Well, March 4th has come and gone and another ballyhooed “resurrection” of Donald Trump has failed to materialize.
It’s yet another in a string of false prophecies from the conspiracy theory minded QAnon. It’s almost as if they are playing an elaborate series of gags on their members, similar to the MTV reality series, Punk’d. In the show, which ran for an amazing twelve seasons, guests were introduced to a situation, usually with ridiculous results, and ended with the host, Ashton Kutcher, jumping out and shouting the tagline, “You’ve been punk’d!”
Not familiar with the show? Think “Candid Camera”, but with a harsher edge, as some of the gags could be a bit cruel.
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It seems like the same thing is happening with QAnon followers. Time after time they are told to anticipate a date or event only to be disappointed when the day passes uneventfully. And time after time there is another date introduced for yet another fateful day or event. It’s comparable to cult followers who have been told to await the arrival of the “mothership”, or the movie “Groundhog Day”. Take your pick.
So many dates have come and gone and yet conspiracy theorists continue to make excuses.
Following the Election Day loss, they set their sights on December 11, 2020, which was the date states certified the Electoral College results. The theory was that states would somehow override the election results and replace the electors with Trump-friendly ones. They were led to believe that state legislatures could arbitrarily assign electors and overturn the results in Trump’s favor.
When their desired results failed to materialize, they set their sights on the fateful day of January 6th. Along with the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other white supremacist groups, QAnon followers launched an insurrection based upon the mistaken belief that then Vice President Mike Pence could override the Electoral College results and force state legislatures to appoint new electors or even force a new election. The results were deadly.
With the failure of the insurrection and Joe Biden destined to become the next President of the United States, January 17th became the next date on the conspiracy calendar. On that date, which was the weekend before Inauguration Day, those involved in the insurrection would launch protests in every state capital with the stated aim of forcing their lawmakers to overturn their state’s results if they supported Joe Biden. The failure of security forces at the Capitol on January 6th caused state authorities to beef up their measures and this proposed “second insurrection” fizzled as only a handful of protestors appeared in each state.
Inauguration Day was marked as another momentous day in QAnon history. On this day, prior to his inauguration, Donald Trump was supposed to return to Washington, declare martial law and summarily execute those who they saw as being “traitors to America”.
Despite Trump leaving Washington earlier that day so he could avoid the inauguration and also avoid having to ask President Biden for permission to use the plane, which would no longer carry the Air Force One designation, followers believed it was a ruse, and that Trump would triumphantly return to take his “rightful place” as the REAL president. As the noon hour closed in, followers were biting their fingernails, awaiting what they thought would be a glorious event.
When this failed to happen, as so many QAnon conspiracy theories did, many followers lost hope. They felt betrayed by what they called “The Storm”. There was no grand return. No uprising. And worst of all, for them, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
Still refusing to believe they were lied to, QAnon named March 4th as “true Inauguration Day” when Donald Trump would most assuredly return to Washington. Members of Congress took this so seriously that the House of Representatives cancelled their Thursday session due to fears of another attempted insurrection.
Like Inauguration Day, nothing of consequence happened, leading QAnon followers to come up with a new rationalization. They now claim that the March 4th events were actually a “false flag” inspired by Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
Could there be a more pathetic excuse? Ask Congress because as hearings into the insurrection continue, Republicans and right wing media are trying to blame left wing agitators who disguised themselves and blended in with the crowd of Trump supporters to incite the riots.
Even as date after date falls by the wayside, QAnon followers still continue to believe “the Big Lie”. At the recent CPAC meeting Trump perpetrated the “stolen election” falsehood while dangling the possibility that he would run again in 2024.
So, yet again they will set themselves up to be duped. Maybe Ashton Kutcher can return for an encore and jump out to shout, “You’ve been Q’ed!” ?