How can we effectively use Qanon against the Republican Party?

[dutch508]

Tom Rinaldo (22,203 posts)


How can we effectively use Qanon against the Republican Party?

I know there was an earlier semi-coordinated effort by Democrats to call Marjorie Taylor Greene the poster child of the current Republican Party, with pointed references to some of her prior Qanon supporting statements. I think the problem with that was that it ended up putting the focus more on Marjorie Taylor Greene than on Qanon. She got added publicity and used that as a platform to make more incendiary anti-Democratic attacks (and raise millions while doing so.) Those attacks (calls for "Second Amendment solutions" and claims that Democrats want to destroy America) should have disqualified her as a legitimate political figure, but in this era of hyper division they fell far short of doing so.

Meanwhile the actual substance of the Qanon belief systems have mostly gotten the late night talk show comedy treatment. Waiting for JFK Jr. to reappear has replaced rumored Elvis appearances as grist for the comic mill. Except it isn't really funny. In fact it should be terrifying. "Jewish Space Lasers" got treated as a punch line rather than blatant antisemitism, but Qanon is no joke. Tens of millions of Americans believe wild Qanon "conspiracy theories", with extremely dangerous content: Top Democrats drink the blood of children, government scientists induce genocide with fake vaccines to treat non-existent Covid etc. It is mass psychosis.

Fortunately though, tens of millions of Americans is still a far cry from a majority of our populous. Most Americans don't take Qanon seriously. Even most Republican and Republican leaning voters don't take Qanon seriously. Some might be influenced by some of the less extreme versions of Qanon conspiracy theories currently circulating on the Right, but they would still cringe at being associated with the full blown wild Qanon belief system. Right now right wing Republican office holders, and candidates for office, get to have their cake and eat it too. They can court and count on support from the Qanon "movement" without being directly identified with it. They almost never get pinned down. Is Qanon a friend or foe to America? Do they embrace or condemn its core messages? Are they themselves Qanon believers, and if not, do they think it essentially harmless when Qanon theories proliferate, or should they be vigorously opposed and debunked?

Where do Republicans stand on Qanon? Why, to this day, are most Americans still in the dark about the virulent form of insanity that Qanon spreads?

 

Star Member FakeNoose (21,756 posts)

2. The Antichrist angle might be effective - convince Q that Chump is "Antichrist"

I don't know how to do that, but I think it would eventually turn his base against him. Once the base hates him, the Repuke politicians would realize he's nothing to fear anymore.

 

Tom Rinaldo (22,203 posts)

5. Me, I don't believe in the "Antichrist"...

But were I to waver in that conviction, damn a strong case could be made that his name is Donald T. Trump. Seriously, it's uncanny.

Star Member Hortensis (50,200 posts)

13. Problem is, they're citizens and people.

How to convince them of their own free will to work to our benefit? Now that the Republicans are trying to destroy the government, we're THE "the establishment," they believe they have to destroy. They and just about every other malcontent, extremist and nutcase right AND left these days.

Star Member orangecrush (13,223 posts)

6. You don't want to "use Q"



You want to dismantle it.



"Yet some question how resilient the QAnon movement would be if Q disappeared and its core enablers and influencers lost traction on social media—Q’s noticeable silence since Joe Biden’s electoral victory has led to both a rise in violent rhetoric and fragmentation between hardcore QAnon believers and those losing the faith."

Amishman (4,213 posts)

12. not sure we can, the electorate's short attention span has moved on

Same with 1/6, people want to move on and have. The typical voter doesn't carte about Q, 1/6, or Trump anymore. They live in the moment, which is why inflation and shortages is hurting us so significantly right now. They don't care how we got here, they care what is causing them pain today and what is being done to fix it right now. Same reason so many won't prioritize climate change, its too gradual for their narrow focus.

Tom Rinaldo (22,203 posts)

14. Much as I hate it, I understand that is how most of the electorate thinks and reacts

Couple that with baked in tribal loyalties and only a small minority of voters seem movable on issues that aren't impacting them immediately. But even shifts involving just small percentages of voters can swing the results in swing states and districts. In 2020 the "Never Trumpers" in groups like The Lincoln Project were never able to swing the needle very far with their outreach to Republican minded voters who were not totally enamored with Trump, but in places they nudged it, and that nudge may have been a crucial part of Biden winning some very close State elections.

We need to use all the openings we can get to reach whatever voters we can. In some cases disgust with the antics of many Republicans might at least keep some voters home who would otherwise have voted against us.

 

[CollectivismMustDie]

Because appealing to voters based on the value of the ideas you support can not work for modern day democrats and leftists.

The screed authored by the DUmmy is just a non-admission admission of that fact.

They wouldn't need to do this crap, if it weren't for the 'all your kids/guns/individual liberty/wealth/ are belong to us' attitude that underpins every one of their ideas.

[SVPete]

Ummmmmm ... how many Rs could find "Qanon" without first using Google or DDG or Bing? I couldn't, and wouldn't bother to try, even out of freak-show-grade curiosity.

DUmmies are so cute when the indulge in full- stereotyping.  

[Wineslob]

Huh, I went to wiki. Qanon comes up with "false", and "baseless" over and over again. Oh, they HATE Trump.

Typical DUmmies. Hanging all their hopes on zip, zero. nada.

 

[DLR Pyro]

Because appealing to voters based on the value of the ideas you support can not work for modern day democrats and leftists.

The screed authored by the DUmmy is just a non-admission admission of that fact.

They wouldn't need to do this crap, if it weren't for the 'all your kids/guns/individual liberty/wealth/ are belong to us' attitude that underpins every one of their ideas.

exactly. 

They really have nothing to run on.  Nothing.

So they create a false boogie man they hope will sway people to vote for them despite the damage they are doing to the Country.