Frame-up, accusations… Conspiracy theories flood social networks

QAnon, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, staged by the Republicans… Conspiracy theories have been numerous on social networks in recent days following the assassination attempt targeting the former President of the United States, Donald Trump.

If social networks have a considerable reach, what can we say when the former president of the United States Donald Trump is the victim of an assassination attempt in the middle of a rally? Immediately, the most famous of them, X (ex-Twitter) was set ablaze with conspiracy theories, each more outlandish than the last. In reality, two camps are facing each other, the pro-Biden and the pro-Trump. The first claims that the American billionaire targeted by an automatic rifle shot is himself behind his own attack. The second, that Joe Biden is behind the assassination attempt to get rid of Donald Trump before the presidential elections at the end of the year.

These conspiracy theories can flourish without moderation on X, almost encouraged, at least tolerated by the boss of the social network, Elon Musk. “The traditional media is nothing but a pure propaganda machine. X is the voice of the people” he wrote last Sunday after the attack on Donald Trump. As a reminder, former US President Donald Trump, aged 78, escaped an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Around 6 p.m. local time (midnight Paris time), the Republican candidate, who had just started his speech with one of his usual tirades on migrants, accusing Joe Biden of having let them enter the country en masse, suddenly held his right ear as shown in the television images. He then ducked behind his lectern and was immediately pinned to the ground by Secret Service agents.

“This is the price you pay when you eliminate elite satanic pedophiles”

A US-based account did not hesitate to write the following message, despite being known for sharing some unfounded allegations: “This is the price you pay when you eliminate elite satanic pedophiles.” According to the QAnon conspiracy entity, which apparently inspired this account, Trump is waging a war against a deep state, a state within a state seeking to put obstacles in his way on a daily basis and govern the country in secret in place of the American police. The account then indicated that the “assassination order” probably came from the CIA, accusing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mike Pence of being involved in the July 13 attack on Donald Trump. The message has been viewed 4.7 million times without being sourced. Conspiracy theories that can also be supported by the recent statement of Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger: “Quite frankly, I’m surprised he was able to get up on that roof and shoot,” he said on MSNBC.

Joe Biden and the Left Behind the Assassination Attempt?

Did Joe Biden try to get rid of Donald Trump? In any case, this is one of the conspiracy theories that has flourished since the attack this Saturday.“Don’t think this will be the last attempt to kill Trump. The deep state really has no choice now,” said a user of the pro-Trump site Patriots.Win. “It will take borderline martial law to get the country back on track,” said a second. And the theories are finding support within the American political class itself. “Joe Biden gave the orders,” posted Republican MP Mike Collins on X (ex-Twitter). A message seen by more than five million people. In a second post, he calls for the American president to be prosecuted for “incitement to assassinate.”

Other Republican elected officials have not hesitated to echo this sentiment. Senator James David Vance claims that Joe Biden’s “rhetoric” “led directly” to the attack on Donald Trump. The assassination attempt was even “aided and abetted by the radical left and the corporate media,” according to Senator Tim Scott. Trumpist elected official Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated on X that the Biden camp had wanted “Trump to go away for years and that they were ready to do anything to make that happen.” Radical positions that led to a torrent of reactions from anonymous people on social networks. Comments published without the slightest support, or the slightest reliable source to back up a statement. The idea of ​​a “deep state”, in other words, a state within a state, has recently resurfaced on the web. A supreme entity, rather to the left of the political spectrum, which would hold the real decision-making power in the country and which would prevent Donald Trump from coming to power through the ballot box, ensuring victory for the Democratic camp. “The deep state tried to assassinate Trump live on television” even goes so far as to post on X a conspiracy account of the Shadow of Ezra.

A staging by Donald Trump himself?

Conversely, on the left, the staging option has gained ground on social media and seems to be getting closer to the truth. In other words, Donald Trump is said to have planned an attack on himself this Saturday, July 13. The goal? To make Trump a martyr for the Republican camp and ensure his victory in the presidential elections next November. Fake blood on his ear, gunshots from an air pistol… Theories are multiplying on social media and the term “stage”, which can be translated as the famous “staging”, has been gaining popularity on the web since the attack. “He knows he’s going to lose the election so he pretends and shouts at the crowd to fight”, “no one in the crowd is running or panicking. No one heard a real gun, I don’t trust him” explains an anonymous user on X.

While experts warn against conspiracy theories: “Incidents of political violence generate conspiracy theories when people try to use the event for their own ends,” Megan Squire of the Southern Poverty Law Center explains in the Washington Post, this does not stop rumors from spreading. A third option has even come to the table of conspiracy theories. The person responsible for the attack would be an Antifa as can be read on social networks. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, would be called Marks Violets and would have explained his plan before the act on a YouTube video. In reality, the video in question shows an individual who has nothing to do with the events of last Saturday.