Q scores

Greetings and happy Monday!  I hope you had a fine weekend, and if you're into sports, hope your teams all won over the weekend!

Have you ever heard the term "Q score?"  It's something that's used in the advertising and entertainment industries to note which celebrities are held in high esteem by the general public for whatever reason.  Advertisers don't want someone with a low Q score hawking their products any more than the producer of a blockbuster movie (if there is such a thing anymore) wants a low scorer on the Q scale to star in that picture.  The host of a network morning news show might have been chosen based on his/her Q score.

For instance, in 2020, Oprah Winfrey had a Q score of 23 Positive.  Lester Holt, the anchor of NBC Nightly News, has an 18 Positive score. 

So with that in mind I reference Qanon, which is a pretty out-there political/social group.  I say "out there" because of their origins.  They originated in 2017 or thereabouts in the far-right segment of the political spectrum in this country, and are largely known for conspiracy theories.  Its originator is or was known simply as Q and postulated that the country is run by a cabal of cannibalistic sexual abusers and sex traffickers of children.  And that this cabal conspired against Donald Trump as he sought the White House in 2016.

Apparently it has its roots in something called Pizzagate, wherein this cabal operated from within a Washington DC-area pizza parlor.  The cabal's members were reported to include Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and more well-known figures whom the political right dislikes intensely.  Trump had been held up as their savior, that he alone would root out this despicable organization and mete out justice to those who had committed such horrific crimes.

As the Trump presidency unfolded and none of the so-called prophecy ever took place, Q would simply communicate a revised prophecy with adjusted dates and such.  There were numerous Qanon followers present at the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.  The last date that I had heard that the decisive action predicted by Q would take place was Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021.

It did not, of course.

Trump had always claimed he didn't really know much about Qanon, but would say that he appreciated their support.  He was asked point blank about that subject in 2020 and said much the same, don't know much about them, but happy that they like me, or something to that effect.

But now things apparently have changed.  As Trump's support base has evolved since his presidency ended, he is now fully embracing Qanon and its followers, to the point where he's wearing a Q lapel pin and his campaign rallies are featuring a song associated with the movement at the conclusion, at which time the Qanon supporters engage in an index-finger salute that looks ominously like the salute Hitler came to expect from adoring crowds during his reign.

I suppose it's bad politics to turn away support when it's needed, but since Trump is not currently an active or official candidate for anything, he could just as easily downplay their support.  But he has not, although a news item I read indicated that his aides asked people not to salute at the end of the rally.  But that didn't really work.

Does it matter?  Probably not that much, but as with support from white nationalist groups and the like, it just has a certain quality that isn't very easily accepted or dismissed.