Lindsey Graham calls QAnon 'batsh-t crazy'

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) shared his thoughts about the right-wing conspiracy group QAnon with Vanity Fair on Thursday, calling the fringe group "batsh*t crazy," adding that the group poses a real danger, according to Axios.  

QAnon has gained traction in the last couple years, with a number of conservative politicians pushing the fringe ideology, including Marjorie Gaylor Greene, who is expected to enter the House following the GOP nomination in Georgia.

Among the group's more serious ideas, adherents are under the impression that pedophiles within the "deep state" are actively working alongside others around the world in an effort to bring down President Donald Trump, Axios reported. The FBI has even gone so far as to suggest that the group is potentially a domestic terror threat.

Graham shared his thoughts about the group with Vanity Fair on Thursday, saying "QAnon is bathsh*t crazy. Crazy stuff. Inspiring people to violence. I think it is a platform that plays off people’s fears, that compels them to do things they normally wouldn’t do. And it’s very much a threat."

"But there are a lot of websites out there. How do you live in this world? So under Section 230 of our law [the Communications Decency Act], a social media company can’t be sued for the content that they carry. I get slandered all the time on Twitter and other outlets. If the New York Times printed an article, I could sue them. If CNN said something about me that wasn’t true, I could sue them. But Twitter and all these other sites can pass on the most scandalous information, you have no recourse. So how to fix this? I would like to remove Section 230 liability."

Graham continued by suggesting that "if you’re going to have a social media site like QAnon or anything else, you spread this stuff at your own peril. So when this guy went into the pizza restaurant in Washington, because they alleged that Hillary Clinton was running a pedophile ring out of a pizza place in Washington. This guy took it seriously, went in with an AR-15 and started shooting up place. Thank God nobody got killed. But the pizza owner under my theory, could sue QAnon for passing along garbage. That’s a pretty dramatic step. But the only way I know to make people more responsible who run these websites is allow lawsuits when they go too far."

Trump has come under fire for voicing support for the conspiracy group by saying that adherents "like me very much" and that they "love America." Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has openly condemned Trump's comments about the group, suggesting that "real leaders" would denounce QAnon "nuts."

Twitter permanently banned a number of QAnon accounts on its platform in late July, charging the group with posting material that could lead to offline harm.