Trump Hosted a QAnon Conspiracy Theorist in the White House
Why is this news not surprising?
On Thursday, Donald Trump continued debasing the White House by hosting a top promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory, who now can use the resulting photo-op to promote his street cred among fellow cultists and to perpetuate a ridiculous narrative that already was unraveling quickly.
The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer, who has reported extensively about the Q cult, and Asawin Suebsaeng noted that YouTuber Lionel Lebron got a “special guided tour of the White House” and posed with Trump and Lebron’s wife for a photo in the Oval Office. Lebron posted video of the visit online.
“There are simply no words to explicate the profound and ineffable honor of meeting @realDonaldTrump in the tabernacle of liberty, the Oval Office. @LynnShawProd and I so appreciate @POTUS’ kindness and courtesy. #MAGA,” Lebron tweeted on Friday.
He also tweeted a photo of himself in the White House with QAnon hashtags, as Sommer pointed out on Twitter:
And there was the obligatory “#HillaryForPrison” hashtag accompanying a portrait of the former first lady, senator, and secretary of state.
Drinking from his official President of the United States coffee mug (probably filled with Kool-Aid), Lebron, of the now-defunct Air America radio network, bragged on YouTube about his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the “president.”
QAnon conspiracy theorists comprise a noticeable percentage of crowds at Trump’s frequent raucous rallies. They often can be seen in camera shots waving signs claiming, “We are Q.”
According to Suebsaeng and Sommer, no one on the White House staff wants to admit how this happened:
All four White House officials the Beast did speak with about how Trump, the leader of the free world, ended up in a smiling photo op at the Resolute Desk with a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist, pleaded ignorance about when this occurred, and why. Two of these West Wing officials audibly could not contain their laughter.
Suebsaeng added on Twitter, “It is highly unlikely the QAnon man was simply able to stumble into this Trump meet. Those familiar w/ how this Oval Office works say typically the only way that something like this happens is if a senior official vouched for the guests & waved them in :/”
Here’s an idea: Perhaps Trump needed to keep stringing along this portion of his cultish base, given the latest legal developments involving his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen.
As Sommer pointed out, the Q loons believe Special Counsel Robert Mueller is actually working with Trump to bring down a global pedophilia ring. That theory doesn’t really jibe with Cohen pleading guilty this week to multiple felonies and implicating the president in a conspiracy to pay hush money to women with whom Trump had extramarital affairs.
On the same day, Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was convicted of eight felonies in the first of two high-profile criminal court cases against him.
Q believers desperately needed some kind of sign from their Dear Leader that everything is going to be OK. Lebron just might become their new Jesus. And that oughta be worth some cash on the internets, for sure.