The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly condemned the QAnon conspiracy theory, citing among other reasons its antisemitism.
The nonbinding resolution passed 371-18, with all but one of the no votes by Republicans. The other was Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., who routinely votes against declarative resolutions.
Reps. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., and Denver Riggleman, R-Va., sponsored the measure, which “condemns QAnon and rejects the conspiracy theories it promotes.” Its preamble says that “many QAnon followers express antisemitic views, and the Anti-Defamation League has said that the movement’s central conspiracy theory includes antisemitic elements.”
Conspiracy theories “have been a central driver of antisemitism for centuries,” the preamble adds, “and QAnon conspiracy theories are fanning the flames as antisemitism is on the rise in the United States and around the world.”
QAnon advances a baseless theory that President Donald Trump is seeking to rout a network of pedophiles deep inside the government. Trump has not denounced the theory.
Malinowski has been targeted for death threats by QAnon followers based in part on a false claim that he once advocated for pedophiles. An ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee made the false claim.
Riggleman, a moderate Republican, was ousted this summer in a primary by a conservative challenger who made an issue of Riggleman’s support for gay rights. The passage of this resolution will be one of his final acts in his two years in Congress.
A number of Republican congressional nominees have been identified with the theory and one, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, is guaranteed election in her deeply conservative district.