Nearly three weeks ago, hundreds QAnon-loving middle-aged fanatics gathered at Dallas to see John F. Kennedy Jr. return. This group believes that JFK Jr. and many other deceased celebrities — including his father, President John F. Kennedy — are not only alive, but part of a decades-long plot to take down a global pedophile cabal that secretly controls the world. Despite numerous no-shows by the former GeorgePublisher or his charismatic dad, dozens still haven’t left. In fact, one of the JFK Jr. truthers — a rapper by the name of Pryme Minister — He was offered the use his property just outside Dallas, and the group’s Telegram chats indicate some of them have been living communally for weeks.
This QAnon group in particular is led by a popular conspiracy theory influencer named Michael Protzman, who has prophesied the Kennedys’ return, and organized these gatherings, the latest of which took place on Monday, the anniversary of the assassination of JFK. But this time they’re not the only JFK obsessed conspiracy theorist in Dallas. Three days of discussions on the latest evidence and theories about autopsies, CIA informants and links to 9/11 took place just a block away at the Magnolia hotel.
You could consider conference attendees your “family”. Oliver Stone JFK Truthers — they believe JFK was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, but they don’t believe the Warren Report (which claims Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole shooter and acted alone) and they have a variety of kooky ideas about who did it.
The two conspiracy groups came together on a sunny, but cool morning. JFK Assassination Conference people arrived first, setting up an altar right next to the spot where Kennedy was murdered. As a handful guided tour groups passed the area, they made speeches to honor the late president. They were joined by dozens of members of Protzman’s group, several of them wearing Trump-Kennedy campaign t-shirts, alluding to the notion that JFK Jr. would help Trump return to the White House. The two groups occasionally intermixed, but the majority of Protzman’s followers gathered on a nearby bridge singing songs and waving signs and flags. Each group largely operated as if the other didn’t exist, perhaps because they don’t agree on the fundamental question of whether JFK is still alive.
The Q-pilled crowd’s beliefs about the Kennedy’s are so strange that even Kris Millegan — one of the JFK Assassination Conference speakers who has published books outlining global secret society plots and was given a lifetime achievement award by the conference organizers — thinks they’re being misled. “It’s a psy-op,”Millegan mentioned the QAnon Movement, suggesting that it was a secret society of nefarious forces. “If you want to control a conspiracy, you spin on a dime and point at everyone else.”Millegan said, however, that some people were selling QAnon theories opportunistically. “People are using it to make money and all kinds of different things.”
Potzman, leader of the Dallas QAnon group, has taken to selling his view on Gematria. This form of Christian numerology has now begun to sell merchandise with his online moniker Negative48. But even if Protzman is just an opportunistic salesman, some of the attendees appear to be true believers in what he’s hawking. Some have spent thousands of dollars on fundraising calls and telegram chats to ensure JFK Jr. is in Dallas.
Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 2, 2021.
Steven Monacelli
Recent Vice ReportProtzman’s history of spreading antisemitic propaganda has been documented. He has posted links to films of extreme right-wing that promote Neo-Nazi and Nazi talk points over his Telegram channel in the last few months. “If you haven’t watched the documentary Europa: The Last Battle 2017, here’s the link,”Read an Oct. 2 Telegram posting. This film is shockingly antisemetic. It claims that Jews are responsible in starting both world wars, and portrays the Nazis as innocent victims. He has also shared a link.Adolf Hitler – The Greatest Story Ever Told.) Protzman didn’t respond to our requests for comment. Vice Or Rolling StoneInformation about these posts
Telegram chats that are associated with Negative48 and its followers are filled with bizarre and highly detailed theories about celebrities and medical technology. One theory is that the Kennedys are a part of a family that dates back to Jesus Christ. Worst of all, Protzman recorded a video call in which one of his followers stated that he was a follower. “We have to experience that physical death to let go of the ego and come out on the other side.”Protzman seemed to be in agreement. “Yeah, yeah,”He stated.
Mike Rothschild, an expert in the development and publication of the QAnon movement. The Storm Is Coming upon Us, is particularly concerned about Protzman’s group. “The group of QAnon devotees wandering around Dallas looking for dead celebrities has transitioned almost instantly into something much more like a cult,”Rothschild:Rolling Stone. “These people have surrendered their will to a crank, who manipulates them with promises of a utopian future and delivers nothing. And their talk increasingly turns to dark ends and ‘physical death’ — a disturbing harbinger of how previous cults have ended.” (Protzman did not respond to a request for comment regarding the video call or Rothschild’s characterizations.)
Not all of Protzman’s followers have remained faithful over the past three weeks. Telegram is used by disaffected members to criticize Protzman for his false promises. “The dates didn’t happen like Gematria said so IDK if it’s what we should go by,”One user wrote. “Unless I misunderstood, didn’t neg 48 say Nov 2nd? That’s why everyone went,”One more. “I know, that’s why I spent $3,000 and lost a week of my life,”A third responded.
Families across the country still wonder if and when their loved one will leave Dealey Plaza. “My wife has been there since October 31,”One Twitter user wrote it. “My brother as well,”Another replied.
Residents are becoming more concerned about the Protzmanians’ presence in downtown Dallas. “I live right by the AT&T Discovery District where [Protzman’s followers] first gathered,” said Dallas resident Isaac Robert. “We saw a tweet and went to check it out for a good laugh, but I walked away concerned and shocked. I hate that they’re still here and that Dallas has to be associated with that. If a cult leader can make a guarantee that doesn’t come true and people still passionately follow him, he could tell them to do literally anything and they would. That kind of power in the hands is terrifying and dangerous for local residents.”
The simultaneous presence of an entirely separate Kennedy-obsessed conspiracy theory community throws Protzman’s sect into even starker relief. No matter how outlandish some of the beliefs on offer at the JFK Assassination Conference may be — for example, that 9/11 was a mass murder ritual run by a Luciferian cabal — in comparison the QAnon clique, attendees of the JFK Assassination Conference seem rather tame. After all, they haven’t decided to set up a commune in the Dallas area and await the end-of-days at Dealey Plaza. And were it not for their convergence with Protzman’s group, their presence in Dallas would likely have gone unnoticed, or at least, would have blended in with the JFK assassination tours that are a regular sight every Nov. 22.
“Being from the Dallas area, I’m used to conspiracy theorists pushing their wild ideas especially around the JFK historical area,”Matthew Fain, a local rideshare driver from Dallas-Fort Worth, says so. “But these new people are even crazier than ever before — and before was bad enough.”