins’ video and tweets, Attorney George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted: “This is jaw-dropping. A large number of the people waiting to get into last night’s Trump rally in Grand Rapids were yelling their support for QAnon.”

This is jaw-dropping. A large number of the people waiting to get into last night’s Trump rally in Grand Rapids were yelling their support for QAnon. https://t.co/vjoShicexz

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 29, 2019

There's a bit in Arendt's Origins Of Totalitarianism that totalitarianism comes about via groups of depressed, atomised individuals believing conspiracy theories because those theories give them more dignity than complex, confusing reality.

QAnon feels like this writ large…

— Ændrew Rininsland (@aendrew) March 29, 2019

QAnon is a failure of critical thinking, but it's also a failure of community. People with thriving familial and social circles simply don't waste their lives pretending John Podesta eats babies and Michelle Obama is actually a man. https://t.co/mLJOAat8UI

— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) March 29, 2019

Behind Haaretz' paywall, but this piece taking QAnon seriously and arguing that it has al the hallmarks of a fascist cult is really alarming. https://t.co/awL11TeyeO

We laugh at them because it's all so stupid but maybe we shouldn't. https://t.co/29NAJzVV2g

— Joshua Holland 🔥 (@JoshuaHol) March 29, 2019