Editorial: Donald Trump’s New Fling: QAnon

Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of Georgia Republican congressional candidate and QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene is yet another indication that Trump’s presidency has nothing to do with the pursuit of truth or integrity, and everything to do with what Trump sees as sustenance for his ego.

Following Greene’s primary win, Trump tweeted, “Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent. Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up – a real WINNER!”

No one should be surprised by Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement of Greene on the basis of her vocal racism and xenophobia. She is a 9/11 truther, and has made statements that Muslims don’t belong in government, that members of the Black Lives Matter movement are “idiots,” and that “the most mistreated group of people in the United States today are white males.” Those statements fit perfectly with the ideology of Donald Trump.

When one digs further into the sinister cult-like QAnon movement itself, however, it may be hard to understand why anyone, especially the president of the United States, could consider a QAnon supporter to be fit for a public office— until one discovers that the prevailing QAnon conspiracy theories are about Donald Trump, himself.

The currently dominant (and baseless) QAnon conspiracy claims that a cabal of Satan-worshipping and blood-drinking pedophiles that includes politicians and A-list celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Bill Gates, and of course…the Democrats, are in cahoots with governments around the globe to engage in child sex trafficking. (They conveniently leave out all of those images of Trump himself partying with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.) Followers also believe there is a “deep state” that wants to take down Trump. Why? Because Donald Trump has arrived on the scene to vanquish them.

Other QAnon conspiracy theories involve mass shootings (such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, which they claim didn’t really happen), and now the coronavirus (including the idea that 5G cellular networks spread the virus).

Greene posted a video on social media, in which she says, “There’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it.”

One would expect a rational person to either be horrified but this cult-like movement, or to laugh at its absurdity. Not Donald Trump. Trump is not a reader, and we know that he is not a critical thinker or an avid consumer of factual information, even if someone were to read it to him. His comprehension of the QAnon movement stops at “I understand they like me very much.” That’s all Trump needs in order to embrace it.

When a reporter told Trump that the crux of QAnon is the belief that he is “secretly saving the world from this Satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals,” Trump responded, “Well I haven’t heard that, but is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?”

Trump doesn’t appear to care that he is legitimizing a dangerous cult-like movement that the FBI considers a “domestic terrorist threat.” The FBI has catalogued QAnon as an “anti-government, identity-based, and fringe political (web of) conspiracy theories” that “very likely motivate some domestic extremists to commit criminal, sometimes violent activity.”

For Donald Trump, all that matters is that “QAnon supporters like me very much, which I appreciate” (and therefore, “They love our country”).

Upon learning that QAnon sees him as somewhat of a Christlike figure, Trump also said, “If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to put myself out there… And we are actually. We’re saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country, and when this country is gone, the rest of the world would follow.”

Though QAnon may have become Donald Trump’s favorite conspiracy theory (what narcissist wouldn’t love to be seen as a messiah, even if by lunatics?), he has promoted at least 25 additional conspiracy theories since his candidacy. Another favorite recent Trump conspiracy theory centers on the question of Kamala Harris’ citizenship and qualifications for the office of Vice President, based on the fact that her parents were immigrants. (Harris, born in Oakland, California, is an American citizen.) And who could forget the similar theory around President Barack Obama’s birth certificate? Additionally, there’s the battery of disinformation and conspiracy around the coronavirus— its origin, scale, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Donald Trump’s legacy will include the conspiracy culture that he has fostered, and in part, created.

QAnon and similar movements support Donald Trump’s worldview, and any movement that does that, no matter how false, dangerous, or violent, will be embraced by Donald Trump, because the only truth that interests him is his truth.

Many high-ranking House Republican leaders have distanced themselves from Marjorie Taylor Greene and from QAnon. After Trump legitimized the movement, however, some have changed their stance and are now supporting Greene. As these leaders continually demonstrate, they, too, tend to align with Trump’s truth.

“The president has weakened the antibodies in the Republican Party against nutty conspiracy theories because the president himself believes in them,” said journalist and CNN White House correspondent John Harwood.

With every retweet and remark supporting unfounded QAnon conspiracy theories and their believers, Donald Trump gives them more credibility and authority. And each time Trump chooses his ego over his country, he adds to the glut of political and medical disinformation— and ignorance—  filling our country. The result is the moral, spiritual, physical, and even financial price Americans are now paying. And when Donald Trump endorsed QAnon supporter Marjory Taylor Greene, he demonstrated, again, that he was more than willing for us to pick up the tab.

President Trump not shying from support of QAnon conspiracy theorists |
CBS This Morning [2020-08-20]

Trump PRAISES QAnon supporters | The Hill {2020-08-19]

Editorial: Does Trump Think His Fauci Smear Campaign Will Make the Coronavirus Go Away?

Many Americans wondered how long it would take for the White House to launch a smear campaign against Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci, a world-renowned infectious disease expert and member of the White House coronavirus task force, has displeased Donald Trump by daring to allow science to contradict Trump’s narrative about COVID-19. Last week, the Trump administration doubled down on its verbal attacks in efforts to discredit Fauci.

The world has become accustomed to Trump’s need to vaporize officials and others who disagree with him. Even experts presenting scientific facts are not immune; Trump sees adherence to scientific facts—at least those that are not in line with his messaging—as political ideology to be disempowered. Since science disagrees with the truth as created by Trump, science must be discredited. It’s not as surprising as it is disconcerting that Trump has attacked Fauci.

What’s a malignant narcissist to do, though, when he learns that 67 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic? Or when he sees that X percent of Americans are taking the virus more seriously than Trump wants them to? What other option is there, really, than for Trump to detract from the crisis and sow doubt and mistrust for the medical expert who, according to polls, Americans trust more than they trust Donald Trump? (And who, for that matter, has been portrayed affectionately by Brad Pitt on Saturday Night Live?)

Fauci has not undercut the president, publicly undermined him, or attempted to discredit him. He has simply spoken the truth, however grim and frightening, about the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 135,000 Americans to date. Truth has rarely aligned with the president’s agenda and world view, though, so Fauci must be dealt with.

As early as April, Trump was criticizing Fauci in response to Fauci’s candidness about COVID-19, and even retweeted a call for him to be fired. The two have not spoken in recent weeks.

Trump needs for the virus to just go away so that businesses can reopen, children can return to school, the economy can boom, and Trump can be re-elected. The way for the virus to go away, in Trumpworld, is to simply gaslight it away (along with “slowing the testing down, please,” since in Trumpworld, the reason we’re seeing more cases is that we’re doing more testing).

Fauci presents us with the facts about why COVID-19 continues to spread (we’re not following the recommended health and safety guidelines, which are just too inconvenient for some Americans to tolerate); and how we can help contain it and keep the death rate down until a vaccine is available (take responsibility, follow the recommended health and safety guidelines, and take the virus seriously). Recently, Fauci corrected Trump’s claim that “99 percent” of coronavirus cases in the United States are “totally harmless.”

“Obviously, that’s not the case,” said Fauci.

One only has to look at the statistics across the U.S. for proof that Fauci is right about that, as well as about his recommendations for social distancing and mask-wearing. Those states that have more closely followed the public health guidelines have had greater success in containing the virus; those states, such as Florida and Arizona, that went along with Donald Trump’s narrative about the virus and refused to follow guidelines as closely, are now paying the price with skyrocketing numbers of cases and deaths.

Again, truth is often not palatable in Trumpworld. Better to malign the tellers of truth than acknowledge an error of one’s own, or take leadership and address the pandemic head-on. And what more subtly effective way than to plant the idea that the truth spoken by Dr. Fauci is not reliable?

“Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” Trump said last week.

White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro said, “Dr. Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on.”

It’s helpful to keep in mind this administration’s tenuous relationship with truth-telling.

In a different administration, President George W. Bush once called Fauci, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, his hero.

In addition to its demeaning personal comments about Fauci, the Trump administration’s tactics have included using a video clip taken out of context where Fauci appeared to be downplaying the virus and advising against masks. Viewed in context with the cut portions of the video, it’s evident that Fauci was advising Americans early in the pandemic, based on what information was available at the time. Since then, as new information has come to light about the virus, Fauci has been candid about updating his advice.

Along with the video clip, the White House provided some journalists with what resembled opposition research on Fauci, as if Fauci were a political opponent instead of a member of the president’s own White House coronavirus task force.

On Saturday, a White House official said that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.”

The White House has shown that they have to resort to vague comments, aggressive “research,” and cherry-picked, out-of-context video clips and quotes in its attempts to denigrate Fauci.

Donald Trump would have difficulty firing Dr. Fauci, who has served under six different presidents as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Not only would Fauci need to be fired for cause by a direct supervisor, it would be a lengthy process. It’s much easier and faster, then, to try to go about damaging Fauci’s reputation and credibility. Unfortunately for Trump, that may be a challenge, since Fauci is widely regarded as credible and competent by a great number of Americans, including members of Congress.

Donald Trump is not threatened by world leaders. He doesn’t care who is smarter than he is, though he likes to proclaim how smart he himself is. He’s not daunted by those who have made Nobel-worthy contributions to mankind. He is threatened by those who are more popular than he is, and that includes the people that others tend to give credibility.

Though it’s clear that Trump has many things to envy about Dr. Anthony Fauci, what gets to Trump is that people are listening to Fauci, whose science contradicts Trump’s meaningless and senseless happy talk, and interferes with Trump’s goal to pretend that the virus will just fade away and all will be well again. Americans trust Fauci.

Fauci’s goal is to help save Americans. Donald Trump’s goal is re-election. To get to re-election, Trump has shown that he needs to take down whatever, and whomever, is in his way. The coronavirus is in Trump’s way, and Anthony Fauci, by virtue of his response to the coronavirus, is also in Trump’s way. Perhaps Trump thinks that if he could just succeed at his smear campaign against Fauci, his coronavirus nightmare would be extinguished, as well.

Trump takes aim at Dr. Fauci as coronavirus cases surge nationwide |
CBSN [2020-0713]

As COVID Infections Soar, Trump Attacks Dr. Fauci, CDC & Pushes Schools to Reopen at All Costs | Democracy Now! [2020-07-13]