THE COMING STORM

This past summer, the elusive Q returned (or not, depending on who you ask.) If you missed his return, you might be excused, because a lot has happened to his community since December 2020 when he first disappeared. But Q’s presence is beginning to coalesce and gain critical mass once again thanks to the 45th President of the United States and his recent rally in Pennsylvania. Prepare for the coming storm.

The illustration below is a rudimentary representation of the message (i.e., “drop”) heralding Q’s return:

This reminds me of the wayward computer program in the 1983 movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick and Dabney Coleman.

I’ve written at length about Q here. But for those unfamiliar with Q, Q is a persona for a person who claimed to be working deep within the federal government and he claimed that he had what is known as “Q clearance,” which refers to the level of security clearance he was able to access and work within. Using cryptic messages (called Q drops) and a unique vocabulary together in a puzzle-like fashion similar to an online game, with unimpeded access to a relatively remote corner of the Web, Q has spawned similar conspiratorial groups in overseas countries as well. And now, he’s baaaackk!!!

Q Anon is best understood if you think of it as a cult. It says it has secret information that no one else has. It is the only source of truth for its members. Traditional news media, including cable news such as CNN and Fox, are not only cast as unreliable, but enemies of the state” or “enemies of the people” (a perjorative term that ex-president Trump used routinely while in office.) Relatives of Qcconverts notice changes in their Q-seeking loved ones. Members of the Q community become obsessed, withdrawn, they often think and behave differently, irrationally. Converts are secretive, often paranoid, and family relationships quickly break down. Their beliefs are utterly fantastic, such as the unshakeable faith by some Q believers that Donald Trump’s Vice-presidential nominee in 2024 will be (the late) John Kennedy, who will appear miracuously at Dealy Plaza in Dallas, TX where his father was assassinated in November 23, 1963. Not every Q follower believes this, of course. Some pursue other equally bizzare ideas. In Q’s absence, a number of influencers have become minor celebrities within that Q community and have attempted to hijack or co-opt it.

Many Q disciples believe that democrats are fundamentally Satanists who abduct children to perpetrate unspeakable sexual horrors on them. Government as far as these conspiracy people are concerned is helplessly mired in a “swamp” of special interests and career civil servants. Swamp is a term popularized by conservative talk-show hosts over the past decades, and the current thinking is that only Donald J. Trump, a messianic figure in that Wonderland, can drain the swamp and free these children. But first (or immediately afterwards), a bloody reckoning must take place, called “the Storm.” Here, thousands of “enemies” and “traitors” must be arrested, quickly tried and publically executed as a warning to the rest of the law-abiding liberal democrats or RINO republicans, meaning that this could happen to us, as well, if we date to resist or speak up.

Once again, Donald J. Trump is stirring the pot. We all know that unless it is a rare occasion when Mr. Trump is reading from a script, he generally derails and does not finish sentences. In fact, he’s difficult to follow to begin with. Consider these remarks by him in a speech delivered in July, 2015

“Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, okay, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, okay, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right — who would have thought?), but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.”

In the years since as he has gotten older, his grammar and syntax have gotten worse (much worse.) That’s not to say that President Biden’s coherence is anything to brag about, but it creates a sense of sadness in my heart that a nation such as the U.S.A. cannot find a leader that can speak English well and cogently carry a thought. In spite of this, often Mr. Trump makes his point, bluntly, as here in these threatening remarks made in 2019:

“I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump–I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough—until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”
Trump warning liberal politicians to watch their step (or else.)

To Q Anon followers, most who see Trump as their Fuhrer, they know what the “storm” will be. Mr. Trump knows what the word “storm” in this context means, too. It will be a bloodbath, where scores and grudges are settled by the barrel of a gun. So why does Mr. Trump throw out that term in memes involving photos of himself on his social network? Why speak in bloody terms, as when he notorously remarked in 2016: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters?” Who says things like that?!

On the other hand, sometimes, threats from the extreme Right are more indirect, more subtle, more couched. Is Mr. Trump (or certain republican members of the Senate) urging people to riot if Mr. Trump is arrested for any one of many crimes he has been accused of, or is he and his freinds and associates “just sayin'” it might happen? We heard earlier examples (and saw the deadly consequences) of Mr. Trump’s ad libs in the days and weeks leading up to January 6, 2021. These MAGA authority figures are once again setting new norms and expectations. If this does not encourage violence, then at least it excuses it. And if the hundreds of rioters and insurrectionists who destroyed the doors and windows of the Capitol and assaulted police officers with flag poles, bear spray and other weapons just wait until Mr. Trump is reelected, they may all likely be pardoned. At least, according to Mr. Trump.

*Photo: Jan H. Anderson (Shutterstock.)*

Hopefully, my evangelical brethren have learned right from wrong in this regard, even if some former and current political and religious leaders have not. We as Americans need Christian leaders who understand that the salvation of our society and prosperity of our people does not come from weapons and threats! Thomas Jefferson may have quipped casually about revolution, and the defiance and death of patriots, but then he was neither the Apostle John nor the Apostle James, and quite possibly not even a Christian to boot. God does not call us to be patriots, but rather peacemakers. So, let’s do this. Let’s accept this mantle before it’s too late. Before the Storm arrives.

A word of caution to Christians

*Pandoras box. Illustration credit Elena Schweitzer (Shutterstock.)*

Throwing around violent imagery in a prophetic voice or manipulating the basest instincts and prejudices of people is like a child playing with matches. Remember Pandora of Greek mythology and her box of woes? You should know there are dangerous, vicious spiritual forces in this world that few people are aware of, and once they are unleashed, they cannot easily be once again contained. We should thank God that they are restrained to the extent that they are. The child in the photo above likely has no idea of the power of fire to inflict unbearable pain and misery, placing hundreds of people in mortal danger if his carelessness should reach its logical conclusion. So it is with threats, promises or even forecasts of violence, particularly when directed at agents of the State who provide valuable services to citizens. It matters not how casually or sweetly you present these prognostications if the consequences or the outcomes are the same and your intentions are obvious. And don’t pretend you are doing God’s work. You wouldn’t be climbing the ramparts or clawing at the barricades if you were.