Speaker 1: On June, a man blocked a bridge near the Hoover
Speaker 1: Dam with a homemade armored vehicle. Inside the man held
Speaker 1: firearms and nine hundred rounds of ammunition. He did this
Speaker 1: as a protest. He was demanding that a report he'd
Speaker 1: heard about via an online conspiracy be released to the public.
Speaker 1: This conspiracy theory started in October. That's when someone calling
Speaker 1: themselves Q Clearance Patriot first wrote a public message on
Speaker 1: the notorious four Chan website. The original poster, now known
Speaker 1: as Q, inferred that they were a US government insider
Speaker 1: with knowledge that would expose a deep state conspiracy within
Speaker 1: American politics. This spawned what is now the Q and
Speaker 1: On phenomena, a conspiracy theory so complex that it's formed
Speaker 1: a cult like following. Many of its followers think Q
Speaker 1: is associated with Donald Trump and that he's cryptically communicating
Speaker 1: with them via obscure image boards online. Hundreds of thousands
Speaker 1: of people across the world believe in this, and as
Speaker 1: a result, Q and On has torn families apart, led
Speaker 1: people to violence, and is even infiltrating the highest levels
Speaker 1: of government with disinformation. Now in more than seventy u s,
Speaker 1: congressional candidates have either shared or outright endorsed Q and
Speaker 1: On material. President Trump himself is even given availed thumbs
Speaker 1: up to the movement. Outside of what the conspiracy community thinks,
Speaker 1: nobody quite knows the true identity of Q. We aim
Speaker 1: to change that. I'm Jake Hanrahan, a journalist and documentary
Speaker 1: filmmaker covering the war, conflict, and extremist politics for the
Speaker 1: last seven years. And this is Q Clearance, an investigative
Speaker 1: podcast series that aim to uncover the true creators of
Speaker 1: Q and On. Listen to Q Clearance on the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.