Last year, the FBI classified QAnon as a domestic-terror threat. Today, President Trump had this to say about QAnon supporters: “I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate... I’ve heard these are people that love our country.” (1/5)

Here’s a thing you might be wondering: Why even *ask* the president of the United States about QAnon? Why risk giving oxygen to an obviously nonsensical conspiracy theory? (2/5)

Nine years ago, too many journalists mocked birtherism as the inconsequential and racist rantings of a fading reality TV star. But birtherism was not inconsequential. And QAnon should not be ignored either. (3/5)

This is a movement united in mass rejection of reason, objectivity, and other Enlightenment values. It is a movement that is openly antagonistic to the First Amendment rights guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. It is also a movement that is growing. (4/5)

The President of the United States has now explicitly endorsed QAnon. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory. We are witnessing the birth of a new religion. And it’s not going anywhere. I wrote about it here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/