Column: QAnon’s monstrous conspiracy theories fit the Trumpian moment

On the season finale of “Saturday Night Live” in May 2017, Tom Hanks was described as “universally adored by pretty much every human alive.” That was the gag. Hanks could bring the divided country together, according to the sketch, because he is an anodyne delight to all, virtually impossible to dislike. And that is exactly why Hanks — sweet old Mister Rogers-Sully-Gump-Woody — has become an archenemy of QAnon. QAnon, of course, is the goth telenovela animating dangerous political action on the right, with a story line about how the world is run by a spooky syndicate of Satanists committing cartoonishly grisly misdeeds, including cannibalism and ritual child abuse. Advertisement To qualify...