Trump Rally Plays Music Resembling QAnon Song, and Crowds React
By: YahooNews
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman September 19, 2022, 8:07 AM·3 min read In this article:
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Former President Donald Trump appeared to more fully embrace QAnon on Saturday, playing a song at a political rally in Ohio that prompted attendees to respond with a salute in reference to the cultlike conspiracy theory's theme song.
While speaking in Youngstown in support of J.D. Vance, whom he has endorsed as Ohio's Republican nominee for the Senate, Trump delivered a dark address about the decline of the U.S. over music that was all but identical to a song called "Wwg1wga" — an abbreviation for the QAnon slogan, "Where we go one, we go all."
As Trump spoke, scores of people in the crowd raised fingers in the air in an apparent reference to the "1" in what they thought was the song's title. It was the first time in the memory of some Trump aides that such a display had occurred at one of his rallies.
Aides to Trump said the song played at the rally was called "Mirrors," and it was selected for use in a video that Trump played at conservative meeting CPAC and posted on his social media site, Truth Social. But it sounds strikingly like the QAnon theme song.
Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump, said, "The fake news, in a pathetic attempt to create controversy and divide America, is brewing up another conspiracy about a royalty-free song from a popular audio library platform."
As president, Trump often had a winking relationship with QAnon, amplifying social media posts related to the conspiracy theory movement, which holds that when he was in the White House he was locked in a war against satanic, child-trafficking liberals and Democrats. A chief tenet of the movement, which has gradually spread from the fringes of the far right closer to the center of the Republican Party, is that Trump will ultimately be returned to power.
But what was once a flirtation with a movement that the FBI has warned could increasingly turn violent now appears to be a full embrace.
Last week, for example, Trump posted an image of himself on Truth Social wearing a Q pin on his lapel and under a slogan reading "The Storm is Coming." Adherents to QAnon believe that the "storm" is the moment when Trump will retake power after vanquishing his enemies, having them arrested and potentially executed on live TV.
Trump's speech in Ohio had an apocalyptic tone and seemed intended to delegitimize officials in the FBI and Justice Department who are involved in investigations into both his handling of sensitive government documents removed from the White House and the role that he and allies played in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
"We are a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never ever before," Trump told the crowd. "We've got a Federal Bureau of Investigation that won't allow bad, election-changing facts to be presented to the public."
Addressing the conflict in Ukraine, Trump also warned that the United States "may end up in World War III." Assailing reporters, as he often does, he said that there was "no fair press any longer" and repeated his frequent refrain that the news media is "truly the enemy of the people."
Those complaints were followed by a series of other false claims.
Trump said that "free speech is no longer allowed" in the United States, a country, he went on to claim, "where crime is rampant like never before, where the economy has been collapsing."
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montrealgazette.com /news/is-that-supposed-to-be-a-bad-thing-trump-posts-image-of-himself-wearing-qanon-symbol
'Is that supposed to be a bad thing?' Trump posts image of himself wearing QAnon symbol
Trump's recent postings have included images referring to himself as a martyr fighting criminals, psychopaths and the so-called deep state
Author of the article:
After winking at QAnon for years, Donald Trump is overtly embracing the baseless conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world events linked to it grows.
On Tuesday, using his Truth Social platform, the Republican former president reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.” In QAnon lore, the “storm” refers to Trump’s final victory, when supposedly he will regain power and his opponents will be tried, and potentially executed, on live television.
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As Trump contemplates another run for the presidency and has become increasingly assertive in the Republican primary process during the midterm elections, his actions show that far from distancing himself from the political fringe, he is welcoming it.
He’s published dozens of recent Q-related posts, in contrast to 2020, when he claimed that while he didn’t know much about QAnon, he couldn’t disprove its conspiracy theory.
Pressed on QAnon theories that Trump allegedly is saving the nation from a satanic cult of child sex traffickers, he claimed ignorance but asked, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?”
“If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it,” Trump said.
Trump’s recent postings have included images referring to himself as a martyr fighting criminals, psychopaths and the so-called deep state. In one now-deleted post from late August, he reposted a “q drop,” one of the cryptic message board postings that QAnon supporters claim come from an anonymous government worker with top secret clearance.
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Even when his posts haven’t referred to the conspiracy theory directly, Trump has amplified users who do. An Associated Press analysis found that of nearly 75 accounts Trump has reposted on his Truth Social profile in the past month, more than a third of them have promoted QAnon by sharing the movement’s slogans, videos or imagery. About 1 in 10 include QAnon language or links in their profile bios.
Earlier this month, Trump chose a QAnon song to close out a rally in Pennsylvania. The same song appears in one of his recent campaign videos and is titled “WWG1WGA,” an acronym used as a rallying cry for Q adherents that stands for “Where we go one, we go all.”
Online, Q adherents basked in Trump’s attention.
“Yup, haters!” wrote one commenter on an anonymous QAnon message board. “Trump re-truthed Q memes. And he’ll do it again, more and more of them, over and OVER, until (asterisk)everyone(asterisk) finally gets it. Make fun of us all you want, whatever! Soon Q will be everywhere!”
“Trump Sending a Clear Message Patriots,” a QAnon-linked account on Truth Social wrote. “He Re-Truthed This for a Reason.”
The former president may be seeking solidarity with his most loyal supporters at a time when he faces escalating investigations and potential challengers within his own party, according to Mia Bloom, a professor at Georgia State University who has studied QAnon and recently wrote a book about the group.
“These are people who have elevated Trump to messiah-like status, where only he can stop this cabal,” Bloom told the AP on Thursday. “That’s why you see so many images (in online QAnon spaces) of Trump as Jesus.”
On Truth Social, QAnon-affiliated accounts hail Trump as a hero and savior and vilify President Joe Biden by comparing him to Adolf Hitler or the devil. When Trump shares the content, they congratulate each other. Some accounts proudly display how many times Trump has “re-truthed” them in their bios.
By using their own language to directly address QAnon supporters, Trump is telling them that they’ve been right all along and that he shares their secret mission, according to Janet McIntosh, an anthropologist at Brandeis University who has studied QAnon’s use of language and symbols.
It also allows Trump to endorse their beliefs and their hope for a violent uprising without expressly saying so, she said, citing his recent post about “the storm” as a particularly frightening example.
“The ‘storm is coming’ is shorthand for something really dark that he’s not saying out loud,” McIntosh said. “This is a way for him to point to violence without explicitly calling for it. He is the prince of plausible deniability.”
Bloom predicted that Trump may later attempt to market Q-related merchandise or perhaps ask QAnon followers to donate to his legal defense.
Regardless of motive, Bloom said, it’s a reckless move that feeds a dangerous movement.
A growing list of criminal episodes has been linked to people who had expressed support for the conspiracy theory, which U.S. intelligence officials have warned could trigger more violence.
QAnon supporters were among those who violently stormed the Capitol during the failed Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
In November 2020, two men drove to a vote-counting site in Philadelphia in a Hummer adorned with QAnon stickers and loaded with a rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition and other weapons. Prosecutors alleged they were trying to interfere with the election.
Last year, a California man who told authorities he had been enlightened by QAnon was accused of killing his two children because he believed they had serpent DNA.
Last month, a Colorado woman was found guilty of attempting to kidnap her son from foster care after her daughter said she began associating with QAnon supporters. Other adherents have been accused of environmental vandalism, firing paintballs at military reservists, abducting a child in France and even killing a New York City mob boss.
On Sunday, police fatally shot a Michigan man who they say had killed his wife and severely injured his daughter. A surviving daughter told The Detroit News that she believes her father was motivated by QAnon.
“I think that he was always prone to (mental issues), but it really brought him down when he was reading all those weird things on the internet,” she told the newspaper.
The same weekend a Pennsylvania man who had reposted QAnon content on Facebook was arrested after he allegedly charged into a Dairy Queen with a gun, saying he wanted to kill all Democrats and restore Trump to power.
Major social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have banned content associated with QAnon and have suspended or blocked accounts that seek to spread it. That’s forced much of the group’s activities onto platforms that have less moderation, including Telegram, Gab and Trump’s struggling platform, Truth Social.
How can anyone defend this shit?
You mean this latest wacky left wing conspiracy theory?
does that actually mean anything?
So if someone puts up the number "1" sign they're Q Anon? Please give me all these secret signs and songs so I can find all these Q Anon people.
Every republican politician should be asked/confronted with the question do you support Trump and are you part of QAnon?
YEP
This guy, Jim Watkins the freak behind Q, is an infamous internet troll who operates a sex tourism travel agency in the Philippines. Traehevarb!
Throughout my military career, I've been assigned to a few military units where that very phrase was their slogan. I guess they are part of this massive conspiracy theory?
Those units should be ashamed that the clown Trump is exploiting them like this.
Throughout history, subversive/autocratic/evil groups have appropriated slogans/symbols of military/civilian groups that are dedicated to the US. Since you brought up the military one of the most famous is the 45th Infantry Division (8 MoH recipients in WWII) Their unit insignia was appropriated by the Nazis.
The divisional patch was the Whirling Log as it was known to Indians and as the ''Swastika'' to the Nazis. The 45th changed their division insignia to the ''Thunderbird''. I don't think that anyone thought of the 45th as part of the Nazi regime.
The before and after patches.
Would be pretty stupid to think that. Just like anybody thinking the use of "Where we go one, we go all" as only "Q".
Unfortunately ''Where we go one, we go all'' is probably associated more with QAnon than with military units to the general public.
Hence the stupidity of some people.
I'm sure that the millions of QAnon followers are quite happy, stupid assholes that they are.
I imagine they would find the freak like this one quite funny.
With their ignorance and bizarre conspiracy theories and like sheep being herded I doubt if they could differentiate between what is reality and what isn't.
At least they identify themselves pretty easily. Especially when they put that "D" after their name or profess they are "progressive".
Just stop for god's sake. Enough is enough.
Trump wore a Q anon pin and played Q anon music at his rally. Your pathetic attempt at deflection by bringing military units into this is going absolutely nowhere.
They sure do, you can ID them at the rallies that are being held around the country. But you know exactly who they are but seem to be having a difficult time admitting it.
Carry on
"A spokesman for Mr Trump insisted the music was a Mirrors, composed by Will Van De Crommert, whose credits include writing music for the 2018 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. "
What's wrong John. Did I hit a nerve?
So you freak out about it. It's not like he stood there with the military in the background like Putin or Kim, Jong un would. BTW, when was the "Q anon" genre of music established? I mean I can figure out when the blues, rock, metal, R&B and country come about but this "Q anon" genre is new.
There is no deflection. I'm merely stating facts you seem to be willfully ignoring or just don't know anything about. It's not like I'm bringing up something completely unrelated to the article like many on the left like to do.
and we're supposed to believe a trump spokesman?
as they say, this is not rocket science . Trump is flattering up the QAnon nuts. It is certainly intentional, although the nefarious purpose may not be completely clear. I just think he's nuts.
Your idea that Trump promotes "where we go one we go all" because it is a military slogan is ludicrous.
Is this Q Anon?
I'd be far more inclined to believe the people who chose the music than I would the far left narrative creator known as Media Matters.
I never claimed that's why he used it. That's foil hat idea is all YOURS.
And the Q pin stands for his support for the queer contingent of the LGBTQ community …
Asz Trump the Punk shoves Q tips into the ears of the blinded
they don't see what their herd hasn't heard
due to 45 wiping the wax in their eyes to blur the 'Social; "truth"
asz they munch on a freshly captured and distributed Baby Ruth
aszthe "truth' B spread
like Porn star thighs asz Trump a tempts to get a rise
out of his heavy pantys, Levi's, on the Helm
as Banded together in a 'Social' cocoon, the overwhelm,
spread by an Orange Baboon
twisted minded squiriming Bufoon
that can't possibly leave US
too Soon
The Nazi/Q salute was the scariest thing I have ever seen in American politics. They have abandoned religion in favor of a false idol no matter what they tell themselves. Every Republican should try to save themselves and denounce this kind of incitement that is going on at these "rallies". The majority of Jan. 6 rioters are using the fact that it was indeed Trump who incited them and they are using that fact in court as their own defense. My thoughts and prayers are for a more moderate Republican party who will show some courage and join the rest of the real majority of America and denounce this behavior as well as clearly stating they will drop out of races, abstain from voting or vote blue to send a real message that America will not bow down to one man who is exploiting the extremists in the Republican base for his own entertainment. We already spent way too many tax dollars on the backs of the American people wasting it on these rallies. Now we see this continuing as a form of grifting from these gullible people who chose the golden idol over all truth and reason.
Now are the moderate Republicans the ones who want to close the border, want voter ID, rid our schools of this radical trans agenda and CRT, want to stop the out of control spending to bring down inflation to name a few?