- Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska warned in an open in The Atlantic that the QAnon conspiracy theory movement was destroying the GOP.
- “We can dedicate ourselves to defending the Constitution and upholding our best American institutions and traditions, or we can be a party to conspiracy theories, cable news fantasies and the downfall that accompanies them,” writes Sasse of the IDP.
- Adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory believe without reason that a cabal of Satan who worships child abuse rules the world.
- Supporters of the movement were at the forefront of the Capitol riots, in which a police officer and a riot who shared QAnon slogans on social media were killed.
- Swads of the GOP embraced the movement, and Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene openly supported the movement.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse has warned that the QAnon conspiracy theory movement is destroying the GOP in a dazzling open for The Atlantic.
In the article, Sasse describes how supporters of the movement played a prominent role in the riots on 6 January.
“The violence that Americans have witnessed and that may occur again in the coming days is not a protest that went wrong or some bad apples.” ago and was fueled by betrayal, poor political judgment and cowardice, ”writes Sasse.
He praised Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman for leading a mob led by a man wearing a QAnon shirt away from a room where Senators and Vice President Mike Pence were present during the riots.
“We can commit ourselves to defending the Constitution and upholding our best American institutions and traditions, or we can be a party to conspiracy theories, cable news fantasies and the downfall that accompanies it,” he continues. “We can be Eisenhower’s party, or the conspiracy of Alex Jones. We can applaud Officer Goodman or stand with the mob he is outwitting. We can not do both.”
The QAnon conspiracy theory movement originated on the 4Chan and 8Chan message boards in 2017 and was constantly embraced by a section of the Republican grassroots level, praised by President Donald Trump and seen as a supporter, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, elected to the Congress.
The movement unjustifiably believes Democrats and Hollywood stars run child abuse networks, which Trump is disbanding. Fans who stormed the Capitol believed they were inciting The Storm, an event in which they believe Trump will carry out his political enemies en masse.
In the essay, Sasse describes Greene as a “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.” He attributes the growing strength of movements based on conspiracy theories to factors such as America’s “junk food” media diet, the collapse of belief in institutions, and a pervasive loss of meaning.
He writes of a growing gap in the GOP between Republicans who supported Trump’s accusation of inciting the riots, and those who refused to do so.
Sasse is one of a small group of GOP senators who openly opposed the conspiracy theories of Trump’s election fraud that fueled the riots and left open the possibility of sentencing Trump to his second indictment.
Sasse said many party colleagues have said in private that they are afraid to support Trump’s accusation because they ‘believe that a vote to accuse the president will endanger their lives, or the lives of their families’, of hard Trump supporters.
Sasse is appealing to the party to show courage by emphatically rejecting the conspiracy theories embraced by American law and efforts to rebuild the party.
“Until last week, many party leaders and consultants thought they could proclaim the Constitution while winking at QAnon. They could not. The IDP must reject or be consumed by conspiracy theories. Now is the time to decide what this party is about,” “writes Sasse.