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While the Tampa rally was the first example of \"QAnon\" followers breaking through to mainstream prominence on cable news, Trump supporters previously donned \"Q\" T-shirts at rallies in South Carolina and North Dakota in June. The group has also put up billboards in Georgia and Oklahoma, according to Decker.

Additionally, in June, an armed man with an armored truck blocked a highway near the Hoover Dam holding a sign reading, \"Release the OIG report,\" known as one of the more prominent demands for \"QAnon\" followers.

President Trump himself also may have been an unknowing promoter of the group when he retweeted the account MagaPill.com in November 2017. The account had long peddled in numerous conspiracy theories and has highlighted the \"QAnon\" theories prominently on its website and Twitter.

Wow, even I didn’t realize we did so much. Wish the Fake News would report! Thank you. https://t.co/ApVbu2b0Jd

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2017

Meanwhile, followers of \"Q\" have repeatedly gone on to generate conspiracies based on the president's own words down to his simple hand gestures.

Specifically, many followers have cited Trump's \"calm before the storm\" quip at a gathering of military leaders in October 2017 as evidence he was previewing some sort of coming crackdown on the \"Deep State.\"

But Decker said QAnon's breakthrough at the Tampa rally could be seen as a watershed-type moment in the event the movement takes on a similar track as \"Pizzagate\" and followers choose to take their 'sleuthing' from the Internet into the real world.

\"We're no longer talking about an exposure of a million people,\" Decker said. \"If a rally is broadcast on a major news network, we're talking tens of millions of people are now exposed to this whole concept of 'Q.'\"

In the White House briefing Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked specifically about the \"QAnon\" presence at the Tampa rally, but did not directly acknowledge or rebuke the group in her answer.

\"The president condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual, and certainly doesn’t support groups that would promote that type of behavior,\" Sanders said. \"We've been clear about that a number of times since the beginning of the administration.\"

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