Over a month after the attempt on former president Donald Trump’s life, left-wing conspiracy theories claiming that the shooting was staged still pervade social media on platforms like X — where they are racking up millions of views.
Hashtags like “#Staged,” “#StagedbyTrump,” or “#StagedAssassinationAttempt” continue to see hundreds of deranged posts across social media daily — many of them posted by proudly anti-Trump and left-leaning accounts.
One anti-Trump poster asks simply “Who else thinks the Trump campaign staged this?” with a video of the aftermath of the shooting. It has 8.4 million views and more than 20,000 comments — most of them agreeing with the premise.
“The Real Story … Trump campaign hired the kid to fire into the crowd but avoid hitting Trump to stage a fake assassination attempt and then blame Democrats, possibly to start a civil war … They knew the kid wouldn’t survive to tell the story,” reads one image that’s been repeatedly reposted across X.
“Facts,” wrote one the many users who reposted the image.
Another common post shows video taken from behind the stage where gunman Thomas Crooks can been seen running across a rooftop outside of the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. The video claims Trump is following the shooter’s movement, and prepares a packet of fake blood to smear over his face once the gunfire rings out.
“Watch him track the shooter and drop the red dye pack,” one poster wrote — though no such blood packet can be seen.
Countless wild-eyed posts feature a Spirit Halloween listing for $12.95 fake blood packet that can be discretely stored behind your ear.
“Fits snugly behind the ear, just slap with your hand to scare friends with the most realistic bloody ear ever!” the listing reads, with posters claiming Trump surely used such a product to fake his wound.
Others have focused on Trump’s hat, claiming it was there that he stored a fake blood packet — and zerod in on a suited agent who collected the hat after Trump was whisked away by the Secret Service.
Photos of Trump’s ear since the bandages have been removed also play a central role in the conspiracy theories — and are frequently paired alongside images of grisly ear wounds as supposed evidence that he wasn’t really shot.
“What kind of assassination of an ex president allows you to straighten out your wig, scream for your shoe lifts and stand long enough for photos. Fake fake fake; not fight fight fight,” one X poster — who describes themselves as “woke AF” — wrote on Sunday.
The FBI, however, has confirmed that Trump was in fact shot in the ear.
“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the agency said in a statement in July.
That bullet came within an inch of a fatally striking him — and only missed because he happened to turn his head at the precise moment Crooks pulled his trigger about 130 yards away.
A hero firefighter in the rally crowd was fatally struck but Crooks’ gunfire, and two more were seriously wounded. Crooks himself was shot dead by Secret Service snipers within moments of opening fire.
X did not respond to requests for comment.
