The goal of QAnon is to destroy the United States from within by creating chaos and dissension among Americans.

Who is behind QAnon? Is it foreign interests friendly to Vladimir Putin and Russia? The number of false Facebook profiles with links to Russia is difficult to ignore. Many Americans who never viewed a QAnon YouTube video unknowingly spread these conspiracies by repeating what they hear from others, including MAGA Republicans.

The leader of the MAGA wing of the GOP embraces QAnon and relies on QAnon-sourced conspiracy theories in his attacks against his opponents.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Cris Dush, R-Brookville, has wasted both time and money searching for baseless organized election fraud, including “fixed” voting machines. Does anyone really believe that the voting machines in sparsely populated Fulton County may have been controlled by Italians based in the Vatican by using satellites? Sadly, the answer is that some vulnerable Americans actually believe such wild conspiracies.

Predator MAGA politicians like Kari Lake continually use QAnon-based conspiracy theories to garner support from brainwashed Americans. The good news is that the majority of voters in Pennsylvania and Arizona reject such nonsense.

The mainstream Republican Party tried to take advantage of QAnon-stoked fears in an attempt to convince voters that the goal of the Democratic Party is to destroy America. However, the choice in both 2020 and 2022 was not between socialism and democracy, but between authoritarianism and democracy.

The good news is that in the midterm elections MAGA candidates were soundly defeated in Pennsylvania and many other states. State Sen. Doug Mastriano was present at the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He tried to ride the QAnon wave and capture the governorship of Pennsylvania.

Mastriano should have paid more attention to history. Confederates do to win on this side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Pete Palumbo, Bradford