The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family

by Jesselyn Cook

Under QAnon’s expansive umbrella are two camps of people; combined, they double the population of Texas. In the first are the true believers, who think Donald Trump and a mysterious government insider known as “Q” are (perpetually) in the final stages of a treacherous, unseen battle to liberate humanity from “the Deep State,” a satanic cabal of globalist elites who rule the world from the shadows while buying and selling children to rape, mutilate, and eat. (One such believer was elected—and twice reelected—as House representative of Georgia’s Fourteenth Congressional District; several have proven violent, even murderous.) And in the second, much larger camp, which emerged over the pandemic as QAnon ideology blended insidiously into mainstream discourse, are those who embrace some or all of the core conspiracy theories but don’t identify with the movement. Since then, as QAnon’s branding has faded from public view, its ideas have been diluted and normalized, and this group has swelled.