Nearly 5,000 National Guard troops are expected to stay in Washington for at least another three weeks amid concerns over potential violence from QAnon adherents, some of whom believe former President Donald Trump will be inaugurated on March 4.

House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., cited QAnon chatter surrounding March 4 during a hearing this week with defense officials flagged by CNN.

“Some of these people have figured out that apparently 75 years ago, the president used to be inaugurated on March 4,” Smith said. “Now why that’s relevant, God knows. At any rate, now they are thinking maybe we should gather again and storm the Capitol on March 4 … that is circulating online.”

Pentagon official Robert Salesses said at the hearing that 4,900 National Guard troops will remain in D.C. through March 12 at the request of Capitol Police in response to “different missions” that the troops will support. He said there isn’t a specific threat that the National Guard is tracking but the Pentagon will work with law enforcement agencies to evaluate any potential threats.

The Trump Organization appears to have taken notice of the chatter too. The Trump International Hotel in Washington has jacked up its room rates for March 3 and 4 by nearly $1,000, Forbes first reported. It was the only hotel in the nation’s capital to increase rates for those days — and has not increased them on surrounding days. The hotel similarly raised its prices dramatically for Jan. 5 and 6, the dates around the deadly Capitol riot.

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which is effectively based on the fictitious idea that Trump is secretly fighting a satanic cabal of child-trafficking Democrats, have struggled to cope with President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Many of them had expected that Inauguration Day would bring “The Storm,” when, according to clues left by an anonymous message board poster known as “Q,” Trump would lead the National Guard in mass arrests of his political enemies.

The “storm” never came, leaving many to grapple with reality as Q stopped posting shortly after the election. Some QAnon followers have since hatched their own conspiracy theory, claiming that Trump will return for the “real” inauguration on March 4.
(Raw story)

What a bizzare scene at Biden inauguration! Crowd size is about 100 people

Video below:

Thursday, Rep. Madison Cawthorn tweeted “I just visited the solders who have been abandoned & insulted by our leaders. I brought them pizza and told them that they can sleep in my office.”

“No soldier will ever, ever sleep on a garage floor in the US Capitol while I work in Congress,” he added. “Our Troops deserve better.”