Some people on internet forums noticed that Podesta had communicated with the owner of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., to discuss a fundraiser. But two days later, Trump repeated the 85% stat during a rally and at a town hall with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. Starnes’ video was one of the first examples of #FilmYourHospital, a conspiratorial social media trend that pushed back on the idea that hospitals had been strained by a rapid influx of coronavirus patients. July 2020, The Daily Beast, "A QAnon Devotee Live-Streamed Her Trip to N.Y. to ‘Take Out’ Joe Biden," April 30, 2020, The Daily Beast, "Inside the Completely Nutso Universe of QAnon," Aug. 21, 2020, The Daily Beast, "QAnon Promotes Pedo-Ring Conspiracy Theories. December 5, 2020 by TAU Roundtable Leave a Comment. Anonymous bad actors offered up junk science. A couple of months later, a similar effort propelled another video of fact-averse doctors to millions of people in only a few hours. Dominion Voting Systems “deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide.”. In 2018, Roseanne Barr tweeted, and deleted, posts about the conspiracy theory and Trump’s efforts to address sex trafficking. A Florida taxi driver and his wife had seen enough conspiracy theories online to believe the virus was overblown, maybe even a hoax. On Feb. 26, the president appeared with his coronavirus task force in the crowded White House briefing room. Meanwhile, this month the president has gone ahead with a series of indoor holiday parties. As the virus was spreading, so was the message to downplay it. In August, there was a growing movement on Twitter to question the disproportionately high U.S. COVID-19 death toll. It’s not working," July 28, 2020, Email from Joseph Parent, an associate political science professor at the University of Notre Dame and co-author of "American Conspiracy Theories," Aug. 25, 2020, Email from Kathryn Olmsted, a history professor and conspiracy theory expert at the University of California, Davis, Aug. 25, 2020, The Hill, "Bipartisan lawmakers introduce resolution condemning QAnon conspiracy theory," Aug. 25, 2020, Insider, "Lifestyle influencers are using COVID-19 to spread QAnon conspiracy theories: 'I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our culture,’" May 15, 2020, Interview with Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida, Aug. 26, 2020, KWCH-DT, "Experts: Spread of false information distracts from real work to combat human trafficking," Aug. 13, 2020, MassLive, "Boston man livestreams 20-mile police chase through Massachusetts and New Hampshire with his 5 children in the car," June 12, 2020, NBC News, "Arizona veterans group finds homeless camp — and fuels a new 'pizzagate'-style conspiracy," June 7, 2018, NBC News, "How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon," Aug. 14, 2018, NBC News, "QAnon groups have millions of members on Facebook, documents show," Aug. 10, 2020, NewsGuard, "QAnon’s Deep State conspiracies spread to Europe," July 2020, Newsweek, "6 Celebs Who Have Helped Spread the QAnon Conspiracy," Aug. 20, 2020, The New York Times, "Accused of Killing a Gambino Mob Boss, He’s Presenting a Novel Defense," June 12, 2019, The New York Times, "Facebook Removes 790 QAnon Groups to Fight Conspiracy Theory," Aug. 19, 2020, The New York Times, "In Trump’s Twitter Feed: Conspiracy-Mongers, Racists and Spies," Nov. 2, 2019, The New York Times, "Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon Supporter, Wins House Primary in Georgia," Aug. 11, 2020, The New York Times, "Roseanne Barr’s Tweets Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere," May 29, 2018, The New York Times, "The Republican Embrace of QAnon Goes Far Beyond Trump," Aug. 20, 2020, The New York Times, "What Did President Trump Mean by ‘Calm Before the Storm’?" Suite 1300B But the general idea is this: The world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles that include the most famous Democrats and celebrities. Those posts serve as the backbone of the conspiracy theory, whose believers trend conservative. QAnon evolved from the Pizzagate conspiracy theory about child sex trafficking and prominent Democrats. Posts with #SaveTheChildren and #SaveOurChildren, along with related demonstrations in hundreds of cities across the country, purport to be about ending child sex trafficking. Jo Rae Perkins of Oregon and Lauren Boebert of Colorado also won Republican primary elections this summer. In addition to molesting children, members of this group also kill and eat their victims in order to ingest a life-extending chemical in human blood. We rated it Pants on Fire! He’s now secretly working behind the scenes to bring those involved to justice. Because I don’t want to create a panic.". And QAnon has spread beyond the United States. Trump has amplified QAnon accounts on Twitter and supported political candidates who subscribe to it. That misrepresented the reality of coronavirus deaths. Like everyone else, we urge you to wash your hands and engage in social distancing. The denialists mounted a counter offensive. News, FBI officials described "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists" as a growing threat. "So it’s voluntary. I still like playing it down. Judy Mikovits’ conspiracies received more than 8 million views in May thanks in part to the online outrage machine — anti-vaccine activists, anti-lockdown groups and QAnon supporters — that push disinformation into the mainstream. He yanked off his mask and recorded a video. Send it to [email protected]. QAnon and Donald Trump rallies: What's that about? Influential TV and radio opinion hosts told millions of viewers that social distancing was a joke and that states had all of the personal protective equipment they needed (when they didn’t). ", “68% error rate in Michigan Voting Machines. After her 13-hour day caring for two critically ill patients on ventilators, she posted a tearful video. By Daniel Funke • November 4, 2020 Tweets stated on November 4, 2020 a post: “40,000 rejected vote by mail ballots in DeKalb County need to be cured by Friday or they will be tossed.” RELATED: QAnon hoax has been linked to violence. A #SaveOurChildren demonstration in Hollywood, Calif., on Aug. 22, 2020. "So conspiracy theorists on the left are focused on threats from the right and vice versa. Pizzagate emerged during the 2016 campaign after WikiLeaks released Podesta’s emails. "You’re going to beat it.". Starbird said. "The bad news is that a group of Satanic plotters have incredible power in this country; the good news is that QAnon followers and their hero, the president, have figured out the plot and are going to expose it," said Kathryn Olmsted, a history professor and conspiracy theory expert at the University of California, Davis. That’s wrong — even in the early weeks, it was clear the virus had a higher fatality rate than the common cold, with worse potential side effects, too. "Well I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate," he said during an Aug. 19 briefing. What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory? @dpfunke. Masks are encouraged, not required, Trump Wears Mask In Public For First Time During Walter Reed Visit, Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, Should We All Be Wearing Masks In Public? When Trump left the hospital, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 was more than 200,000. Chuck Ivey is joined by Daniel Funke and John-William Noble from Parresia Books. If you see something sketchy on your timeline, please DM or email it to me → dfunke@politifact.com. The Craziest Theory of the Trump Era, Explained, YouTube is trying to crack down on QAnon videos. He embraced theories that COVID-19 accounted for only a small fraction of the thousands upon thousands of deaths. What is QAnon, the baseless conspiracy spilling into US politics? You can learn more about this … During the show, Carlson claimed "almost everyone — 85% — who got the coronavirus in July was wearing a mask.". ... By Daniel Funke • December 11, 2020 Jon Ossoff stated on December 6, 2020 in a … St. Petersburg, FL Those who had tended to be liberals who got their news from outlets like the New York Times, NPR and MSNBC, or active Twitter and Reddit users. Daniel Funke @dpfunke This is usually the part of the thread where I'd ask y'all to send me more potential mis- and disinfo, but tomorrow I'm taking a much-needed post-election vacation. ", “Joe Biden is no longer the President-elect according to RealClearPolitics.”, Siri gave “CONFIRMATION of the Democrats' sinister plan to REMOVE Sleepy Joe immediately using the 25th Amendment and instate Kamala Harris as President!”, "Six states can't get the votes counted. Now, false claims are taking aim at vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and other companies. St. Petersburg, FL "There are lots of sources of misinformation, and there are lots of elected officials besides Trump that have not taken the virus seriously or promoted misinformation," said Brendan Nyhan, a government professor at Dartmouth College. Get ready for the conspiracy theories." The result: a series of user-generated clips taken outside hospitals, where the response to the pandemic was not easily seen. Many Americans say they don’t want a vaccine. "But just the other day, they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it.". Aug. 27, 2020, PolitiFact, "No, the CDC did not ‘quietly adjust’ US coronavirus deaths," Aug. 31, 2020, PolitiFact, "Tucker Carlson distorts new CDC report, makes false mask claim," Oct. 15, 2020, PolitiFact, "Fact-checking Donald Trump, Joe Biden in head-to-head town halls," Oct. 16, 2020, PolitiFact, "Fact-check: Hospitals and COVID-19 payments," April 21, 2020, PolitiFact, "Donald Trump’s false claim that doctors inflate COVID-19 deaths to make more money," Nov. 1, 2020, PolitiFact, "Fact-checking ‘Plandemic’: A documentary full of false conspiracy theories about the coronavirus," May 7, 2020, PolitiFact, "Fact-checking a video of doctors talking about coronavirus, hydroxychloroquine," July 26, 2020, PolitiFact, "No, Democrats aren’t pushing microchips to fight coronavirus," April 23, 2020, PolitiFact, "No, Bill Gates didn’t say no church services until everyone is vaccinated," April 13, 2020, PolitiFact, "The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine does not contain aborted fetal tissue," Nov. 18, 2020, PolitiFact, "No, Pfizer’s head of research didn’t say the COVID-19 vaccine will make women infertile," Dec. 10, 2020, PolitiFact, "Alternative health website spreads false claim about COVID-19 vaccine side effects," Dec. 9, 2020, PolitiFact, "Social media post falsely claims a federal law would require vaccination against COVID-19," Dec. 11, 2020, PolitiFact, "Many Americans say they don’t want a vaccine. On Aug. 24, BlazeTV host Steve Deace amplified it on Facebook. That’s false. Rather than an advance in best practices on coronavirus prevention, face masks turned into a dividing line between Trump’s political calculations and his decision-making as president. Maybe it’s the calm before the storm." Six states in which @realDonaldTrump is leading. Although several of QAnon’s predictions, including January 2019 military tribunals against the "deep state," never came to pass, fervent supporters remain undeterred. QAnon has found a home on more mainstream social networks in the leadup to 2020. A reporter asked if he was telling healthy Americans not to change their behavior. And his audiences are looking to be amplified, so they’re incentivized to get him their information," said Kate Starbird, an associate professor and misinformation expert at the University of Washington. RELATED: Yes, at least five randomized controlled studies say hydroxychloroquine doesn’t help. So what they do is they say, ‘I'm sorry, but, you know, everybody dies of COVID.’". "The point that the CDC was trying to make was that a certain percentage of them had nothing else but just COVID," he said. Suite 1300B Looking for Daniel Funke? The term has been used to reference the conspiracy theory and its followers. But QAnon has gained steam since its 2017 emergence, and Trump has, at times, tacitly encouraged its supporters. Then they got sick. What Did President Trump Mean by ‘Calm Before the Storm’? It’s difficult to figure out Q’s exact message, and not all QAnon supporters believe the same things. Some believers think that Q is a single person, while others speculate that Q’s identity has changed over time. The conspiracy theory has been linked to several crimes, some of them violent, and the FBI has said it’s a potential domestic terrorism threat. I'm fact-checking misinformation about the vote, results and whatever else happens tonight. 33701 It’s not just Facebook and Instagram — users on YouTube and Twitter were instrumental in helping QAnon jump from 4chan and 8kun to a more mainstream audience. That’s wrong, and it misrepresented a small sample of people who tested positive. (Screenshot from Twitter). As is often the case with disinformation, the strategy is to deliver it with a charade of certainty. Ranks On COVID-19 Deaths Per Capita — And By Case Count," Aug. 5, 2020, Facebook post from Steve Deace, Aug. 24, 2020, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease): People with Certain Medical Conditions," Dec. 1, 2020, Vice News, "How Facebook Allows Misinformation to Spread Even After It's Flagged," Oct. 9, 2020, The Gateway Pundit, "SHOCK REPORT: This Week CDC Quietly Updated COVID-19 Numbers – Only 9,210 Americans Died From COVID-19 Alone – Rest Had Different Other Serious Illnesses," Aug. 29, 2020, Factba.se, "Interview: Laura Ingraham Interviews Donald Trump on Fox's Ingraham Angle Part 2," Sept. 1, 2020, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Community and Close Contact Exposures Associated with COVID-19 Among Symptomatic Adults ≥18 Years in 11 Outpatient Health Care Facilities — United States, July 2020," Sept. 11, 2020, Big League Politics, "CDC: 85 Percent of COVID-19 Patients Contracted Virus Despite ‘Always’ or ‘Often’ Wearing a Mask," Oct. 12, 2020, The Federalist, "CDC Study Finds Overwhelming Majority Of People Getting Coronavirus Wore Masks," Oct. 12, 2020, Video from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," Oct. 13, 2020, World Health Organization, "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: When and how to use masks," Dec. 1, 2020, C-SPAN, "President Trump Rally in Greenville, North Carolina," Oct. 15, 2020, The Washington Post, "ICU nurse pleads for people to take coronavirus seriously: 'I'm already breaking,’" March 26, 2020, Facebook video from the Mount Sinai Hospital, April 3, 2020, Tweeted video from Todd Starnes, March 28, 2020, NBC News, "Coronavirus deniers take aim at hospitals as pandemic grows," March 30, 2020, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, "Hospital Experiences Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a National Pulse Survey March 23–27, 2020," April 2020, Tweeted video from DeAnne Lorraine, March 29, 2020, The Conversation, "‘Film Your Hospital’ – the anatomy of a COVID-19 conspiracy theory," Oct. 15, 2020, COVID Tracking Project, US Historical Data, accessed Dec. 15, 2020, Fox News, "Dr. Jensen calls out 'ridiculous' CDC guidelines for coronavirus-related deaths," April 9, 2020, Pew Research Center, "Amid coronavirus threat, Americans generally have a high level of trust in medical doctors," March 13, 2020, The New York Times, "How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread Widely Online," May 20, 2020, Stanford Internet Observatory, "Virality Project (US): Marketing meets Misinformation," May 26, 2020, Breitbart, "Facebook, Google/YouTube, Twitter Censor Viral Video of Doctors’ Capitol Hill Coronavirus Press Conference," July 27, 2020, The Washington Post, "The rise and fall of Trump’s obsession with hydroxychloroquine," April 24, 2020, NBC News, "Trump says he's taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19," May 18, 2020, CNN, "Social media giants remove viral video with false coronavirus claims that Trump retweeted," July 28, 2020, Rev, "Donald Trump Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript July 28: Talks Kodak, Vaccine, DACA," July 28, 2020, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, COVID-19 Projections, accessed Dec. 15, 2020, District of Columbia Aug. 3, 2020, The Washington Post, "Why QAnon supporters are winning congressional primaries," June 13, 2020, Yahoo! On Oct. 13, the story landed on Fox News’ flagship show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Trump, who had been talking up the drug since March and claimed to be taking it himself as a preventive measure in May, retweeted clips of the event before Twitter removed them as misinformation about COVID-19. In June, one online poll of 1,039 Floridians and 1,040 American adults found that both Democrats and Republicans had unfavorable views of QAnon. After Trump praise, Pence decries QAnon ‘conspiracy theory, Marjorie Greene invited to RNC to attend President Trump's acceptance speech, The Women Making Conspiracy Theories Beautiful, Jeffrey Epstein: Financier found dead in New York prison cell, Mystery of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Wealth Hangs Over Jeffrey Epstein Sex-Abuse Case, Michael Flynn posts video featuring QAnon slogans, The US Senate candidate who took a QAnon pledge. The memo mentions QAnon specifically. Plus, now, he claimed, he was immune from the virus. Now They’re Stealing Kids." PolitiFact staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. They are among several aspiring lawmakers who have promoted QAnon. On Feb. 7, Trump leveled with book author Bob Woodward about the dangers of the new virus that was spreading across the world, originating in central China. Q has published more than 4,600 posts on 4chan and 8chan message boards, including links, images and obscure messages. When Olga Lucia Torres, a lecturer at Columbia University, heard Trump touting the drug in March, she knew it didn’t bode well for her own prescription. We found records in 15 states. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, leads a generic oath of office followed by a QAnon slogan in a video tweeted on July 4, 2020. Trump snapped back into minimizing the threat during his first moments back at the White House. On March 28, Todd Starnes, a conservative radio host and commentator, tweeted a video from outside Brooklyn Hospital Center. Over 2600 votes 'FOUND. 20036, Florida Says Dominion Voting System flipped votes to Joe Biden in states where Trump is bringing legal challenges. It’s not working, Bipartisan lawmakers introduce resolution condemning QAnon conspiracy theory, Lifestyle influencers are using COVID-19 to spread QAnon conspiracy theories: 'I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our culture, Experts: Spread of false information distracts from real work to combat human trafficking, Boston man livestreams 20-mile police chase through Massachusetts and New Hampshire with his 5 children in the car, Arizona veterans group finds homeless camp — and fuels a new 'pizzagate'-style conspiracy, How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon, QAnon groups have millions of members on Facebook, documents show, QAnon’s Deep State conspiracies spread to Europe, 6 Celebs Who Have Helped Spread the QAnon Conspiracy, Accused of Killing a Gambino Mob Boss, He’s Presenting a Novel Defense, Facebook Removes 790 QAnon Groups to Fight Conspiracy Theory, In Trump’s Twitter Feed: Conspiracy-Mongers, Racists and Spies, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon Supporter, Wins House Primary in Georgia, Roseanne Barr’s Tweets Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere, The Republican Embrace of QAnon Goes Far Beyond Trump.