While some QAnon disciples gave way to doubt as Trump's term ended, others doubled down on blind belief or strained to see new coded messages in the Inauguration Day’s events.
QAnon believers grapple with doubt, spin new theories as Trump era ends
Drew Harwell and Craig Timberg, The Washington Post
Jan. 20, 2021
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WASHINGTON - Followers of the extremist ideology QAnon saw their hopes once again dashed Wednesday as President Donald Trump left Washington on the final day of his presidency, without any of the climactic scenes of violence and salvation that the sprawling set of conspiracy theories had preached for years would come.
As Trump boarded Air Force One for his last presidential flight to Florida, many QAnon adherents - some of whose believers had this month stormed the Capitol in a siege that left at least two QAnon devotees dead and others in jail - began to wonder whether they d been duped all along.
While some QAnon disciples gave way to doubt as Trump's term ended, others doubled down on blind belief or strained to see new coded messages in the Inauguration Day’s events.
In the week after Twitter banned Donald Trump, social media claims of election fraud dropped 73 percent - from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000 - according to a report from research firm Zignal Labs.