@ GNΩME

With all these decades and - in the case of the oldest democracies - centuries of broken political promises, you’d think that the public would have caught on to the game by now. But no. Still expecting political saviours. Every election cycle, the public hears how this politician will deliver the nation from its economic woes or that politician will restore a country to its former greatness. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson was re-elected as president of the United States on the back of his popular campaign slogan, "_He Kept Us Out of War_". But like all of the presumptive political saviours of the democratic age - in which popularity contests determine who seizes power and the public is swayed by the nicest sounding promises - Wilson, too, promptly broke his word. Just five months after his re-election, he oversaw US entry into the First World War and gave his [now-famous speech]( https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-2-1917-address-congress-requesting-declaration-war) assuring the public that getting the US into war was necessary to make the world "_safe for democracy_". Similarly, Lyndon B. Johnson won election in 1964 [promising]( https://youtu.be/kdE6VVcH_0g) to limit America’s involvement in Vietnam. "_Some others are eager to enlarge the conflict. They call upon us to supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do_". But this, too, was just another [swiftly broken promise]( https://youtu.be/dc9gJvpV8xo) by yet another political "saviour". "_Air action is now in execution against gunboats and certain supporting facilities in North Vietnam_". Laughably, even George W. Bush "won" the election in 2000 [promising a humble American foreign policy]( https://youtu.be/irzSo578gmg) and a vow to only fight short, winnable wars with well-defined objectives. GEORGE W. BUSH: > But I’m gonna be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear and the exit strategy obvious. [And then]( https://youtu.be/5BwxI_l84dc): BUSH: > On my orders, coalition forces have begun [sic] striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war. But this pattern is not just about war and it is not specific to any particular country. Throughout the world, politicians have won elections promising to deliver the inherently undeliverable. What Australian could forget, for example, Bob Hawke’s promise to [eliminate child poverty in three years]( https://youtu.be/2oU_ogI8zBc)? And what Greek could forget when Alexis Tsipras was swept to power with a strong populist mandate to [stand up to the European Union]( https://youtu.be/vE1nr45x5vY) in the midst of the sovereign debt crisis. Instead, Tsipras immediately sold the nation further into debt by [accepting the terms]( https://youtu.be/9saxZvuq8UQ) of a punishing €85bn "bailout" package that even Syriza’s own members called a betrayal of the party’s promises. In 2008, this endlessly escalating wave of political insanity seemed to reach a crescendo as it dashed upon the shores of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. B. OBAMA: > There’s something happening when people vote not just for party that they belong to but the votes . . . the hopes that they hold in common. [. . .] We are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That’s what’s happening in America right now. Change is what’s happening in America! It may seem ridiculous in 2021 that the mere words "_Yes We Can_" and "_Hope and Change_" could have sold not just the American voters but the people of the world on Barack Hussein Obama, a junior US senator whose greatest legislative accomplishment up to that point was sponsoring a bill [to rename a post office in Illinois]( https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/s3757). But, in hindsight, that was exactly what was so effective about the entire "_hope and change_" campaign. After eight years of neocon carnage - amid the tumult of the ongoing fiasco in Iraq, in the shadow of the rising police state at home, and in the face of the revelations of corporate accounting fraud and banking malfeasance that culminated in a global financial crisis - the public was desperately hoping for change. [OBAMA]( https://youtu.be/Fe751kMBwms): > We will remember that there is something happening in America. That we are not as divided as our politics suggest. That we are one people. We are one nation. And together we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast from sea to shining sea: "Yes We Can!" Thank you, New Hampshire. Thank you! It didn’t matter that Obama, like every other con man to swindle the majority of the population in the great popularity contest we call democracy, lied about every one of his major campaign promises. It didn’t matter that he [lied]( https://youtu.be/O4iWqCH9EVE) about [closing Guantanamo]( https://youtu.be/UQXZoM__vU0). It didn’t matter that he lied about ending the war of terror. [OBAMA]( https://youtu.be/3vpCBpTbEds): > And that is why as president I will make the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority that it should be. [ANNOUNCER]( https://youtu.be/W1o2GlLywRs): > The Obama administration knowingly gave US taxpayer dollars to an al Qaeda affiliate in Sudan, a joint i24 News – Middle East Forum investigation reveals. It didn’t matter that [he lied]( https://youtu.be/B6fnfVJzZT4) about ending the illegal wiretapping of Americans. OBAMA: > This administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. [And then]( https://youtu.be/m8F99BT8QAA): OBAMA: > I came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. My team evaluated them. We scrubbed them thoroughly. We actually expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the safeguards. But my assessment and my team’s assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. None of his broken promises matter, because it was never about any actual, concrete action. If the mass hysteria that swept over the public in 2008 was about achieving tangible results, the Nobel Committee would not have [awarded Obama the Nobel Peace Prize]( https://youtu.be/gscjkfDwv3w) less than one year into his first term in office, while he was still waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and expanding Bush’s drone war into Pakistan. No, it was never about action. It was about providing the audience of the political spectacle the scene that they were waiting for. The next political messiah is wheeled onto the stage, he waves his hand and makes everything better, and everyone goes back to their daily struggles for the next four years. The ritual is complete. Indeed, after thousands of years in which heads of state were worshipped as literal gods on earth or, more recently, as divine appointees, it should come as no surprise that popular presidents and prime ministers are almost always portrayed with recourse to religious iconography. The common trope of photographing presidents with the "halo" of the presidential seal around them is nothing new. But even taking that history into account, the religious frenzy that Obama’s appearance on the national political stage caused was, in retrospect, [undeniably strange]( https://youtu.be/1cen37qxA7E). OBAMA: > Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors that you’ve heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the planet Earth. In the hysteria of the 2008 campaign, Obama wasn’t received by the public as a political candidate with a series of policy prescriptions for improving the country. He was the god from the machine, the deus ex machina who could appear on stage and bless everyone with his absolution. Obama was not just Superman but the God of All Things, a Heaven-Sent shining New Hope bathed in angelic light who was the literal Second Coming.  [JAMIE FOXX]( https://youtu.be/0O7Zyf7vu2w): > First of all, give an honour to God and our Lord and Savior, Barack Obama!  And by the time the public finally snapped from their reverie and realized that, after all, Obama was [just another politician]( https://youtu.be/V9YWKkgjK7Y)... [CONTESSA BREWER]( https://youtu.be/vuy_-zF02zQ): > The former director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute says he regrets awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama in 2009. [CENK YOGURT]( https://youtu.be/NrhKogpKVXc): > He lied! It’s not subtle, He said “There will be no spying on citizens who are not suspected of a crime.” He lied. There is spying on all of us and we’re not suspected of a crime. Barack Obama is a liar! Can I make it clearer? Obama had already served his role as the next political saviour and, having served that function, he could be discarded like yesterday’s newspaper. For those who believed that the 2008 campaign was the apotheosis of the Hope and Change routine, this was the end of the line for this political charade. Looking at the process from a rational perspective, one could be forgiven for thinking that the public had learned its lesson and that no politician would be able to bamboozle the public like that again as long as the Obama legacy was in living memory. 👉 But this is not a rational process, and those who believed that could not have been more wrong. Lest there be any confusion that the public was being prepared for another deus ex machina ritual, this time the god descended onto the political stage via a literal machine, a golden escalator. And, from his dais, this god, too, brought good tidings to the cheering crowd: the country is saved once again! [DONALD TRUMP]( https://youtu.be/apjNfkysjbM): > Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for President of the United States and we are going to make our country great again! The next day, [it was revealed]( https://x.com/meganspecia/status/610847067427221504?t=-ckxdcRwVDIgP6p5K7b0WQ&s=19) that the scene was a literal stage play. The adoring crowd were not grassroots supporters of Donald Trump who all spontaneously decided to wear the same Trump t-shirts and awkwardly pose with their "homemade" signs for the cameras, but, as an [FEC]( https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/enforcement/) investigation later confirmed, literal actors [paid $50 each]( https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/donald-trump-campaign-offered-actors-803161/#) by the [Extra Mile Casting agency]( https://youtu.be/TsFYmy1mvXM) on behalf of their client, Gotham Government Relations & Communications. But it didn’t matter. Like all the iterations of the President Messiah script that came before, Trump’s Make America Great Again psychodrama was already having its intended effect on the population. In some ways, MAGA was a mere repeat of the Obama Hope and Change template. Here, too, candidate Trump promised the moon that President Trump steadfastly failed to deliver. **[He]( https://www.youtube.com/live/g-HCpMsZ6cs) | [did not]( https://youtu.be/yJ6N9EkP5Hk) I [drain]( https://youtu.be/BNGN4Ahk1Ww) I [the]( https://youtu.be/vd3fnEAUuio) I [swamp]( https://youtu.be/6I4pZ_3DVC8).** [He did not end the wars]( https://youtu.be/0CwTXWVulbs). He [did not stand up]( https://youtu.be/YAs1Bm0EJ2w) to [medical-industrial complex]( https://youtu.be/EHy-GWITbxk). And, like the Obamessiah, Trump, too, took on the role of divine redeemer of the nation, [second only to Christ himself]( https://youtu.be/0LZqeGrEEfM). Trump ([Trump assured us]( https://archive.is/QBYAz)) was loved by the Jewish people in Israel like the "second coming of God". And once again the president was being portrayed as "[heaven-sent]( https://x.com/DaveSchreiber3/status/956228048550064130?t=wPuIlQjVvT6b-xoxsl74xA&s=19)", a man chosen by God Himself to [lead America back]( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rick-perry-donald-trump-the-chosen-one_n_5ddbbb9ee4b0913e6f6fc1a8) to the promised land. RICK PERRY: > And I shared it with him. I said, Mr. President, I know there are people that say you said you were the chosen one and I said, "You were." I said, "If you’re a believing Christian, you understand God’s plan for the people who rule and judge over us on this planet in our government. ED HENRY: > And lest people on the left attack Rick Perry, he pointed out to me he believes Barack Obama was sent by God as well. He said for that moment and that time. He said he thinks for this moment and this time, Donald Trump was sent by God to do great things. Or, as the [internet users]( https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=GEOTUS) who helped build the momentum for the Trump train during the 2016 campaign put it in their popular meme, Trump was the [God Emperor]( https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-warhammer-statue-italy-god-emperor-warrior-twitter-parade-a8787116.html), a [GEOTUS]( https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/god-emperor-trump) who would smite the wicked and own the libs.  Yes, the Trump script seemed to be a mere rehash of the Obama script. But it was not. You see, this was not the same plot as Hope and Change. Make America Great Again had a more exciting storyline. In the MAGA stage play, the god from the machine was himself in trouble and needed saving from the powerful, evil forces that were ganging up against him. And this time, the god himself would be saved by his own god from a machine. This script involved an incredible double deus ex machina! The god that would save God Emperor Trump, however, was not a political figure at all, but a shadowy, anonymous entity. And the machine that delivered him was not a golden escalator, but an online message board. The "[Q Anon]( https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/146981635/#q147012719)" phenomenon began on October 28, 2017, when "Q" - a user of the "politically incorrect" board of 4chan, the anonymous imageboard website - made a post claiming that a massive military operation was underway to arrest Hillary Clinton and bring down the cabal of evil politicians that was filling the swamp of Washington. Within days, the anonymous poster was assuring his 4chan followers of the imminent indictment of Clinton campaign insiders [John Podesta and Huma Abedin]( https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/147433975/#147434025). And on November 2nd, less than a week after the initial post, the poster was calling himself "[Q Clearance Patriot]( https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/147547939/#q147567888)" and claiming that "_over the course of the next several days you will undoubtedly realize that we are taking back our great country_". In every way, these early "Q Drops" exemplify the QAnon phenomenon that it spawned. They pick up on the language and code words of classified government operations, like "[Mockingbird]( https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/146981635/#q147023341)" and "[Q clearance]( https://www.americaexplained.org/what-is-a-q-clearance.htm)". They pretend to impart insider information about high-level political events, even predicting specific events on specific dates, like the arrest announcement of Podesta and the beginning of a military coup. And they pose a series of vague rhetorical questions ("_Why does Potus surround himself w/ generals? What is military intelligence? Why go around the 3 letter agencies?_") that feel important without providing any specific knowledge or insight. As Q’s notoriety grew, so, too, did the grandiosity of his predictions, promises and pronouncements. Followers were told to expect "[False flag(s)" and that there would be "fireworks]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729161138/https://qposts.online/?q=326&s=postnum)" but that the president would be "100% insulated". They were exhorted to "[TRUST [Attorney General Jeff] SESSIONS]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210110180638/https://qposts.online/post/372)" and assured that Feb. 1, 2018, would be the "[[D]ay [Of] [D]ays]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729143636/https://qposts.online/?q=647&s=postnum)". They were promised a "[parade that will never be forgotten]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729152807/https://qposts.online/?q=856&s=postnum)" on November 11th of 2018. They were assured that [Mark Zuckerberg was stepping down]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729152222/https://qposts.online/?q=1014&s=postnum) as chairman of Facebook. July 2018 would be the month "the world discovered the TRUTH", with Q asserting that there would be "[conspiracy no more]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729144945/https://qposts.online/?q=1595&s=postnum)". Of course, every one of these pronouncements was categorically wrong. But, as Q taught his followers to believe, "[Disinformation is real]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729155150/https://qposts.online/?q=128&s=postnum)" and "Disinformation is necessary", so these false predictions were in fact signs that Q was telling the truth. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t have to. All it had to do was fill the viewers of the unfolding political spectacle with hopium, the belief that this new god from the machine was going to swoop in with his Q Clearance compatriots and save the day at the last moment. Remarkably, that belief persisted even after the last moment. 🔸[Q Anon Posts Debate & Discussion With Praying Medic]( https://youtu.be/e1UHvPb-qGo) [Rare Interview & Question] 🔸[ACTUAL INTERVEIW [sic] Dr Steve Pieczenik DHS watermarked every ballot with QFS Blockchain Encryption]( https://youtu.be/u6Ek5SYiDyI) 🔸[HELLSCAPE: 72 HOURS TO SAVE THE REPUBLIC]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210118181000/https://www.sgtreport.com/2021/01/hellscape-72-hours-to-save-the-republic/) 🔸[EP. 2501B – TRAP SET, THESE PEOPLE ARE STUPID, DO YOU SEE THE STORM FORMING,PANIC IN DC]( https://www.bitchute.com/video/IgFZXglCXszN/) It is not hard to see why Q became so popular. Like every good deus ex machina, Q promised to deliver the audience of the current political drama exactly what they wanted: an entertaining, exciting and satisfying resolution to the play, delivering the hero (Trump) from evil (the Democrats) just in the nick of time. It is not coincidence that "Enjoy the show" and "Get the popcorn" became favourite phrases of Q and the QAnon followers. This was, after all, just that: [a show]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729162026/https://qposts.online/?q=enjoy+the+show&s=keyword). A scripted drama [designed to play]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210422153402/https://qposts.online/post/16) on the psyche of the audience. The clue comes in Q’s constant exhortations for his follower to trust. 🔸[Trust Sessions]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729145545/https://qposts.online/?q=1122&s=postnum). 🔸[Trust Grassley]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729142811/https://qposts.online/post/2274). 🔸[Trust POTUS]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729142306/https://qposts.online/post/1145). 🔸 [Trust the plan]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210302060441/https://qposts.online/?q=trust+the+plan&s=keyword). The terminology - as well as the methodology - of the Q operation evokes Operation Trust, a Soviet counterintelligence program in the 1920s that took over a pro-monarchist organization, the "Monarchist Union of Central Russia". The Soviets used operatives within the organization to persuade members that they should not engage in militant activity against the government because a plan was underway for internal anti-Bolshevik forces to topple the regime. Trust the plan. In this case, "trusting the plan" got members of the opposition either put on trial and sent to the gulags or blackmailed into working for [Soviet intelligence]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trust). Q certainly did pacify many with his constant entreaty to "trust the plan". Q also rallied people [time and time again]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729152718/https://qposts.online/post/3347) to support the policies, operations and personnel of the very deep state that they were supposedly fighting against. Suddenly Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, [John Bolton]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729163448/https://qposts.online/post/1123) and other long-time members of the political establishment were the good guys in this elaborate drama. [99% of the agents at the CIA]( https://web.archive.org/web/20210729141311/https://qposts.online/post/4166), FBI, DOJ and NSA were "patriots" who "serve[d] with distinction" and thus needed to be supported. The decades-long neocon dream of [invading Iran]( https://web.archive.org/web/20211027213014/https://qposts.online/post/1558) became, in the eyes of Q followers, a good and noble cause. But even beyond the pacification of those who would otherwise be resisting the government, the "Q Army" of self-styled "Digital soldiers" provided the very foil that the deep state needed to move to the next step of their counter-insurgency program: The crackdown on "domestic terrorism".  🔸[FBI Warns Of Potential For More Violence From QAnon Followers]( https://youtu.be/ELntKgrMAzs) 🔸[FBI warns conspiracy theories fuel domestic terrorism]( https://youtu.be/mPaNlpTb-rM) 🔸[Former CIA official Jeremy Bash, now of NBC News]( https://youtu.be/n8TraXoSBJk) 🔸[A Message from President Donald J. Trump]( https://youtu.be/nCxGBU3KpHI) After years of being told to "get the popcorn" and "enjoy the show", the Q Anon movement slowly began to realize that they were had. Worse, the very intelligence agencies and military that they had so fervently hoped would swoop in and save the day are the very agencies that were swooping in to round them up. But QAnon was by no means the first time that hopium has been injected into the veins of the "conspiracy research community". In the 1990s, a power industry teaching consultant named Harvey Francis Barnard developed a proposed set of reforms for America’s monetary and tax system that he called the National Economic Security and Recovery Act, or NESARA. He self-published a book outlining his proposal, sent copies to members of Congress, started an institute to promote the idea and, in 2000, published his proposal on the internet. At that point, [NESARA]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NESARA) became the centerpiece of an elaborate hoax promulgated by an online charlatan calling herself "The Dove of Oneness". In this story, the NESARA bill is a miracle: it abolishes income taxes, forgives mortgages, zeroes out credit cards and declares peace. Even more miraculous: in a stunning move only known to The Dove of Oneness, the bill had been secretly passed by Congress and was due to take effect on September 11, 2001, which is why the World Trade Center was destroyed. But, like every good drama, this story, too, had a deus ex machina to keep [Dove’s internet audience]( https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25855081.html) hanging on and enjoying the show: [the White Knights]( https://web.archive.org/web/20200806211343/https://freedomforceinternational.org/position-statements/white-knights/#knights), "_an underground group of good guys [. . .] who were in high positions within all these institutions, who were fed up with the status quo and were planning a coup d’état that was going to happen ‘very soon.'_" Just as with Q, the cult that grew around the NESARA myth with its White Knight gods from the machine promised specific events on specific dates. Every time a prediction failed to happen, followers were reassured that the long-promised coup had been delayed so that the White Knights could better prepare the public for the pandemonium that would ensue when they swoop in to save the day. In the meantime, followers could get the popcorn and enjoy the show, knowing that all their debt would soon be forgiven and that peace on earth was just around the corner. And the name of that book in which Barnard first laid out his NESARA proposal? 👉 [Draining The Swamp]( https://archive.org/details/pdfy-26rkhN1b_IernzD2). Yes, the deus ex machina story is trotted out every few years under different guises. A secret order of ninjas is preparing to assassinate the evil Illuminati and bring peace to the world. A secret stash of trillions of dollars is about to be shared out with the people of the world, ending all poverty. A cosmic realignment is going to take place on December 21st, 2012, raising humanity to a higher level of consciousness and ending all strife and suffering. An anonymous 4chan poster is leaking classified information about a good military coup that’s going to restore order and drain the swamp. [The incredible Trump's X-Men]( https://youtu.be/YTJZhsGmWi8). The message is always the same: Get the popcorn and enjoy the show. The god is coming from the machine to save you. Just wait. Over and over we see the same story play out. The crowd begins to lose interest in the political stage play. They begin to suspect that it’s fake. That reality is taking place somewhere off stage and out of sight. They begin to realize that they are not spectators at all, but active participants with the ability to shape the world around them. And then along comes a god from a machine peddling hopium and the audience goes back to enjoying the show. None of this is to denigrate the religious instinct that compels humans to look for a saviour from the heavens. On the contrary. Those with religious faith should be the most offended by this god from the machine script that sees their most cherished, divine beliefs cynically played on by would-be political rulers masquerading as gods. Now, we must not abandon hope itself. As part of the triumvirate of faith, hope and charity, hope is a virtue to be cherished. Genuine hope is the rocket fuel that humans use to propel themselves towards their goals. Without hope, there would be no motivation to do anything to improve our situation. But that is the difference. Hope compels us to go out there and try to improve our situation. Fake hopes, on the other hand, convinces us that someone else has taken care of the problem. That we can just sit back, get the popcorn and enjoy the show. Like the dope peddler on the street corner, the politicians and hucksters are always ready to satisfy their mark with a dose of false hopes. And the public, more often than not, is only too happy to take it. But fake hope is a deadly drug, and the god from the machine is nothing but a cheap stage trick. Nothing will change until we stop enjoying the show and realize that we are not spectators watching history unfold from the sidelines. We are history’s actors, and, propelled by genuine hope, we can and will change the world.