Ron Watkins, the QAnon figurehead who bragged he'd raise "at least a million dollars" for his congressional campaign, has failed to inspire voters and is currently lagging in fundraising, according to a Vice News report.
Thus far, Watkins has raised just $33,000 of his $1 million goal in the race against incumbent Representative Tom O'Halleran, his Democratic opponent who has raised $1.15 million as of Nov. 2021 and raised $1.8 million with $435,000 in the final quarter of 2021.
So noteworthy is Watkins' failure to translate his QAnon notoriety into votes that Fever Dreams co-host Kelly Weill, a reporter for The Daily Beast, said that his campaign finance filing "seems to support the idea that not too many people want Mr. QAnon himself in Congress."
Weill's co-host, Asawin Suebsaeng, agreed, referring to the campaign's failure to get off the ground is indicative of the “soft bigotry of low expectations," a reflection of how quickly Republican both inside and outside of Congress will distance themselves from QAnon adherents when they fail to package their extremism in a more palatable fashion.
In the wake of the news, QAnon's critics have mocked Watkins online.
That Watkins has failed to attract supporters further indicates that QAnon, whose believers allege Democrats are part of a Satan-worshipping, baby-eating global pedophile ring that conspired against former President Donald Trump during his time in office, lacks mainstream appeal despite having high-profile adherents like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, in Congress.
A quick assessment of what QAnon believers have been up to in the last few months alone offers plenty of reasons of why.
For instance, in November, QAnon was widely mocked after its believers suggested that the deaths of several victims during the first night of the Astroworld Festival were planned as part of a Satanic ritual.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Satanists were involved in a crowd crush that Houston officials have referred to as a "mass casualty event," but that hasn't stopped QAnon believers from asserting otherwise.
One TikTok video amassed nearly one million views after its creator suggested that the Astroworld stage "is an inverted cross leading to a portal to Hell." And other social media posts claim the deaths were part of a ritualistic Satanic sacrifice.
Although the ludicrousness of QAnon beliefs has inspired considerable derision, headlines prior to the Astroworld disaster, which involved John F. Kennedy Jr. coming back from the dead, seemed to push the limits of credulity.
That week, QAnon believers descended on the city of Dallas, Texas to await the arrival of JFK Jr.—who died in a plane crash in 1999—on the belief he would reappear and reinstate Donald Trump as President.
When he did not reappear in Dallas at the appointed time, believers began claiming he would appear at a Rolling Stones concert in Dallas that evening.
The failure of JFK Jr. to appear did not stop rally attendees from convincing themselves other dead celebrities had crossed the spiritual realm to join them in calling for former President Trump's reinstatement.
Reporters confirmed QAnon believers were saying they'd seen late comedian Robin Williams and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt among the rally's attendees.
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