The sprawling conspiracy theory has mutated across borders. The Instagram page of GrindHouse Fine Foods, a sausage-maker in rural Manitoba, looks exactly as would be expected—at first: lots of pictures of meat, some photos of rural Canada, and a collection of cringey memes. One image, though, offers some clues about the man behind the account. It’s a photo of a white bunny sitting at the wheel of a car, with big white text above that reads: “Just get in the car, Alice. I’ll explain on the way.” “Has anyone else been following ‘Q’ and the ‘White Rabbit’ down the rabbit hole?” the caption reads. A mess of hashtags inscrutable to outsiders are below, from #QAnon to #FrazzleDrip, #PodestaEmails, #SethRich, #WWG1WGA, #AdrenochromeHarvesting, and more. Weeks later, the account posted another meme: “We’re organising a festival after lockdown ends,” it reads, the text superimposed onto the scene of some kind of outdoor party. “For more info Google ‘Event 201.’” Anyone who followed those instructions would find that Event 201 was a tabletop exercise, held in 2019, designed to help policymakers think about the prospect of tackling a pandemic. In the example, which I wrote about in March, the players were faced with a fast-moving novel coronavirus originating from China. (…) QAnon is the movement organized around the anonymous Q, a poster on the far-right trolling site 4chan who purported to be a high-level Trump administration official detailing a secret war against the deep state. While the QAnon movement started as a boisterous defense of Trump, it has taken on a life of its own. It has stretched its tendrils into a sprawling, fantastical, and dangerous conspiracy movement that alleges the rich and powerful of the world, from Beyoncé to George Soros, operate an elaborate child-trafficking organization. The only one standing in their way is the president of the United States. In recent months, the movement has been boosted by some high-level adherents. On July 4, QAnon followers began posting videos of themselves taking the oath of allegiance—a show of fealty to the cause. They were joined by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Former Trump associate Roger Stone has further went on a QAnon podcast to say he hoped Q was, in fact, out there.
via foreign policy; QAnon’s Madness Is Turning Canadians Into Potential Assassins