Trump shares rally compilation video made by QAnon influencer – Insider
- President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka tweeted a video made by a popular QAnon-supporting Twitter personality.
- The Trump campaign also played the clip at a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to tweets with footage from the event.
- The video’s creator tweeted QAnon conspiracy theories within hours of the president posting his video.
- Trump has signaled intermittent support for the movement, which has generated conspiracy theories about numerous high-powered public figures.
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President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign shared a video made by a popular QAnon-supporting Twitter personality who has spread several conspiracy theories to his 270,000 followers.
The Twitter user Julian’s Rum, whose real identity is unknown, is a popular voice among followers of QAnon, the baseless, far-right conspiracy theory alleging that Trump is fighting a “deep state” cabal of human traffickers who control the world.
The video, first posted by the Julian’s Rum account on Wednesday, is essentially a series of clips from Trump campaign-rally footage edited together and does not directly refer to QAnon. Trump’s daughter Ivanka posted the video from her Twitter account on Monday afternoon. “The MAGA movement is MASSIVE and it is unstoppable,” she wrote.
—Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 2, 2020
Hours later, the president posted the video on Twitter, without crediting Julian’s Rum, and pinned it to his profile. (A different tweet was pinned to his profile as of Tuesday morning.)
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2020
Twitter users then shared footage from a Trump campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, that showed the video playing on a screen for attendees of the event.
Julian’s Rum, who often tweets support for the president, celebrated Trump using his video, writing in a tweet that he was “honored.” The QAnon community at large also celebrated the support from Trump along with him. Numerous accounts explicitly devoted to QAnon tweeted in celebration.
Julian’s Rum has often promoted theories associated with QAnon, which thrives off of support from influencers on social media. Logically.ai, a fact-checking website that uses artificial intelligence to combat misinformation online, referred to Julian’s Rum as a “QAnon supporting power-user” in an analysis of the QAnon community’s reaction to the massive Twitter hack in July.
Within hours of Trump using his video, Julian’s Rum shared footage from an active shooting near a synagogue in Vienna, suggesting without evidence that the event was somehow “designed.” The idea that major news events are somehow staged or controlled by a typically unnamed power is popular among QAnon believers.
Later on Monday, he shared a screenshot of a November 2, 2017, “Q drop,” a cryptic message from the anonymous “Q” figure who is seen by believers as the leader of the conspiracy theory. The message appeared to claim that Q had predicted Monday’s Vienna shooting three years ago.
On June 17, Julian’s Rum tweeted that the mainstream media was “complicit in treason” and used the QAnon hashtag. In July, he referred to the QAnon community’s conspiracy theories about model Chrissy Teigen, writing that she “sold her soul” for fame.
Julian’s Rum did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Trump has given encouragement to the QAnon community before. In an NBC town-hall event last month, Trump refused to condemn the conspiracy theory and said QAnon believers were simply “against pedophilia.” The QAnon movement purports to be focused on the “save the children” anti-human-trafficking movement, but in reality experts say the group’s understanding of trafficking is misguided and unhelpful.
In August, when asked by a reporter for his thoughts on QAnon, Trump said the movement’s adherents were just people “who love our country.”
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