On Thursday, former President Trump reposted a video originally shared by a QAnon follower that integrated Trump into imagery affiliated with the conspiracy movement.
In the conspiracy theory,"Q" is viewed as the primary messenger through the online message-board 8chan. Believers are convinced that a high-ranking official within the government who has one of the highest security clearances, known as Q-level, is releasing sanctioned leaks to the public in order to motivate them ahead of prophesied mass arrests. They believe the person,"Q," dropsp vague, often incomprehensible clues known as"Q drops.
"[Trump's] role within the movement is still this leader, this almost messianic figure, who is running everything, who can outsmart anybody, and anything that seems like it's a negative, you know, Trump losing the election, Biden being inaugurated, all the various FBI probes and all of that stuff. It's all leading to Trump eventually winning," Rothschild said, adding that"goalposts [of QAnon] never stop moving.
Trump established his own social media platform, Truth Social, after he was banned from Meta and Twitter, and he's able to more freely post content that echoes QAnon.