Trump's Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Takes QAnon Pledge on Fourth of July
On Independence Day, former Trump Administration National Security Advisor Michael Flynn posted a video of himself and his family members taking a QAnon pledge. At first glance, the pledge is similar to the oath taken by members of Congress. However, Flynn and his family closed their pledge with the line, “Where We Go One, We Go All,” which is a QAnon slogan — one often abbreviated into the hashtag #WWG1WGA. Flynn posted the video with the hashtag #TakeTheOath, another hashtag associated with QAnon.
QAnon is a conspiracy theory that started on the right-wing extremist message board 4chan by an anonymous poster named “Q” who claimed to have secret knowledge of high-level government plans. The conspiracy’s basic premise is that Trump is secretly executing a plan to take down the “deep state” by ridding the government and media of his enemies. According to QAnon believers, those enemies are a vague cast of characters including liberal politicians, pedophiles, George Soros, and Hollywood executives and actors. Like most conspiracy theories, QAnon fuels antisemitism: In addition the the George Soros dog whistle, the notion of a secret group of people — usually Jews — that is conspiring to undermine the country is a core component of antisemitic ideology. In Q mythology, Trump is the strong, brilliant, and capable leader fighting victoriously to save the American people particularly American children from this powerful, mysterious and sexually predatory cabal.
The FBI designated QAnon a potential domestic terror threat in 2019. Flynn, who pleaded guilty after he was caught lying to the FBI, had expressed affinity for QAnon prior to Independence Day, as had various members of his family. In May, to the delight of the Q network, the Department of Justice announced a decision to drop the charges against Flynn. He is far from the only associate of Trump’s to have done so. Just two weeks before Flynn’s oath video, Eric Trump posted (and later deleted) a QAnon meme.