QAnon believers think they’ve spotted Trump behind Biden in Oval Office
SUPPORTERS of the QAnon conspiracy theory are peddling a new bizarre claim that Donald Trump can be seen in the reflection of a window in a photo of Joe Biden inside the Oval Office.
Members of the group claim that the photo, which was posted to the official POTUS Instagram page on Wednesday, proves that Trump is secretly “running the show” behind the scenes at the White House.
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The image of Biden, showing him speaking to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the phone, was shared widely by QAnon supporters on the messaging service Telegram, Newsweek reported.
“Did you see who’s in the reflection?” Telegram user We The Pepe wrote. “Go see for yourself.”
Another QAnoner, MelQ, who boasts a following of more than 140,000, also instructed their followers to look in the reflection behind Biden.
The posts promoted hundreds of replies, mostly agreeing that the figure in the window is former President Donald Trump, who is seen as a savior-like figure for followers of the conspiracy theory.
QAnoners have also peddled another conspiracy in recent months, claiming that Trump will simply be reinstated as President by the year’s end because of widespread “voter fraud” during the 2020 election.
Some supporters strangely claimed it appeared as though the photo of Biden had actually been a photoshopped image from Trump’s time in office.
“Proof that patriots are running the show,” Telegram user MySearchfor Truth wrote about the image. “Doctored up an old photo of Trump, inserted Biden, left the reflection of Trump in the window to tie to Q post.”
“Did they just photoshop mumbles Biden into a picture that was taken while DJT [Trump] was in office. Asking for my fren [sic] that questions everything,” another added.
A third wrote: “That ain’t Biden’s head/shoulders. That’s DJT…rightful POTUS!!”
As is often the case with their unfounded theories, supporters of the movement point to old messages from their anonymous leader “Q” to substantiate their claims.
QAnon first emerged on the messageboard website 4Chan in 2017.
A user called Q who claimed to be an ex-government official with top security access began sharing coded messages to the site.
The first post claimed that Hillary Clinton was soon to be arrested.
“HRC extradition already in motion effective yesterday with several countries in case of cross border run,” it read. “Expect massive riots organized in defiance and others fleeing the US to occur.”
The claim never came to fruition – a common theme in the four years since.
From there, the conspiracy snowballed into claims that there was a secret cabal of pedophiles operating in the shadows of society, including leading Democrats, that Trump was fighting to take down.
Since Trump lost the election to Biden last year, such messages have slowed in frequency.
It’s also been claimed that “Q” was actually not a high-ranking government official but rather Ron Watkins, a former administrator of 8kun, though he has denied the claims.
Q hasn’t posted a message since December 8, which was a link to a pro-Trump video.
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But followers of the group continue to decipher thousands of the leader’s past messaged to find meaning to justify their beliefs and suggest Q predicted world events ahead of time.
In regards to the latest conspiracy, QAnoners say that Trump appearing in the reflection of Biden’s photo was foretold by Q in a series of posts from March 2019.
“Find the Reflection inside the castle” and “reflections are important” those posts read.