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The wacko pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory has some friends in high places in South Carolina, where State Rep. Lin Bennett (R) has been posting on Facebook about her belief in QAnon.
QAnon is a kind of mega-Pizzagate, premised on anonymous internet posting that that claim that Trump is about to arrest top Democrats and either ship them off to Guantanamo Bay or just have them executed. QAnon has been linked to several violent incidents, including a Seattle stabbing and, incredibly, the recent murder of a mafia boss.
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Bennett, who represents a Charleston-area district, has been posting about QAnon on Facebook since at least last year, even helping to “decode” the QAnon “clues” for her Facebook friends.
Last April, Bennett posted a guide to QAnon, calling it “a gem.” In September, Bennett added a series of QAnon clues to her Facebook page.
“To say they are ‘interesting’ is an understatement,” Bennett wrote. “Wow! Just wow!”
Bennett isn’t the first public official to back QAnon. In December, a councilwoman in California praised the conspiracy theory during a public meeting. In January, a Montana justice of the peace fumed at a reporter who doubted QAnon’s validity.
Still, Bennett is arguably the highest ranking politician to promote QAnon so far. At one point, she liked a comment that asked “You follow Q???” Later in September, Bennett posted another QAnon tip that promised Democrats would soon face Trump’s wrath.
“I really think there is PANIC in DC!” Bennett wrote, referencing a QAnon slogan.
Bennett even helped her followers understand Q’s cryptic clues, posting Facebook comments that explained the posts. “RR,” Bennett explained, was Q’s way of referring to Rod Rosenstein.
But not everyone Bennett knew was on board with her QAnon fandom.
“Is this legit?” asked one of her Facebook friends. “Cause everything seems pretty grandiose and out there.”
“They’re legit,” Bennett wrote. “And they haven’t been wrong.”
Bennett didn’t respond to requests for comment.
