Police arrested two armed men on Friday outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Fox 13 reported. The suspects, who are supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, were allegedly engaged in a plot to commit an act of violence at the center. 

The arrests came after law enforcement received a tip alerting them that these men made threats against the convention center. The officers found two handguns and an AR-15 rifle inside their vehicle, which was emblazoned with QAnon stickers. 

The suspects — a 61-year-old and a 42-year-old — drove into the city from Virginia in a silver Hummer. Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner identified the two men as Joshua Macias and Antonio Lamotta. 

According to NBC News, “police said they found the car parked and unoccupied around 10:20 p.m., and about seven minutes later, two police officers on bicycles saw the two men in possession of firearms.” Neither man was licensed to carry firearms in Pennsylvania. 

Krasner explained that the two men are not known to be affiliated with any extremist groups. “We do not have indications that the story is bigger than these two individuals,” he said. 

Along with the QAnon stickers in the vehicle, the district attorney stated that a hat with a QAnon logo was inside the car. Lamotta’s social media accounts show pictures of the Hummer. On his Facebook page, he wrote a post describing QAnon “as a positive military operation” and implied that a judgment day was approaching. On Twitter, he posted cartoons that included anti-Semitic tropes.

Macias’ social media pages mention the “Stop the Steal” campaign, which was banned from Facebook for allegedly calling for violence. 

QAnon is a conspiracy theory positing that President Trump was recruited to run for the presidency to battle a shadowy group of individuals who promote Satanism and engage in pedophilia. Followers believe that Trump was supposed to bring about a reckoning known as “the Storm” that will manifest in a series of high-profile arrests of Democratic politicians and leaders.

As can be expected, members of the movement have been concerned by the issues surrounding the presidential election. If Biden were to win, it would undoubtedly cast major doubts on the entire movement’s foundation, which might explain why some would resort to violence. 

To be clear, the vast majority of those who believe in the QAnon conspiracy has not engaged in or promoted violence. However, Democrats and their close friends and allies in the corporate press have seized the movement’s existence, attempting to deceptively portray it as a mainstream belief among conservatives. 

During President Trump’s Townhall, Savannah Guthrie, an activist poorly-disguised as a journalist, became incensed when he would not definitively condemn the QAnon movement even though he said he didn’t know much about them. She continued to press him on the matter until she finally gave up in frustration. 

There is no telling what will happen to the QAnon movement if Biden wins the election. Its leaders will most likely figure out how to explain the apparent contradiction between national events and their belief system. But there can be no doubt that it will lose many, if not most, of its adherents. However, this will not stop the left from trying to lump all conservatives in with the conspiracy theory. After all, they have to at least give it a shot, right? 

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Follow me on Twitter: @JeffOnTheRight