A.k.a. Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley (real name)
A.k.a. Qanon the Barbarian
A.k.a. Vanilla the Hun
Ok, so this guy really needs no introduction, but Jake Angeli is in any case a conspiracy theorist and QAnon protest figure from Phoenix going by the title (?) QAnon Shaman or Q Shaman, because he is, according to himself, a “shaman”, which is obvious from his “shaman dress” consisting of a coyote-fur headdress with bovine horns, red-white-and-blue facepaint and neo-pagan far-right tattoos. His shamanic practice consists of screaming about Satan-worshipping pedophiles controlling the world (i.e. Pizzagate) while being dressed up in his naughty retro Chewbacca bikini, as well as insurrection attempts. He was promptly arrested in January 2021.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office memorandum charging Angeli with two felonies in the wake of the 2021 US Capitol riot, Angeli “believes that global elites are running the world, that United States leaders are part of a secret rings of child abusers who practice satanic worship, and other debunked theories. He has repeatedly demonstrated dramatic, erratic behavior, an inability to conform to societal norms, and an unwillingness to appreciate the consequences of his actions. He abides by his own belief system, acts accordingly regardless of the criminal consequences, and brings others along with him. His ability and willingness to conform his behavior to pre-trial supervision conditions appears to be virtually nil.”
A fixture at far-right rallies, Angeli reportedly led his own protest rally in September 2020 at Arrowhead Mall in Glendale, in which he claimed a spiral sign close to the bathrooms in the shopping centre was “an FBI pedophile code”. At one point, Angeli was actually also in the Navy, but he was kicked out after refusing to take his anthrax vaccine.
Upon his arrest, prosecutors presented ample evidence of his … character, including the following transcript from one of his Youtube videos, which seems to sum up his ideas fairly well (quoted at length):
“So in order to beat this evil occultic force you need a light occultic force you need an occultic force that is of the side of God of love on like almost like on the side of the Angels OK as opposed to the demons all right and so as a shaman I am like a multi-dimensional or hyper-dimensional being okay I am able to perceive multiple different frequencies of light beyond my five senses and it allows me to see into these other higher dimensions that these entities these pedophiles these rapists these murderers these really high up people that they almost like hide in the shadows in nobody can see that because the third eye ain’t open okay and that’s where things like fluoride and stuff like that comes in so the horns the horns are hey man you mess with the Buffalo you get the horns bro and if you ever tried messing with the Buffalo that doesn’t work out too well for many people this right here this is coyote skin according to the Navajo the coyote is like the trickster almost like almost like a benevolent force so I’m wearing the skin of the trickster I got two tails here okay so the trickster messed with the bull got the horns okay and the face paint is representative of the Native American tradition of like donning on warpaint of some sort only this is only this is a war that is of like a spiritual nature okay so because it’s a war of a spiritual nature you need symbolism okay in the symbolism here for me is you got the blood on the sign the bullet holes Q sent me this shows the the the secret war in the behind the scene. Hey if you don’t know who Q is Q is the highest levels of the military in the intelligence community disseminating above top secret information to pay attention to the republic so we can take our country back from globalists and communists and satanists.”
His motivation for participating in the 2021 insurrection might also best be summed up in his own words: “What we did on Jan. 6 in many ways was an evolution in consciousness, because as we marched down the street along these ley lines, shouting ‘USA’ or shouting things like ‘freedom’ … we were actually affecting the quantum realm.” In jail, Angeli refused to eat unless given organic food because anything else would ostensibly make him literally physically sick.
After being arrested, Angeli was promptly thrown under the bus by his fellow QAnon and Trump supporters, many of whom accused him of being an Antifa agent provocateur, based for instance on (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jake-angeli-viking-capitol-blm/) pictures from a BLM protest that he was actually counterprotesting, but in which his QAnon sign was cropped out. There is a lesson here, but if you were able to learn it you would probably not have thrown your lot in with these people to begin with.
Diagnosis: Though we don’t usually cover … people like Angeli, he sort of launched himself into a rather public role. Indeed, he has become something of a symbol of the pro-Trump movement and idiotic conspiracy mongering in general – a rather fitting symbol, to be fair.
Hat-tip: Rationalwiki