Conspiracy theories that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was staged flooded the Internet almost immediately after a shooter opened fire on Trump while he was speaking at a campaign rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Some of the claims suggest that Trump himself staged it.
“Donald Trump keeps playing with our faces!! This was SO staged!!! If someone REALLY wanted to kill him, they wouldn’t use a BB gun!!” posted one person on X just over an hour after the shooting.
“If you think the ‘shooting’ at Trump’s rally was an assassination attempt, you are in a cult. This is the most staged thing I’ve seen in a long time. He knows he’s going to lose the election, so he fakes this m@#% and yells to the crowd to ‘fight’,” wrote another X user.
Some social media users falsely claimed that Trump faked the blood coming from his ear with a “blood pill.”
“Trump staging a fake shooting at his rally is incredible theater,” wrote a user on X. “We saw him smash fake blood on the side of his head. Those weren’t gunshot sounds.”
Brazilian users even immediately compared the situation to the stabbing that former President Jair Bolsonaro also experienced during a rally, claiming that both staged the occasion to gain political support and get elected.
These claims are baseless, according to authorities.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an attempted assassination. PolitiFact found no reliable news or official reports that the shooting was staged. It was witnessed by thousands of rally attendees, including dozens of photographers and reporters.
Furthermore, who would “stage” a situation that resulted in one person’s death and left two others seriously injured?
Experts say there are several reasons why people resort to and believe in conspiracy theories, especially at a time when politics is so polarized.
In summary, Trump was visibly injured in the shooting, which thousands of people witnessed, and was later treated clinically at a local hospital. One person died and two others were seriously injured. The alleged shooter was shot dead, and the FBI is investigating the incident as an attempted assassination and domestic terrorism.
Source: PolitiFact