The organizer is listed as The Patriot Voice, but the people behind the group are John Sabal, who used to go by "QAnon John," and his partner Amy. QAnon is a conspiracy theory that revolves around the idea that pedophiles among the Hollywood elite and powerful Democratic politicians secretly run the world and are acting against former President Donald Trump.
Sabal and Amy put on their first event over Memorial Day weekend in Dallas last year. The North Texas convention would just be the kick-off to a series of similar events they’d plan to host in different cities across the U.S.
“We are going back to Dallas, TX, where it all began!” the event’s website reads. “Join us for another weekend where you will hear from your favorite patriots, enjoy top-notch entertainment, and experience pure patriotism! This is sure to be a dynamic and blessed weekend! We CAN’T WAIT to see you there!”
The organizers didn’t have the smoothest time throwing their first convention. It was initially intended to be a victory cruise celebrating President Donald Trump’s reelection. Of course, he lost and several of the cruise plans fell through. The cruise was meant to be postponed to 2022. But here we are, and there hasn’t been any more talk of a cruise. Instead, just another convention.
The first time around, the QAnon connections to the convention were made obvious with multiple references in the event’s promotional material. For example, promos often included the number 17 (Q is the 17th letter in the alphabet), as well as the acronym WWG1WGA. It stands for “Where we go one, we go all,” a line from the 1996 film White Squall. QAnoners have accepted the line as their mantra because they believe it was inscribed on a bell on a boat owned by JFK. It wasn’t.“We are going back to Dallas, TX, where it all began!” – The Patriot Voice
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This time, though, the Q references seem absent from promotional material. Since the first Dallas event, it seems the organizers have – on the surface at least – tried to distance themselves further and further from the conspiracy theory. As of this year, QAnon John has even rebranded, so don’t call him that anymore. These days, he prefers to be called The Patriot Voice John.
But if you dig into the line of speakers for the upcoming event in November, you’ll see not a lot has changed. They’re still featuring people who push the lie that the election was stolen from Trump, that JFK Jr. is still alive (he’s not), and that the COVID-19 vaccines are bad — things many QAnoners have come to believe.
The keynote speakers for the event include former New York City mayor and Trump loyalist Rudy Giuliani; Dinesh D’Souza, the right-wing commentator and creator of the documentary 2000 Mules; and former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos and his wife, Simona. 2000 Mules is a documentary that claims widespread voter fraud took place in the last presidential election leading to President Joe Biden’s victory.
Since the first Dallas event, the organizers have had to be a little more secretive about where they host the convention. In 2021, they hoped to throw the event at Gilley’s in Dallas. But after a petition went around in support of canceling the event and people complained, the organizers changed venues. The only ones who were meant to know the location of the new venue in 2021 were ticket holders and organizers.
This is a tactic the organizers have used increasingly since. Most times they advertise an event now, the location is disclosed only to ticket holders.
So, if you want to know where the November event is going to happen — or worse, you want to attend — you’ll have to cough up some dough. This time, it’ll cost you at least $650 plus a $13.50 fee. If you want an all-weekend VIP pass, you’ll be paying double that.
In times like these, that’s a hard sell, but don’t let us tell you how to spend your money. The event website says if you do attend and everything goes according to plan, you'll leave "with new hope for this country and its future, and with a new vigor/passion to go home and get involved in their respective communities."
