A sprawling, hours-long discussion has been taking place on 4chan's /pol/ board. where Q and MAGA folk are convinced Trump's concession video was a deepfake manufactured by Trump's shadowy enemies.

They're amping each other up to strike back.

It's tough to follow, but the working theory among the Q kin seems to be that Pence invoked the 25th Amendment and Trump is now some kind of Nelson Mandela political prisoner in the White House.

That's the thing about movements like Qanon--they'll always find a dramatic, sudden reason why the big reveal never happens.

Trump was just about to show his evidence of voter fraud, the line goes, but the Deep State silenced him at the last second.

These people are furious at the government and ready for a last stand to--in their minds--rescue the true President of the United States from turncoat traitors.

They also have a martyr to avenge: the QAnon fanatic killed by police at the Capitol has taken on sainted status.

This isn't a situation that resolves itself over the next two weeks even if Donald Trump is impeached and removed.

The anti-government, apocalyptic worldview of these MAGA paramilitaries is a more dangerous toxin to the body politic than the worst of Ruby Ridge.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will inherit a Department of Justice weakened and delegitimized by Donald Trump's rampant corruption and Bill Barr's cronyism.

At the same time, AG Garland will have to address the most critical domestic terror situation in a generation.

Congress must be ready to juggle multiple absolutely essential issues at once. That includes reforming the Capitol protective service and prosecuting the rampant criminality and misconduct of the Trump years.

This cancer must be rooted out with every tool at our disposal.

Far-right white supremacists gave America a taste of what they are capable of doing when government allows and encourages their paramilitary hate campaigns.

That ends under Joe Biden and the Democrats, but only if we acknowledge these conspiracies as the threat they are.

The Q/MAGA cult is especially dangerous because of its overlap with the military/police community. The woman killed at the Capitol served multiple tours in Iraq.

Trump's incitement is spawning thousands of little Timothy McVeighs and they're all talking to each other.

The thing I keep seeing over and over again on various Q/MAGA boards is the way these men and women egg each other on to prove loyalty.

Whenever someone criticizes the movement, someone else chimes in to ask, "Yeah, what traitors did YOU shoot today?" That's the mindset.

Eventually someone will "shoot a traitor" out of some mix of mental illness or misguided devotion or directionless, Trump-fueled anger. Unless we act now and treat this as what it is: America's top homeland security threat.

Thanks for reading and sharing this, all. If you're interested in more stuff like this in longer article form, toss a follow my way. Content goes up weekly.

Don't buy into the narrative that the Q/MAGA conspiracy army is just poor, uneducated hillbillies. That is not and *has never been true*.

Both movements have more money than you'd imagine floating in their ecosystems. Like this: https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1347552904534765570