QAnon goes bonkers over Ron Watkins’ cryptic timer: ‘Something big I hope’
Ron Watkins, the conspiracy theorist behind the rise of the discredited QAnon movement, posted a mysterious countdown timer last night, prompting followers to excitedly insist that the return of Q is nigh.
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The X post, which racked up 1.4 million views as of this afternoon, links users to a digital timer scheduled to reach 0:00 at 6:17 pm ET tonight.
Watkins did not say what the clock was counting down to, but the URL appears to reference 8chan (now 8kun), the imageboard infamous for white supremacist and antisemitic content, child pornography, and celebrations of mass shootings where QAnon migrated to after taking off on 4chan off last decade.
Online conspiracists took the bait.
“Let’s see what happens with this countdown,” replied one anonymous account with “Anon 4 Life,” in their bio. “Buckle up, and if you see something say something.”
“Count down for what?” another commenter asked. “Q? Something big I hope.”
The QAnon conspiracy developed during and after the 2016 election, with followers believing Democratic elites were running a Satanic child sex trafficking ring and that President Donald Trump would bring them down.
The movement, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic, initially fed off cryptic posts by a secretive user named “Q.”
It was later revealed that 8chan founder Jim Watkins and his son Ron had ties to the movement and were likely behind most of the so-called “drops.”
Those posts dried up in recent years, however, even as QAnon-adjacent beliefs and QAnon social media influencers became more mainstream within the Republican Party, culminating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
But Watkins’ replies indicate the conspiracy theory is still alive in corners of the internet.
Some even tried to bring back the old QAnon magic, attempting to divine deep meaning from the timer.
“Given your post at 7:03 this evening, the time will be 17:17:17 on a day with 33 Deltas,” one user wrote.
“OK guys & gals…Not sure if anyone caught this yet!” another post read. “The countdown ends at 17:17:00 Central Time…!!!”
The number 17 has special significance in the convoluted world of QAnon, since Q is the 17th letter in the alphabet.
Others pondered whether the countdown referenced a press conference scheduled for this afternoon by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), a far-right lawmaker who appeared on a QAnon-focused online show in 2020.
“The American people deserve the truth,” Luna wrote yesterday in a post announcing the press conference. “We’ve been kept in the dark for far too long.”
Others were more skeptical of any big news coming from Watkins, who has mostly tweeted about submarine drones in recent days.
“Man if it ain’t a Q drop then RIP your replies,” one user wrote.
“Well interesting but not holding my breath anymore,” said another.
One way or another, QAnon’s devoted followers will have something new to fixate on in just a few hours.
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