|
Believers in the conspiracy theory - which casts former
President Donald Trump as a savior figure and elite Democrats as
a cabal of Satanist pedophiles and cannibals - played a
prominent role in the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
In a June 4 bulletin distributed to members of Congress and seen
by Reuters, the FBI said its experts believe that some believers
in predictions of political upheavals promoted on QAnon websites
and bulletin boards believe they can "no longer 'trust the
plan.'"
Those have included predictions of disclosures about Democrats'
involvement in child-trafficking rings, Hillary Clinton's arrest
and the restoration of Trump to the White House.
Given the failure of QAnon's predictions to materialize, the FBI
bulletin warns that some QAnon adherents "likely will begin to
believe" they have an "obligation" to transform themselves from
"serving as 'digital soldiers' towards engaging in real world
violence" against Democrats and "other political opposition."
The FBI attributes at least some of a falloff in support for
QAnon to the non-occurrence of events, such as Trump's
restoration, which QAnon predicted but which failed to
materialize, and also to large-scale deplatforming of QAnon
materials by social media companies.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Peter Cooney)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
