What is Going on on March 4th?

[Philo Sofee]

I just heard today that there is going to be a good surprise on March 4th for the United States. Am I missing something? Is Russia surrendering to us? Has China turned over all the illegal computer hackers? Is March 4th the day Trump leaves our country? What is happening that has people excited? Sorry I am totally out of the loop for the last few weeks...

[Jersey Girl]

My birthday? Send presents.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Huh. I had to google this one. From Vox:

“ QAnon believers claim that the US federal government secretly became a corporation under a law they believe passed in 1871 but does not actually exist, rendering every president inaugurated and every constitutional amendment passed in the years since illegitimate.

But on March 4, the narrative goes, Trump will return as the 19th president, the first legitimate president since Ulysses S. Grant, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as his vice president. Why March 4? It’s the original date that presidents were inaugurated. Inauguration Day changed to January 20 with the passage of the 20th amendment in 1933 — the same year that Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the gold standard.

This is actually relevant to the conspiracy theory: QAnon believers argue that in ending the gold standard, Roosevelt transferred power to a group of shadowy foreign investors who have since been controlling the US government. (Trump sought to bring back the gold standard while in office.)

“Trump will be back on March 4. By Constitution. Read it. Read a book and educate yourself,” wrote the user Wesley McBride on a Telegram channel for people who migrated from Parler after Amazon Web Services booted the right-wing social media site from its servers.

Of course, no part of their theory is true or even reasonable. It’s all disinformation, designed to explain why Biden is currently president — a reality that conflicts with their fantasy that Trump is some kind of messianic figure destined to bring about a new republic when, really, he’s a twice-impeached ex-president who lost reelection and would rather incite a mob than admit defeat.

Part of the conspiracy theory echoes one from the “sovereign citizen” extremist movement, which is anti-government and anti-taxation and has a history of racism and anti-Semitism. The FBI has identified the movement, which has been behind violence against police officers, as a domestic terrorist threat. It similarly believes in a conspiracy theory that shadowy government figures seized control of the system set up by the country’s founders in 1933 with the end of the gold standard — one in a long line of conspiracy theories designed to “cast aspersions on Jews in general,” as my colleague Zack Beauchamp writes.

...

The March 4 conspiracy theory has been spreading on both mainstream and alternative right-wing social media platforms alike. In the wake of the Capitol attack, mainstream sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have pushed to deplatform users who post conspiracy theories and violent hate speech, though on TikTok, a platform that skews toward a younger audience, posts about Trump returning for a second term on March 4 have still proliferated.

Many QAnon followers have also migrated to largely unmoderated social media platforms like Gab, MeWe, Telegram, CloutHub, Rumble, and Parler...”

So. Basically raging damned idiots can’t resist jumping balls deep into another idiocy.

- Doc

[Gunnar]

I wonder what they'll come up with when their March 4th predictions fail to materialize.

[Jersey Girl]

Huh. I had to google this one. From Vox:

“ QAnon believers claim that the US federal government secretly became a corporation under a law they believe passed in 1871 but does not actually exist, rendering every president inaugurated and every constitutional amendment passed in the years since illegitimate.

But on March 4, the narrative goes, Trump will return as the 19th president, the first legitimate president since Ulysses S. Grant, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as his vice president. Why March 4? It’s the original date that presidents were inaugurated. Inauguration Day changed to January 20 with the passage of the 20th amendment in 1933 — the same year that Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the gold standard.

This is actually relevant to the conspiracy theory: QAnon believers argue that in ending the gold standard, Roosevelt transferred power to a group of shadowy foreign investors who have since been controlling the US government. (Trump sought to bring back the gold standard while in office.)

“Trump will be back on March 4. By Constitution. Read it. Read a book and educate yourself,” wrote the user Wesley McBride on a Telegram channel for people who migrated from Parler after Amazon Web Services booted the right-wing social media site from its servers.

Of course, no part of their theory is true or even reasonable. It’s all disinformation, designed to explain why Biden is currently president — a reality that conflicts with their fantasy that Trump is some kind of messianic figure destined to bring about a new republic when, really, he’s a twice-impeached ex-president who lost reelection and would rather incite a mob than admit defeat.

Part of the conspiracy theory echoes one from the “sovereign citizen” extremist movement, which is anti-government and anti-taxation and has a history of racism and anti-Semitism. The FBI has identified the movement, which has been behind violence against police officers, as a domestic terrorist threat. It similarly believes in a conspiracy theory that shadowy government figures seized control of the system set up by the country’s founders in 1933 with the end of the gold standard — one in a long line of conspiracy theories designed to “cast aspersions on Jews in general,” as my colleague Zack Beauchamp writes.

...

The March 4 conspiracy theory has been spreading on both mainstream and alternative right-wing social media platforms alike. In the wake of the Capitol attack, mainstream sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have pushed to deplatform users who post conspiracy theories and violent hate speech, though on TikTok, a platform that skews toward a younger audience, posts about Trump returning for a second term on March 4 have still proliferated.

Many QAnon followers have also migrated to largely unmoderated social media platforms like Gab, MeWe, Telegram, CloutHub, Rumble, and Parler...”

So. Basically raging damned idiots can’t resist jumping balls deep into another idiocy.

- Doc

I already knew about the above. Can I just tell you this? When I was in elementary I had to do a report on Pres. William Henry Harrison. I remember it for 2 reasons.

1. Because he was inaugurated on my birthday.
2. Because he died one month later.

So...the Q's might want to rethink their strategy.

[MeDotOrg]

The Q-Anon prophecy failure and subsequent backup prophecy reminds me of what happens to end-of-the-world cults when the world doesn't (end). There's actually a fair amount of literature dealing with how people resolve what failed to happen.

After some failed prophecies, there is a claim that the efforts of the cult itself changed the outcome, and therefore God decided not to destroy the world. Something like that is happening in parts of Q-Anon.

Over half a century ago, the John Birch Society believed that water fluoridation was a Communist Plot. (The most brilliant parody of this was Sterling Hayden's performance in Dr. Strangelove. You hear echoes of that paranoia today with many of the anti-vaxers. Instead of Communists, it's Bill Gates injecting tracking chips.

I had the Pfizer vaccine today and I feel fine. I have to go now and buy Microsoft Office. You should too. Join us.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I have to go now and buy Microsoft Office. You should too. Join us.

I damned knew it.

- Doc

[Some Schmo]

I had the Pfizer vaccine today and I feel fine. I have to go now and buy Microsoft Office. You should too. Join us.

You haven't had Office surgically implanted yet? Where have you been?

I dream in Excel spreadsheets.

ETA: And my nightmares are in Quattro Pro.

[Moksha]

I wonder what they'll come up with when their March 4th predictions fail to materialize.

How do we know that right-wing death squads will not be doing so mass-violence in the form of shootings or bombings? There are plenty of Proud Boys/Klansmen/Oath Keepers/Nancie Bois/DezNat/SkinHeads/John Birchers/Ajaxites/Rapturites/Neo-Nazis/3%ers/State Militiamen out there to cause much death and mayhem. These groups are all enthralled to the Orange Hell Spawn and will do its bidding.

When Trump does not ascend to the throne on March 4th, the QAnoners will come out with a QNutty explanation that may or may not feature the new Mars probe exploring the dark side of Josh Hawley and fellow traitor Ted Cruz.

[Chap]

When Trump does not ascend to the throne on March 4th, the QAnoners will come out with a QNutty explanation that may or may not feature the new Mars

Maybe they will announce that the real USA is now located on the planet Mars?

With luck they will do a deal with Elon Musk to stage a mass migration. Hope it works out well for them.