Hawaii GOP official resigns after party tweets, then deletes, support for believers of QAnon conspiracy theory

Rachel E. Greenspan,Charles Davis
QAnon protester
Protesters, including one wearing a QAnon shirt, interact with Capitol Police inside the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images

  • A Republican official in Hawaii resigned after the party's Twitter account posted tweets flattering QAnon believers.

  • "The responsibility for that discussion and that error is mine and and mine alone," the official said of the now-deleted tweets.

  • The Hawaii GOP said on Twitter that QAnon believers "were largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America."

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A communications official for the Republican Party of Hawaii resigned from his position after the party's Twitter account posted a series of tweets flattering believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

In a thread Friday, which was deleted Sunday after backlash, the Hawaii GOP account said, "We should make it abundantly clear - the people who subscribed to the Q fiction, were largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America. Patriotism and love of County should never be ridiculed." Some tweets about QAnon sent earlier in January remained on the account as of Monday morning.

In a since-deleted post, the party's Twitter account also promoted a Holocaust denier who is popular on YouTube, saying "his commentary and analysis is generally high quality."

Edwin Boyette, the state Republican party's vice chair of communications, resigned in a post on his personal Facebook page Sunday evening, taking full responsibility for the tweets.

"The discussion of the Q-Conspiracy was an error of judgement, and should not reflect upon the leadership or the members of the Republican Party of Hawaii," he said. "The responsibility for that discussion and that error is mine and and mine alone."

In a statement issued Monday evening, Hawaii GOP Chair Shirlene Ostrov accepted "full responsibility for the unauthorized tweets."

"To our friends in the Jewish community," Ostrov continued, "we find the comments to be deeply disturbing and offensive and have no place in our party much less our country."

QAnon is a baseless far-right conspiracy theory that alleges President Donald Trump has been fighting a "deep state" cabal of pedophiles and human traffickers. The conspiracy theory, born in 2017, contributed to the popularization of fictional voter-fraud claims in the presidential election and helped fuel the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Read More: The QAnon conspiracy theory and a stew of misinformation fueled the insurrection at the Capitol

Shirlene Ostrov, the chair of the Hawaii GOP, told local news outlet KITV in an interview that "the thread clearly debunks the 'Q' phenomenon as fiction," and that it explained "the creators of the 'Q' fiction exploited the patriotism of their followers."

Ostrov did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

But the tweets appeared to give credence to some of QAnon's central beliefs, or at least coddle believers of the conspiracy theory by offering some support for their ideas.

"What is the truth? There are highly networked groups of people with specific agendas. Factions and individuals within Government do abuse power - Peter Strozk, Steele Dossier, James Comey, FISA courts, and on," one tweet said, referencing examples of QAnon conspiracy-theory beliefs. "Powerful people do engage in abusive or predatory behavior."

Boyette had previously shared similar ideas about QAnon on his personal Facebook. On Friday, the same day the tweets were sent from the GOP account, he wrote that he "spent about 16 hours over the past three days" watching QAnon YouTube videos to learn about the conspiracy theory. "What I noticed during much of the videos is a continuous appeal to emotion and a sense of identity as Patriots," Boyette said.

The post had clear echoes of the party's deleted tweets. "I do believe many of the people who follow the Q-community love their country," Boyette wrote, "I hope many of them closely examine what they can directly affect at a local and state level."

Boyette did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

QAnon has been slowly worming its way into the Republican party for years, as the cultish conspiracy-theory movement repeatedly brought its beliefs to Trump's ears (and Twitter account). Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the newly appointed congresswoman, has previously spread QAnon-related beliefs on social media.

The FBI has said that the conspiracy theory poses a domestic terrorism threat and President Joe Biden's nominee for national intelligence director, Avril D. Haines, told the Senate Intelligence Committee during her nomination hearing that she was committed to analyzing the QAnon threat.

Many believers of QAnon have been inspired to commit acts of violence due to their belief in the winding conspiracy theory, which often calls on its believers to accuse enemies of pedophilia.

The idea that QAnon followers "love" the United States is one that Trump himself has shared. During an NBC town hall in October, the president said, "I do know they are very much against pedophilia." Months earlier, in an August press conference, the president said, "I've heard these are people that love our country."

This article has been updated to show that some QAnon tweets were still up on the Hawaii GOP Twitter account on Monday.

Read the original article on Insider

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