If you believe the lamestream Fake News media, President Donald Trump was the victim of a third assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. However, as the true detectives on social media know, the attack by a lone gunman was an insider plot, to distract from Trump’s flagging poll numbers, the Iran War, the Epstein files, or all of the above.
The New York Times reported that in the aftermath of yet another act of American political violence, the term “staged” was used in more than 300,000 posts across platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and X. Heeding the First Commandment of the conspiracy theory group QAnon to “Do your own research”, an army of internet conspiracy theorists, backed up by Russian and Iranian trolls, sprang into action.
Displaying the same forensic brilliance of FBI director Kash Patel after an all-nighter at the Poodle Room, internet sleuths forged connections where none existed and posted thought bubbles such as “Is this another staged event?” (That X post has racked up almost 9 million views.) The fact-free-for-all was further evidence that the conspiracy theory, one of Trump’s most long-standing and potent political weapons, is now squarely trained on the Conspiracist-in-Chief.
Conspiracy theories have been a hallmark of Trump’s political career, from the Birther conspiracy that claimed president Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US to the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen by president Joe Biden, which resulted in the real-world violence of the January 6 Capitol riot. Other examples of conspiracy theories amplified by Trump over the years are legion: Haitians in Ohio are eating cats and dogs, Biden was executed and replaced by a robot clone, the Clintons had their political opponents murdered and Justin Trudeau is really the son of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Political opponents aren’t Trump’s sole target: COVID-19, global warming, vaccines and 9/11 have all been grist for the president’s heedless rumour mill. While some of these initially appear amusing, the damage they’ve done to political discourse and to create further polarisation is incalculable.
In his second term, Trump installed conspiracy theorists at the heart of the US government: RFK Jr, the anti-vaxxer who has said that chemicals in water could turn children gay, was made health secretary, while QAnon disciple Kash Patel became FBI director.
Being a conspiracy theorist wasn’t just a plus for consideration for higher office in the Trump 2.0 administration, it was seemingly a prerequisite. However, in a karmic twist worthy of an entire spool of red string, it’s now former Trump cheerleaders and ex-administration officials who are stoking this wave of anti-Trump conspiracy theories.
Two of the most popular theories circulating in the MAGA-verse are that the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024 was staged and that Trump is the literal Antichrist, because conspiracy theories are always noted for their restraint. Theories that the Butler shooting was faked began circulating almost immediately after the incident but were significantly boosted in March when right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson hosted Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, on his podcast. Kent, who resigned over the Iran War, stated that “We still don’t know what happened in Butler. No more questions are allowed to be asked about [shooter] Thomas Crooks. The Department of Homeland Security is being blocked from investigating Butler.”
Far-right activist Ali Alexander, one of the organisers behind the anti-Biden Stop the Steal campaign, interpreted Trump’s escape at Butler, with only a bullet graze to the ear, as supernatural proof of this theory, writing on Telegram: “To be clear: if Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was deception or a dark sign. There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”
After Trump posted an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus, Carlson pondered in a different podcast whether Trump was the Antichrist, former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted about Trump’s “Antichrist spirit” and far-right Texan pastor Joel Webbon suggested that Trump might be “demon-possessed”.
Many in the MAGA-verse believe that Saturday’s incident was faked to garner support for Trump’s expensive, unpopular – but more secure – ballroom project.
Less than a decade ago the far-right’s most beloved conspiracy theory was QAnon’s assertion that Trump was a messiah-like figure, destined to lead a secret military operation to bring down the Deep State. As a metric of how far he’s fallen, now he’s cast as a hypochondriac assassination target who, despite wielding the power of the Antichrist, hasn’t mastered the dark art of home renovations.
There would be undeniable schadenfreude in watching this all play out if only the damage done to voters’ trust and core tenets such as truth and expertise, essential for the functioning of a healthy society, wasn’t so catastrophic. For belief in conspiracy theories is essentially a search for meaning and truth and an attempt to regain power through knowledge by people who feel powerless.
Vice-President JD Vance once said: “It turns out that a conspiracy theory is just something that was true six months before the media admitted it.” In just over six months, midterm elections will be held. If Vance is right, we’re about to find out which of the conspiracy theory versions of Trump American voters now truly believe in – and how they intend to regain power.
Melanie La’Brooy is a novelist who writes on politics and social justice issues.
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Melanie La’Brooy – Melanie La’Brooy is an award-winning novelist who has lived in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and writes on politics and social justice issues.
