Republicans say Q-Anon conspiracy theory hurts soul of the GOP

Republican leaders have started condemning the Q-Anon theory that has been associated to the GOP since 2017, following a random social media posts hailing 45th US President as the only savior of the United States. Among other leaders, Republican Rep. Peter Meijer and Michael Woods have been the loudest voices against the conspiracy theory.

The believers of Q-Anon have been propagators of the idea that Donald Trump the savior against a supposed Satanic pedophilia ring at the highest ranks of government and Hollywood.  The conspiracy theory played a major role in the Presidential elections of 2020, as Trump supporters referred to Biden’s victory as the trumpet of ‘The Storm’. 

According to CNN, these theorists – under the influence of Donald Trump’s January 6 address – raided the Capitol causing what was popularly referred to as ‘one of the biggest attacks on democracy’. 

On Saturday, CNN quoted Republican Representative Peter Meijer’s warning to the GOP when he said that baseless conspiracy theories like Q-Anon will destroy the party ‘from within’ if Republicans don’t decisively and unequivocally condemn the false and dangerous beliefs and take action to stop their spread.

 “The fact that a significant plurality, if not potentially a majority, of our voters have been deceived into this creation of an alternate reality could very well be an existential threat to the party,” said Meijer. He was also amongst the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the attack at the US Capitol.

While, Trump himself has never tried to sideline Q-Anon, Adam Kinzinger, representative for Illinois’s 16th congressional district, has time and again denounced Q-Anon and had voted for Trump’s impeachment. While talking to CNN he described the fight against theory as a ‘long-term battle for the soul of the party’. 

Another Republican, Michael Wood,  who will be running in a special election taking place on May 1 to fill the House seat previously held by the late Ron Wright has issued open criticism of Donald Trump and Q-Anon. “We are not the party of conspiracy theories and Q-Anon. We can be again the party of ideas,” he said on his campaign website.

“I think he bears direct responsibility for the rise of conspiratorial thinking in the Republican Party and the conservative movement as a whole. The big lie that he promulgated after Election Day did a whole lot of harm to our civic institutions,” Wood directed an answer at Donald Trump according to CNN. GOP Representative Denver Riggleman of Virginia is another voice against the conspiracy.