Here’s How QAnon Reacted as They Realized ‘The Storm’ Isn’t Happening

QAnon is not going away . But it ’s reeling in abject confusion and desperation after Joe Bidentook office on Wednesdaywithout Donald Trumpleading an armyof federal agents and National Guardsmen to storm the inauguration and arrest the integral leadership of the Democratic Party .

QAnon managed to successfully unite large swathes of the conspiracy web — pro - Trump majestic cultists , Christian fundamentalists , unskilled race theorists , fascists , hardcore anti - Semites , fleeceable suburbanites , moon landing truthers , ember rolling neo - Confederate dirtbags , anti - vax quack , you name it — under one grown collapsible shelter : that Donald J. Trump is a brilliant strategian , possibly anele by God , agitate anUnderworld - expressive style undercover waragainst a nestling - raping cabal of popular politicians and Hollywood celebrities . The possibility was base on an strange individual or individuals using the moniker “ Q ” , supposedly a high - range interior security or military official , who station riddle - alike letter to fringe internet boards that were just vague enough for adherents to cook up and debate their own interpretations . Thusessentially gamifiedin nature , it disseminate wildly on social internet including Facebook and Twitter , rewarded promoterswithmonetization opportunities , inspired numerous crimes and other turn of ferocity , and propel many in the gang that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a failed insurrection .

If there was one matter that fairly much everyone in QAnon agreed on , it was Q ’s directive to “ trust the plan ” : that Trump , in one way of life or the other , would put a dramatic end to the unholy confederacy in a monolithic military crackdown called The Storm . As this repeatedly fail to take place , some Q devotee grew nervous and others doubled down . But at midday on Inauguration Day — the exact metre Joe Biden became president and Trump ’s last opportunity to represent a coup — came and go with nothing uncanny happening . QAnon - affiliate message boards like Great Awakening and Telegram channels sound into a full - on meltdown .

Photo: Stephen Maturen (Getty Images)

too soon in the day , on Great Awakening , some Q aficionado aver they were sleep - deprived over excitement for the big twenty-four hour period . Others noticed with an increase chariness that the ongoing inaugural celebration did not on the button bode well for Trump , though others mined the outbound president ’s farewell speech for rhetorical clues or ocular hints , having attributed random mundanities like gold - fringed flags or the movements of his hand as surreptitious messages in the form of archetypal motifs . One asked about the hidden signification of Trump repeatedly dating the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic to 1917 , disregarding the obvious answer that he never has any idea what the fuck he ’s talking about .

( remark that it ’s hard to inconceivable to narrate which poster were literal or poser line up to troll them , as Q communications seemed increasingly flooded with scoffing throughout the day . )

affair start getting a little more alarming for the Q gang when they noticed Trump did not make believe to fly to Florida but was really in Florida . Others started boost theory that perhaps Trump ’s mien was unneeded , as Biden might take the level to confess to his crimes and surrender himself .

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Screenshot: Great Awakening

As Biden took to the microscope stage and took his oath of function , the military post took an increasingly panic spirit on both Great Awakening and Q - consecrate Telegram channels :

https://twitter.com/embed/status/1351936263339732993

https://twitter.com/embed/status/1351936185309028352

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Screenshot: Great Awakening

great deal of anger in the QAnon group chats , with many people say they want to bemuse up as they realize the lot arrests wo n’t hap . If you or someone close to you is reconsider QAnon after today , my dm / electronic mail ( will.sommer athttps://t.co/TcGexoOgeZ ) are open.pic.twitter.com/cDbXhswyUH

— Will Sommer ( @willsommer)January 20 , 2021

QAnon has always been a vitreous silica clear example of Poe ’s Law , the proverb that any sufficiently utmost stead reaches a state of matter where it is undistinguishable from parody without cognition of the generator ’s design . ( By this point , some of the ridicule may have been get along from pro - Q posters who finally realized they ’d been duped . ) Examples after Biden was sworn in included messages inform Union agents that “ EVERY POST I HAVE EVER MADE ON THIS web site IS SATIRE , ” require “ mod please explain why Biden is n’t check yet , ” and call at each other about the system of logic of searching for hidden codes in video recording timestamps .

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Ron Watkins , the ( supposedly ) former administrator of far - right message gameboard 8kun and a relentless impresario of QAnon and election faker put-on , look to completely capitulate to his hundreds of thousands of followers on Telegram and white supremacist hub Gab . In a message , he asked them to “ please recall all of the friends and happy remembering we made together ” as the Biden giving medication begins . Watkins , who is trying to rebrand himself as acybersecurity expert , also teased some godawful future project .

This is a biotic community of multitude who believe Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are the high-pitched priests of a global human trafficking surgical operation consecrate to child ritual killing to harvest hallucinogenic / geezerhood - reversing brain fluid , many of whom remained attached to the point ofdestroying their relationshipswith friends andloved 1 . So do n’t get your hopes up too much .

Incredibly suspect as much of this is , slidinginto a fantasywhere Trump , QAnon , and the various otherfar - right extremistswith slightly less churrigueresque aesthetics are get their comeuppance once and for all would amount todangerous complacency .

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Trump is still alert and quite capable of inspiring followers tonew and dangerous heights . More important is the move he rode to power on . QAnon ’s blade of reactionary , apocalyptic fever has always been apermanent fixturein the U.S. political landscape , but this most recent waving of transmission has proven virulent and treatment - resistant . expert on the far right hand confer with by Gizmodo said that they expect QAnon to in the end survive as adherents just cook up new rationalizations for their frustration .

“ Today QAnon supporters are experiencing the close affair to their own ‘ enceinte dashing hopes , ’ ” Julian Feeld , an anti - conspiracy hypothesis researcher and Colorado - emcee of theQAnon Anonymous podcast , told Gizmodo .

“ As the Millerite Christians before them , their ‘ great waking up ’ has repeatedly die to materialize , ” Feeld said , referring to the millenarian Christian movement of the 1830s which , after a prophecy of the Second Coming come to nothing in 1844 , morphed into the millions - hard Adventist / 7th - day Second Adventist faith . “ We expect this to weaken their numbers racket but strengthen their resolve — and extremism . ”

Screenshot: Great Awakening

Screenshot: Great Awakening

“ With the Biden administration upon us , QAnon is insert a new period of deflation , rise the risk that QAnon followers will harm themselves or others around them , as we ’ve see happen again and again , ” Feeld added . “ The broad Christian extremism and reactionist ethnic disposition wo n’t be go aside , so I believe the macro environment will continue to support many of their delusion , whatever the label they use to key out them . ”

“ QAnon worshipper are now at a crossroad where they will choose whether they keep think in lies or they provide the movement , ” Jared Holt , a visiting research chap at the Atlantic Council ’s Digital Forensic Research Lab , assure Gizmodo . “ So many hoi polloi who believe in the cabal theory have done so at the detriment of their personal lives and relationships . We can only hope they translate that they have been scammed and are able-bodied to begin returning to normal liveliness , but that persist to be seen . There will be some who never stop believing in Q. ”

Update : 2025-02-18 : This article has been updated to explicitly remark that Julian Feeld is a anonym .

Screenshot: Great Awakening