QAnon conspiracists accuse Fox News of faking Trump interview advocating for vaccine

James Crump
·3 min read
<p>Conspiracy theorist QAnon demonstrators protest child trafficking on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, on 22 August 2020</p> ((AFP via Getty Images))

Conspiracy theorist QAnon demonstrators protest child trafficking on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, on 22 August 2020

((AFP via Getty Images))
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Followers of the baseless QAnon conspiracy have accused Fox News of faking a recent interview with Donald Trump where the former president advocated for uptake of the coronavirus vaccine.

Mr Trump is a prominent feature of the QAnon conspiracy theory, as its followers claim a deep state is plotting against the former president, who they baselessly claim is leading the fight against a deep-state cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles that is partly run by the Democratic Party.

The movement, which peddles false claims about vaccines including that Covid-19 treatments turn people transgender, has been identified by the FBI as an extremist group and accounts dedicated to it have been banned by both Facebook and Twitter.

Although followers left the movement after Mr Trump’s loss in last year’s presidential election, large sections of the community still believe in it and have been suggesting theories for why he was not re-elected in November.

The latest claim from QAnon followers came after Mr Trump was interviewed by Fox News on Tuesday, where the former president confirmed that he had received his Covid-19 vaccine and urged his supporters to do the same.

Speaking about the vaccine on Fox News, Mr Trump said: “I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me.”

Read more:

He later added: “But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by them and I agree with that also. But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.”

Following his interview, supporters of the movement claimed that it was not actually Mr Trump who was interviewed by Fox News, according to posts on messaging site Telegram that were obtained by Newsweek.

“How do I even know that was really President Trump speaking? They can fake anything,” one follower wrote this week, while the account Ghost Ezra, which has 250,000 followers, said: “My first take on the interview is that it didn’t sound like Trump.”

A different follower wrote: “I just listen to it again and I have to agree it doesn’t really sound like him,” before adding: “Whoever it was was very good at imitating him though.”

While a separate post reiterated the claims, adding: “I saw and heard a lot of interviews between him and Maria that wasn’t like he speaks to her normally and it wasn’t his voice at all...Me and some other people noticed this immediately.”

Although some followers believed Mr Trump was interviewed on Tuesday, they claimed that he was giving them coded messages instead of actually advocating for vaccines.

“He was NOT talking about the ‘COVID’ vaccine. He was definitely talking about the operation listen carefully to the interview again,” a follower wrote, according to Newsweek.

While another said: “Come on people he’s talking about taking down all the bad people, saving the world,” and added: “Read between the lines. Anybody in their right mind would not take the vaccine.”

However, some seemed to sense that the conspiracy theory was not rooted in fact, with a Telegram user writing: “Why doesn’t Trump and the military just simply announce what is going on?!?! What is the point with keeping all the so-called secrets?”

Read more:

They added: “Why push a vaccine if the pandemic is a ‘hoax’?!? This narrative doesn’t make sense. We’re getting punked.”

QAnon is run by a mysterious account that originated on 4chan named Q who posts cryptic messages that make reference to the vast conspiracy theory often using puzzles and clues.

The name appears to be a reference to the fact that the person claims to have “Q” clearance, a designation in the US Department of Energy.

None of the theories posited by the QAnon movement have come true, including claims earlier this month that Mr Trump would seize power back from Mr Biden and be re-inaugurated as president on 4 March. Mr Biden remains the US president.