has gone viral. the star of television hit like "the west wing" and "the hand maid's tale" will be joining us tomorrow us tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. the cnn special report, "inside the qanon conspiracy" starts now. >> announcer: the follow is a cnn special report? >> in january, we aired a special report on the conspiracy cult, qanon. it's been hard to pin down exactly how many americans believe in this conspiracy, but a new poll from the public religion research institute says that 15% of the american population believes in the core tenants of qanon. that's almost 50 million americans who believe in a fantasy. over the next hour, we'll take you inside the cult of qanon.

>> on january 6th, qanon came out of the shadows. what had started as an online conspiracy theory had quickly become a kind of cult. and for some qanon followers, this was the day they'd been waiting for. >> i'm here because "q" sent me. >> they made their presence known in the crowd of trump supporters in washington that day when a mob stormed the capitol, many qanon supporters were on the front lines. >> freedom! >> at least one supporter died that day. this woman, ashley babbitt, tried to break through a door inside the capitol. she was shot to death by a capitol police officer. she was a 14-year veteran of the air force and the air national guard. this is her in a qanon shirt at a trump rally in september. how does a veteran fall into a deranged conspiracy cult? to understand what qanon is, you have to go down a rabbit hole

where suspicion and fantasy mix with age-old anti-semitic conspiracy theorys and resentments. >> we will not cow down to evil. >> some "q" believers liken it to a scene in "the matrix" where the truth of the world is revealed to those who take the right pill. the truth, according to "q," was that then president trump was a kind of messiah. some "q" followers believe he might have actually have been a time traveler or being from another planet. they believe trump was secretly fighting a holy war against the deep state and a cabal of democrats and celebrities who were satan-worshiping pedophiles, molesting children and harvesting their blood. it sounds ludicrous, but not if you believe in qanon. and once you believe, you start to see the signs everywhere. >> the calm before the storm. >> the calm before the storm. >> what storm, mr. president? >> you'll find out.

>> those vague words about the storms spoken by then president trump at the white house on october 5th, 2017, are often cited as the beginning of what we now know as qanon. >> the calm before the storm. >> what storm, mr. president? >> you'll find out. >> this was at a time when iran was in the news. there was a lot of tension around relations between the united states and iran, so a lot of focus on that. and the president said something that was cryptic and strange about a coming storm. and how this moment was the calm before the storm. and the reporters in the room sort of seized on that with iran in mind and asked, what storm, mr. president? what are you talking about? and he was very sort of, you know, you'll see, wait and see. >> "q" really took off after this remark that president trump made. they interrupted that as a coded signal, that something called the storm was coming.

and the storm in their minds was this day of reckoning. >> and that became one of the foundational bits of lore for "q," which started posting on an image message board a couple of weeks later. >> on october 28th, someone, who later called themselves "q" clarence patriot wrote on an online forum called 4chan, which was known for anonymous or anonposts. "q" clearance patriot claimed to have a high-level security clearance called "q" clearance, which comes from the department of energy. >> this was not the first anon that had claimed to be a high-ranking government insider on 4chan, but "q" clearance patriot said basically, i am a member of the trump administration. i have this "q" clearance, this high-level intelligence clearance, and i am providing you with secret information about that's really happening behind the scenes in washington. >> "q" claimed hillary clinton

would soon be arrested and the national guard and military would be activated to quell riots. it also claimed that global elites, high-level democratic leaders and celebrities were all working to sex traffic children. >> they, you know, kidnap and traffic and torture and kill children for fun, as part of a satanic ritual, but also in order to harvest a life-extending chemical called adrenochrome from their blood. and that president trump was recruited by the military in order to bring this cabal down and bring its members to justice. and that he has been secretly working to eliminate the deep state and to find and arrest and punish the members of this global cabal. >> elizabeth newman served in the department of homeland security when qanon first emerged and said the claims

being made were so preposterous, it was hard to take them seriously. >> i think most of us, you know, just on its face, dismissed it, because, first of all, a "q" clearance has nothing to do with the things that he was talking about. and second of all, having been serving in multiple administrations, holding very high security clearances, working in the white house and department of homeland security, none of those conspiracies, whether it's "q" or any of those other things have any merit. they're completely baseless. >> none of us foresaw this catching fire the way that it did. >> the false sex trafficking claims targeting hillary clinton actually dated back to 2016. with a conspiracy theory that came to be known as pizzagate. >> after the wikileaks email hack in 2016, there was a searchable database where people could just look through all of these e-mails that wikileaks had dropped on the internet. among them, john podesta, and

then hillary clinton's campaign chair's e-mails. and among them, you could find references to comet king kong, this pizza shop. they started this rumor that comet was secretly a front for child abuse and that, you know, these e-mails that were sort of like, what sort of pizza should we order, these conspiracy theorists started saying that pizza and cheese and pasta were code words, referring in fact to child sex abuse. of course, there's no evidence of that. >> pizzagate is a conspiracy theory. >> mm. >> you don't believe it's a conspiracy theory? >> it definitely is not. pizza is a code word for child pornography. cheese pizza, child pornography. >> believing those false claims, a man named edgar welsh showed up at comet ping-pong armed with an ar-15. he claimed he'd come to rescue children he believed were locked in the basement as part of a sex trafficking ring. >> it ended up being handled where the police were able to

subdue the suspect. he did have weapons on him. it could have turned violent. but the irony of that whole story was that pizza parlor didn't even have a basement. >> this to me is emblematic of how much real-world danger this conspiracy theory could cause. but at that moment, people started backing away from pizza gate, which sort of set the stage for a new conspiracy theory to take its place and borrow heavily from its story. and that's where we get "q". >> some of "q's" conspiracy claims go much farther back than pizza gate. they're actually based on age-old racist and anti-semitic beliefs. the idea of elite harvesting the blood of children was a notion the nazis pushed. they accused jews of doing the same thing. >> there are elements of this narrative that you can find in like crusadecrusades-era conspi theories. even during the black death in europe, centuries ago, you know,

you had conspiracy theories then that said that the jews were spiking the water with poison frogs and lizards. and you get a same sense of that anti-semitism very much within "q." so in some ways, this is a very modern conspiracy theory, because it is enabled by the social web. in other words, it goes to some of the most ancient and dark biases and bigotry in human history. >> over the months and years, "q" continued posting vague clues, often in the form of questions and riddles. they became known as q-drops. followers would then spend days and weeks trying to decipher the meaning of them and certain catchphrases became commonly used among believers. >> where we go one, we go all. >> there's sort of a rallying cry that is where we go one, we go all. which is an expression of solidarity. >> they call each other patriots. almost universally. >> there's this reference to the

calm before the storm. this idea that the storm is this motion when a mass number of arrests will take place. >> and everything is sort of in this like military-esque code. >> thank you very much. >> so, you know, potus is always used instead of calling him president trump or hillary clinton in the qanon drops is never hillary clinton, she's always hrc. >> there's the great awakening, which refers to this period after the storm, when "q" believers believe there's be sort of a society-wide spiritual awakening. >> there are also things like, yeah, enjoy the show would be sort of like, watch for fireworks in the coming days. >> similarly is "trust the plan." >> trusting the plan is an important part of qanon belief, because there are sometimes that the predictions don't pan out and the things that "q" have said would happen don't. >> it's not clear if anything "q" had predicted has come true. the first post said that hillary

clinton was about to be arrested. "q" also predicted other dates when this nonexistent global cabal would be exposed. there were supposed to be mass arrests of deep state actors and martial law. all fantasy. but it didn't seem to matter to "q" followers. they even ignored the inconsistencies or explained them away. >> "q" had made reference to deep five, and that had been interpreted as a sign that something big was going to happen on december 5th. some report was going to be unveiled that unmasked the deep state conspiracy and then that turned out to be the day of george h.w. bush's funeral. and so qanon believers convinced themselves that d5 was a reference to the fact that on december 5th, at this funeral, when all of these world leaders, including former presidents and, you know, people, you know, who are allegedly part of this cabal would be in attendance in the same building, that that was going to be when the mass

arrests happened and obviously, that didn't happen. there were no mass arrests. and so, instead of admitting like, you know, we were wrong, maybe this d5 thing didn't happen, they sort of reimagined the claim. they said, maybe it's december 7th, actually. so therefore, the date -- the real date is some time in the future. and that's constantly happening with qanon. >> so this has been one of the more mind-melting aspects of reporting on "q" for me, that you talk to people who are true believers. >> we are "q"! >> and you can confront them with reality. you know, evidence of here's what happened. we both saw this with our own eyes. why do you still believe? and there's just an utter rejection of reality and a total faith in "q" with no sort of attention with regard to the facts. >> he said he was a true believer in qanon until about a year and a half ago. he explains the passion many "q" followers still have. >> this is, to them, they believe this. and this is not like a battle

between marxists and capitalists, between authoritarians and libertarians, this is a battle between good and evil for them. the cabal aren't just evil. they don't just want to control you, day don't just want to kill you, they want to take your soul. they want your soul, your family's soul, your daughter's soul, your son's soul, your brother's, your mother's, whatever. they want it for all eternity. like, the stakes for them could literally not be more existential. well, imagine if someone believed that. imagine if you believed that. what would you do? what wouldn't you do? >> at the center of that belief is donald trump. to qanon, he's a savior. they believe he supports them through hidden signals and signs when he's out in public. the former president seemingly did all he could to keep their beliefs in him alive. >> i do know they are very much

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used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena® let me ask you about qanon. it is this theory that democrats are a satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior of that. now, can you just once and for all state that that is completely not true and disavow qanon in its entirety? >> i know nothing about qanon -- >> i just told you. >> i know very little -- >> you told me but what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact. it hate to say that. i know nothing about it. i do know they are very much against pedophilia. they fight it very hard.

>> this was president trump on nbc news this past october. he repeatedly claimed he didn't know anything about qanon, but he also praised them, giving "q" followers encouragement. these "q" supporters at a qanon conference in arizona cheered on trump's words to nbc. many "q" followers believe trump is on their side and signals his support for them in public with hidden messages and signs. so qanon believers, they study all of trump's public appearances with this kind of extreme rigor, looking for these tiny little details, these signs that he supports them, that he's listening to them, that he's sending them coded signals. so, for example, every time he says the number 17 or uses it in any way, they take that as a sign that he's talking to them. because "q" is the 17th letter of the alphabet. >> 17. 17. 17. >> i've heard qanon believers say that trump makes these signs with his hand when he talks that kind of look like he's doing a "q" or they'll look at, you

know, a tie that he's wearing, like a pink tie and they'll say, you know, pink is hospital code for a child being abducted, so clearly he's sending a signal about this global cabal of pedophiles and sex traffickers. >> this former qanon follower says many believers' faith in trump is limitless. >> did you really believe that president trump was working to attack this global cabal of satan-worshiping pedophiles? i mean, you believed he was actually deeply involved? >> yeah, of course i believed that. i believed that he'd been charged by military intelligence. that he was an avatar, right? there are people out there who believe that he's a time traveler. there are people out there who believe that he's jesus. so, yeah, yeah, 100%.

>> president trump clearly knew qanon followers supported him. he said as much in august of 2020 when asked about them by a reporter. >> i understand they like me very much. which i appreciate. >> it's hard for me to envision that nobody at any point briefed him. probably something fbi director would normally brief a president on. and here's the key. especially since in their mov movement, he is a messianic figure for them. their message is entirely built around the idea that he is the savior, he will fix things, he will hold hillary clinton accountable and make sure that the children are saved. so i'm looking at this and saying, we need to make sure that he's aware so he's a little careful with his speech, so that it doesn't unnecessarily rile them up. >> how did a conspiracy cult based on lies and bizarre accusations spread so fast?

it wouldn't have happened without the help of social media. >> in earlier times, the main place you would find a conspiracy theory would be in letters to the editors of newspapers. you'll have people arguing that the weather is secretly controlled by the government, or that aliens have already arrived and are living among us. and now just because of the megascale of platforms like facebook and to a lesser extent twitter, the degree to which this was able to spread on a global scale, it would not have happened without the social element. >> the way in which it went mainstream is they turned these concepts into memes and things that were very shareable on sites like facebook and twitter, that captured people's interest. there's a reason they call it a rabbit hole, right? the cause in particular is save the children. they took that slogan and coopted it and made it feel comfortable for a mainstream person to be like, yes, i want

to help save the children. they take one click and then they learn some things and they click another and they do some searches and all of a sudden, they've spent hours and they have gone down this rabbit hole to a place where they've now been exposed to some darker theories that are not as simple as the meme they may have initially found. >> experts say the save the children hashtag proved to be a powerful recruitment tool for qanon. save the children rallies have been seen all over the country. >> the fact that you guys are attacking us and making us look like we're crazy, when we're just trying to save some [ muted ] children pisses me off. >> qanon spread was also made possible because of the cryptic nature of the so-called q drops. they're vague, seemingly presented as puzzles that loyal followers could solve or decode. >> once a new "q" post appears, there are these apps, these "q" drops apps that people use to get alerted every time.

and immediately, they'll take screen shots and post them in facebook groups and chat rooms and start trying to kind of decipher it and make sense of it all to figure out how it connects to the larger qanon narrative. >> these clues that "q" leaves are written in really ambiguous and cryptic terms. very riddle-like, which is part of what people are drawn to, right? like, people want to sort of do the research and hear this again and again. people want to do their own research and pore over these clues and interpret them. >> this is an example of a "q" droplet from september 2018. >> it starts with an all-caps line that says "panic in d.c.." then it says, "ll talking equals truth reveal tarmac bc." so this is basically a reference to loretta lynch, the former attorney general under president obama and some sort of truth that "q" is saying was revealed in a conversation with bac, whih

is bill clinton, on a tarmac. and it continues, "ll talking equals truth reveal comey hrc email case." comey is, of course, james comey, the former fbi director. ll talking truth equals truth reveal who's saying instructions rehrc email case. ll talking equals truth revealed brennan no-name potus. fisa equals start. fisa brings down the house. when do birds sing? "q." as with most "q" drops, this one doesn't have a sort of clear hint or narrative. it's coded. it's sort of written in this cryptic language. but basically, the message that people take from this is that there is some nefarious link between loretta lynch, the former attorney general, this clinton email case, john brennan, the former cia director, and a plot against

president trump. when do birds sing is sort of a cryptic reference to like, you know, when do people confess to their crimes? when does the storm happen in this house of cards that this global cabal has erected come crashing down? so when you're part of qanon, you are not just absorbing things that people tell you. you are out there, you are digging, you're trying to put together pieces of this puzzle and then you are congratulated for finding stuff. it's almost like a video game. >> a video game based on lies played by potentially hundreds of thousands of followers around the world. >> one thing that i learned when i started spending a lot of time in qanon chat rooms and forums and facebook groups is that this is really social for them. this is a kind of collaborative truth-seeking effort. and it's a community. they make friends with other qanon believers. they congratulate each other on their birthdays and they wish each other happy holidays and

they talk about how their grandkids are coming to visit next week. and for a lot of believers, this has become their primary social life. and so they get more out of it than just politics. they get affirmation, they get friendships, they get meaningful sort of missions that they feel they can be a part of. >> what surprised me was the number of people i met who, yes, they were pro-trump, but more than that, they were deriving this sense of spiritual satisfaction from "q." and there was a lot of sort of, you know, i heard from people that they felt a sense of peace or serenity in their lives that they didn't have before they started getting into "q." and that's what's really led me to understand, this is ant political movement. it is only a conspiracy theory, but really, it takes on the contours of a baby religion born on the internet. it raises questions sort of about like what's a religion versus what's a cult versus what's a conspiracy theory

versus what's a mass delusion. and i think you see pieces of all of those things in "q". >> he was a qanon follower for nearly two years, but he says after watching "q's" predictions repeatedly fail and realizing trump's so-called signals to qanon weren't signals at all, he now realizes it was all made up. >> i would say that "q" is kind of like jesus and trump is kind of like the god figure, right? for me personally, the part that was really appealing was that in a sad kind of way, this kind of cafe gave me some joy and a sense of optimism. i was looking at the world and it was just so chaotic and everything was so negative and there were just bad things happening all the time. and the idea that we could somehow make the world a better place for all of humanity just really give me a sense of optimism. so that was the irony of the

situation that my life was so sad and i was so sad that i was looking to "q" for joy, as well as a sense of belonging, just like any cult. they prey on the vulnerable and disaffected. that's exactly what happened. >> considering some believe they were fighting to save children, it's no surprise this online conspiracy could result in real-world violence. it is. show me. just hit record! see that? you're filming in 8k. that's cinema quality. so... you can pull photos straight from video. impressive. but will it last a whole trip? you'll have battery all day. and then more. this is different. told you. ♪ to prove our aa battery is the world's longest-lasting,

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and customers safe by working from home... ...and using precautions in store. see what we're up to at xfinity.com/commitment "q" is a real thing. >> they're killing our children and using their blood and stuff and using their blood sacrifices in hollywood. >> the bizarre and false theory that a global cabal of satan-worshiping democratic leaders and celebrities are trafficking in children and harvesting their blood is at the core of the qanon conspiracy theory. but there are many other far-out

claims made by "q" followers. >> it is branched in many different directions and now you'll find qanon believers talking about everything from the illuminati to aliens and area 51 to control of the banking system by george soros and other shadowy, mostly jewish financiers they believe are in power. >> i've heard everything from the idea that john f. kennedy jr. is still alive and secretly supports trump to john f. kennedy jr. was assassinated by hillary clinton. >> when it comes to hillary clinton, all you have to do is look into the e-mails and the way she's involved with spirit cooking, with a known satanic witch. hillary clinton is a satanic witch, okay. >> you may recognize this guy, so-called qanon shaman. this is him at a rally in arizona two days after the election.

his name is jay cob chansley an has been seen at other trump rallies, as well. on january 6th, he was front and center in the attack on the capitol. chansley has been arrested and charged with his alleged role in the riots. prosecutors say among other things, he obstructed a police officer. they also say he told the fbi that vice president mike pence was a child-trafficking traitor. chansley's lawyer says he wasn't violent and didn't cross police lines. >> we have evidence that this is a dangerous conspiracy theory. most recently on january 6th, when we saw people brandishing "q" signs and perpetrating "q's" message as they stormed the u.s. capitol, i mean, there was evidence before that that "q" was dangerous, but it is abundantly clear now that this is a dangerous and violent move. >> this man running after a capitol hill police officer is named doug jenson. he was also arrested and charged for his alleged role in the attack. he's wearing a "q" shirt with the motto "trust the plan." >> we've seen lots of incidents of violence and law breaking

related to qanon and inspired by qanon. there have been murders, there have been kidnappings, there have been, you know, threats against lawmakers in the name of "q." >> in march 2019, this man allegedly shot and killed a reputed mafia member in new york city. he told his lawyer that the victim was a member of the deep state working to bring down president trump. at his arraignment, he flashed a "q" symbol that he drew on his hand. he's been charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty. another "q" followers caused an armed standoff near the hoover dam in june of 2018, demanding the release of a government report on hillary clinton's e-mails. he pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge. though some in the republican party have spoken out against qanon, others seem to be trying to appeal to its followers. in august, the texas gop started using the slogan "we are the storm," the same term as used by "q" followers. the texas gop denies any connection to qanon, but have

continued to ed to use the term after the attack on the capitol. nearly two dozen republicans across the country who have engaged with the qanon conspiracy ran for office in the 2020 election. marjorie taylor greene is from georgia. >> on august 11th, marjorie taylor greene from congress. >> now, "q" is a patriot. he is someone who very much loves this country and he's on the same page as us and he is very pro-trump, okay? now, he appears to have connections at the highest levels, all right? he's posted many things that seem to verify that he is the real deal. >> reporter: lauren bobart is from colorado. >> everything that i've heard of "q," i hope that this is real. >> reporter: both women are now serving in krcongress. bobart has since said that she is not a follower of qanon and greene has tried to distance herself from the group. >> we've had conspiracy theorists in government before, including former president trump. but i think qanon is really different in that it's a

movement that has now become violent, and insurrectionist, and that has shown that it can cause real offline damage. we know that many of them don't accept that joe biden is the legitimate president. we know that many of them may never accept that. and so, to have millions of people out there following an ideology like that, including elected officials, who are taking their cues, you know, not from their constituents or from the general public, but from random people posting conspiracy theories on internet message boards, is pretty worrisome. >> and "q" still is at this point an anonymous message board poster. it's not known who he or she is or even if it's a single person or a foreign government attempting to sow division. >> we don't know who particularly "q" is. "q" is a movement, okay? it says, think for yourself. it doesn't tell you to follow one leader.

you can think about what you want with "q," but i follow the facts and i follow information. and i think for myself that is american. >> the really interesting thing for me is i've talked to a lot of qanon believers who say, it doesn't matter to me who "q" is. the identity of this person or even whether it is the same perfect, all along, seems to have become secondary in this case. it sort of -- like, they're curious who it is, but they would almost rather not know, because it allows them to preserve the illusion. >> the more people i talk to who really deeply believed in it just didn't care, because it was sort of like, well, what if you find out tomorrow that it's a hoax, and the person who's "q" admits it was all made up? and i've heard again and again and again from people who have just said, it doesn't matter who "q" is. this is so much bigger than "q." >> what's it like to be named by "q." find out what happens after "q" posted this question. who is a. cooper. >> you actually believe that i was drinking the blood of children?

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what's going on with tom hanks? >> so you guys just want me to explain everything today, huh? dude, it's all suspicion. that's suspicion. >> how do you know tom hanks is -- >> how do you not know? you're a reporter! >> tom hanks is just one of dozens of celebrities that "q" supporters have accused of being part of the so-called global cabal. there's no evidence, of course, no reason at all to believe these sick claims, but that doesn't matter to believers of qanon. >> you're call him a pedophile. >> yes. how did they get to that position of power? >> some of the celebrities that have been attacked by qanon have been critical of president trump in some way. others simply thought to be democrats. >> they will turn these people into enemies and viciously harass people. once they fixate on a target, then they all go on social media, they swarm that target. i've been the target of it.

it's happened to a lot of reporters, political pundits, celebrities. and it's very unpleasant to be on the receiving end of that. >> "q" first posted about me, november 5th, 2017, asking the question who is a. cooper. this came two days after i was on the air reporting about indictments in the russia investigation. once mentioned by "q," the followers of this conspiracy cult went to work inventing a bizarre and crazy false story about my life. according to "q" followers, my mom, gloria vanderbilt, was a satanist. they pointed to this photo taken when i was about 6 years old. that mexican folk art on the wall behind us is the virgin mary with christ, but they said it was satanic, and the christ figure was a child being sacrificed. they'd also claimed i'd been molested, likely in this empty pool in an old mansion in what "q" followers said was my mom's house. it's actually an old vanderbilt estate in asheville, north

carolina, that either i, or as far as i know, my mom had ever been to. "q" followers posted this illustration that was me as a child being abused in that pool. the cia had allegedly trained me as a super-secret cia agent infiltrating the media as part of a 1960s-era program allegedly called operation mockingbird. the confirmation, according to "q" supporters, the necklace my mom wore in that old photo looked like it could be from guatemala. the cia had supported a coup in guatemala in 1954. i was also called a pedophile, phony flight logs reported to be from jeffrey epstein's airplane appeared online with my name and dozens of other well-known people. it's all made up, of course, but qanon supporters seem to believe it, or at least use it to try to harass me. he was a believer until june of 2019. >> did you at the time believe that democrat -- high-level

democrats and celebrities were worshiping satan, drinking the blood of children? >> anderson, i thought you did that. and i would like to apologize for that right now. so i apologize for thinking that you ate babies. but, yeah. 100%. >> but you actually -- you actually believed that i was drinking the blood of children? >> yes. i did. >> was it something about me that made you think that? >> it's because "q" specifically mentioned you and he mentioned you very early on. he mentioned you by name and from there, if he also talked about, like, for example, like your family, i'm going to be honest, people still talk about that to this day. i -- there's -- there were posts about that just four days ago. so some people thought you were a robot. >> you really believed this? >> i didn't just believe that. i at one stage believed that

qanon was part of military intelligence, which is what he says, but on top of that, that the people behind him were actually a group of fifth dimensional, interdimensional, extraterrestrial bipedal bird aliens called blue aliens. i was so far down in this conspiracy black hole that i was essentially picking and choosing whatever narrative that i wanted to believe in. >> i've tried to engage sometimes with people who contact me and there's no rationale way to, you know, to prove you haven't committed a crime. >> there's nothing you can say -- whatever you do or don't do will be more proof of your guilt, right? but the thing is, this is not really about you in their mind. this is about them. this is about their internal fears and their internal projections and their internal lack of control over their own

lives. >> jitarth says he no longer believes in qanon, but there are hundreds of thousands, some even say millions of others, who still believe the plan. >> i have met qanon believers who are young, who are old, who are male, who are female, who are white, who are non-white, who are former democrats and lifelong republicans, rich, poor. i mean, this is not some fringe movement anymore. this is, this is a mass movement of people from every walk of life. >> but will people continue to believe in "q" now that president trump is gone from the white house? and nothing "q" had promised has come to pass. that's next. ♪ ♪ life can be a lot to handle. ♪this magic moment,♪ but there's plenty of magic in all that chaos. ♪so different and so new.♪ ♪was like any other...♪

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. do you have any regrets about your presidency? >> when president trump left the white house on january 20th many qanon believers were stunned. nothing they'd been promised had come to pass. we were promised exposures, military regime, classified documents. where is it one online message read? another wrote i'm scared feeling sick to my stomach but i'm holding the line still. >> it was phenomenal to watch what was going on online. there was a complete melt down of qanon followers. there was this belief while they weren't able to stop the election from being certified by the congress what was going to happen next was president trump was going to declare marshal law

at the last minute, issue a national broadcast alert, that electricity was likely to go down, water was going to go down so everyone needed to stock file food and water to be able to survive a couple weeks. and then president trump would rightly take his place for his second term as president and there would be no president biden. >> i joseph biden, jr. do solemnly swear. >> but as we've seen with many qanon followers in the past, false predictions don't deter them. the conspiracy cult's beliefs simply evolve. now some qanon adherents claim trump is still secretly running the government. one wrote anything that happens in the next four years is actually president trump's doing. others are suggesting president biden might actually be working for "q." >> a lot of them will maintain they've just misinterpreted the signals, that, you know, the real inauguration is going to happen in march instead of january or that, you know, joe

biden is actually one of the good guys. like did trump use biden to help take down the global cabal? they're already looking for all these signals like joe biden's first day in office he signed 17 executive orders. 17 is the magic "q" number, and so some of them interpreted that as a sign that he was secretly on their side. >> there's some people who actually believe joe biden is now part of the plan, he's actually working -- >> yes. >> with "q." >> yes. and that was the plan all along. >> former qanon believer says he's seen other followers give up their online postings and now social media companies have decided to crack down. twitter says it's banned more than 70,000 accounts for promoting qanon. facebook said since august they've removed more than 18,000

profiles and more than 27,000 instagram accounts for violating its policies against qanon. but qanon is still out there, still a conspiracy cult with die hard followers looking for a sense of belonging and a way to take action. some experts believe "q" followers may migrate to other fringe extremist groups. >> here's the dangerous part. the white supremacists and the anti-government extremists started to realize this was likely to happen after january 6th. they weren't able to stop biden from being approved by the congress, and so there was this disheartening moment for many of trump supporters as well as qanon supporters. so you started to see the white supremacists come up with recruitment techniques, and they started posting on their sites to educate other white supremacists on how to approach a disheartened qanon adherent. how to approach a disheartened trump supporter. they have to feed their

grievance, make sure they stay angry, make sure they put blame on the system, on the government, on trump itself. so they're looking to recruit. >> the hard part about leaving qanon, though, is once you've started to see the world in the way that qanon followers see the world as a series of, you know, lies being told by elites, it becomes very hard for them to trust in sort of mainstream authorities ever again. they sort of have this idea that the knowledge they're being fed is not real and that they have to go looking for their own sources of truth. >> there always have been conspiracy theories but never before have been able to spread so quickly. just a few clicks can take you down a rabbit hole of deranged fantasies and dangerous beliefs. what qanon shows us is even the most ludicrous and disturbing ideas can find an audience online. and in the real world the result

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