As Trump left the White House for a final time, one post shared on a forum backing the president suggested that he was getting into Air Force One for his own safety — instead of to leave for Florida for his first post-presidency travel.
A user on another forum dedicated to the "awakening" claimed that the 17 flags on stage as Trump gave his farewell was a coded message, since "Q" — the mysterious figure who posts cryptic messages that serve as the theory's foundation — is the 17th letter of the alphabet.
“I don’t know how many signs has [sic] to be given to us before we ‘trust the plan,’” another user commented.
But as Biden’s inauguration continued without incident, the realization that the theory was failing to come to fruition began to set in for some of QAnon’s most ardent supporters.
Ron Watkins, a former administrator of 8kun, wrote on Telegram that “we gave it our all.”
“Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able,” he wrote to the 120,000 users subscribed to his channel.
Watkins’s former platform hosts posts by "Q," the anonymous figure behind the theory.
Another large QAnon group on Telegram closed commenting to give users “a breather” after Biden’s swearing in on Wednesday.
“Q was a LARP the entire f---ing time,” one forum user wrote moments after the inauguration, referring to live action role playing games.
One 8kun user lamented that they “thought things would finally change and the deep state would be exposed” on Wednesday.
“Please, I just can't anymore,” they added.