QAnon supporters gather to welcome JFK Jr who they falsely believe faked his death and will run with Trump

Supporters of baseless conspiracy falsely believe JFK Jr is alive and well

QAnon supporters are gathering for an event in Texas on Tuesday at which they falsely believe JFK junior will reveal he is not dead and announce a 2024 presidential run with Donald Trump, the former president.

Pictures posted on social media appear to show scores of people outside the AT&T Discovery Plaza in downtown Dallas overnight on Monday, many of them wearing T-shirts displaying support for Mr Trump.

According to images shared by the journalist Steven Monacelli, publisher of the Protean magazine and a contributor to the Daily Beast and Byline Times, some of those present were dressed in political campaign-style T-shirts emblazoned with the words: “Trump/JFK J”.

Mr Monacelli said a “popular QAnon theory recently is that JFK Jr of the Kennedy family will be making a big announcement at Dealey Plaza by the grassy knoll sometime tomorrow”.

JFK junior, an American lawyer, died along with his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren in 1999 when the plane he was flying crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Massachusetts, US.

He belonged to the eminent political family, the Kennedys, and was the son of the 35th US President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. His father, who was assassinated in 1963, is also the subject of several false conspiracy theories related to his death.

Some staunch believers of QAnon think that JFK Jr is in fact alive and well, and plans to make a return to public service and announce a tilt at the White House as vice president on the ticket of Mr Trump, who has not yet announced a 2024 run but is widely considered by many to be the favourite to win the Republican nomination if he does so.

A bizarre theory has emerged suggesting that JFK's plane accident was just a ruse to fake his death and that he will be resurrected. A viral video has even shown a middle-aged man that some QAnon devotees claim is JFK Jr himself.

QAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy theory based on factually incorrect information that Mr Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.

Many of its proponents support the former commander-in-chief and were present at the 6 January attack on the US capitol, which resulted in the death of five people.

The former president has previously stopped short of endorsing the conspiracy theory but described those who follow it as “people who love our country”.

It's thought the conspiracy began in October 2017, with a post on the obscure, right-wing 4chan chatroom titled “Calm Before the Storm” and written by someone using the name “Q Clearance Patriot”.