Yahoo Autos Why QAnon followers are pinning their last desperate hopes on Trump emerging as president on March 4
QAnon followers believe that Trump will be reinstated as president on March 4, 2021.
The conspiracy theory is rooted in the discredited beliefs of the sovereign citizen movement.
It has gained popularity with QAnon followers after being circulated on Telegram and Gab.
Donald Trump's triumphant return to power on March 4 may be another wacky QAnon fantasy, but the authorities are taking no chances. Congress is closed, and the lawmakers have left town. The Capitol Police are on high alert, and 5,000 National Guardsman are on stand-by in case of another violent attack on American democracy.
QAnon followers, unable to cope with Joe Biden's elevation to president in January, have now coopted a new belief to argue that the next legitimate inauguration date will be on March 4.
After President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021, some QAnon believers concluded that their conspiracy theory was a "lie." But its most fervent followers weren't ready to give up on their conspiratorial beliefs, clinging to an absurd hope that former President Donald Trump will be sworn in at a later date.
Using ever-shifting goalposts, the pro-Trump conspiracists have now set their eyes on March 4, 2021.
Where does the conspiracy theory come from?
The belief that Trump will be sworn in on March 4 is rooted in theories promoted by the obscure sovereign citizen movement.
The sovereign citizen movement is a highly-fragmented grouping of Americans who believe taxes, US currency, and even the US government to be illegitimate.
A minority of them believe that laws do not apply to them at all, resulting in the FBI designating some members as "domestic terrorists" and "anti-government extremists."
A central tenet of the movement is that the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, converted "sovereign citizens" into "federal citizens."
This belief also goes so far as to dismiss the validity of any presidency after 1868, making Ulysses S. Grant the last valid president.
The ideas are esoteric and, arguably, nonsensical.
"You really feel like you're in an Alice in Wonderland world when you start going through the ideas of the sovereign citizens," Michael Barkun, professor emeritus of political science at Syracuse University, told Insider. "It's like you've gone down some kind of rabbit hole into a parallel universe."
Some sovereign citizens also believe that an obscure law from 1871 reveals that the US has become a corporation.
The District of Columbia Organic Act established a single municipal government for Washington, DC. The use of the word "corporation," referring to an incorporated district, has led to the mistaken interpretation of this to mean that the entirety of the US became a business.
"Some believe that President Joe Biden is the executive of a bankrupt corporation - the United States Inc.," said Travis View, conspiracy theory expert and host of the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
Creating an alternate reality based on a misinterpretation of a minor detail in an old law is typical of conspiracy groups, Media Matter's deputy research director Stefanie Le told Insider.
"They can create elaborate mythologies based on the smallest and least significant details," she said.
Why March 4?
Before the 20th Amendment in 1933, all presidents were sworn in on March 4.
It was introduced to shorten the "lame duck" period between elections and the start of new administrations.
Given that followers of the sovereign citizen movement reject all constitutional amendments passed after the 14th amendment, they do not view this date change as legitimate.
QAnon followers, who failed to see Trump inaugurated in January, have recycled the argument and reinvented the next legitimate inauguration date.
They say that on March 4, 2021, Trump will succeed the last legitimate president, Grant, to become the 19th president.
