Spoiler alert: JFK Jr. is dead, folks.
Aficionados of QAnon, the present and future of the GOP, have reportedly gathered in Dallas, Texas, to hear a major pronouncement from President John F. Kennedy’s son JFK Jr., which may pose some difficulties as he died in a plane crash alongside his spouse and sister-in-law in 1999. On Monday night, independent reporter Steven Monacelli tweeted he had just encountered a crowd of QAnon supporters in the city’s AT&T Discovery Plaza, apparently in anticipation of the late Kennedy—who they believe faked his own death. The attendees believe the deceased son of the assassinated president will give a speech in which he will ordain Donald J. Trump as the “king of kings.”
For those with the wisdom to steer clear of QAnon, it’s a sprawling, far-right conspiracy theory with evangelical Christian overtones that posits Donald Trump and the U.S. military are secretly waging a covert war against a cabal of Satanic, child-raping Democratic politicians and Hollywood celebrities. It is based on posts on fringe internet forums from an individual or individuals using the moniker “Q,” who claimed to be a high-ranking military or intelligence official and promised devotees a forthcoming military coup called “The Storm” would sweep the cabal from power. Q may have been a guy who has a life-size Evangelion doll in his apartment.
A segment of the innumerable permutations of QAnon believers is convinced that JFK Jr. faked his own death, has conveniently become a massive Trump supporter, and will re-emerge at some pre-arranged date to make an announcement (perhaps that he will be Trump’s vice president or successor). This is despite that Q has explicitly said this is not the case, according to Travis View, a conspiracy theory researcher and co-host of the QAnon Anonymoust podcast.
“Q has repeatedly denied that JFK Jr. is alive, but some in the QAnon community insist that he will return despite that,” View told Gizmodo. “The persistent faith in JFK Jr’s imminent return shows that even the fringe factions of the QAnon community have staying power.”
Ask any QAnon person why JFK Jr., a Democrat, is so important to the movement and you might get a different answer—some believe he is disguised as a QAnon conference regular named Vincent Fusca—but the general gist is that he was planning to flip sides and had to fake his death to avoid retribution. It also makes sense as part of the general fetish among the QAnon crowd for the symbolic trappings of the presidency and dynastic politics. In this specific instance, JFK Jr. appears to be serving as a pretext for yet another desperation-forged theory as to how Trump is actually still the president, despite no longer being the president.
As of Tuesday afternoon, according to another tweet from Moncelli, the crowd had migrated to Dealey Plaza, the site where Lee Harvey Oswald fatally shot JFK in 1963. Vice reports that QAnon influencers such as Whiplash347, an account on messaging app Telegram with nearly 250,000 followers, have been promising that the forthcoming event will involve Trump being reinstated as the 18th president of the United States (referring to another arcane conspiracy theory that any U.S. law passed after 1871 is unconstitutional). He will then step down and appoint JFK Jr. as his replacement, with disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn as his vice president; that this is not how the presidential order of succession works is kind of missing the point.
According to Vice, Whiplash347 predicts Trump will then “become 1 of the 7 new Kings. Most likely the King of Kings.” Most likely. Another QAnon influencer named Michael Brian Protzman, who has over 100,000 followers on Telegram under the name Negative48, has offered another theory that JFK, JFK Jr., and Jacqueline Kennedy will all appear, after which JFK will tour the world for seven days, transfer the presidency back to Trump, and die. Among other claims on Negative48's channel include that he predicted the date via some kind of numerology and that this year, Christmas will fall in November.
Gizmodo feels relatively comfortable predicting that JFK Jr., who is dead, will not be speaking in Dealey Plaza today—but by all means, try and surprise us.
Update, 11/2/2021 at 5:30 p.m. ET: The impromptu QAnon get-together at the grassy knoll is now dead as a doornail courtesy of heavy rain, according to tweets by local and national media. Apparently, the crowning of the king of kings is not worth getting wet over.
Rumors are apparently now circulating among the Q faithful that JFK Jr. will instead be making his appearance alongside a 78-year-old Mick Jagger at a Rolling Stones concert in Dallas tonight, which will also not happen. Don’t think too hard about it, you’ll hurt yourself.
Additionally, this article was previously updated with comment from Travis View.