Patel also regularly praised the QAnon movement for its “research” skills.
“I’ve seen on Truth Social how good these researchers are, and I kind of wish I’d had some of them when I was doing Russiagate,” Patel said in another podcast with a conspiracy channel. “I talk with the president all the time, and we’re just blown away at the amount of acumen some of these people have.”
When Patel released a series of children’s books in 2022, he posted to Truth Social an image of himself signing copies of one of his books, The Plot Against the King, with the explicitly QAnon-linked hashtag #WWG1WGA, which stands for “where we go one, we go all.” The book features a besieged King Donald and a wise and loyal wizard named Kash, who helps his monarch. In the sequel, The Plot Against the King: 2000 Mules, Patel pushed election-denial conspiracies.
Patel has not limited his promotion and endorsement of Q to Truth Social. Since January 2021, Patel has appeared on “at least 53 episodes of 13 podcasts that have overtly promoted the QAnon movement and/or shared QAnon-related conspiracy theories,” according to an analysis conducted for WIRED by researchers at Advance Democracy, a nonprofit organization that conducts public interest research.
One of the podcasts Patel appeared on most regularly was the Stew Peters Show, hosted by Peters, an antisemitic antivaxxer.
When asked by Senator Dick Durbin during the hearing on Thursday if he was aware of Stew Peters, Patel said: “Not off the top of my head.” Durbin reminded Patel: “You made eight separate appearances on his podcast.”
Addressing the conversation on his show later on Thursday, Peters said: “Clearly, Kash Patel is lying. He absolutely does know who I am.”
Patel’s rapid rise within the US government and potential ascension to the role of FBI director was viewed among QAnon adherents as the moment they had all been waiting for, when the deep state would finally be unmasked, enemies rounded up and arrested, and public executions carried out.
Rather than seeing Patel’s disavowal of QAnon as a betrayal, a review of posts on platforms like Truth Social, Telegram, Gab, 4chan, TikTok, and X show people on QAnon message boards defending his comments and praising his performance.
“THERE IS NO QANON, SO KASH TOLD THE TRUTH!!” one QAnon influencer posted on Telegram, referencing the false claim within the movement that the term QAnon is simply a construction of the mainstream media.
“He basically said they are not conspiracies but rather the truth, love it.” a follower responded.
