The QAnon phenomenon continues to cruise along after more than two years and close to 4000 posts by its author(s). And the hit pieces from the MSM keep coming along with it, with a pair of new ones out last week. We’re also starting to see some more measured articles from authors who are actually reading and grappling with the drops. And there’s an increasing amount of indie art coming out from those following Q, including this recent video asking, “Why won’t the mainstream media just ask Trump if he’s connected to Q?” It’s a fair question.

The media continues to portray the Q movement as a small right-wing fringe subculture located in the US, but it’s anything but. Anyone who’s been around Q-Twitter knows that people from all over the world are following. There’s QAnon Twitter accounts from many countries, such as Japan and India, and Q signs can be seen everywhere from the Hong Kong protests to the recent Brexit celebrations in London. And while there’s no doubt that a large contingent of Q followers are American and conservative leaning, the movement has people from all across the political spectrum. For instance, I’m personally neither American nor right-wing, although I’m no longer on the left either. I find myself in that ever-growing group of ‘politically homeless’, and there are a lot of people like that in the Q realm. For the media to still constantly refer to it as a right-wing American phenomenon is either uniformed, or it’s using the right-wing moniker as a fear based tactic to steer away people who would never want to associate with the ‘right-wing’.

We can get a sense of the scale of how many people are tracking Q by going to Qmap.pub, one of several sites that are aggregating and housing the Q posts. Qmap tallies how many people are on the site live, and how many people have been on during the past 24hrs. Observing the site over the past two weeks, a typical number on the site (during the day) is about 10,000, and a typical number online in the past 24hrs is 150,000. The video I linked to above, ‘Ask the Q’, had a few thousand hits after it was released on February 19th. The following morning it had 200,000 views and was climbing by a few thousand with every refresh (it's plateaued at about 350,000 views). Two Q videos made by JoeM, an American anon who has a large Twitter following, have over a million views on YouTube. In August of 2018 Q was asked how many people were viewing the drops. Q responded that there were “52-58 million tracking” and over 300 million with “eyes on” (Drop 1787).  One can do what they want with that claim, but generally speaking the Q movement might be many things, but it’s certainly not ‘fringe’ at this point.

Despite the growing impact and visibility of the Q phenomenon there’s one group of people who have curiously not embraced QAnon at all- conspiracy theory podcast hosts. This is somewhat surprising given that many of the themes founds within the Q drops are exactly the kind of topics regularly discussed on these podcasts. From The Higherside Chats to Tin Foil Hat w/Sam Tripoli to Grimerica, Boiler Room and Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know, everyone seems wary if not downright incredulous toward QAnon. Why is this? In this piece I want to explore that question. I’ll start with one very positive and important reason why these hosts are skeptical of Q. And then I’ll move to some other reasons they’ve given for their skepticism, and I’ll offer a challenge to those assumptions.

One of the reasons that these podcast hosts are skeptical of QAnon is that they’re educated in the realms of counterintelligence, disinformation and psychological warfare, and they’re understandably wary that QAnon could be a psyop of some sort. When you do the research into the realm of conspiracy theory and the murky world of geopolitical intrigue, you begin to learn about intelligence agencies, espionage, spycraft, black budgets and classified programs. You learn about covert programs such as the FBI’s COINTELPRO, where the FBI infiltrated and subverted many political organizations. You learn about sophisticated disinformation agents like US Navy counterintelligence officer Richard Doty, who toyed with the field of Ufology. You read about the horrifying mind-control experiments done by the CIA, MKUltra, and come to understand how the CIA learned to play the American public “like a mighty Wurlitzer”. You discover that psychological warfare is very old but became very advanced in the 20th century. You find out that British intelligence trains agents in how to “infiltrate the internet to manipulate, deceive and destroy reputations”. Basically you become very aware that there are highly sophisticated entities in the world that are trying to manipulate and deceive us on a daily basis. So being cautious about something like QAnon is not only understandable, it's just good practice.

Despite this important default skepticism, there have been many events in the past four years that indicate that we’re not in a time of ‘business as usual’, with the neoliberal war hawk agenda chugging along and an untouchable elite class protected by a two tiered justice system. You have the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein and the exposure of his blackmail network, as well as his odd ties to a whole coterie of scientists. You have the arrest and convictions of NVIXM leaders and Harvey Weinstein, and the wide exposing of the rot and degeneracy in Hollywood. You had wars adverted with the North Korea and Iran, and Trump pulling the troops out of Syria and other fronts, reducing the web of the US military machine. You’ve had a MSM media that has gone almost completely mad, and caught in blatant lie after lie. They seem hell bent on destroying Trump, damage to their reputation be damned. You have some sort of soft disclosure in the UFO realm, the creation of Space Force, and Trump hinting about technologies that will bring about a whole new future. You have an unprecedented wave of CEO resignations and many politicians not seeking-reelection, both things Q said to watch for (the corporations are also involved in the worldwide corruption in the Q narrative). You have Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Change Accords, which would seem to go against the Agenda 21 plans of the globalists. You have broad criminal investigations by John Durham and John Huber that have yet to wrap up and show their cards. And you have the president of the United States undoubtedly involved with this Q operation, with countless proofs by this point showing this to be true.

Yet despite all of that these podcast hosts still remain skeptical of QAnon and its claims. Why? We get a better sense when we listen to what Greg Carlwood had to say during an episode of The Higherside Chats in August 2019 (‘Recluse: The Epstein Conspiracy’):

“I’m of the opinion that there are no good guys. Just because one side wants to expose a vast network of entrenched powers, doesn’t mean they have good intentions”. (44:09-44:18)

“Just because you're picking off your particular opponents in the power network, it doesn’t mean you’re a good guy. It’s the simplistic thinking that I’m seeing in conspiracy circles, that is really just annoying to me right now. We should be better than that at this point”.  (45:47- 46:09)

“Let it be known that there are no good guys, guys. Let that be the lesson of the day. They have all kinds of disagreements and strategy differences, and even some conflicting goals and ideologies. But the only thing they really agree on, is that we are the dumb cattle they have to manage”.  (1:59:17)

There are no good people in the top echelons of power. Zero. They’re all bad. This is Greg Carlwood’s view. He’s willing to grant that Trump may be connected to a faction in the deep state, and that there might be some sort of civil war going on in the deep state, but everyone involved is corrupt, there’s not a single redeemable person in the entire power establishment. No matter what happens in the deep state turf war, the new boss will be the same as the old boss. Carlwood calls any view other than his own monolithic ‘they’re all bad’ view “simplistic”. But isn’t his view the simplistic one? There’s no room for complexity, for nuance, no room for factions of good people working against the dark forces that undoubtedly haunt the halls of power. In contrast, let’s look at what Q has been saying on this topic during the course of the drops. Since the very beginning Q has been very intentional about countering such a view. Here are some excerpts:

Not everyone is corrupt (fewer than you think).
Not about Republicans v Democrats at this stage.
(Drop 3, October 29, 2017)

Again, there are a lot more good people than bad so have faith. This was a hostile takeover from an evil corrupt network of players (not just Democrats).
(Drop 4, October 29, 2017)

Again, good people were forced into bed with this evil under personal and family threats. Could you live with yourself helping to cover up such evil despicable acts if given a safe way out?
(Drop 10, October 29, 2017)

There are more good people than bad.
(Drop 15, October 31, 2017)

Good will always defeat evil.
No rigging / blackmail this time.
(Drop 173, November 20, 2017)

We are moving fast.
Remember, not all within the C-A, D-J, F-I are bad apples.
House cleaning (TOP).
(Drop 431, December 21, 2017)

Those [good] who know cannot sleep.
Those [good] who know cannot find peace.
Those [good] who know will not rest until those responsible are held accountable.
Nobody can possibly imagine the pure evil and corruption out there.
(Drop 586, January 22, 2018)

Effective yesterday, while standing under the statue of FREEDOM, POTUS FREED those ‘good’ people who are currently being blackmailed, threatened and enslaved.
Those who stood chanting “USA” were FREED.
The shot heard around the world.
(Drop 659, January 31, 2018) [Ed. Note- this drop was referring to Trump’s 2018 State of the Union Address]

Trust there are more good than bad.
The WORLD is helping.
We are not alone.
We are all connected in this fight.
(Drop 937, March 10, 2018)

That’s a small sample of what’s been a very consistent message for Q- that there are more good people in the establishment than bad. A corrupt network of sinister people have blackmailed, threatened and coerced many good people into serving their plans. But the Q operation (US Military + NSA + POTUS) has freed many people from their blackmail, and has offered many people a safe way out if they cooperate. You often hear people on the conspiracy podcasts talk about someone like AG William Barr, and say, “Well his dad hired Jeffrey Epstein to teach at Dalton. They’re all connected, Barr is a swamp creature that can’t be trusted”. It’s possible that’s true, but what if he was offered a chance to redeem himself from his previous entanglements in the swamp? What if Barr was asked to help prosecute the very dark network he’s all too familiar with? We don’t really know either way, although the way the (elite controlled) MSM relentlessly attacks Barr, it’s a distinct possibility that he's no longer playing ball with the “corrupt network of players”.

A close cousin to the “they’re all bad” view is the “nobody will ever be prosecuted view”.  Here’s how Gordon White, host of the excellent Rune Soup podcast, put it when he was a guest on Forbidden Knowledge News podcast on June 28, 2019. White’s podcast is mostly about magic and the paranormal, but he’s informed in the conspiracy realm and not afraid to speak his mind on it:

"Whatever team is running [QAnon], they’re testing how they can have a sort of shadow state owned alternate news community. That’s what it looks like to me. I definitely don’t think- he’s had a while. If the game show president was going to round up the cabal, I’d be all for it. Washington really is a swamp. Like go for it, get them. I don’t think that’s going to happen, I don’t think that’s how it works. I don’t think that’s how it ever works”. (42:53-45:03)

White’s view is echoed by John C. Dvorak of the No Agenda podcast. While not a conspiracy podcast, Dvorak and his co-host Adam Curry are well versed in the realm of intelligence agencies and spooks and many of the topics that would fit under the conspiracy banner. They’re not followers of Q but are aware of it, and sometimes jokingly put on their ‘Q glasses’ to look at a story from the lens of QAnon. They’re also aware of the claim emanating out of the Q drops that there are ‘thousands of sealed indictments’, a claim repeatedly echoed by people like Joe Digenova on Fox News. Anytime the sealed indictments are brought up Dvorak always says, “Nothing will ever happen. Nothing ever happens. No one is going to jail”.

Dvorak sounds like he’s been around a time or two and has seen many a high-level person who should’ve gone to jail go free. And guess what- he’s right! So is Gordon White. If we look at the last fifty or so years in America, there has been a two-tiered legal system and there have been countless people who should’ve been brought to justice but weren’t. Or they were given a light sentence (Epstein 2008), or were given pardons and so on. That has been the way it’s been for a long time, that is the way ‘it works’. But is it still business as usual these days? The Epstein story has unraveled in the public, and he’s dead. Bill Cosby’s in jail, Harvey Weinstein is on his way, Peter Nygard, another rich human trafficking mogul has been charged, and R. Kelly is on the chopping block for his own nefarious activities. You have CEO’s such as Disney’s Bob Iger suddenly stepping down with no explanation, blue bloods like Clare Bronfman pleading guilty to crimes, and a sex cult with ties to Hollywood and US politicians has been busted and convicted. Remember when Kate Spade committed suicide, and her husband went out in front of the press wearing a rat mask? What was that all about? Or when serial sexual abuser Kevin Spacey came out of hiding and brought the media a cheese pizza? You have college admissions scandals where celebrities are being charged, Prince Andrew on the run, a suspicious rash of NYPD detective ‘suicides’, and a former Air Force general saying that fantastic technology already exists “that could transport a human anywhere on earth within an hour”.  Nothing seems like business as usual these days. In fact things seem highly strange and unusual, with almost every day bringing some new bizarre or unforeseen development.

Let’s look at another way that things are not business as usual at the moment- the US war machine is being reigned in worldwide, and conflict is being averted. We can look at this through the lens of Whitney Webb, an investigative journalist for MintPress News whose well-researched articles on Jeffrey Epstein were widely shared. Webb shares a worldview with Melissa Dykes of Truthstream Media (a semi-regular guest on the Boiler Room podcast). Both are doing excellent work, but both are thoroughly convinced that the same old war mongering neocons are still in charge of everything and that nothing is ever going to change. But let’s look at what’s happened since Trump’s been president, as viewed through Whitney Webb’s Tweets. When Trump and Kim Jung-un were sparring on Twitter in 2017, Webb was convinced that the “death of millions of innocent Koreans” was imminent. But Trump cut a peace deal. On October 11, 2019 Webb tweeted that the US was “never going to leave Syria” until it was “balkanized”. Only four days later Trump pulled out of Syria (much to the outrage of the media, it should be noted). On January 3rd, 2020, Webb was certain that “Iran hawks in the US and Israel” were marching toward war in Iran. But that war never happened. And now Trump’s administration has negotiated a peace deal with the Taliban, and is going to pull the troops out of Afghanistan after eighteen years.  The message of Q, and the open motto of Trump, is “peace through strength”. The US Military is flexing its might, but it’s avoiding war if it can, and it's bringing a lot of troops home.

Is this all business as usual? If we’re being honest this is the opposite of business as usual. I would completely agree with Webb and many others that an elite cabal of globalists has been using the US military (as well as various intelligence agencies) for decades as their own private war machine. But according to the Q operation, that very US military, one that is full of real patriotism and love of country, has finally rebelled against the “evil network of corrupt players” that usurped it. As Q has often said, “the hunters are now the hunted”. And the hunters have the NSA on their side too (remember that secret meeting that Admiral Rogers had with Trump, which made the establishment furious). And with the NSA on its side, an extremely sophisticated and far-reaching surveillance machine has been turned on its creators. As Q has often said, “We have it all”. And the military needed the powers of the POTUS for their operation, and according to Q Trump was recruited for the role, possibly long ago.

Can we allow ourselves to believe all this? Have we been collectively burned so many times, have we gotten our hopes up too many times that things would change (but didn't), that now many of us are simply unwilling to hope again, even when evidence presents itself to the contrary? Are we all just a bunch of Calvinists who think that all of humanity is “totally depraved”, and thus there are no ‘good people’ out there to fight back against the endemic corruption? Have we become that numb and cynical and hopeless?

I’ve held those views in my life, so I get it. But having read the Q drops daily since they began, and having watched how ‘the silent war’ (as Q calls it) surfaces into and interacts with the news on a constant basis, I’m still maintaining (as I did in my first Q piece) that Q is real and what it says it is. It’s not just one dark faction of the deep state defeating another. It’s a movement from “dark to light”. Something terrible is being ripped off the face of a traumatized humanity, and a new and much less malevolent world will be revealed. This article is my Babe Ruth moment- I’m pointing to the bleachers and calling it that Q is real, and these podcast hosts, as much as I love them and appreciate them, are wrong. I want it on the record. I’ll either one day be seen as ahead of the curve, or I’ll be seen as a total dupe who was deceived along with millions of others. I’m willing to make that gamble. What’s life without a bit of risk anyway.

In June 2018 Q said that as more and more of the corruption, rot and depravity (my words) of those who are/were in power gets revealed, that the general population “will be lost, will be terrified” and “will reject” (Drop 1644). Q says those people “will need to be guided”. And who better to guide people through the underbelly of what was once considered conspiracy, then all of these well-informed conspiracy theory podcast hosts. There’s going to be an important role there for all those good folks, and I hope they eventually embrace that role when and if more happens that convinces them that QAnon is something to take seriously. Their guidance will be crucial during that painful interregnum.

Q is so often dismissed as a psyop, but no one ever explains what the psyop is- who is running it then and what's it trying to achieve? It’s just called a psyop and that’s that. It’s a strange kind of psyop that’s informing people how corruption works through foundations, Aid organizations, book deals, NGOs, and family kickbacks. That’s awakening millions of people to how the mainstream media is controlled and fabricating a false reality. That’s encouraging people to question everything, to think for themselves and to think logically. That’s alerting people to the occult symbolism openly and brazenly displayed by those who have been in power. That’s exposing how Hollywood is a cesspool and used by the CIA. It’s a psyop that’s basically enacting a mass deprogramming of people around the world, after decades of social engineering by dark forces. May it succeed in stripping the thick wool from our eyes, and may we all live to see the world reborn once the global octopus has been thoroughly and finally destroyed.