Photo via @Ashli_Babbitt/Twitter
January 7, 2021, 12:28 pm
The woman who was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer while inside the building during the pro-Trump insurrection on Wednesday has been identified as Ashli E. Babbitt, an avid QAnon conspiracy theorist.
Advertisement
Hide
Posts dug up from Babbitt’s social media accounts show that she was very much looking forward to the day, promoting January 6 as the day that a “storm” would come to D.C.
Advertisement
Hide
QAnon, if you weren’t aware, is a bizarre conspiracy theory which posits that Democrats and other “elites” are involved in a global conspiracy to take over the world, essentially, and Donald Trump is dedicated to stopping them. Babbitt had over 18,000 followers on Twitter at the time of her death and often posted QAnon slogans including “WWG1WGA,” which is short for “Where We Go One, We Go All.”
Advertisement
Hide
In one such post, she included a photo of herself in a shirt reading “We Are Q.”
Babbitt was shot in the shoulder among the bedlam within the Capitol yesterday and was seen being rushed out on a stretcher to an ambulance. She died later that day, along with three others who reportedly succumbed to “medical emergencies” during the insurrection, though further details on those individuals are still lacking.
QAnon began after an individual calling themself “Q” and claiming to be a high-ranking military officer who happened to spend his free time on internet cesspools like 4chan posted some wild claims on anonymous message boards. These posts were pushed by conspiracy theorists and grew into something so popular that we now have an elected member of congress who signaled her support of this “movement.”
Advertisement
Hide
Though not the only thing that drove people to the Capitol on Wednesday, plenty of QAnon merchandise and sign slogans were to be found among the crowds of Trump supporters inside and outside of the building.
One popular QAnon figure, which some on the right have falsely claimed to be an anti-fascist activist, was photographed multiple times in a bizarre getup inside the Capitol building during the riots.
Advertisement
Hide
In spite of this clearly being a dangerous conspiracy theory bordering on a personality cult, multiple individuals in the Trump administration have promoted it on social media, whether directly or indirectly. One time, this included Vice President Mike Pence.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has tried to distance herself from QAnon after winning her election in November. However, Trump’s refusal to even address that he’s considered the hero figure within the conspiracy theory, let alone tell them they’re wrong and they need to stop creating super-spreader events, has spoken volumes.
Advertisement
Hide
Trump has still failed to condemn QAnon following the insurrection, and that’s probably not just because all of his social media accounts have been cut off.
*First Published: January 7, 2021, 12:28 pm
0 Comments