Throughout its four-day run, the Republican National Convention provided catnip for QAnon supporters.

Online conspiracy theorists were quick to interpret what they believed to be hidden messages as Vice President Mike Pence took to the stage on the third night, counting 17 flags flanking him on either side. This number is significant in the QAnon mindset, Q being the 17th letter of the alphabet. Facebook groups and Twitter communities went into overdrive, of course.

Activist Mary Ann Mendoza was pulled from the RNC roster on Tuesday, after she shared a thread of messages from a Twitter account linked to QAnon. 

But two of Wednesday night’s speakers also had ties to the movement. The first was veteran civil rights activist Clarence Henderson, who gave a pre-recorded speech. In May 2019, he appeared on the little-known QAnon podcast A Diary of the Great Awakening. The other was Burgess Owens, a former NFL star and Utah congressional candidate. He was a guest on the QAnon YouTube broadcast The Common Sense Show in May. Owens’ communications team has told reporters that he is not a follower of the conspiracy theory. In a three-minute speech, he kept things brief, telling voters: “This November we have an opportunity to reject the mob mentality.”