WHO IS JO RAE PERKINS AND WHAT IS QANON?

Jo Rae Perkins, a businesswoman from Albany, is the Republican Party candidate on Oregon’s Nov. 3 ballot, challenging two-term incumbent Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, for his U.S. Senate seat. She has also publicly announced herself as a QAnon supporter, something voters should seriously consider. QAnon is a conspiracy theory movement that claims a cabal of child-eating Satanist pedophiles, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, and Ellen DeGeneres, are involved in a “deep state” conspiracy plotting against President Trump. QAnon supporters maintain that Trump was recruited for the presidency by top military officials to dismantle and bring to justice this criminal ring through its members’ arrest and imprisonment.

The roots of this conspiracy theory took a foothold in 2016 when the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory emerged. Just prior to the presidential election, rumors that Hillary Clinton was involved in a satanic child sex traffic ring that operated out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria surfaced on social media. This theory became widely public, and was debunked, when a man armed with an A-15 rifle, a .38-caliber handgun, and a folding knife entered the pizzeria, only to find that there was zero evidence of a child sex ring. There was not even a basement. In October 2017, cryptic messages referred to as “Q drops” began to trickle in on a “politically incorrect” online forum called 4chan. QAnon threads moved from 4chan to 8chan and later became mainstream on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.

The originator of the posts insinuated that he held a high level, top-secret “q-clearance” as a government insider. The originator (never explicitly identified as male, but commonly held as such in the internet threads) became known to his followers as Q. Q’s credentials and identity have yet to be verified. Over time, the close-to-5,000 Q drops have included Bible verses, puzzling messages, and extreme predictions, none of which have yet to come true. And by this summer, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter began to ban and delete QAnon accounts and content – the former by the tens of thousands.

This fall, there are at least 22 QAnon supporters, including Jo Rae Perkins, who have secured ballot placement for congressional elections. Recently, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vocal QAnon supporter, won her GOP congressional primary contest in Georgia and is expected to easily win a House seat in November. President Trump has retweeted pro-QAnon tweets; QAnon supporters have been present at his rallies and events. Trump, when questioned about QAnon, replied, “I don’t know much about the movement other than that I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate.” And he added, “I’ve heard these are people that love our country.” For QAnon supporters, this comment served as validation (similar to Trump’s comments about the Proud Boys group during his Sept. 29 presidential debate with former Vice President Joe Biden).

The FBI has identified QAnon as a domestic terrorist threat – as it has the Proud Boys. There have been several violent instances linked to QAnon, and others linked to latter group. As for Perkins, “Q is a source for information,” she has said. “I can read all these articles. It’s kind of like a clearinghouse. And that’s what I really like about Q. That’s one thing that I like. The other thing is that there are questions in the Socratic method… Go do your own research, figure it all out for yourself.”

The view of Merkley, her Senate opponent, is a sharp contrast. “Pushing conspiracy theories that are designed to increase hate and division in America is very different than working together to solve problems,” Merkley said. “We need much less of the former – the conspiracy theories – and a lot more of the latter.” Effective political service requires possessing sharp reasoning skills. Does someone who believes in wild, baseless conspiracy theories deserve the vote? When filling out your ballot, whether a candidate supports a domestic terrorist threat is worthy of your consideration.