BlueAnon

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Donald and Melania Trump in Alabama, March 2018. The TV show The View had a segment on "a surge of internet chatter about the former fashion model's Alabama appearance under the #fakeMelania hashtag", relaying the conspiracy theory that the woman pictured here was not the real Melania. Donald and Melania in Alabama.png
Donald and Melania Trump in Alabama, March 2018. The TV show The View had a segment on "a surge of internet chatter about the former fashion model’s Alabama appearance under the #fakeMelania hashtag", relaying the conspiracy theory that the woman pictured here was not the real Melania.

BlueAnon (a portmanteau of blue and QAnon ) is a term used to describe conspiracy theories which posit Donald Trump's engagement in elaborate schemes to unlawfully seize or maintain control of the United States Government, independently or as the object of manipulation by foreign governments. The term comes from the blue political color of the Democratic Party, which is the major opposition to the Republican Party of Trump.

Contents

Etymology

The term BlueAnon was first coined sometime after 2017 and gained prominence in 2024. [2] [3] [4] The name appears to be derived from media coverage surrounding these theories, in reference to the QAnon right-wing conspiracy theory and the color blue, which has been associated with the Democratic Party in the 21st century. [5]

Claims

Assassination false flag conspiracy theory

Some BlueAnon theorists have alleged that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was a false flag staged by Trump himself. [6] [7]

Snopes has examined and discredited viral photos alleging to show Trump plotting with gunman Thomas Crooks, as well as claims that Trump was injured by glass instead of shrapnel. [8] [9] PolitiFact has debunked claims that blood which appeared to be coming from Trump's ear following the assassination attempt was faked with a blood pill. [10] Reuters has analyzed viral photos from the 2024 Republican National Convention that purport to show Trump wearing a bandage on the ear opposite the one that was shot in the attack and determined the images were doctored. [11]

Morgan J. Freeman [a]
@mjfree
 X logo 2023.svg

If Trump & Elon’s “little secret” was to use Starlink in swing states to tally the votes & rig the election - an investigation & hand recount is crucial. Now.

November 10, 2024 [12] [13]

Other BlueAnon theorists believe Donald Trump rigged the 2024 U.S. presidential election by conspiring with Elon Musk to use Starlink satellites to change vote tabulation data and then orbitally detonated some of the satellites to erase evidence of the plot; [14] [15] [16]

The claims have been investigated and discredited by the Associated Press. [15] They have also been rejected by CISA director Jen Easterly. [16] [12] Deutsche Welle concluded "there is no evidence that Trump has cheated in this election". [17]

Ivana Trump coffin concealment theory

Another BlueAnon theory posits that Ivana Trump was secretly cremated by Donald Trump to free room in her coffin to hide self-incriminating documents so as to conceal them from discovery by investigators. [18] The conspiracy theory began circulating almost immediately after Ivana Trump's 2022 death and multiple people demanded the FBI exhume Trump's grave to search the coffin for the allegedly hidden documents. [19] Snopes has rated the theory "unfounded". [20]

Other conspiracy theories

Other beliefs subscribed to by some BlueAnon theorists include that:

Propagation and influence

Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania in July 2024, Dmitri Mehlhorn distributed an email to colleagues — which the Columbia Journalism Review associated with BlueAnon theorizing — that suggested that Trump "encouraged and maybe even staged [the assassination attempt] so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash." [2] Numerous social media posts to X similarly suggested the assassination attempt had been staged. [2] A July 2024 poll by Morning Consult found that approximately one-third of voters supporting the Joe Biden 2024 presidential campaign believed the assassination attempt was staged. [22]

In October 2024, the Lincoln Project produced a video advertisement promoting the BlueAnon theory that Silicon Valley executives were plotting to replace Trump with JD Vance as president of the United States, should Trump be elected to that office. [7]

The following month, in the 12 hours after Trump's declared victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, posts to X alleging electoral irregularities and questioning the disparity in vote totals between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections — which Wired associated with BlueAnon theorizing — peaked at 94,000 per hour. [4] It included one post by John Pavlovitz that received more than five million views. [4] Another post, seen more than 17 million times, alleged Trump "cheated this whole time". [14] On Threads, Wayne Madsen posted "I'm beginning to believe our election was massively hacked", while TikTok saw a surge of posts by astrologers alleging election irregularities. [23]

"... possibility -- which feels horrific and alien and absurd in America, but is quite common globally -- is that this ‘shooting’ was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash. This is a classic Russian tactic..."

Email from Dmitri Mehlhorn of July 13, 2024, [24]
Percentage of voter groups who said "suggestions that the shooting was staged ... were credible," as reported by a July 2024 Morning Consult survey. Trump assassination CT poll.jpg
Percentage of voter groups who said "suggestions that the shooting was staged ... were credible," as reported by a July 2024 Morning Consult survey.

Propagation on Threads

According to Canadian political scientist Kawser Ahmed, Meta's social media network Threads is a "hotbed for BlueAnon conspiratorial content". [25] Taylor Lorenz has also noted that BlueAnon conspiracy theorizing has established itself on Threads. [26]

Psychological impact of BlueAnon

According to Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, some people are inclined to believe that Donald Trump represents an existential threat but are disinclined to think about existentialism and develop conspiracy theories as a substitute method of reconciling their belief: "I think people see him as the apocalypse candidate, and that leads people down the conspiracy path". [27]

Joseph Uscinski, a professor of political science at the University of Miami and expert on conspiracy theorizing, commenting on BlueAnon posited that "people take a lot of things on credit and don’t scrutinize them because they match how they view the world". [27]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The X account "Morgan J. Freeman" is not the account of the actor Morgan Freeman.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conspiracy theory</span> Attributing events to less-probable plots

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elon Musk</span> South African-born businessman (born 1971)

Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. His other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X, and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world; as of December 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$344 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QAnon</span> American conspiracy theory and political movement

QAnon is a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against President Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many different conspiracy theories and unifies them into a larger interconnected conspiracy theory. QAnon has been described as a cult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton body count conspiracy theory</span> Conspiracy theory

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One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

According to an American political conspiracy theory, the deep state is a clandestine network of members of the federal government, working in conjunction with high-level financial and industrial entities and leaders, to exercise power alongside or within the elected United States government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pizzagate conspiracy theory</span> Debunked conspiracy theory about alleged child-sex ring

"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner's emails. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kash Patel</span> American lawyer and federal prosecutor (born 1980)

Kashyap Pramod "Kash" Patel is an American lawyer, former federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff to U.S. secretary of defense Christopher C. Miller, and senior advisor to the acting director of national intelligence, both during the first presidency of Donald Trump. In November 2024, President-elect Trump nominated Patel to succeed Christopher A. Wray as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Chanel Rion is an American broadcaster, political cartoonist, and children's book author. She was formerly the chief White House correspondent for One America News Network (OAN), a far-right American cable channel. She is known for promoting conspiracy theories.

Elizabeth M. Crokin is an American columnist and conspiracy theorist. Since 2017, she has been an outspoken supporter of QAnon conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Taylor Greene</span> American politician (born 1974)

Marjorie Taylor Greene, sometimes referred to by her initials MTG, is an American far-right politician, businesswoman, and conspiracy theorist who has been the U.S. representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to Congress in 2020 following the retirement of Republican incumbent Tom Graves and was reelected in 2022 and 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Stanton-King</span> American media personality and politician

Angela Stanton-King is an American author, television personality and conservative speaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. She spent two years in prison for conspiracy and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump a decade after serving her sentence. She subsequently became a media personality and was a main cast member on the third season of the BET docuseries From the Bottom Up. She was the Republican candidate for Georgia's 5th congressional district in the 2020 election, losing to Democrat Nikema Williams. Stanton-King has shown support for QAnon, which espouses a number of far-right conspiracy theories.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Chansley</span> QAnon and January 6 Capitol attack figure

Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, Q Shaman, and Yellowstone Wolf, is an American far-right conspiracy theorist who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, for which he was convicted after a guilty plea on charges of obstructing an official proceeding. He is a supporter of Donald Trump and a former believer and disseminator of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Watkins</span> American conspiracy theorist and imageboard administrator

Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun. He has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, and has espoused conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8kun.

Italygate is a pro-Trump, QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theory that alleges the 2020 United States presidential election was rigged to favor Joe Biden using satellites and military technology to remotely switch votes from Donald Trump to Biden from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The conspiracy was also rumored to involve the Vatican. Fact-checkers at Reuters and USA Today, who investigated these claims, described them as "false" and "baseless".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of incidents involving QAnon</span>

Since the movement's emergence in 2017, adherents of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory have been involved in a number of controversial events, some of them violent, resulting in the filing of criminal charges and one conviction for terrorism.

References

  1. ↑ "'Fake Melania' conspiracy theory about body double is 'deranged' says Trump". South China Morning Post. March 14, 2019. Archived from the original on March 13, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Ingram, Matthew (July 17, 2024). "The Trump assassination attempt, 'BlueAnon,' and the X factor". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  3. ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (November 10, 2024). "'BlueAnon' conspiracy theories flood social media after Trump rally shooting". Washington Post . Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Gilbert, David (November 6, 2024). "Election Denial Conspiracy Theories Are Exploding on X. This Time They're Coming From the Left". Wired . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  5. ↑ Milmo, Dan (July 15, 2024). "Trump shooting shows conspiracy theories not confined to right wing". The Guardian . Retrieved November 10, 2024. Conspiracy theories emanating from people with leftwing or liberal leanings have given rise to the term "Blueanon", in reference to the blue Democratic party. The term is a derivation of "QAnon", the baseless pro-Trump, rightwing conspiracy theory that a world-controlling satanic elite is operating a child abuse ring.
  6. ↑ Ahmari, Sohrab (July 15, 2024). "The alarming rise of BlueAnon". New Statesman . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Ward, Ian (October 7, 2024). "The anti-Trump conspiracy that's sweeping the internet". Politico . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  8. ↑ Liles, Jordan (August 1, 2024). "Fake Photo of Trump, Gunman Thomas Crooks Planning Assassination Attempt Generated by AI". Snopes . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  9. ↑ Kasprak, Alex (July 26, 2024). "Rumor That Shards of Glass, Not Bullet, Injured Trump in Assassination Attempt Is False". Snopes . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  10. ↑ Sanders, Katie (July 15, 2024). "When Donald Trump was shot, the internet unleashed wild conspiracy theories". Politifact . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Fact Check: RNC video altered to show Trump with bandaged left ear". Reuters . July 21, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  12. 1 2 Klee, Miles (November 12, 2024). "BlueAnon Conspiracy Theories Explode". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  13. ↑ Morgan J. Freeman [@mjfree] (November 10, 2024). "If Trump & Elon's "little secret" was to use Starlink in swing states to tally the votes & rig the election - an investigation & hand recount is crucial. Now" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 12, 2024 – via Twitter.
  14. 1 2 3 "'BlueAnon' conspiracy theorists spread viral voter fraud claims after Trump victory". France24 . November 10, 2024. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  15. 1 2 "The Conspiracy Theory That Elon Musk Stole the Election Using Starlink Is Everywhere Now". WIRED . November 14, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  16. 1 2 Gaskins, Kayla (November 15, 2024). "'BlueAnon' theories pop up as some on Left attempt to explain Trump's win". WJLA-TV . Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Fact check: Did Donald Trump cheat to win the US election?". Deutsche Welle . November 16, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  18. ↑ Merlan, Anna (August 11, 2022). "Resistance Twitter Is Trading Bonkers Theories About Ivana Trump's Casket". Vice . Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  19. ↑ Rothschild, Mike (September 16, 2022). "Why Resistance Twitter still wants to dig up Ivana Trump's grave". The Daily Dot . Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  20. ↑ Liles, Jordan (September 20, 2022). "There's No Evidence Ivana Trump Was Cremated". Snopes . Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  21. ↑ Silverman, Rose (July 16, 2024). "How the American Left jumped on the conspiracy theory bandwagon". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Many Voters Blame Rhetoric, Media and Even Trump Himself for Conditions That Caused Assassination Attempt". Morning Consult . July 15, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  23. ↑ On the Media . November 15, 2024. Event occurs at 15:30. WNYC-FM.
  24. ↑ Goba, Kadia (July 14, 2024). "Top Democratic strategist pushed reporters to consider 'staged' shooting". Semafor . Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  25. ↑ Ahmed, Kawser (July 18, 2024). "How conspiracy theories polarize society and provoke violence". The Conversation . Retrieved November 10, 2024. Many might associate conspiracy theories with far-right politics. However, radicalization scholars have observed that "a more conspiratorial mindset has become more pronounced in liberal circles over the last eight months." Meta's Threads has become a hotbed for BlueAnon conspiratorial content, demonstrating that conspiracy theories are not confined to any single political spectrum.
  26. ↑ Duke, Amber (September 12, 2024). "The rise of BlueAnon". The Spectator . Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  27. 1 2 Cumming, Ed (September 23, 2024). "How Trump assassination conspiracy theories went mainstream". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved November 16, 2024.

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