45BloombergBusinessweek October 12, 2020
LikemanyfutureDonaldTrumpvoters,JasonGelinas
feltsomethingshiftinsidehimduringthepresidencyof
BarackObama.ThingsweregoingOKforhimgenerally.He
hada degreefromFordhamUniversityandhadhelda series
ofjobsatbigfinancial-servicesfirms,eventuallybecominga
seniorvicepresidentatCitigroupinthecompany’stechnol-
ogydepartment,whereheledanAIprojectandoversawa
teamofsoftwaredevelopers.Hewasmarriedwithkidsand
hada comfortablehouseina NewJerseysuburb.According
tothosewhoknowhim,Gelinaswasa pleasantguywhowas
intonormalstuff:GameofThrones, recreationalsoccer,and
soon.Thingsdidgetweird,though,whenpoliticscameup.
Gelinashadregisteredasa Democratintherunup to
the 2008 election,butthenseemedtodrifttotheright,and
notinan“I’mgoingtovoteforRomneythistime”sortofway,
accordingtotwofriends,whospoketoBloombergBusinessweek
ontheconditionofanonymitybecausetheydidn’twanttobe
associatedwithwhatcamenextinhispoliticaljourney.“He
hatedtheideaofObama,”saysone.“Hethoughtthatit wasa
setupandthathewaselectedtosatisfytheBlackpopulation.”
Gelinaswouldbecomeagitatedwhenthetopicofthepresident
cameup,sometimesreferringtoObamaas“theAntichrist.”
Hewasincreasinglyimmersedinright-winginternetcon-
spiracies,tellinga friendthatHillaryClintonwasatthecen-
terofa globalcabalofsextraffickers.Thiswasaboutthetime
thatonlinetrollswerestartingtopromotea theoryknownas
Pizzagate,whichclaimedthatClintonandotherswerehold-
ingchildrenhostageinthebasementofCometPingPong,a
restaurantandconcertvenueinWashington,D.C.Shortlyafter
Trumpwaselectedpresident,a followerburstintotherestau-
rantandfiredanAR-15rifle,standingdownonlyafterdiscover-
ingthatthebuildingdidn’tactuallyhavea basement.(Nobody
washurt.Theshooter,whosaidhe’dbeenmisledbywhathe’d
readontheinternet,pleadedguiltytofirearmschargesand
wassentencedtofouryearsinprison.)
Somemighthavetakenthatincidentasa signtocooldown.
Gelinasappearstohavegonedeeperdowntherabbithole,
findinghiswaytoanevenstrangermovement,QAnon.Like
Pizzagatebelievers,QAnon’sarefocusedona supposedcabal
ofpedophiliacliberals,mostlypoliticiansandcelebrities.The
twistis thatQAnonhasanapocalypticcomponent—itholds
that,atsomepoint,PresidentTrumpwillunleash“theStorm,”
a militarycoupthatwillexposeandpunishthiscabal.QAnon
hasspurredenoughviolencethattheFBIhaslabeledit a
domesticterrorismthreat.Supportershavebeenimplicated
inthedeathofa StatenIslandmobbossandinthederailment
ofa traininCalifornia.
Evenso,themovementhadbeencontainedmostlyto
theinternet’strollishfringesuntilaroundthetimeGelinas
camealong.In2018,whiledoinghisjobatCiti,hecreated,as
ananonymoussideproject,a websitededicatedtobringing
QAnontoa wideraudience—soccermoms,white-collar work-
ers, and other “normies,” as he boasted. By mid-2020, the site,
QMap.pub, was drawing 10 million visitors each month,
according to the traffic-tracking firm SimilarWeb, and was
creditedbyresearchers with playing a key role in what
might be the most unlikely political story in a year full of
unlikely political stories: A Citigroup executive helped turn
an obscure and incoherent cult into an incoherent cult with
mainstream political implications.
In January the House of Representatives will almost cer-
tainly welcome its first QAnon supporter, Republican Marjorie
Taylor Greene, who’s running without serious competition
in a district in northwest Georgia, and many other candi-
dates for public office have professed support for aspects of
the movement. The Trump campaign has sometimes asked
people not to display QAnon signs at rallies, but they show up
all the time anyway. QAnon supporters were also ready with
an easy spin on the biggest threat to the president’s hold on
power: his own Covid-19 diagnosis. Trump wasn’t sick, the
theory goes, he merely retreated from the public eye so that
the Storm could begin.Becauseit’sso muchmore involvedthana typical
conspiracytheory,QAnonhasoftenbeendescribedasa reli-
giousmovement—and, like many religions, the core of the
belief system stems from revelations in a foundational text.
In this case, that text didn’t appear on stone tablets handed
froma mountaintoporongoldenplatesburiedintheground
inupstateNewYork,butthrougha seriesofcrypticpostings
ona websitebestknownforracistmemesandthemanifestos
of mass shooters. Ironically, for a movement obsessed with
the evils of pedophilia, the site, 4chan, was also known as a
place to download child pornography.
TherevelationwasdeliveredonOct.28,2017,andcame
froma usercallinghimorherselfQAnon.Thisperson,who
claimedtobea governmentemployeewithtop-secret “q-level”
clearance (a real thing in the Department of Energy), said
Clinton would be arrested in two days and that the event would
set off massive organized riots. At the time, 4chan was full of
similar nonsense attributed to highly placed government offi-
cials. But QAnon—or simply Q—caught on in a way that compet-
ing accounts such as FBIAnon and CIAAnon didn’t. The user
became the narrator of a tale that cast Trump as the central
hero in an epic global struggle, doling out the story in thou-
sands of posts known as “Q drops,” first on 4chan, then on the
even more outre 8chan and its successor site, 8kun.
The identity of Q has been a subject of speculation since
the beginning. The theories are all over the place, variously
suggesting that Q is Edward Snowden, or former national
securityadviserMichaelFlynn,ortheconspiracy-minded
radiohostAlexJones,orevenTrumphimself.Oneself-
published book, which Amazon.com Inc. includes for free
as part of its Kindle Unlimited subscription, claims to have
used a mathematical model to determine that Q is former
National Security Agency official Thomas Drake. Drake has
deniedthis—butQ woulddothat,wouldn’the?
If Q’sdropsarethenewmovement’sdivinerevelations,
itsritesinvolvetheproductionandconsumptionofvideos
and social media posts—oftenscreenshots annotated with