Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America

by Will Sommer

QAnon is unmatched among modern American conspiracy theories in its ability to inspire violence. As of September 2021, 101 QAnon followers had been inspired to commit crime by their beliefs, a list that includes 61 defendants from the Capitol riot, according to data compiled by University of Maryland researchers. No other conspiracy theory, from 9/11 trutherism to birtherism, gets even close to inspiring that level of violence. Marc-André Argentino, a PhD candidate at Montreal’s Concordia University studying extremism, told me QAnon stands out among conspiracy theories in its ability to inspire violence. Argentino attributes that in part to the ubiquity QAnon achieved on social media, giving it a permanent online presence that makes it feel more pervasive in a way that earlier conspiracy theories didn’t. As a result, it has more of an influence on its followers’ minds.