Social media posts featuring the word “staged” experienced a huge spike over the weekend as conspiracy theories about the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner swirled.
More than 300,000 posts contained the term “staged,” according to data compiled by analytics platform TweetBinder. It follows other baseless rumors about the two other assassination attempts on President Donald Trump’s life.
Trump, the first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the Cabinet were bundled out of the Washington Hilton ballroom Saturday night as security agents raced to apprehend the alleged gunman, Cole Tomas Allen, who was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and multiple knives, near a security checkpoint.
It didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to surge. Unfounded theories ranged from the timing of the shooting being a “distraction” from the war in Iran to giving Trump another justification for his $400 million ballroom.
Some of the 300,000 posts shared by people across the political spectrum included those that dismissed the idea that the shooting had been staged.
One post by an X user who speculated, “Is this another staged event?” had been viewed more than 8.9 million times.
“I don’t understand how building a new ballroom will stop Trump from staging assassination attempts,” another said.
Trump addressed the swathe of speculation online in his interview on CBS News’60 Minutes. “I think they’re more sick than they are con people,” Trump said, referring to the conspiracy theorists. “But there’s a lot of con in there too.”
The president said the idea that Saturday’s shooting was staged was a “tough sell.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Former Trump loyalist-turned critic, Marjorie Taylor Greene, was among those questioning Saturday’s events and the speed at which the Trump administration released the suspected shooter’s manifesto.
“Why does every shooter have a manifesto? Most shooters’ manifestos remain classified so they don’t inspire more would be shooters. Why did they release Cole Allen’s manifesto almost immediately?” the former Georgia congresswoman asked her 1.7 million followers.
She received a wave of backlash over the post as many pointed out that she called for the Nashville mass school shooter’s manifesto to be released in 2023.
“I’m 1,000 percent for releasing the manifesto. I’m for releasing all shooter’s information including what SSRIs they are on, if any, all meds or drugs,” Greene clarified. “But I want to know why the Trump admin released Cole Allen’s manifesto immediately but they still keep a tight lid on Thomas Crooks.”
Crooks, who tried to assassinate Trump at a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was not believed to leave behind a manifesto, and officials never revealed his motive. The FBI concluded that Crooks acted alone.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked his 5.4 million followers, “Was The Trump Whitehouse Corespondents [sic] Dinner Shooting Staged??” in a 57-minute reel. He posted again: “I do not think the shooting last night at the Whitehouse [sic] Correspondents Dinner was staged.”
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