QAnon targeting Chinese, Jewish people in ‘rebrand’ of conspiracy movement
- The movement’s shift in conspiracy blends anti-Chinese and anti-Jewish tropes with fears of vaccines and a global plot to take over the world
- Extremism experts said the transition signals that lies, racism and propaganda in US politics will continue to have staying power
Experts on extremism are warning about a troubling shift in the right-wing QAnon movement towards a new vein of conspiracy that blends anti-Chinese and anti-Jewish tropes with fears of vaccines and a global plot to take over the world.
Broadly collected under the idea of a “new world order”, it is a QAnon rebranding, said researcher Joel Finkelstein, director of Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute, allowing conspiracy theorists to pivot after a year of political upheaval, scrutiny and disappointing predictions.
“That is what I worry about,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., who runs the Polarisation and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab. “Individuals who are either unstable or have been really radicalised during a long pandemic.”
Since the election, the anti-Asian sentiment has shifted to anxiety about worldwide dominance, specifically a communist overthrow of governments backed by Jewish people who control wealth. President Biden is seen as a pawn of these elites.