From the very first “Q drop” in 2017, which predicted Hillary Clinton’s imminent arrest, QAnon has made predictions that certain events were about to happen. When these events don’t happen, believers concoct some elaborate explanation for why the predictions didn’t come true and move on to the next event, with many becoming even more faithful—a classic pattern among believers in prophecy.
Ahead of the Trump shooting, QAnon promoter Phil Godlewski predicted on his Rumble show to 200,000 followers that there would be “a scare event” or a “9/11–type event” in the coming weeks. When Trump was shot, many of Godlewski’s followers were quick to claim his prediction had come true.
“My Q friend would call me and inform me that if this happens, to not be afraid, as it’s all part of The Plan,” says Jay, who asked to be referred to by his first name only to protect his privacy. “Once the shooting happened, my friend was quick to call to tell me that ‘it’ happened, the scare event. He told me that it’s totally staged, to not be afraid, and that I should believe that Phil is right, that his sources are correct.”
Jay says his friend went on to claim a global financial reset would happen next, before Trump would be reinstated in November. “Phil has made plenty of other vague predictions that haven’t come true, but since this vague prediction did happen, my Q friend is doubling down,” says Jay.
In at least one case, the shooting seemingly caused a former QAnon believer to slip back under the conspiracy’s spell.
Amy, who asked to use her first name only to protect her privacy, says she has known her friend Jane since they met in college 20 years ago. During Trump’s first term in office, Jane began posting positive messages about the former president on Facebook, and when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Jane went further into QAnon conspiracies.
“Her posts became unhinged and wild,” Amy tells WIRED. “Speculation of deep-state-type conspiracies. She hated Democrats, Joe Biden, and the Clintons for vast and unhinged reasons.”
Over the past couple of years, Jane had all but stopped posting conspiracies about Trump and the deep state, instead sharing photos and missives about her pets. Then the shooting happened.
“Full-on unhinged posting hour after hour,” says Amy, describing Jane’s social media content. “She fully and publicly supported Trump. She blamed the shooting on a liberal in an alt-right shirt. She definitely believes Joe Biden or the Democrats arranged it.“
Katrina Vaillancourt, a former QAnon believer who has written a book about her experience, says that had she still been under the spell, she thinks, she would have also doubled down in the wake of the Trump shooting.
“I would have assumed this was a desperate attack by the evil cabal, using its tentacles of the deep state, including members of the FBI and Secret Service, and the fact that Trump survived it is as close as we get to evidence that God is on Trump’s side,” Vaillancourt tells WIRED. “I would be online doing ‘research’ for at least four hours a day, and up to 10 hours a day if something really got under my skin, as this one would have done.”