QAnon peddles latest conspiracy theory beyond parody linking Hillary Clinton to Suez ship

The latest wild conspiracy theory from followers of QAnon claims that the cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal is being used by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for child sex trafficking.

Some also claim that Ever Given ran aground in Egypt as part of a rescue mission and that the children will be freed live on camera, proving their theory correct.

Newsweek reports that conspiracy theorists arrived at this bizarre conclusion via the name of the vessel’s Taiwan-based operator — Evergreen Marine Corporation — pointing out that Ms Clinton’s Secret Service codename as first lady during her husband’s presidency was “Evergreen”.

Further to that, the call sign for the ship is H3RC, similar to Ms Clinton’s initials when campaigning in 2016 when she includes her original last name — Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The theory also somehow manages to include the plot of the movie The Sum of All Fears (relating to the ship's destination Rotterdam being twinned with Baltimore), the fact that Monday was World Water Day, and (predictably) China.

Read more:

• Everything we know so far about the Colorado supermarket attack

• Boulder gunman, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, described as ‘anti-social’ by brother

• Mugshot of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa released as high school classmates reveal paranoid, violent outbursts

• Ted Cruz and other GOP senators mount fiery defence of gun ownership

• Vaccine passports: Everything Americans need to know

Subscribers to QAnon accounts on social networks Gab and Telegram having been pushing these convoluted theories in yet another attempt to make world events fit into the cryptic messages left by the anonymous figure “Q”.

Many of these theories centre around a belief that senior Democrats and Hollywood stars are part of a child-eating Satanic paedophile cult that allegedly uses e-commerce company Wayfair to transport children around the world in containers labelled as furniture.

The mysterious Q made the first posting on 4chan in October 2017, claiming that Ms Clinton would soon be arrested. The posts continued for the next few years.

Q has been silent for some months now, with few posts since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Some believe that the former president is Q, others believe that he is a messianic figure as prophesised by Q.

Nevertheless, followers of Q have taken to reinterpreting existing messages in an attempt to make them fit current world events.

As recently as Tuesday, baseless claims were made that Monday’s mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, was a “false flag event” that had been faked, with some claiming that no one died. Ten people lost their lives.

The connection between Ms Clinton’s Secret Service name and the Taiwan shipping company was also made in 2020 after the massive explosion at the port in Beirut.

Followers of QAnon were reportedly particularly disappointed on 4 March when a prediction that Mr Trump would seize the presidency back on that day did not come to pass.