September 4, 2020

Joe Biden gave a powerful and fiery speech in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday afternoon with a very wide ranging Q&A session afterwards. He was asked about QAnon, the whackjob, right-wing conspiracy theory group that started as a joke and has become an underground internet cult espousing beliefs that there is a Deep State, kids are being trafficked from the basement of pizza restaurants, JFK Jr. is alive, and more.

Biden was asked:

"What would you say to the supporters of the QAnon, people that believe in that conspiracy, what they think is true about America, that there's sex trafficking and conspiracy against the President Trump and what would you say to President Trump for not rejecting that conspiracy and the people who believe in it?"

Biden responded, bluntly:

"I've been a big supporter of mental health. I recommend that people that believe [QAnon] should perhaps take advantage of [mental health services] in the Affordable Care Act. Bizarre. Totally bizarre. And now have you guys found that plane load of people in uniforms and weapons and flying around? You know? Have you found them yet? Is anybody -- by the way, I respect Conservative and Liberal points of view in the press. Anybody found that plane? What in god's name are we doing? Look at how it makes us look around the world. It's mortifying. It's embarrassing and it's dangerous. It's dangerous. if the President doesn't know better, which I -- he has to know better, then my lord, we are in much more trouble than i ever thought we were.

It's bizarre. And you know, this is a case where, you know, I've been surprised, pleased but surprised, with folks I have had political arguments with like the former Governor of Michigan coming out and endorsing me, all the Republicans are endorsing me. That this can't go on. I mean, this cannot go on. It's a deconstruction of a Democratic system. They know it. So I just -- I'll conclude with what you heard many say many times before: The words of a President matter. Even a lousy President.

It gives encouragement to people who are spouting irrational views that no one has even close to ever presuming or showing ever existed. And it's done for a simple reason. From the very beginning he's understood the only way he can win, the first time and can win this time, is that he fundamentally divides the nation. Puts the nation, divides us at each other's throats. That's not who we are. that's not who we are."

This is one of the most direct responses any Democrat has made regarding QAnon and it is wonderful that Biden chose to link it to mental health because at the core QAnon truly represents a mental health crisis in our country. Large swaths of people have not only been brainwashed by Donald Trump, but they are delusionally believing that these conspiracy theories are real. That is a true mental health crisis.

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