QAnon sign
The Republican primary in Georgia's 14th district on Tuesday didn't draw much national attention. After all, it's an overwhelmingly Republican district that GOP Rep. Tom Graves had held easily for a decade in Congress before announcing his retirement last year.

But when all the votes were counted, it became clear that the 14th district was on the verge of making history: Electing the first openly pro-QAnon member of Congress in Marjorie Taylor Greene.

What, you ask, is QAnon? It's a broad-scale internet-based conspiracy theory begun in early 2017 that is based on a belief that there is a high-level government official -- "Q" -- who sprinkles clues on internet message boards like 4chan and 8chan about a massive "deep state" conspiracy (or series of conspiracies) at work in the country.

QAnon backers believe that Donald Trump was recruited by the military to run for president in 2016 because he alone wasn't beholden to the secret power brokers of the world, and could break the hold that they have on American society. (Not kidding. Read the Daily Beast's Will Sommer for more on what they believe.)

"Q is a patriot," Greene said in a nearly 30-minute long video from 2017. She called the conspiracy theory "something worth listening to and paying attention to," adding: "He is someone that very much loves his country, and he's on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump."


Comment: In all likelihood, there is no "he". QAnon is, more than likely, a CIA psyop designed to gather pro-Trump right-wing patriots under one umbrella to be manipulated as they see fit. It also manages to associate true evidence of conspiracy as silly QAnon rhetoric.


And as Sommer notes in a recent article on Greene:
(She) has also posted about QAnon on social media, tweeting QAnon catchphrases 'Trust the plan' and "#GreatAwakening" and praising a QAnon clue as an 'awesome post' in 2018.
Greene also made waves with an early June video -- posted to her Twitter account -- in which she holds a gun, says she has "a message for Antifa terrorists," cocks it and then dead-pans: "Stay the hell out of northwest Georgia."

Greene is not the first devotee of QAnon to score some political success this year. Last month, Oregon Republicans nominated Jo Rae Perkins to take on Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in the fall. In a video celebrating her victory, Perkins said this:
Where we go one, we go all. I stand with President Trump. I stand with Q and the team. Thank you Anons and thank you patriots -- and together we can save our republic.
(The phrase "Where we go one, we go all" -- or in Q shorthand WWG1WGA -- has become the group's slogan or mantra.)

What's different about Greene is that she actually has a chance to win. In fact, she is favored to do so.

In a nine-way Republican field on Tuesday, Greene took 40% of the vote -- almost double what neurosurgeon (and toy shop owner!) John Cowan received. Greene, a construction company executive, gave her campaign more than $700,000. She also received donations from a PAC associated with current White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and has been endorsed by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.

Greene and Cowan will face off in an August 11 runoff. And if she wins, she will be a clear front-runner in the fall -- given that Trump won 75% in the district in 2016.

And there's very little evidence that if Greene comes to Congress she will tone down her rhetoric or her association with QAnon.

In response to a Washington Post piece on her candidacy published Thursday, Greene tweeted this: "The Chinese propagandists at the Washington Post are attacking me the same way they attack Donald Trump, and other conservatives."

Uh, OK.