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

by Will Sommer

The coronavirus gave QAnon new life. But as Q followers on every tier of the movement refused to take the vaccine, their beliefs turned fatal. At its core, QAnon is about distrusting institutions. The media, the government, and big business are all out to get you and your kids. The only people you can trust are Q and Trump. That deep-rooted suspicion would make QAnon an obstacle in a public health crisis that required people to trust government officials and pharmaceutical companies. It also drove QAnon believers to seek alternatives. From the pandemic’s first days, QAnon was a clearinghouse for coronavirus treatments that were, at best, useless and, at worst, potentially lethal. QAnon leaders and social media groups first embraced hydroxychloroquine, the inexpensive antimalarial drug that Trump promoted as a quick cure for the pandemic. Hydroxychloroquine’s promise faded, and was all but abandoned by QAnon after Trump didn’t take it himself while hospitalized with the virus. But the miracle potion pushers didn’t stop there. Q’s base pivoted quickly to ivermectin, a drug typically used to eliminate worms. Again, there was no solid evidence that ivermectin successfully treated the virus. But it was also cheap, giving believers what they saw as a loophole to avoid Big Pharma’s Covid regime. The drugs were a revelation for Q’s flock. They didn’t have to accept a cabal vaccine filled with microchips or a fatal chemical cocktail brewed by Bill Gates. They could take ivermectin ...