We’ve all heard how a group of QAnon believers gathered in Dallas, TX on November 2nd, ostensibly to await the appearance of John F. Kennedy Jr. (son of the assassinated President), in the belief that he would claim his place as Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 Presidential race. We’ve also laughed and shaken our heads at the utter nonsense — JFK Jr. has been dead for 22 years, and, as the son of a Democratic President, would likely not throw his support to a right-wing demagogue whose policies and personality were the diametric opposite of Kennedy’s.
But Michael Protzman, a Washington man who leads a splinter Q-group (blending Christianity & QAnon beliefs), and his followers have remained in Dealey Plaza long after other Q cultists have left, still awaiting the return of JFK, Jr. They believe that JFK Jr. — or, possibly, his father, who Protzman’s followers say either faked his assassination, or did die but was resurrected — will make his appearance in Dealey Plaza, and reinstate Donald Trump as President.
So far, Protzman’s QAnon splinter group has been nonviolent, but that doesn’t mean they’re good (if mislead) people: Protzmann himself has spread anti-Semitic propaganda in the past, sharing links on his Telegram channel to right-wing films that push Nazi views & neo-Nazi talking points. And Mike Rothschild (author of The Storm Is Upon Us, about the rise of & fallout from QAnon) says that this bunch is definitely a cult:
Protzman’s followers take direction from him; days after the initial rally, they lined up single-file in Dealey Plaza, appearing to await his instructions.
“There is absolutely behavior control and thought control,” Rothschild said. “He’s telling people what to do. He’s having people stand in straight lines to have conversations. He’s telling people when to go outside, when to look up, when to look down. It is unquestionably the behavior of a cult leader.”
Protzman, like other cult leaders before him, claims to be a representative from God. Active on Q message boards (where he was known as Negative48), Protzman gained a following on Telegram with his take on Gematria numerology language; interpreting codes and weaving in elements from Christianity and QAnon beliefs, Protzman and his followers claim to have knowledge that JFK Jr. would reappear in Dallas this year and usher in a new Trump Administration, with JFK Jr. actually being the Archangel Michael and Trump the Holy Spirit.
What’s disturbing now is a recorded video chat between Protzman and his followers this weekend, in which they openly discussed their own deaths as “part of a journey toward some unknowable truth”:
"Ultimately," said one participant, "we have to experience that physical death ... let go ... come out on the other side."
An administrator for Protzman's Telegram channel posted an ominous screenshot hours later that showed the destination on a navigation app as Waco, Texas, where a monthslong standoff between law enforcement and the Branch Davidian religious sect ended in the fiery deaths of 76 people, including 25 children.
Protzman appeared to agree. “Yeah, yeah,” he said.
Rothschild is wary about this development, and stated:
"The moment when the leaders of a cultic group start talking about the need for physical death to reach utopia . . . is the moment to get the authorities involved."
There are people who are worried about family members caught up in Protzman’s sphere. One woman left her children and family behind, giving about $200,000 to QAnon; her sister fears she’ll never come back. Others’ relatives have tweeted their fears about spouses & relatives ever coming home. And the people who live in the Dealey Plaza area are worried that Protzman can and will get his followers to do what he tells them — and wonder what that might be. Caroline Orr Bueno, a behavioral scientist who studies right-wing radicalization & social media manipulation, has compared Protzman’s group’s beliefs and those of Matthew Coleman, a QAnon believer who allegedly murdered his two young children earlier this year.