QAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy theory network which found roots during the American 2020 presidential election by fabricating a conflict between then President Donald Trump and the supposedly malicious, even Satanic, operations of Democrats and Hollywood elites. While it has been acutely analyzed through contemporary political, psychological, and sociological frameworks, analyzing the QAnon movement through an American religious historical paradigm reveals that it is not an isolated conspiratorial anomaly, but rather the latest iteration of a well-established American historical occurrence: the Christian millennial prophecy and early Christian Errand. Select characteristics of American politics, including the multi-functional nature of presidential power, a combative two-party system, and the influence of Evangelical beliefs and constituencies in Republican Party practices, have facilitated this latest round of political activity with millennialist ornamentation. QAnon adherents have created their own prophecy, “the Storm;” they express anxiety surrounding their mission’s completion; and they express a dual-natured reactivity to Trump’s status, either heralding him as
a Messiah-like savior or as an authority to which they must report. These parallels culminate in a similar psychological fallout upon the millennial prophecy’s failure to unfold as well as the failure of both QAnon and millenialists to fulfill their errand, a divine mission toward purity or perfection. Despite QAnon’s dwindling salience in political discourse, this analysis supports the conclusion that as the latest iteration of the prophetic and mission-oriented pattern, core components of QAnon doctrine and modes of thinking that have seeped into the Republican Party platform and psyche will likely remain there for the foreseeable future.