5,000 guards remain in DC amid QAnon frenzy that Trump will be inaugurated this week

Nearly 5,000 National Guard troops are in Washington, DC this week for an inauguration that won’t happen.

That’s because followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory believe that on 4 March, which was once the inauguration date of US presidents, Donald Trump will become president again. According to Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, this has led to online chatter about storming the Capitol a second time.

“Some of these people have figured out that apparently 75 years ago, the president used to be inaugurated on 4 March,” Smith said during a hearing last month with Department of Defense officials. “Now why that’s relevant, God knows. At any rate, now they are thinking maybe we should gather again and storm the Capitol on 4 March.”