The House passed a resolution condemning the conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon, but 17 Republicans and Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, a libertarian, voted against it.
H.R. 1154 passed on Friday 371-18, with one person voting present. QAnon is a right-wing conspiracy group that believes, among other things, that a group of powerful politicians is involved in a child sex-trafficking ring.
Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia was one of those who voted nay but later explained on Twitter that he did so unintentionally and instead meant to vote yea.
In addition to the 17, 33 Republican members of Congress abstained.
Not all of those who voted no have publicly explained why.
“The resolution threatens protected speech (absurd as that speech may be), and its prescriptions for addressing QAnon aren’t appropriate for what we know about them & may make things worse. These are conspiracy theorists who believe in a deep state that’s fighting against them,” Amash wrote on Twitter.
“In the middle of a global pandemic, while our cities are subjected to violence and hardworking Americans are watching their livelihoods be burnt to the ground by rioting leftist groups,” Florida Rep. Daniel Webster told the Washington Examiner, “Democrats in Congress are giving legitimacy to fringe groups that peddle in conspiracy theories. I never thought I’d live to see this day — instead of passing a bill to renew the Paycheck Protection Program or condemning rioting, looting, and violence against law-abiding citizens, Democrats are railing against an internet group.”
Rep. Brian Babin expressed a similar desire to not give QAnon any legitimacy.
“I know next to nothing about this QAnon stuff, but I do know that this resolution put forward by the House Democrat majority will serve only to give its devotees the publicity and legitimacy they are desperate for,” he told the Washington Examiner. “We’ve got big, real issues to deal with in Congress, and instead, we spent most of today debating this silly, pointless, powerless resolution that was written and brought to the floor for one reason: to make campaign commercials. I didn’t want to offer any more undeserved legitimacy to either QAnon or these political games so I did my part: I voted no.”
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said in a statement that while he condemned “in the strongest terms QAnon, Antifa, KKK,” the resolution “was yet another worthless messaging bill that does absolutely nothing to address the violence taking place in cities throughout our nation.”
He added: “For Congress to pass a resolution condemning QAnon by name, but make no such mention of other violent organizations, is shameful.”
Others who voted against the resolution included Reps. Jodey Arrington of Texas, Rob Bishop of Utah, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Michael Burgess of Texas, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Drew Ferguson of Georgia, Bill Flores of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Steve King of Iowa, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Tiffany of Wisconsin.
In response to this report, Arrington said the resolution was an attempt by Democrats to downplay the actions of “radical Leftist groups” like antifa.
“There is a world of difference between conspiracy and criminal – one is protected by the First Amendment; the other should be condemned in all forms. It’s a swampy strategy to call out a fringe right-wing group with no mention of ANTIFA and other radical Leftist groups after over one hundred days of unmitigated mob violence in cities across America,” Arrington said in a statement. “Instead of political stunts, Democrat leadership should be working on bipartisan legislation to provide relief to working families and small businesses in a time of unprecedented crisis.”
President Trump came under fire weeks ago after he avoided directly condemning QAnon. Trump also endorsed Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is running for Congress in Georgia and has voiced support for the conspiracy theory.
The Washington Examiner contacted the offices of the remaining congressmen who voted nay for comment but did not hear back.
Anthony Leonardi contributed to this report.
