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Believers of the QAnon conspiracy have begun to spread rumours that Donald Trump will become president again on 4 Match, as the theory merges with other online extremist movements.
QAnon supporters have been circulating the theory that the Republican will return to office in recent days, with many suggesting 4 March as a final day of reckoning for the former president’s opponents.
The rumours, which have been shared on TikTok, come amid reports QAnon was moving towards theories promoted by The Sovereign Citizen movement.
Its supporters argue that they are ungovernable because the United States has been a corporation since former president Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the gold standard in 1933, when the value of the dollar was no longer pegged to gold.
According to reports, the sovereign citizen theory has been shared among Trump and QAnon supporters on TikTok, who believe Mr Trump will become the 19th president of the United States on 4 March - the date inaugurations were carried out before 1933.
The theory also alleges that all amendments to the constitution since have been invalid since 1871, when the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship for former slaves and equal “protection of the laws” for all Americans.
Travis View, a conspiracy theory researcher, told VICE News that the crossover between the two conspiracies was “concerning because it means QAnon is borrowing ideas from more-established extremism movements.”
“There was some crossover between QAnon and the sovereign citizen movement before, but I've seen sovereign citizen ideas about the United States being a ‘corporation’ become more popular within QAnon and beyond in January,” Mr View added.
QAnon supporters, who believe Mr Trump was undermined by a cabal of satanist paedophiles while in office, allegedly viewed the storming of the Capitol on 6 January as the coming of a “storm”.
They were among those who besieged the US Capitol with claims November’s election was “stolen”, but were allegedly disappointed by Mr Trump’s departure last week, when Joe Biden was sworn in as US president.
According to Rolling Stone, one TikTok user wrote: “Listen, patriots, y’all can relax. We’re going back to a republic come March.”
“Trump will be back in the presidency but he will be the 19th president ’cause we’re not gonna be a corporation no more. We’re going back to the republic,” they added.
Another TikTok user asked in a video seen by Vice News: “Can someone tell me why I’m 22 years old and I just learned that the United States is a corporation, not a country.”
Social media companies, including Twitter and Facebook, have taken targeted action against QAnon content shared online, with many accounts having been removed since the attack on the Capitol. TikTok, meanwhile, moved to delete videos featuring the former US president.
The FBI, who have carried out more than a hundred arrests since 6 January, classifies sovereign citizens as domestic terrorists who “believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.”