The bizarre movement, branded a 'deranged conspiracy cult', believes Trump is working to take down a secret, elitist world order from the inside
THERE is a dark and largely unseen force sweeping through the heart of America - and at the centre of that wave is the letter Q.
It is the calling card for a movement called QAnon which has been branded everything from a "deranged conspiracy cult" to a "dangerous phenomenon" threatening to go mainstream with its unhinged theories.
You'll see QAnon supporters at every Donald Trump rally, holding giant cardboard signs or wearing T-shirts emblazoned with that increasingly ominous letter.
They are largely driven by the belief that Trump is waging a secret war against a Hollywood-linked paedophile ring involving former president Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
They also believe special counsel Robert Mueller, the man investigating Trump over alleged collusion with the Russians during the presidential election, is actually working with him to take it down.
Here, we take a closer look at the origins of this dark and disruptive group which intimidates journalists at public rallies and why it's growing in popularity...
In late October 2017, an anonymous user going simply by Q posted on 4chan, a shadowy site known for, among other things, cruel hoaxes and political extremism.
This person claimed to be a government insider who had access to classified information into both the Trump administration and his opponents.
Q gives readers "breadcrumbs" so they could arrive at their own conclusions while using special lingo so these amateur sleuths feel like they are part of a club.
It then encourages followers to "follow the White Rabbit", , which says the group has "packaged everything attractive about this type of propaganda in one tantalising product".
The Mueller investigation
Q has claimed special counsel Robert Mueller isn't investigating Trump at all - he's really investigating Clinton and Obama who are planning a coup while involved in an international child sex trafficking ring.
In fact, Trump is apparently helping Mueller to take down this secret group of elites which has been running the US for decades, .
Kim Jong-un
Q has also said the US created North Korea and installed a "madman" puppet leader to stop the world from falling into nuclear Armageddon, .
The group has repeatedly claimed the Central Intelligence Agency installed tyrant Kim-Jong-un as the country's supreme leader.
The Rothschild family
QAnon is convinced the Rothschilds - a wealthy Jewish family dating back to the the 1760s, is helping a select few individuals control the world order through satanic rituals.
It believes they are the apex of a cult which also includes the Saudi royal family and philanthropist billionaire George Soros, .
Titanic
More than 100 years after the famous luxury liner sank in 1912, killing 1,503, Q claimed American financier J P Morgan was behind the disaster, .
In the completely ludicrous and widely debunked theory, it said Morgan sabotaged the vessel to assassinate a property mogul, banker and mining magnate - all his millionaire rivals.
School shootings
Many QAnon believers are convinced that each mass shooting, including the horrendous mass murders we have seen in schools over the last few years, are "false flag" attacks arranged by the elite - or "cabal" as they call it.
In the days after ten were killed at Sante Fe High School in Texas in May, shameless trolls claimed it was staged so the "deep state" could seize guns nationwide, .
JFK Jr is still alive
Back when Trump was still a controversial and divisive presidential candidate, QAnon started spreading the word that John F Kennedy Jr had not died in a plane crash off the coast of Massachusetts in 1999.
Instead, the late president's son had become the new Q after living under a new pseudonym for almost two decades, .
Brooke Binkowski, former managing editor of fact-checking site Snopes, told Time that Q could order followers to commit violence "if they became convinced it was the only way to stop imminent harm".
Last month, an armed QAnon believer blocked traffic at the Hoover Dam and demanded Trump release a report allegedly tying past presidents Obama and Clinton to an alleged sex ring.
Only last month a QAnon supporter appeared outside the house of Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing a porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump, because Q "sent him there".
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on how Trump rallies turned ominously "hostile" around the same time the "cultish group" popped up holding giant cardboard Qs.
While Trump has never legitimised or endorsed the group, many believe his backing of other conspiracies - including Obama's birth certificate and Ted Cruz's citizenship - may have laid the groundwork for more dangerous theories.
Michael Wood told Time: "People’s idea of what are acceptable political beliefs depends, to some extent, on what kind of cues they get from political elites."
But its momentum was mainly built on the enthusiasm of 4chan users who seemed to enjoy discussing the cryptic posts and the clues.
It evolved its own special terminology, inside jokes and theories blossomed and before anyone could react, Q sub-reddits swelled to 30,000 followers.
Joseph Uscinski, who co-authored the book American Conspiracy Theories, said Q "is just hitting the right audience at the right time given the right circumstance".
He said Q's topics appeal to many who already are inclined to believe conspiracy theories, adding: "There is no way to know if it's an embedded deep state operative or if it's a prankster."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
