MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson Holds Insane Segment on QAnon Conspiracy Theories: ‘Pizzagate on Bath Salts’
MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson used a portion of her Wednesday show to hold an informative segment about QAnon, the wacky online conspiracy theory that had a very conspicuous presence at President Donald Trump‘s rally last night.
As Jackson explained to her viewers, QAnon is 4Chan-based idea that one of the website’s anonymous users has high-level government security clearance, and is dropping hints about Trump’s war against the so-called “deep state.” Jackson went through several of the nuttiest allegations from QAnon while noting how Roseanne Barr endorsed the conspiracy theory along with other pro-Trump, far-right figures.
Jackson spoke with her NBC colleague Ben Collins about how QAnon spread across the Internet and the NBC reporter described it as a mish-mash of unchecked online conspiracy theories which have been rolled into a single lump of insane preposterousness. Collins was also given plenty of time to argue that he was right when he characterized QAnon as “Pizzagate on bath salts.”
People like to call Qanon "Pizzagate on steroids," but it's really both emotionally and socioeconomically Pizzagate on bath salts.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) July 31, 2018
“It’s fan-fiction,” Collins said. “It’s the same way if you were to read people trying to put together two people in a sitcom on the Internet because they’re fans of it. It’s the same exact thing. It’s people role-playing politics, and the goal is to make it so the lives of their political opponents are simply impossible.”
Jackson opened the floor for debate after that, and Axios’ Alexi McCammond expressed concern about how “scary and dangerous” QAnon could be if it ends up creating an emergency situation as Pizzagate did. Bloomberg’s Sahil Kapur agreed — while making note of Trump’s affinity for conspiracy theories.
[Image via screengrab]
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