Barkun quoted in Business Insider piece on QAnon's Trump conspiracy theory

March 1, 2021

Business Insider

Michael Barkun

Political Science Department

Media & Journalism

U.S. Elections

United States

Business Insider

Michael Barkun

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, 2021. The belief is rooted in theories promoted by the obscure sovereign citizen movement, a highly-fragmented grouping of Americans who believe taxes, U.S. currency, and even the U.S. government to be illegitimate. "You really feel like you're in an Alice in Wonderland world when you start going through the ideas of the sovereign citizens," says Michael Barkun, professor emeritus of political science. "They will construct more and more complex rationalizations that push the events that they wish for farther and farther into the future." Read more in the Business Insider article, "Why QAnon are pinning their last desperate hopes on Trump emerging as president on March 4."