Sick trolls claim Trump’s attempted assassination was ‘staged’ and push conspiracy theory the blood was fake
- The reports emerged shortly after a video showed Trump injured in front of a crowd
- According to police, one person died and another was injured.
It took only minutes for Donald Trump’s trolls to spread conspiracy theories claiming his shooting was “staged” to boost his election chances.
The first reports emerged shortly after agents removed Trump from the scene of his Pennsylvania rally, with stunning photos showing blood on the right side of his face. Some stunning photos even show a projectile flying toward his ear.
On Sunday night, hours after the shooting, “staged” was ranked fourth in Google search results, behind Trump, Secret Service and Antifa — before police confirmed the identity of the alleged shooter.
Some X users have built their theories on the provocative images of Trump after the shooting. ‘This is such a perfect photo it’s hard to believe it wasn’t staged. Photo of the decade. Absolutely incredible.
“Do you think the Trump shooting was staged?” asked an X user shortly after the incident.
Blood can be seen coming from Donald Trump’s ear where he said he was shot. Trolls online claimed the event was staged immediately after it happened
“If you don’t think that shit was staged? Look how fast they got Trump out of there when there was just a mention in 2016 that someone in the crowd had a gun. And then look at this crazy shit,” wrote another user with nearly 2,000 followers, based on the Secret Service’s quick response to the incident.
Another user couldn’t believe Trump’s reaction to the attack.
“Trump getting shot was completely staged. He kept looking in that direction. It’s obvious that someone who could fire that shot wouldn’t miss if they were going to kill him. Then he stood up and put his hand up. He would have shit his pants if this was real. Staged.
“Repost this if you think this was staged,” wrote another user, simply named Brittney.
The identities of the accounts trolling Trump could not immediately be confirmed.
At a press conference Sunday evening, Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, called the shooting an “attempted assassination.”
“Tonight we had what we call an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. It is still an active crime scene,” he told reporters.
Trump made a defiant clenched fist gesture shortly after he was shot, even as Secret Service agents surrounded him to protect him from other potential threats. He shouted “fight, fight, fight” at his supporters.
Some of Trump’s allies were quick to argue that surviving what the FBI called an assassination attempt would help him.
“President Trump is surviving this attack — he just won the election,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin) told Politico.