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Fans of early-1990s tabloid culture, rejoice: John F. Kennedy Jr. is set to return. The lush-haired scion and former George publisher is set to make an appearance at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where his father was assassinated in 1963, for a special announcement this afternoon. The fact that the former People Sexiest Man Alive has been dead for more than two decades is of no consequence.

This is the belief set forth by proponents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which postulates that Donald Trump is lying in wait to destroy a secret cabal of blood-drinking, child-sex-trafficking members of the liberal elite. Dozens of QAnon supporters started gathering in AT&T Discovery Plaza in downtown Dallas last night to commemorate the glorious return of JFK Jr. — a man who, again, it must be emphasized, has failed to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide since 1999.

“Trump reinstated as 19th president calls up a new vice president, JFK Junior” wrote a prominent QAnon influencer with more than 250,000 followers on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. The influencer added that Trump’s reinstatement stems from the fact that “everything from 1871 was illegal and unconstitutional,” a reference to a convoluted far-right conspiracy theory aimed at invalidating Biden’s presidency by suggesting that an obscure law from the late-19th century renders every law passed and president elected since then as illegitimate. “Trump will step down. John will become President,” the post reads, adding that disgraced former general and QAnon celebrity Michael Flynn will become his vice president. The feverish fantasy concludes by claiming that Trump will become “1 of the 7 new Kings. Most likely the King of Kings,” a reference to a biblical passage in Revelations 17.

There is currently a large crowd of what appears to be QAnon believers at the AT&T Discovery Plaza in downtown Dallas. 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. pic.twitter.com/8L0Lw09wH7

— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) November 2, 2021

The renaissance of JFK Jr. is an increasingly popular cornerstone of the QAnon conspiracy theory, though it has historically been something of a fringe belief in the movement. The theory postulates that JFK Jr. has been in hiding for years and will eventually reveal himself as Trump’s running mate for the 2024 election, a belief that stems from a poster claiming to be JFK Jr. who contributed to an 8chan thread in 2018. Some proponents of the theory also believe that Vincent Fusca, a former sales manager in Pittsburgh, is secretly JFK Jr. in disguise, despite the fact that Fusca is inches shorter (and honestly, considerably less good-looking) than John F. Kennedy Jr. QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin has also been “suspected” to be JFK Jr. in “disguise.” Platforms like Etsy and Amazon have also been called out for selling merch promoting the idea that JFK Jr. is still alive and will return as Trump’s running mate, and many supporters at the Dealey Plaza event were photographed wearing such merch.

In recent months (and particularly in the wake of Trump’s defeat in November 2020, when QAnon leaders have been scrambling to maintain their relevancy), some prominent QAnon influencers have expanded on this lore, most notably Michael Brian Protzman, who also runs a popular Telegram channel. Protzman, who is based in Washington state and runs a demolition company, relies on an abstruse version of gematria, or numerology, to promote the idea that he is in direct contact with the Kennedy family (which he believes are direct descendants of Jesus Christ), and that they will make their triumphant return on Tuesday.

On his Telegram channel, Protzman has been posting videos and photographs of himself hobnobbing with QAnon supporters in Dealey Plaza, signing supporters’ T-shirts and wielding a trophy with the message “The Gematria General: God communicates in numbers and Trump does too.” “We are the storm … we’re the ones the devil comes to try and take down 1,000 years from now and a 1,000 years of peace, and he will have no effect, because we’re going from 3D to 5D,” Protzman said in an incomprehensible, rant-filled video posted on Telegram by a supporter, to murmurs of assent and raucous cheers.