Does a video prove that "final moves against the deep state" are happening now? No, that's not true: Many of the conspiracy theories claimed in the video are false. Donald Trump is not still president or "in charge," the London 2012 Olympics did not foreshadow the coronavirus outbreak and John McCain and George H.W. Bush were not found guilty by military tribunals.
The claim appeared in a video published by Rumble on April 22, 2021, titled "Final Moves Against Deep State Happening Now - Checkmate Coming" (archived here). It opened:
The way information is coming out and they way the media is trying to make it sound right now indicates we are very close to the target or the storm is very close.
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Final Moves Against Deep State Happening Now - Checkmate Coming
The way information is coming out and they way the media is trying to make it sound right now indicates we are very close to the target or the storm is very close.
The video opens with a warning:
We are in the middle of it folks. I don't think we're quite at the storm, if you will. But a lot of information, a lot of energy and a lot of fear is being produced for us. Deep state is making it sound like it is war, I think it actually sounds like pieces are being put into place for checkmate to finally occur against the deep state.
The "deep state" is part of the unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory, one in a continuing series of prophecies that don't come true, that claims a secret shadow government is running the United States but that Donald Trump is waging a war, or "the storm," against a cabal of evil Democrats, Hollywood elites and satanists sex trafficking children worldwide, killing them and eating them. This is not supported by any public evidence and has been debunked by Lead Stories and national news outlets including The New York Times.
The video makes several references to Trump still being "in charge." At 10:40 it says, "kind of like how Trump is still in charge but off to the side," and at 29:27 it claims more about how he remains in command:
Long story short, Trump's likely still in charge. Can he say it? No. No. ... I think the
military tribunals are happening. He's probably very privy to what's going on in that general circle. And he speaks about things in the present tense as he is still a factor for sure in how things are going to be playing out. We'll see how that works out."
Trump is not still the president and is not in charge of the military. Joe Biden won the election and became president of the United States at noon on January 20, 2021, per the U.S. Constitution.
The video claims at 59 seconds that legislation to make the District of Columbia a state is illegal, citing "the art of war," sections 11.3 and 11.4. It claims an "occupying power" is trying to create a new state (D.C.) and calls that "Straight up not OK. Not OK what the deep state is currently doing and done."
This is a reference to the Department of Defense Law of War Manual, published in June 2015 and updated in December 2016 by the Office of General Council, Department of Defense. The section cited in this guidance for the U.S. military during a war is "11.4.2 Limitations on the Power of the Occupying Power Stemming From Its Lack of Sovereignty Over Occupied Territory." The U.S. House of Representatives is not an "occupying power" but democratically elected officials who represent the American people.
This is what the video is citing from the DOD Law of War Manual:
Page 814
11.4.2 Limitations on the Power of the Occupying Power Stemming From Its Lack of Sovereignty Over Occupied Territory. Belligerent occupation in a foreign war, being based upon the possession of enemy territory, necessarily implies that the sovereignty of the occupied territory is not vested in the Occupying Power. Occupation is essentially provisional. Because sovereignty is not vested in the Occupying Power, the fact of military occupation does not authorize the Occupying Power to take certain actions. For example, the Occupying Power is not authorized by the fact of belligerent occupation to annex occupied territory or to create a new State."
Congress has the authority to vote to admit a new state, as was previously done for Hawaii and Alaska in 1959, as explained by the National Constitution Center:
The Constitution grants general state-creation powers to Congress in Article IV, Section 3, under the Admissions Clause, which reads: "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress."
The video also references the 2012 London Olympics at 2:12 with an image claiming it shows hospital beds and a "giant death thing" with an implied reference to the COVID-19 outbreak. As Reuters noted in an article updated May 14, 2020, "False claim: London Olympic Games ceremony symbolically predicted the COVID-19 pandemic," the 2012 London Olympics did not foreshadow the coronavirus outbreak. The dance number with the hospital beds was an homage to the National Health Service, the national health care system in the United Kingdom.
The video also claims at 5:14 that John McCain and George H.W. Bush were found guilty at a military tribunal.
McCain, the name that should not be uttered, is a good example of what could happen. George Bush Senior, another good example of what happens when you've essentially been an absolute traitor and the military tribunals have found you guilty."
"This is a false statement," the Department of Defense duty officer told Lead Stories via email on April 28, 2021.
This is part of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, as reported by Newsweek. that John McCain did not die of brain cancer, but was executed after being found guilty by a military tribunal.
The video claims at 8:10 that the Indonesian Navy submarine that disappeared in April 2021 was "taken down" by an unidentified source. "I'm not sure ... that this may have had more to do with human smuggling," the video says, then tries to connect it to Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. "They sank this, maybe it had the bad guys on it and they basically just took it down," the video says. There is no evidence that there was any connection between the submarine and jailed Maxwell or the late Epstein.
Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Yudo Margono explained what happened in the submarine accident, according to CNN:
"This is not a human error, but a natural/environment factor," but did not give further details.
Briefing journalists Saturday, the admiral said an explosion was not thought to have occurred on the submarine but that heavy pressure on the vessel likely caused it to crack.
