Over the weekend, a Florida GOP party account tweeted — and then deleted — a post about a popular right-wing "deep state" conspiracy theory promoted by the likes of Roseanne Barr.
The Tampa Bay Times reported Monday that the Hillsborough County GOP was in hot water after posting a video explaining the infamous "QAnon" conspiracy theory. The theory, according to the since-deleted post by the Tampa-area Republican Party, centers on QAnon or Q, "a mysterious anonymous inside leaker of deep state activities and counter activities by President Trump."
Meanwhile @HillsboroughGOP is peddling tinfoil hats. Isn’t #Tampa better than this? https://t.co/KZKULsMaFw— JBerg (@JBerg)1531689973.0
As the Times noted, QAnon posts in the 4chan and 8chan message boards about conspiracies taking place amongst members of the so-called "deep state," including the Pizzagate conspiracy alleging Democrats use pizza parlors as fronts of pedophilia rings. The report also noted that the Hillsborough County GOP made a similar post about QAnon on its Facebook page.
The QAnon conspiracy is a favorite of sitcom star-turned-Trump supporter Roseanne Barr, who has regularly referenced the theory with posts about the president "freeing" children from "pimp bondage." QAnon was also referenced by a Nevadan man who allegedly blocked traffic to the Hoover Dam with an armored truck in a letter he wrote to President Trump.
The post was "pinned" to the top of the county party's page until a reporter asked the group about it, the Times reported. It was subsequently taken down.
