According to QAnon followers and other conspiracy theorists, Donald Trump will return as the 19th President of the United States on March 4, 2021. Yes, the 19th president.
Here is Nicole Narea at VOX:
Their rationale for this evidence-free belief — and the meaning behind the March 4 date — is, perhaps unsurprisingly, convoluted and based on a series of misinterpretations, conspiracy theories, and outright lies. But here’s how the theory goes:
QAnon believers claim that the US federal government secretly became a corporation under a law they believe passed in 1871 but does not actually exist, rendering every president inaugurated and every constitutional amendment passed in the years since illegitimate.
But on March 4, the narrative goes, Trump will return as the 19th president, the first legitimate president since Ulysses S. Grant, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as his vice president. Why March 4? It’sthe original date that presidents were inaugurated. Inauguration Day changed to January 20 with the passage of the 20th amendment in 1933 — the same year that Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the gold standard.
This is actually relevant to the conspiracy theory: QAnon believers argue that in ending the gold standard, Roosevelt transferred power to a group of shadowy foreign investors who have since been controlling the US government. (Trump sought to bring back the gold standard while in office.)
“Trump will be back on March 4. By Constitution. Read it. Read a book and educate yourself,” wrote the user Wesley McBride on a Telegram channel for people who migrated from Parler after Amazon Web Services booted the right-wing social media site from its servers.
Read the entire piece here. Trump’s DC hotel is getting ready for all the visitors by raising their rates.
I am reminded of similar predictions in the history of American religious history.
In her book Doomsayers: Anglo-American Prophecy in the Age of Revolution, historian Susan Juster chronicled a variety of eighteenth-century prophecies.
A millennial movement known as the Millerites gained popularity in 1844 when their leader, William Miller, predicted that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844. When his prophecy did not pan out, his followers made further predictions.
Many evangelicals believed that the rapture would occur in 1988, forty years and 120 days after the birth of modern Israel.
More recently, Christian radio broadcaster and amateur theologian Harold Camping predicted that “Judgment Day” would occur on September 6, 1994. He then revised the date to September 29, 1994. Then October 2, 1994. Then May 21, 2011. (I wrote about the last prediction here).
I imagine that Q will float another date after things don’t pan out on March 4, 2021. I wonder if Trump will somehow reference this conspiracy theory during his CPAC speech on Sunday. I am sure the Q followers will be watching closely.
