'Are we the sheep?': QAnon believers struggle to process Gavin Newsom recall election in California

[Demovictory9]

One day before the Gavin Newsom recall, adherents of the QAnon conspiracy belief system are busy attempting to invalidate the election results before they even come in — but they're torn on what exactly comes next.


Although most people likely assume QAnon has its deepest roots in places like Florida or Texas, the extremist ideology has made significant inroads in California. It’s particularly noticeable in Orange County and San Diego, where people sporting QAnon flags and shirts have been seen at anti-lockdown and anti-Newsom protests over the past year. In addition, four of the candidates running to replace Newsom have expressed support for QAnon, Media Matters reports.

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“DETHRONING Newsom is THE catalyst for the MAIN EVENT,” wrote QAnon influencer John Sabal (who goes by QAnon John) on Telegram last week.


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If you were struck by the dubiousness of California’s 10 million-plus registered Democrats suddenly being swayed by this argument, keep this in mind: Many QAnon believers think California is majority Republican. In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, QAnon discourse was full of baseless assertions that Trump won California; in reality, Biden received 11 million votes to Trump’s 6 million.

In an attempt to sow the seeds of this “rigged” election narrative, one popular QAnon forum has been filled with stories pushing California election misinformation. One highly upvoted story in recent days was headlined: “Gov. Gavin Newsom warns Californians: ‘You will all die of COVID if I’m recalled.’” Although this is written as a direct quote, Newsom never said this.

Another story gaining fast traction is from Los Angeles TV station KTLA. “San Fernando Valley residents have trouble casting recall ballots” quotes only one 88-year-old voter as having issues at her polling place. When she raised the problem to poll workers, she was given a provisional ballot and allowed to cast her vote.

https://www.sfgate.com/gavin-newsom-recall/article/QAnon-conspiracies-california-governor-recall-16455748.php

Link to tweet

[Celerity]

1. Fuck that assclown Elder. Every election from now on is going to be looked as as 'fraudulent' when

the Rethugs lose, and it will grow in ferocity with each one as well. It will eventually rip the nation apart unless something truly systemically massive is done.

[sakabatou]

2. Qanon is nuttier than squirrel shit

[SergeStorms]

3. This is what happens when you live....

in a fantasy land devoid of truth, facts, and rules.

Make everything up as you go along, and when things don't turn out the way you want them to, just make up more bullshit to negate the lies you told earlier.

You can never lose, because there's never a factual starting or ending point.

I can't believe there are people whose minds are so twisted that they'll actually believe this horse-shit, and they pretend it makes perfect sense! 🤯🤪

[Tommymac]

8. Worked for Hitler, Lenin, and Mao.

Never underestimate the power of indifference in humans.

Lenin took over Russia with it's millions who didn't give a shit about the Tsar or politics, with under 1000 hard core supporters.

Think about that - and that was in a world with no internet or modern communications.

[Richard58]

17. Yep.

Republicans have set the stage to challenge every election they lose. They will immediately scream "Voter fraud" and demand recount, after recount, after recount. It's insane. And the fact that Elder has already set up a committee to investigate the supposed upcoming fraud would be hilarious if it weren't so serious. These people are batshit crazy. I truly fear that our democracy is going down the tubes and will be eventually replaced with a fascist dictatorship.
You can bet that when Elder loses that there will be stories about planes flying in from China landing in LA with bamboo ballots in support of Newsome or Iran using space lasers to change the ballots. It will all be crazy nonsense but people will believe it!

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Are we the ...?

[elias7]

6. Love David Mitchell

Like to watch his rants on “Would I Lie To You” (watch them on YouTube)

[musette_sf]

10. love Mitchell & Webb

my husband wears his Numberwang t-shirt proudly

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Elder registered website Aug 27 claiming voter fraud & planned it before even that

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215843864#post3

[tanyev]

7. "Are we the sheep?" he pondered, as he absently squirted another inch of ivermectin into his mouth.

*My own speculative commentary on the person quoted in the article

[durablend]

16. They've moved onto Betadine

[Crowman2009]

9. Funny how these so-called x-tIans vilify the animal revered in the Holy book they never read.

[peggysue2]

11. Here's the money line:

Many QAnon believers think California is majority Republican.

Once you buy into that, all the rest makes a crazy kind of sense. QAnon influencers have convinced a good portion of the membership that they are the majority. Even in California!

This deception can be heard from Trumper MAGATs throughout the country: they are the majority being held down by the oppressive, Marxist minority.

It follows through then that every lost election is the result of rigging, fraud.

Republicans know exactly what they're doing.

[Johnny2X2X]

12. Yes

And they no longer believe polls that prove they're a vocal but shrinking minority.

Even on vaccines, they talk like the country is split down the middle on vaccines, it's not, it's nowhere near 50-50. In fact, we've passed 75% of adults in the US at least partially vaccinated. So it's actually a 3-1 split. Only 1 in 4 Americans are hesitant or anti vaccine.

[Richard58]

14. That's very true.

I have some wingnut coworkers who are convinced that the overwhelming majority of Americans are right-wing Trump supporters and that people who support Democratic policies are a tiny minority but have a huge amount of power. Power to change election results. Power to indoctrinate children in middle schools and colleges, etc. They are dead wrong but they firmly believe it. One of their go-to lines is, "Everybody I know LOVES Trump so how could he have lost the election?" I tell them to expand their circle of friends.

[lagomorph777]

19. They can't expand their circle of friends. Normal people will steer well clear of them.

[seta1950]

13. Heaven help us

They’re seriously after California

[apnu]

15. Yes. Q-Asshats, you are the sheep.

Start learning when you are getting sold to!!!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

18. My past Republican coworkers OFTEN believed...

... that they were the majority, even in cases when they clearly were not!

That was 20 to 30 years ago, even before QAnon.

It was perplexing to me then, and it still is! The most likely explanation to me was that they lived extremely sheltered lives, with almost nobody except fellow Republicans in their midst.

Edit: And they tended to be the biggest loudmouths about their deluded political ideas too, usually getting responses of agreement from their fellow dummies. Meanwhile, the rest of us typically stayed quiet and rolled our eyes. So that kind of feedback might skew their impressions of their numbers too.

Edit2: And coincidentally, since the topic is the CA recall election, the ONLY time that I've ever witnessed a liberal behaving like a right-winger (around here) was during a vacation to California. The guy seated next to me on an Amtrak train was LOUDLY criticizing Republicans to me, so that everybody in our rail car could easily hear him. That has never -- NEVER -- happened in my part of Ohio, but right-wingers here will frequently behave that way. So that everyone within about 100 feet away of them can hear their BS!

[Caliman73]

20. We all need to remember that this isn't "New". It is standard Conservative thinking.

The election fraud claims are more recent, but this idea that conservatives somehow form the "majority" of thought in this country is a long standing belief among conservatives even as all available research shows that the majority of people in the United States lean toward liberal ideas.

Conservatives have also believed that "Conservatism cannot fail, one can only fail conservatism". People who lose are often decried as "not a real conservative" despite the absolute fact that Conservatism as an ideology serves to structure society into a hierarchical structure (a pyramid or triangle) which means that those at the very top get the majority of the benefits and power, while the base (majority) get no power and little benefit. Conservatism has always had to come up with a way to pull in enough people (within a democracy) to maintain power. Republicans have sought to severely limit voting as a result of knowing that their actual policies work for very few actual people.

The ideology is bankrupt and lacks the ability to convince people based on its merits, so they lie. They make up myths, and they use symbols and emotion to both drum up support, and discourage opposition.

This "election fraud" thing is their latest attempt to maintain an ideology that should die off.

[Kid Berwyn]

21. "...and if we're the sheep, who's the wolf?"

[gratuitous]

22. Everything is or can be the catalyzing event

That's how the scam keeps going. Republicans can't win statewide elections in California, so their only recourse is the recall. It worked against Gray Davis, and they're dropping the bucket in that well again. All they need do is get 50% + 1 vote to recall Newsom, and then the highest vote-getter among the also-rans is installed. In a wide-open field of dozens of candidates, the one who can command 25% of the malcontent vote will sail to victory if the recall is successful. Beats running an honest campaign during a regular election cycle and getting clobbered again.

For the QAnon knuckleheads, their edge-of-forever fantasy is an intoxicating brew. Things are going to hell, but they are in possession of secret hidden knowledge that will save them from the coming perdition. Meanwhile they have a ringside seat to watch all you non-believers get what's coming to you. Reality and facts are fighting a losing battle with the hardcore folks who have subsumed their personal identity to the pleasing fantasy.

One of our best hopes is that each disappointment, each predicted catalyzing event that fails, will discourage a few percent of these knuckleheads. Which is why the scam has to generate a new catalyst as soon as the latest one fails. Right now, I'm thinking that's their September 18 boogaloo, but they'll soon have another Doomsday designated.