1/ I'm seeing headlines saying Trump "refused to condemn" QAnon at last night's @NBCNews town hall

But that's not exactly right.

Trump *legitimized* QAnon by saying he believes "very strongly" in one of its core tenets: fighting pedophilia

He knew *exactly what he was doing*
2/ First some background: QAnon grew out of Pizzagate in 2017.

QAnon adherents believe Trump is battling a global network of evil elites, Democrats, celebrities who worship Satan and sacrifice children.

Trump is their God (which Trump proudly pointed out back in August)
3/ Trump told @SavannahGuthrie, "they are very strongly against pedophilia. And I agree with that."

Asked if there's a Satanic pedophile cult Trump said, "I have no idea."

Trump isn't just refusing to condemn: **he is actively legitimizing QAnon & feeding the conspiracy **
5/ @FBI has declared QAnon a domestic terrorist threat.

The Combating Terror Center at West Point says QAnon "represents a militant and anti-establishment ideology [which] finds resonance with other far-right extremist movements."
6/ QAnon researchers believe "If President Trump loses the election, some extremists may use violence because they believe -- however incorrectly -- that there was fraud or that the election of Democratic candidate Joe Biden will undermine their extremist objectives."
7/ And because America's lax gun laws make it easy for individuals intent on causing harm and sparking political violence to obtain and stockpile the firearms they need to kill and injure people, the probability of violence is high.
8/ Trump's decision to VALIDATE THE QANON CONSPIRACY creates a permission structure for QAnon adherents to cause violence if he were to lose the election.

And that's exactly what he's setting up.
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