President Trump tagged an account that has made several references to the QAnon conspiracy theory in a tweet calling for stronger election security through the use of voter ID.
“We should immediately pass Voter ID @Voteridplease to insure the safety and sanctity of our voting system. Also, Paper Ballots as backup (old fashioned but true!). Thank you!” the president tweeted.
The account @voteridplease the president tagged has tweeted and retweeted the #QANON conspiracy theory, an unsupported claim that there is a “deep state” against Mr. Trump and his supporters and the existence of a Democratic-run pedophilia ring.
The theory originated on the message board 4chan but gained notoriety after Trump rally attendees held up signs in 2018 promoting the theory.
The QAnon conspiracy is also suspected to be tied to a D.C. shooting Comet Ping Pong, where a man fired three shots with an AR-15 in the restaurant after the gunman read a viral theory that listed the eatery as harboring child sex slaves.
The president has claimed voter fraud several times without any evidence, alleging he lost his popular vote loss because of illegal immigrants and said during a conference last week that people were voting two or three times as a “rigged deal.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly called for increased voter ID laws, which critics say would result in fewer individuals of color from voting.
The Republican Party has faced criticism recently over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refusing to bring election security bills up for a vote, claiming the bills were partisan.
When media outlets accused him of treason and being a “Russian asset,” he called himself a victim of “modern-day McCarthyism.”
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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