Or perhaps Q is real and it is simply part of a rightwing effort to install a truly totalitarian government in the United States, along the lines of Putin’s Russia. Why isn’t that explanation equally plausible?

Just because there has been corruption in the US government for decades (centuries, actually), doesn’t mean that this administration, and any covert assistance it might be receiving, are here to magically restore our country to its democratic roots. Most signs point in the exact opposite direction, actually.