Roseanne Barr, Alleged QAnon Believer, Praises Donald Trump For Freeing ‘Children Held In Bondage To Pimps’

Roseanne Barr thinks that Donald Trump deserves credit for a number of programs targeting child sex trafficking that began before he was president. As reported by the Hollywood Reporter, the Roseanne star recently raised eyebrows by tweeting that Trump is saving hundreds of child sex trafficking victims each month, a claim that was immediately linked to her belief in a conspiracy theory involving satanism, pedophilia, and the president’s political enemies on the other side of the aisle.

Roseanne Barr has made it no secret that she was thrilled to get a phone call from President Donald Trump congratulating her on the Roseanne revival’s stellar ratings. In fact, her chat with the commander in chief went so well that she decided to do something nice for him on his favorite social media platform. On Friday, she took to Twitter to commend Trump for taking action against child sex trafficking rings.

“President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over this world,” she wrote. “Hundreds each month. He has broken up trafficking rings in high places everywhere. notice that. I disagree on some things, but give him benefit of doubt-4 now.”

For some, her mention of child sex trafficking in “high places” immediately brought to mind the QAnon conspiracy theory. A few media outlets, including the Daily Beast and Medium, suggested that her tweet was a reference to this ever-growing work of pro-Trump internet lore created in a corner of the web known for stirring up controversy.

In November, Roseanne Barr became a bit player in one of her favorite theories: a 4Chan-based conspiracy called QAnon that alleges satanism and sex-trafficking by Trump’s opponents https://t.co/jNVVoFbtpE #Roseanne

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) March 30, 2018

Those who buy into the QAnon conspiracy believe that someone with the username “Q Anonymous” is sharing “deep state” secrets on the 4chan message board. The mysterious poster’s words are cryptic, and Q’s followers enjoy trying to interpret them. They’ve constructed multiple conspiracy theories around them, including one that imagines Donald Trump pursuing high-ranking Democrats who are involved in satanism and child sex trafficking. Roseanne Barr has tweeted about QAnon more than once and has seemingly bought into the conspiracy theory. She has even expressed an interest in meeting Q.

However, Barr’s recent tweet about Trump may have nothing to do with QAnon. In response to critics who questioned her claims about the president, she began retweeting links to legitimate news stories about child sex trafficking busts. However, many of them referenced programs that existed before Trump took office.

One of them was a link to an NBC News story about a sting that was part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative. The initiative was implemented in 2003. Another was a link to a Los Angeles Daily News article about “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild,” an annual enforcement operation conducted by the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. According to the Twitter account for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Operation Reclaim and Rebuild human trafficking raids have been conducted since 2015.

Roseanne Barr’s questionable evidence supporting her claim about Trump also included an opinion piece by a writer for The Hill titled, “Trump Can Leave His Mark by Decimating Human Trafficking.” The article is about what Donald Trump could do to stop human trafficking, not what he has done to help human trafficking victims.

Last year, Reason debunked a Townhall writer’s claim that an “unprecedented number” of child sex traffickers have been arrested since Donald Trump took office, and McClatchy D.C. has reported that the president may actually be hurting efforts to bring some human traffickers to justice. Advocates for human trafficking victims have complained that the president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is scaring them from coming forward. Many noncitizen victims are afraid that they will be deported if they go to the authorities, and some experts say that traffickers are exploiting this fear.

After a massive debate broke out on Roseanne Barr’s Twitter feed about whether Donald Trump really is rescuing “hundreds” of child sex trafficking victims each month, the comedian expressed some regret about using the president’s preferred method of reaching his supporters to broach such a serious topic.

“I have worked with victims of trafficking for decades & supported the fight against it,” Barr wrote. “Sorry to have mentioned it here. It’s not the place.”