Saturday, March 31, 2018

Let Us Break Down The Bizarre Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory Roseanne Barr Has Tweeted About

Barr’s claim on Friday that “Trump has freed so many children” from sex trafficking rings sounds very similar to the “QAnon” conspiracy theory she’s previously tweeted about.

On Friday, Roseanne Barr tweeted a message that left a lot of people scratching their heads — and some conspiracy theorists applauding her.

On Friday, Roseanne Barr tweeted a message that left a lot of people scratching their heads — and some conspiracy theorists applauding her.

Twitter

The tweet praised Trump for breaking up human trafficking rings around the world. Barr also cryptically alluded to human bondage in unnamed, unspecified "high places."

On the one hand, a MAGA tweet from Barr is unsurprising. She's expressed a wide swath of political views over the years, but has strongly supported Trump's presidency.

On the one hand, a MAGA tweet from Barr is unsurprising. She's expressed a wide swath of political views over the years, but has strongly supported Trump's presidency.

Jordan Strauss / AP

On ABC's revival of her hit '90s sitcom, Roseanne, the title character is also pro-Trump.

After the show premiered on Tuesday to massively high ratings, Trump personally called Barr to congratulate her, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed to BuzzFeed News.

The show has already been renewed for another season.

Barr, however, pushed back by saying she was just celebrating Trump's legitimate policies.

Barr, however, pushed back by saying she was just celebrating Trump's legitimate policies.

Twitter: @therealroseanne

They're part of a pro-Trump mega-conspiracy theory that claims, among other things, that top Democrats are secret Satan worshippers running a global child sex trafficking ring and Trump is going to take them down.

A spokesperson for Barr did not immediately return a request for comment.

"The Storm" is related to "Pizzagate," a right-wing conspiracy theory which claims Democrats are involved in a pedophile sex ring run inside Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in DC.

"Pizzagate" came to a head in Dec. 2016, when a man fired a rifle inside the restaurant after he went there to "self-investigate" the theory

Well, it all started on 4chan, as many of these sorts of things do.

As Select All explained shortly after the theory's conception, an anonymous 4channer who went by Q posted a thread in Oct. 2017 in /pol/, the site's political discussion board (and a hotbed of white supremacist views and conspiracy theories).

The thread was titled "The Calm Before The Storm," likely in reference to a cryptic statement Trump had made earlier that month in which he told reporters, without explanation, that they were witnessing "the calm before the storm."

Claiming to be a high-ranking government worker with knowledge of White House affairs, Q (aka "QAnon") would post incredibly vague "crumbs" of intel about Trump getting ready to take down the Deep State, pedophilia rings and all.

Thanks to a few coincidences and a lot of collective mental gymnastics (such as a photo of some islands being taken as evidence that Q was aboard Air Force One), a lot of people believed Q and dedicated themselves to deciphering his messages.

In the months since it started, "The Storm" has spread to YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, and pretty much anywhere else conspiracy theories proliferate.

Barr has tweeted about "QAnon" before, which led to the speculation her trafficking tweet was related to "The Storm."

Barr has tweeted about "QAnon" before, which led to the speculation her trafficking tweet was related to "The Storm."

Twitter / Via entertainmentdaily.com

Twitter / Via entertainmentdaily.com

In Nov. 2017 — just about three walks after the conspiracy theory first kicked off — Barr tweeted a question: "who is Q?"

Five minutes later, she tweeted "tell Qanon to DM me in the nexxt 24 hours."

Shortly after these tweets, Barr's Twitter account went down and her website temporarily disappeared, Entertainment Daily reported at the time. (According to Daily Beast, the website issues were due to routine maintenance.)

A few hours later, Barr returned to Twitter, saying she was "OK and back." She gave her followers a "thank you for worrying" and said she'd share an "explanation later on." (She never did.)

Twitter / Via entertainmentdaily.com

Still, some were not convinced it was really her, and replied asking for evidence an imposter hadn't taken over her Twitter.

And the following December, she temporarily quit Twitter (and deleted all her tweets in the process) after going on an angry tirade praising Trump and lambasting liberals.

She returned to the platform in January.

If she believes in "The Storm" or not, we probably won't get further clarification from Barr — she said she's not going to tweet about the issue again.

If she believes in "The Storm" or not, we probably won't get further clarification from Barr — she said she's not going to tweet about the issue again.

Twitter: @therealroseanne



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