Tracking Viral Misinformation
March 26, 2021, 8:49 a.m. ETMarch 26, 2021, 8:49 a.m. ET
Every day, Times reporters will chronicle and debunk false and misleading information that is going viral online.
March 4, 2021, 4:38 p.m. ETMarch 4, 2021, 4:38 p.m. ET
QAnon, the right-wing conspiracy theory community, had another bad day on Thursday.
Following the letdown of Jan. 20 when, contrary to QAnon belief, former President Donald J. Trump did not declare martial law, announce mass arrests of satanic pedophiles and stop President Biden from taking office some QAnon believers revised their predictions.
They told themselves that “the storm” the day of reckoning, in QAnon lore, when the global cabal would be brought to justice would take place on March 4. That is the day that U.S. presidents were inaugurated until 1933, when the 20th Amendment was ratified and the date was moved to January. Some QAnon believers thought that it would be the day that Mr. Trump would make a tri
Christian-Right Council for National Policy Linked to Violent Breach of Capitol
Trump loyalists storm the U.S. Capitol building following a rally on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
The astroturfed #StoptheSteal group that drew thousands of Trumpists to the Washington, D.C. rally on Wednesday that turned into a violent insurrection at the Capitol has strong ties with the influential Christian Right Council for National Policy.
The rally, like many other #StoptheSteal events held since the election of Joe Biden, gathered right-wing extremists who believe the lies spread by Trump and complicit politicians that the election was fraudulent in order to demand that Congress ignore its obligation to certify the Electoral College votes and overturn the election.
January 11, 2021 - 7:48am
The astroturfed #StoptheSteal group that drew thousands of Trumpists to the Washington, D.C. rally on Wednesday that turned into a violent insurrection at the Capitol has strong ties with the influential Christian Right Council for National Policy.
The rally, like many other #StoptheSteal events held since the election of Joe Biden, gathered right-wing extremists who believe the lies spread by Trump and complicit politicians that the election was fraudulent in order to demand that Congress ignore its obligation to certify the Electoral College votes and overturn the election.
At least five members and leaders of the Council for National Policy (CNP) worked to turn out MAGA extremists and were scheduled to speak at the rally after Trump exhorted the crowd to march on the Capitol.