QAnon is ????? ?????? ??? ??????? ????????both the most bonkers and unfounded conspiracy theory in the world. Yet for years it has been perhaps the most powerful.
Q believers have ascended to Congress. Republicanism and Q are so intwined their differences are essentially indistinguishable.
The identity of Q — whom believers falsely think is a high-level military or government official who is bringing down a cabal of Satan-worshipping Democratic elites — was all but revealed in a HBO documentary that aired on Sunday. The end to the 6-part Q: Into the Stormwas so anticlimactic it bordered on absurd.
Ron Watkins, who owns and runs 8kun (formerly 8chan), basically admitted he posted as Q in the finale of the documentary. It appeared to be an accident, or a winking "accident" to get credit.
In the doc, Watkins was talking about how he'd recently spent a lot of time spreading the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
“It was basically three years of intelligence training, teaching normies how to do intelligence work," he said. "It was basically what I was doing anonymously before."
Seemingly catching the slip-up, Watkins smirked then followed up with, "...but never as Q."
Both he and documentarian Cullen Hoback busted out laughing, realizing what happened.
Seemingly flustered, Watkins adds, "I am not Q."
Watch for yourself.
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The previously camera-shy Watkins — who runs 8kun alongside his father, Jim — has long been the key suspect for the identity of Q. In fact, anybody really paying attention all but knew it. But his accidental reveal, the slip of the mask is huge, if anticlimactic, news. This bonkers theory, which, in part, inspired a successful and deadly siege of the Capitol on Jan. 6. 2021, was all but confirmed to be a hoax by the person who ran the hoax. It's wild and so...dumb...that this is how we all find out — because Watkins slipped up for a second.
It makes sense since Q had somewhat inexplicably tied its fortunes to posting onlyon 8chan/8kun. It's inexplicable unless, you know, the Watkins family was behind the ordeal. Q hasn't posted in months, however, and the Watkins duo told Hoback that he would probably stop posting after the 2020 election.
And, in case you were wondering, this isn't going to kill the Q theory, even if it should. Vice News reported that Q-heavy forums either aren't talking about it or don't care.