A former president is shot, the gunman quickly neutralized, and all is caught on camera.
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For some supporters of former President Trump, the Secret Service failure to prevent the attempted assassination points to a conspiracy orchestrated by President Biden. For some of Trump’s critics, the details of the shooting don’t add up. They wonder if Trump somehow staged the whole thing.
Dueling conspiracy theories are taking root online, one for each end of the polarized political spectrum, reports the Associated Press. In this split-screen republic, people choose their own reality at the expense of a shared understanding of the facts.
“One screen, two movies,” is how Ron Bassilian describes the online reaction to Saturday’s shooting. Bassilian is a prolific user of social media and has used X to broadcast his conjecture about the shooting. “People have their beliefs, and they’re going to come up with theories that fit their beliefs.”
Bassilian is one of many Republicans questioning how gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to climb to the roof of a building providing a clear shot at Trump, and whether law enforcement looked the other way to allow the attempt. Bassilian acknowledged that he doesn’t have proof to back up his conjecture. The Culver City, Calif., resident said many people will be distrustful of explanations until an independent review is done.
“It seems highly suspicious,” Bassilian said of the attack on Trump and the law enforcement response. “Something was going on that was more than a slip up.”
Some claims about the shooting have been debunked. Despite reports that the Secret Service refused to give Trump extra security before the rally, the agency says it increased staffing. A post from someone claiming to be a law enforcement sniper at the rally — who said they were ordered not to fire on the suspect — was discredited after it turned out no sharpshooter by his name was working on Saturday.
A photo that supposedly showed an uninjured Trump after the rally turned out to be a from 2022.
Many of the claims about the Trump assassination attempt emerged first on fringe social media platforms like 4chan before migrating to larger sites like X or TikTok where they were seen by far more people.
“Rumoring under these conditions is a normal thing that humans do,” said Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor who studies misinformation and how people use the internet following crises. Attempts to put the shooting in a political context began within minutes of the shooting, Starbird said. “People tried almost from the beginning to frame the event in a way that benefits their political goals.”