As a Dallas native and chronically online person, you would think I would be used to headlines like this by now. Nevertheless, I was floored when I stumbled upon this on the Dallas Morning News’ Instagram story.
On November 2, members of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy movement, gathered in mass at Dealey Plaza in Downtown Dallas, the location of the Kennedy Assassination in 1963. Their purpose you ask? They believe John F. Kennedy Jr., the late son of the late president, would return by midnight and reinstate Donald Trump as President of the United States.
Kennedy Jr. notoriously died in a plane crash in 1999, but these QAnon members believe he has spent the last 22 years in hiding. This prediction was based on the prophesies of one Michael Brian Protzman.
Protzman is the figure behind the Negative48 Telegram channel, a cultlike group within the already cultlike QAnon. In the span of nine months, Protzman grew his group from 1700 to 105,000 members. He uses his large platform to espouse antisemitic beliefs along with financial advice that has led several of his followers to financial ruin and in need of help.
In order to divine Kennedy Jr.’s return, Protzman used a form of gematria based on the English alphabet (A=1 to Z=26) rather than Hebrew (Aleph=1 to Taf=400). He applies this to works from the Bible as well as QAnon phrases so that he could create a sense of interconnectedness between Christianity, QAnon, and the Kennedys.
According to Protzman, Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children, creating a lineage including the likes of the ill-fated Kennedy family. According to Protzman, having type O blood is an indicator of being part of the Christ bloodline, and the purpose of COVID-19 test swabs are to track people with this blood type down.
Not everyone within the QAnon sphere of influence buys into Protzman’s teachings. QAnon John, one of the minds behind The Patriot Voice and advocate for “military mutiny” against the Biden Administration, bashed Protzman for making “our entire movement look unbelievably dumb, and naïve” in a rant he posted to his page.
Maureen McNamara, a devoted QAnon follower, told VICE News about the new Telegram group she started after her trip to Dallas to call Protzman out for his claims and his effect on his followers. McNamara explained how she spent thousands on this trip and ran out of money before returning home to her native Florida and that this was a fairly common experience within the group.
“I know many people who won’t now be able to afford Christmas, but it was more important for them to be there, or they don’t know how they’re going to pay the next month’s mortgage payment,” McNamara told VICE News.
However, Protzman continues to have a strong following, both on the Internet and in Dallas. Talk has emerged of setting up a permanent base in Dallas to await the return of JFK Jr., as well as the other members of the Kennedy family.
Want more about QAnon? Check out this article on Facebook banning groups linked to the group.
