The QAnon conspiracy movement is built on years of failed predictions and 2021 was no different with followers pinning their hopes that Earth-shattering and even fantastical events would take place.
QAnon followers believe an interconnected global cannibalistic pedophile elite are engaged in child sex trafficking on an industrial scale and that former President Donald Trump will expose them before ordering their arrests and executions.
In order to explain their worldview, QAnon followers have built up a mythos around the movement and have made numerous predictions in the past, notably that former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would be arrested for her role in the cabal—a claim that has been presented without any evidence.
2021 was no different, with conspiracy theorists concocting outrageous predictions, which were bound not to come true.
Mass Arrests and Executions of Joe Biden and Apparent Members of the 'Deep State'
Following his election victory, Joe Biden was inaugurated as 46th president of the United States on January 20.
But, in the days leading up to the formal ceremony numerous QAnon followers believed supposed members of an elitist pedophile cabal would be arrested and executed.
The prediction, of course, failed to come true, which left many QAnon followers frustrated that none of the promises made to them had happened.
"I'm trying to trust the plan, but I don't even know what it is anymore guys," Maggie Mae posted on Telegram.
"What is happening? What are we waiting for? Trump is not the president and nothing is happening today. When will there be arrests? When will the [deep state] Cabal be taken down? I'm not sure where the show is."
After the prediction failed to pass, QAnon influencer John Sabal told his Telegram followers: "I'm sorry, I refuse to believe this is over. Too many 'coincidences.'
"I get it, not everyone here has been following Q for as long as some have, so it may not make sense what is taking place. There are many different things going on, and taking place that we can't/ won't see. D.C. is literally a jail compound and thousands of NG [national guards] are now deputized as U.S. Marshals."
Trump Would Return to the White House on March 4
Scrambling to explain how Biden could possibly be in office, a new prediction was floated—namely, that Trump would yet again be sworn in as president on March 4.
March 4 was the standing presidential Inauguration Day prior to the 20th Amendment's passage in 1933.
Aware of this March 4 conspiracy, federal agencies including the U.S. Capitol Police and Department of Homeland Security had prepared for potential uprisings.
But, in the wake of community suspicion, several QAnon influencers distanced themselves from the date and even claimed it was an "MSM (mainstream media) false flag" setup.
Arizona Election Audit Will Prove Trump Won 2020 Vote
Unwilling to accept Trump had indeed lost the 2020 Presidential Election, QAnon followers pinned their hopes on Arizona's controversial Maricopa County audit, which they believed would show evidence of mass voter fraud.
Ron Watkins, a major figure in the QAnon conspiracy movement, was so confident the Maricopa audit would reveal mass voter fraud that he said the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan was somehow a deliberate attempt to distract people from its supposed revelations.
In an August 16 Telegram post, Watkins said: "The ongoing failure in Afghanistan is just the beginning of a planned distraction campaign so they can ignore the Maricopa County Audit results. All eyes on Maricopa County."
But, the September audit would confirm Biden did win the state and did so with slightly more votes than he had originally done.
JFK Jr. Will Return at the Site Where His Father Was Assassinated
Considered on the fringe of the QAnon movement, apparent followers of Michael Protzman—known as Negative 48 on Telegram—descended on Dallas in November to witness the return of John F. Kennedy Jr., an impossible feat since he has been dead for several decades.
Those who believed in the bizarre prediction thought JFK Jr. would reveal himself to the world and announce Trump as the true president of the U.S. Dozens gathered at the site of his father John F. Kennedy's assassination
Protzman later appeared to lean into the negative reaction he received and was later seen wearing a tinfoil hat, generally associated with conspiracy theorists.
Despite the prediction failing to come true, many of Protzman's Dallas QAnon faction remained in the city and have regularly asked for donations on Telegram in a bid to keep the group in Texas.
Return To Using Julian Calendar
In addition to expecting the return of JFK Jr, members of the Dallas QAnon faction predicted that people would adopt the Julian Calendar as part of the assassinated president's son's grand reveal.
QAnon influencer Mike Penny predicted on November 2 that the calendar change would occur after JFK Jr. announced Trump as the true president and that, somehow, the date would go back to October 20.
In a November 1 YouTube livestream, Penny said: "Tomorrow night, at midnight, we're going back an hour and we're going back to the 20th of October and we will be back to the Julian calendar. We'll have Halloween twice."
The switch away from the older Julian calendar happened over hundreds of years in the West with the first countries having adopted the new Gregorian calendar in the 1500s.
Reasoning behind the move to the Gregorian calendar was that it corrected an error about the frequency of using a leap day every three years instead of every four.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Anders Anglesey is a U.S. News Reporter based in London, U.K., covering crime, politics, online extremism and trending stories. Anders ... Read more
