Trump had just begun his speech at the Pennsylvania rally when the sound of shots rang out and a bullet grazed his right ear. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Nick Hilden
April 17, 2026
ALTERNET
The MAGA movement has long coalesced around conspiracy theories, and recently, many have begun floating a new hypothesis: that the 2024 assassination attempt on future President Donald Trump was staged, and that his administration is now covering it up.
On July 13, 2024, shots rang out during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, clipping his ear and killing an attendee sitting behind him. The 20-year-old shooter was then killed by the Secret Service, and almost immediately, conspiracy theories began popping up across the internet. MAGA faithful, however, took it as a sign of Trump's divine protection — at least for the time being.
Over the past several months, however, Trump’s appeal has waned with a MAGA that has been disappointed by the president’s foreign military endeavors, economic failings, and bumbling release of the Epstein files. As a result, a growing number of disillusioned MAGA adherents are suggesting that the assassination attempt was faked.
"I think that maybe it was staged," said podcaster Tim Dillon, previously a Trump devotee, in early April. According to Dillon, the time has come for Trump to come out and say that, “Some people are going to be upset by this, but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for them.”
While such claims are growing louder, they aren’t new. In November, Tucker Carlson suggested that the FBI was involved in covering up the facts behind the shooting, posting that the “FBI lied” about the shooter's online habits. The following day, conservative pundit Emerald Robinson went even further, posting that the FBI “did it.”
Now, however, MAGA followers have begun loudly connecting Trump to the supposed plot, particularly after former US National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned from his post and appeared on Carlon’s podcast, during which Kent claimed (without offering evidence) that the investigation into the shooting had been ended before it was concluded.
This prompted QAnon promoter MJ Truth to ask his 100,000 Telegram followers, “How does everyone feel about the narrative surrounding the Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump?” Nearly all replies asserted that the assassination was staged.
“The truth will come out 60+ years from now when we're all dead and nobody really cares anymore … just like JFK!!!!,” wrote one.
Then after Carlson suggested that the Israeli government had “clues” about the shooting, far-right provocateur Candace Owens picked up the conspiracy, claiming that Israeli-American political donor Miriam Adelson was actually behind the attempted assassination. Adelson, proffered Owens, had donated $100 million to Trump in exchange for his support of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and when he reneged, she tried to have him killed.
Ali Alexander — a far-right activist who organized the Stop the Steal campaign after the 2020 presidential election — has a completely different theory: that Trump is the Antichrist.
“If Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was deception or a dark sign,” Alexander wrote in a PDF he posted to his Telegram channel on Tuesday. “There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”
The passage he’s referencing reads, “I saw that one of its heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. Fascinated, the whole world followed after the beast." Trump has, incidentally, received numerous accusations that he is the Antichrist in recent weeks, though for other reasons.
As WIRED notes, “The vast majority of people discussing conspiracy theories about the shooting today are Trump supporters or former Trump supporters.”
The MAGA movement has long coalesced around conspiracy theories, and recently, many have begun floating a new hypothesis: that the 2024 assassination attempt on future President Donald Trump was staged, and that his administration is now covering it up.
On July 13, 2024, shots rang out during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, clipping his ear and killing an attendee sitting behind him. The 20-year-old shooter was then killed by the Secret Service, and almost immediately, conspiracy theories began popping up across the internet. MAGA faithful, however, took it as a sign of Trump's divine protection — at least for the time being.
Over the past several months, however, Trump’s appeal has waned with a MAGA that has been disappointed by the president’s foreign military endeavors, economic failings, and bumbling release of the Epstein files. As a result, a growing number of disillusioned MAGA adherents are suggesting that the assassination attempt was faked.
"I think that maybe it was staged," said podcaster Tim Dillon, previously a Trump devotee, in early April. According to Dillon, the time has come for Trump to come out and say that, “Some people are going to be upset by this, but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for them.”
While such claims are growing louder, they aren’t new. In November, Tucker Carlson suggested that the FBI was involved in covering up the facts behind the shooting, posting that the “FBI lied” about the shooter's online habits. The following day, conservative pundit Emerald Robinson went even further, posting that the FBI “did it.”
Now, however, MAGA followers have begun loudly connecting Trump to the supposed plot, particularly after former US National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned from his post and appeared on Carlon’s podcast, during which Kent claimed (without offering evidence) that the investigation into the shooting had been ended before it was concluded.
This prompted QAnon promoter MJ Truth to ask his 100,000 Telegram followers, “How does everyone feel about the narrative surrounding the Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump?” Nearly all replies asserted that the assassination was staged.
“The truth will come out 60+ years from now when we're all dead and nobody really cares anymore … just like JFK!!!!,” wrote one.
Then after Carlson suggested that the Israeli government had “clues” about the shooting, far-right provocateur Candace Owens picked up the conspiracy, claiming that Israeli-American political donor Miriam Adelson was actually behind the attempted assassination. Adelson, proffered Owens, had donated $100 million to Trump in exchange for his support of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and when he reneged, she tried to have him killed.
Ali Alexander — a far-right activist who organized the Stop the Steal campaign after the 2020 presidential election — has a completely different theory: that Trump is the Antichrist.
“If Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was deception or a dark sign,” Alexander wrote in a PDF he posted to his Telegram channel on Tuesday. “There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”
The passage he’s referencing reads, “I saw that one of its heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. Fascinated, the whole world followed after the beast." Trump has, incidentally, received numerous accusations that he is the Antichrist in recent weeks, though for other reasons.
As WIRED notes, “The vast majority of people discussing conspiracy theories about the shooting today are Trump supporters or former Trump supporters.”
Trump's biggest fans want him to come clean about his 'staged' assassination attempt
Travis Gettys
April 17, 2026
Travis Gettys
April 17, 2026
RAW STORY
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the site of the July assassination attempt against him, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
Even some of President Donald Trump's biggest fans are starting to believe his first assassination attempt was staged, and they want him to publicly admit it.
Conspiracy theories proliferated almost immediately after a 20-year-old gunman fired off shots that seemingly clipped Trump's ear and killed retired fire chief Corey Comperatore at a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but now some of the president's own supporters have been casting doubts on the official account of the shooting, reported Wired.
"I think that maybe it was staged," conservative podcaster Tim Dillon told listeners, adding that Trump should admit it. “Some people are going to be upset by this, but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for them.”
Tucker Carlson has been floating the possibility for months that the FBI had lied about the shooter's online activity as part of a coverup, and conservative pundit Emerald Robinson has blamed the law enforcement agency for pulling off the shooting, but the baseless conspiracy theories gained new traction when former U.S. National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent told Carlson the assassination probe had been prematurely shut down.
“If you don't want to address that question, then you just go silent and say you can't ask that question,” Kent told Carlson last month. “Which then creates people who come out of nowhere and they start drawing their own conclusions.”
Kent provided no evidence to support his claims, but his suggestion that the investigation had not been completed has reinvigorated conspiracy theories about the shooting on the MAGA right, with prominent QAnon promoter MJ Truth asking his 100,000 followers: “How does everyone feel about the narrative surrounding the Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump?”
According to Wired's analysis, the vast majority of MJ Truth's followers – nearly all of them Trump supporters – agreed the event had been staged and that the truth would never be revealed.
“The truth will come out 60+ years from now when we're all dead and nobody really cares anymore … just like JFK!!!!,” one follower wrote.
The conspiracy theories have also ramped up as some right-wing influencers float the possibility that Trump is the antichrist due to criticism around the Iran war and his public statements and social media posts comparing himself to Jesus Christ.
“To be clear: if Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was deception or a dark sign,” wrote "Stop the Steal" activist Ali Alexander in a five-page PDF posted to his Telegram channel. “There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”
That biblical passage reads: “I saw that one of its heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. Fascinated, the whole world followed after the beast.”
Some elements of the right-wing conspiracy theories draw from antisemitic tropes, such as Carlson's questions about Israel's possible involvement in the assassination plot and MAGA influencer Candace Owens' claims that Israeli-American political donor Miriam Adelson was behind the assassination attempt.
"While the vast majority of people discussing conspiracy theories about the shooting today are Trump supporters or former Trump supporters, in the hours and days after the shooting," Wired noted, "it was left wing so-called Blue Anon accounts pushing the claims that the shooting was staged, suggesting it was all orchestrated by the Secret Service and that Trump had used blood gel packs in an attempt to draw sympathy and votes."
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the site of the July assassination attempt against him, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
Even some of President Donald Trump's biggest fans are starting to believe his first assassination attempt was staged, and they want him to publicly admit it.
Conspiracy theories proliferated almost immediately after a 20-year-old gunman fired off shots that seemingly clipped Trump's ear and killed retired fire chief Corey Comperatore at a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but now some of the president's own supporters have been casting doubts on the official account of the shooting, reported Wired.
"I think that maybe it was staged," conservative podcaster Tim Dillon told listeners, adding that Trump should admit it. “Some people are going to be upset by this, but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for them.”
Tucker Carlson has been floating the possibility for months that the FBI had lied about the shooter's online activity as part of a coverup, and conservative pundit Emerald Robinson has blamed the law enforcement agency for pulling off the shooting, but the baseless conspiracy theories gained new traction when former U.S. National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent told Carlson the assassination probe had been prematurely shut down.
“If you don't want to address that question, then you just go silent and say you can't ask that question,” Kent told Carlson last month. “Which then creates people who come out of nowhere and they start drawing their own conclusions.”
Kent provided no evidence to support his claims, but his suggestion that the investigation had not been completed has reinvigorated conspiracy theories about the shooting on the MAGA right, with prominent QAnon promoter MJ Truth asking his 100,000 followers: “How does everyone feel about the narrative surrounding the Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump?”
According to Wired's analysis, the vast majority of MJ Truth's followers – nearly all of them Trump supporters – agreed the event had been staged and that the truth would never be revealed.
“The truth will come out 60+ years from now when we're all dead and nobody really cares anymore … just like JFK!!!!,” one follower wrote.
The conspiracy theories have also ramped up as some right-wing influencers float the possibility that Trump is the antichrist due to criticism around the Iran war and his public statements and social media posts comparing himself to Jesus Christ.
“To be clear: if Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was deception or a dark sign,” wrote "Stop the Steal" activist Ali Alexander in a five-page PDF posted to his Telegram channel. “There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”
That biblical passage reads: “I saw that one of its heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. Fascinated, the whole world followed after the beast.”
Some elements of the right-wing conspiracy theories draw from antisemitic tropes, such as Carlson's questions about Israel's possible involvement in the assassination plot and MAGA influencer Candace Owens' claims that Israeli-American political donor Miriam Adelson was behind the assassination attempt.
"While the vast majority of people discussing conspiracy theories about the shooting today are Trump supporters or former Trump supporters, in the hours and days after the shooting," Wired noted, "it was left wing so-called Blue Anon accounts pushing the claims that the shooting was staged, suggesting it was all orchestrated by the Secret Service and that Trump had used blood gel packs in an attempt to draw sympathy and votes."
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