It took just minutes for anti-Donald Trump conspiracy theorists to claim the shooting was ‘staged’ to boost his electoral prospects.
The first posts appeared on X as agents were whisking Trump from the scene of his Pennsylvania rally blood running down the right side of his face.
In the hours after Saturday’s night shooting, ‘staged’ was the fourth ranked search term on Google, followed by Trump, Secret Service, and Antifa – before law enforcement had even confirmed the identity of the gunman.
Some X users hung their theories on the defiant images of Trump after the shooting. ‘This is such a perfect photo its hard to believe it is not staged. Photo of the decade. Absolutely incredible.
‘Do you think the Trump shooting was staged?’ asked one X user shortly after the incident.
Hellbound and Down 