During a political rally in Ohio on Saturday, Donald Trump embraced the extremist conspiracy group QAnon in his strongest hug ever, making the deliberate choice to play music from the religious organization's adopted hymnal.
In Youngstown, dozens of the former president's supporters embraced as he delivered a fiery speech about what the Trump team claimed was a free song from the Internet, but to many it was almost identical to the 2020 instrumental Wwg1wga. .
The name Wwg1wga echoes the QAno slogan, "where we go alone, we all go," adopted by members of the anti-Semitic group who believe Trump is a messianic figure fighting alone against the dark and childish forces of Satanism. and will return. With glory to the White House after defeating his enemies.
It was perhaps the clearest display of Trump's growing alliance with the far-right group, whose principles were supported by the violent mob of many supporters who stormed the Capitol during the Jan. 6 uprising.
Last year, a joint report by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned that QAnon members posed a greater risk of violence, especially as frustration grew over the failed impeachment of Joe Biden.
Political observers reacted quickly. Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann tweeted a series of photos showing Trump supporters and followers of Adolf Hitler cheering him on in Ohio during a Nazi rally in the 1930s.
"We have to face the reality. We must use the right words. Music changed after Saturday's rally by Sieg Heil, QAnon madness … Trump is America's Hitler,” he wrote in another post.
Robert Pape, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that it was a "very disturbing development."
"This means that the former president is ready to sue not only his supporters, but also those who support violence to achieve his goals, number one of which is to return to the White House," he said.
"If this is just a political threat, then we can hold the elections, but when it comes to not only the denial of the elections, but also the denial of the elections in response to the use of violence, we are now new. game".
QAnon followers believe that a group of Satan-worshiping Democrats, Hollywood celebrities, and billionaires rule the world through child abuse, human trafficking, and the collection of chemicals that prolong the blood life of abused children.
Trump supported the group and its baseless theories after regularly retweeting messages related to or supporting QAnon during his time as president and before being permanently banned from Twitter.
This trend continues after he left his post in January 2021 and started his failed social network "Truth".
Last week, according to the New York Times, he posted a photo of himself with a Q-handle on his collar with the caption, "Storm Coming." Viewers believe the storm is a storm that will end with Trump's reinstatement as president after defeating his political enemies and executing him on live television.
The Guardian's 2020 QAnon exposé also describes the anti-Semitic pillars on which the cult is built. The idea of an all-powerful and world-dominating cabal comes directly from the Records of the Elders of Zion, a false document used in the 20th century to justify anti-Semitism, which was meant to expose a Jewish conspiracy to control the world. .
At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, in support of Republican Senate candidate J.
They raised their hands and pointed a finger in the air to indicate "the one" named Wwg1wga.
In a post on Truth Social last month, Trump used the music as the basis for music videos in which he decries the state of the nation under the Biden administration.
Media Matters, a left-leaning online platform, said at the time that it analyzed the video using Google Assistant and Apple Shazam, and both showed the song to be Wwg1wga by artist Richard Feelgood on Spotify.
After the Ohio rally, Trump spokesman Taylor Budovich said he didn't believe anyone would think the national anthem adopted by QAnon was broadcast, claiming it was a song titled "Mirrors" by American composer Will Fromm De Crommert.
"Another conspiracy is brewing over the popular audiobook platform's free song in a pathetic attempt to fake news, stir up controversy, and divide America," he said.
Two separate language studies have shown that South African software engineer Paul Ferber was behind the first Q posts before Ron Watkins took over the account in 2018.
Watkins' father, Jim Watkins, owns Q's 8kun mail site, formerly 8chan, and Ron Watkins is a former platform administrator.
Ron Watkins ran for Congress in Arizona earlier this year, but finished last with 80,000 votes, less than 3,000 votes in the seven-candidate Republican primary.