Believers in QAnon, the conspiracy theory that claims former President Donald Trump is secretly battling a cabal of child-eating pedophiles, have taken an interest in Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
In a tweet on Tuesday, former 8chan moderator Ron Watkins, who has been accused of being behind the “Q” persona himself, highlighted a recent purchase of flowers by Scott’s campaign. In his usual opaque fashion, Watkins intimated his followers should investigate the seemingly strange occurrence.
“Tim Scott’s campaign purchases a lot of flowers. These flowers were bought on Valentine’s day,” Watkins wrote, tagging the senator. “Why is Tim Scott’s campaign buying so many flowers so often? I am genuinely curious. @votetimscott.”
Despite such a purchase, especially on Valentine’s Day, being nothing out of the ordinary, supporters of Watkins began conjuring up conspiracy theories regarding the vague tweet.
Some commenters immediately began suggesting, without evidence, that Scott might have connections to the business selling the flowers.
“So who owns the flower shop and are they related,” one Twitter Blue subscriber wrote.
Another argued that the purchase of flowers could be part of a secretive effort to launder funds.
“It’s starting to look like a way to launder money,” the user said.
Yet given Watkins’ history and his followers, inevitably some users began attempting to make connections to Pizzagate, the conspiracy theory that accused top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, of trafficking children in the basement of a D.C. pizzeria.
“Do flowers refer to something else like ‘hot dogs’ n ‘pizza?'” one Twitter user questioned.
The reference to hot dogs and pizza relates to a 2009 email written by an employee at the private intelligence company Stratfor. The email, as well as countless others, was published by WikiLeaks in 2012.
“I think Obama spent about $65,000 of the tax-payers money flying in pizza/dogs from Chicago for a private party at the White House not long ago, assume we are using the same channels?” the Stratfor employee wrote.
The email was immediately seen as proof among conspiracy theorists that the Obama admin had trafficked children to the White House. Pizza and hot dogs, according to those online, were secret terms among pedophiles that the employee had used to actually refer to children.
Yet some of Watkins’ followers, many of whom have grown tired of his outrageous theories and claims, weren’t taking the bait.
“Why all these questions and not declarative sentences?” one user asked. “Is it lack of evidence? Or bravery? Or an attempt to resurrect the Q phenomenon?”
“Bro all the real crimes out there to expose in the democratic and republican party and you pursue non-starters?” another replied. “Who gives af about why he’s buying sympathy flowers? Really? What happened to you.”
Many also suggested in the comments that Scott regularly sent flowers to constituents’ families following the loss of a loved one, an act that’s been attributed to his “southern gentleman” nature.
Watkins eventually appeared to concede that he did in fact believe that the flowers were merely for those in Scott’s community.
“I have learned that Tim Scott buys a lot of flowers to lay down for the deaths of people in his constituency,” Watkins said.
An image uploaded by Watkins showed Scott in 2016 placing flowers outside an elementary school after a six-year-old was shot by a 14-year-old.
The Daily Dot reached out to Scott’s campaign to inquire about his history of flower purchases but did not receive a reply by press time.
