Trump, Who Wants to Be President, Can’t Stop Promoting QAnon Memes

Donald Trump spent his morning promoting QAnon-affiliated posts on social media, boosting a theory that holds that a global cabal of pedophiles control the world and pursue immortality via extracting juvenile hormones.

Donald Trump is asking the country to make him the next president of the United States.

After the Supreme Court rejected his bid to block the House from accessing his tax returns, Trump spiraled into a “Truth Social” posting spree late Tuesday night that continued through early Wednesday morning.  Trump, who appointed three supreme court justices in his time as president, accused the court of having “lost its honor, prestige, and standing” and of becoming “nothing more than a political body, with our Country paying the price.” Alongside lambasting the court’s refusal to act as an enforcement arm to his personal whims, Trump promoted and reposted various memes and videos with clear references to the Qanon conspiracy theory. 

The QAnon conspiracy holds that Trump is a deity-like figure sent to rid the United States of its governing cabal of satanic pedophiles. In some versions of the conspiracy theory, Trump’s “storm” will take the shape of martial law and mass arrests of his political opponents.  The memes repeatedly referenced “Q+,” a moniker believers have given the former president. 

This is not the first time Trump has made overtures to QAnon believers, who compose some of the most devoted factions of his supporter base. In August he went on a 60+ post Truth Social spree that heavily referenced QAnon and 4chan content. As president, he refused on multiple occasions to denounce the conspiracy, and the slogans and even music associated with the cult-like movement have become staples at his public events. 

Advisors to the former president have expressed confusion as to why exactly Trump enjoys entangling himself with QAnon. Rolling Stone reported in September that sources close to the president couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, but that “sometimes [he] mentions that it’s hilarious to make people like you [in the media] so mad when you see him touch the Q shit … But to be fair, he says that they’re some of his biggest fans, which, you know, is his thing.”

Trump launched his official campaign for the 2024 presidential election earlier this month. To much less fanfare and adulation than he had hoped. Rolling Stone has reported that Trump is outright attempting to intimidate allies into endorsing his campaign, and is furious that some prominent officials want him to stay far away from the upcoming runoff election in Georgia. As the former president faces a presidential primary that is likely to include robust challenges from within his party, throwing red meat to his most rabid supporters is one of the ways Trump is looking to shore up his base.