The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a resolution condemning the conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon, but Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks was one of 17 Republicans who, along with Rep. Justin Amash, L-Michigan, voted against it.
H.R. 1154 passed on Friday 371-18 with one person voting present, and 33 Republicans abstaining.
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, R-Georgia, was one of the 18, but he later said that his no vote was an accident.
To this point Brooks has not publicly explained why he voted against the resolution.
“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,” Amash explained on Twitter. “These are conspiracy theorists who believe in a deep state that’s fighting against them.”
“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. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, said in a statement while he condemns “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. … For Congress to pass a resolution condemning QAnon by name, but make no such mention of other violent organizations, is shameful.”
Reps. Jodey Arrington of Texas, Brian Babin of Texas, Rob Bishop of Utah, 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 also voted no on the resolution.
Many QAnon supporters have claimed COVID-19 is a hoax to protect the deep state and the secret cabal of Satan worshiping elites involved in the alleged pedophile ring who seek to subjugate the American people through microchipping. Some of them have suggested that President Donald Trump is faking the illness in order to arrest Hillary Clinton and expose the deep state pedophile ring. Some also maintain that Bill Gates invented COVID-19 to advance a microchipping program.
APR has asked Brooks’ office for comment.
Brooks is in his fifth term representing Alabama’s 5th Congressional District. He easily crushed his Republican primary opponent 80 to 20 percent, even though his opponent was endorsed by Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon and the powerful Alabama Farmers Federation.
The Alabama Democratic Party was unable to recruit a general election opponent for Brooks.
