WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly condemned the QAnon conspiracy theory, citing among other reasons its anti-Semitism.
The nonbinding resolution passed 371-18, with all but one of the no votes by Republicans. The other was Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., who routinely votes against declarative resolutions.
Reps. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., and Denver Riggleman, R-Va., sponsored the measure, which “condemns QAnon and rejects the conspiracy theories it promotes.” Its preamble says that “many QAnon followers express anti-Semitic views, and the Anti-Defamation League has said that the movement’s central conspiracy theory includes anti-Semitic elements.”
Conspiracy theories “have been a central driver of anti-Semitism for centuries,” the preamble adds, “and QAnon conspiracy theories are fanning the flames as anti-Semitism is on the rise in the United States and around the world.”
QAnon advances a baseless theory that President Donald Trump is seeking to rout a network of pedophiles deep inside the government. Trump has not denounced the theory.
Malinowski has been targeted for death threats by QAnon followers based in part on a false claim that he once advocated for pedophiles. An ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee made the false claim.
Riggleman, a moderate Republican, was ousted this summer in a primary by a conservative challenger who made an issue of Riggleman’s support for gay rights. The passage of this resolution will be one of his final acts in his two years in Congress.
A number of Republican congressional nominees have been identified with the theory and one, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, is guaranteed election in her deeply conservative district.
