The QAnon conspiracy theory originated in 2017, when an anonymous online figure, "Q" started posting on right-wing message boards. Q claims to have top secret government clearance. Q's stories range from false notions about COVID-19 to a cabal running the U.S. government to the claim there's a secret world of satanic pedophiles. This culminates in the belief that President Trump is a kind of savior figure.

Today, U.S. authorities are increasingly regarding QAnon as a domestic terror threat — especially following last week's insurrection at the Capitol. But the people in the best position to address that threat are the families of Q followers — and they're at a loss about how to do it.

Some of those family members spoke with us about how their family members started following QAnon and how that has affected their relationships.

Travis View researches right-wing conspiracies and hosts the podcast QAnon Anonymous. He explains how the QAnon story is not all that different from digital marketing tactics, and how followers become detached from reality.

Dannagal Young is an associate professor of communications at the University of Delaware and studies why people latch onto political conspiracy theories. She share some ways to help family members who are seemingly lost down one of these conspiracy rabbit holes.

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To truly contain the COVID-19 threat, every country needs to vaccinate its population. But securing doses is just the first of many battles.

House Democrats — joined by 10 Republicans — voted to impeach President Trump on Wednesday. Now the process moves to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he hasn't made a final decision — and that he'll listen to the legal arguments presented in the Senate. GOP strategist Scott Jennings, who is familiar with McConnell's thinking, spoke to NPR about why that might be.

No matter what McConnell does, Trump will not be president by this time next week. But between now and then, there are growing concerns about more violence in Washington, D.C., and in cities around the country, as NPR's Greg Allen has reported.

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California Rep. Adam Schiff, who led House Democrats in their first effort to impeach President Trump, tells NPR what they are hoping to achieve in doing it a second time. He spoke to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.

And while a debate about the consequences for Trump plays out on Capitol Hill, his supporters are facing consequences of their own in federal court.

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More than 25 million vaccines have been distributed by the federal government, but only slightly more than one-third of those have made it into peoples' arms. Vaccine mega-sites are opening in major cities around the country as local officials try to speed up vaccination.

There's also been pressure to expand the groups of people who are eligible for the vaccines. From Nashville, WPLN's Blake Farmer reports on how that pressure is often forcing those who administer the shots will to take people's word for it on whether they qualify.

One state is doing better than every other when it comes to giving shots: West Virginia. NPR's Yuki Noguchi explains why.

Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin, who's looked into how to improve America's vaccine rollout.

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In 1898, white supremacists in Wilmington, N.C., led what is known as the only successful coup ever to take place on American soil. They overthrew the government because Black leaders there had recently been elected by Black voters, explains Vann Newkirk, who wrote about that day for The Atlantic.

In some important ways, the attack on the U.S. Capitol this week was also about race.

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks to Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, professor of African American studies at Princeton. Vann Newkirk spoke to producer Brianna Scott.

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On Wednesday, in the nation's capital, a mob was incited to violence by the president of the United States. In the years that led up to that moment, many Republicans supported Trump. Now, where does their party go from here?

NPR's Ailsa Chang puts that question to two Capitol Hill veterans: Michael Steel, a longtime aid to former Republican House Speaker John Boehner; and Antonia Ferrier, a former longtime staffer to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

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A joint session of Congress to formally affirm the results of the 2020 presidential election was just getting started on Wednesday when a group of Republicans from the House and the Senate went on record objecting to election results in swing states.

The first objection triggered a debate period with each chamber having hours to deliberate. But those sessions were halted as a mob of Pro-Trump extremists stormed the Capitol grounds and sent the entire complex into a lockdown.

For more on what happened in Washington, D.C., NPR's congressional correspondent Sue Davis, spoke to All Things Considered hosts Ailsa Chang and Mary Louise Kelly.

The bottom line: Joe Biden will be inaugurated in 14 days. And it looks like he'll take office with a Democratic-controlled Senate.

Rev. Raphael Warnock spoke with NPR's Noel King after defeating Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of Georgia's runoff elections, according to the Associated Press. Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated Republican Sen. David Perdue in the second Georgia Senate runoff, according to an AP race call.

It looks like what helped put the Democrats over the top was Black voter turnout. LaTosha Brown is co-founder of Black Voters Matter, a Georgia group that helped lead get-out-the-vote efforts there. She spoke with NPR about where the fight goes next.

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Initially, U.S. officials predicted that as many as 20 million Americans would be fully vaccinated before the end of 2020. And while that many vaccine doses were distributed, only a fraction of them have been administered.

The federal government has given states control over distribution plans which has led to different systems with differing levels of success. In one Florida county, Julie Glenn of member station WGCU reports on the haphazard vaccine rollout that has led elderly residents to camp out in tents to get their first shot.

As vaccinations lag behind schedule, a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus is spreading in many countries, including the U.S. The new variant isn't thought to be more deadly, and scientists believe the vaccines currently being administered will work against it. Additional good news is that masks and social distancing will still slow the spread of the new variant.

Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Allison Aubrey, who's reported on the slow start to vaccinations, and from NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff, who's reported on the new coronavirus variant. Reporting on the vaccine rollout at the state level came from Will Stone in Seattle, Nashville Public Radio's Blake Farmer, and WBUR's Martha Bebinger.

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Georgia was already going to be the center of the political universe this week. Now, leaked audio of a phone call between President Trump and Georgia election officials raises new questions about how far he's willing to go to overturn an election he lost.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports on how it's all playing out in Georgia, where control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance. She speaks to Fulton County elections director Rick Barron and Emma Hurt of member station WABE.

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