QAnon believers fall for fake Trump and Melania accounts on Telegram app: 'Someone is trying to mind f**k us'
QAnon believers found refuge in alternative social media platforms after being purged by major tech companies following the Capitol riots. One of these havens was Telegram, where many were thrilled to learn their favorite President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump also had accounts.
The former president and first lady were joined by Air Force General John Hyten on the app and their statements were promoted by attorney Lin Wood. The pro-Trump lawyer's endorsement caused many to believe their posts were genuine despite Telegram marking them as fakes, according to The Daily Beast.
"Melania is a genius," Wood wrote on January 18 on his verified Telegram as he promoted an account named Lady Melania Trump. "A beautiful genius," he added. "And she loves her husband and her son. They are geniuses too."
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According to the Daily Beast, Telegram has added "SCAM" warnings to some of the counterfeit accounts — one of them impersonating former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, with over 16,000 followers. However, the aforementioned accounts belonging to Hyten and the Trumps have been taken down by the platform.
Another fake account impersonating Tom McInerney — a retired Air Force general who frequently appears on Alex Jones' InfoWars program — is still active on the platform. McInerney had disavowed the account on a radio appearance in January.
That said, the fake Telegram accounts had already gained more popularity than genuine accounts of Trump allies Roger Stone, who has nearly 30,000 followers, and InfoWars' Paul Joseph Watson, who boasts 43,000 followers. Both right-wing figures had amassed large followings on mainstream platforms before they were banned by giant tech bosses.
"Someone somewhere is trying to mind f*ck us," griped popular QAnon promoter Jordan Sather after the fake accounts were identified, according to RawStory.
Earlier this month, we had reported how President Joe Biden had upset QAnon believers after he used Air Force One over the weekend to fly to Delaware and also to a town hall in Wisconsin.
NBC News reporter Ben Collins told Arab-American journalist Ayman Mohyeldin that the conspiracy theory group was in a "holding pattern" as Biden completed his first month as the 46th POTUS.
"You know, they hold on to these little nuggets, they hope in the future there are — they believe right now there are two presidents and this will all get sorted out on March 4th," Collins said on February 17. "But they lose hope along the way. For example, last night when Joe Biden boarded Air Force One, the real one, for the first time, that was a blow. They felt betrayed by this. They thought that Air Force One was still being used by President Trump in secret."
And last month, we had reported how QAnon followers had declared Trump would become president again on March 4 to continue his war against the "deep state."
Followers of the cult were reportedly heartbroken when Biden was sworn-in as President on January 20, destroying their strong belief that Trump would remain in office and resume his bid to tussle with a global ring of satanic pedophiles.
Believers were initially upset, but many renewed their confidence in "the plan" once again, according to reports. The belief reportedly stemmed from the "sovereign citizen" movement that believes a secret law was passed in 1871 that turned the United States into a corporation by erasing the American government of its founding principles.