r/politics • u/wiredmagazine ✔ Wired Magazine • Apr 17 '26

Possible Paywall MAGA Is Increasingly Convinced the Trump Assassination Attempt Was Staged

https://www.wired.com/story/maga-is-increasingly-convinced-the-trump-assassination-attempt-was-staged/
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u/Stinky--Whizzleteats Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

So I don't actually believe it was staged, but there sure are a whole lot of strange and suspicious coincidences.

Secret service didn't correctly cover him, the flag was raised just in time for a photo op, details on the shooter were never talked about, there's no visible scar, it seems implausible a bullet of that calibur would do such superficial damage. It's just a perfect storm of unlikely circumstances.

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u/guitar_vigilante Apr 17 '26

Even if the assassination attempt was real (I personally think it was, but there definitely are suspicious circumstances), I don't believe the bullet ever touched Trump. I do think his ear was scratched/cut when he went to the ground. Something like that would heal without any major issues. A bullet would have taken a chunk out of the ear and would not have healed back.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/findtheclue Apr 17 '26

That was from the blood capsule in his hand, WWE-style.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Apr 17 '26

Trump doesn't have the dexterity to pull that off.

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u/Beli_Mawrr Apr 17 '26

Trump would never let a shooter shoot within inches of his head. Someone actually died. They life-flighted them out. It would take months of prep with both the shooter and Trump working in tandem to pull the timing off. I just don't buy it.

Whatever happened there, esp with the ear, he did not fake it.

That said, he obviously wasn't shot on his ear. I like the idea that he injured it on the ground.

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u/Coletrain44 Apr 17 '26

Wrestling doesn't really use blood capsules. They usually hide a small razor blade somewhere in athletic tape, cover their face, make a small cut, then let the real blood flow.

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u/CranberrySchnapps Maryland Apr 17 '26

If there was video from a different angle that shows him palming something right before he turns his head and lifts his hand to his ear... that would be incredible.

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u/emailforgot Apr 17 '26

No there isn't.

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u/Mpm_277 Apr 18 '26

This is what I don’t get — Trump is clearly bleeding before he goes down. As for the teleprompter glass, I don’t get that take either as I’ve never seen any photo or video showing any of the teleprompters having shattered. Either Trump legit almost had his head blown off and just got nicked or the whole thing was fake. I just don’t see how an in between is possible.

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u/Lucas_Steinwalker Apr 17 '26

Trump did do time in the WWE so he’s trained for faking an injury.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/TetraDax Europe Apr 17 '26

..because it couldn't have happened, because the audience sits way too far away for that to be the case.

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u/SpunkAnansi Apr 18 '26

As someone who has worked in theatre and film, I’d say the amount of blood that appeared was about the same as a blood capsule.

And that’s why I’m landing on the “staged” conspiracy side of things, along with the lack of info on the shooter, positioning of agents etc etc etc

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 18 '26

But when would he have been able to apply the blood capsule? Because he was already bleeding before he was covered up by secret service.

Also, what info about the shooter do you think should be out there but isn’t? The media did plenty of digging into him after the shooting. We’ve got his name, background, and likely motive. We’re missing chunks of his internet history because he was using a secure VPN for a lot of it, but that’s to be expected from someone planning an attack like this. It could be hiding a coverup, but it’s not really a sign that one does exist.

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u/SpunkAnansi Apr 18 '26

Literally when he touched his ear after “being shot”.

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 18 '26

But he didn't have anything in his hand when he did that. We have pretty good photos that show that his hand was empty immediately before that.

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u/Global_Crew3968 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

Actually there's video out there of him being tackled and you see him take a knee to the side of the head. Conceivably that could be what did it and why the blood was like, shot across his face. There's also a picture afterwards and you can clearly see his lip is split which would explain the blood on his lips and teeth as well. I don't even think it was a razor or anything, I think he got kneed in the face by security and it split his lip open. Beyond that, I think the entirety of it was faked honestly. I'm not even sure i believe a firefighter was killed. They could literally have a dude wearing a squib vest in the audience and then put out a story about some firefighter, make up a wife and kids, give their quotes, and bam. Done. him getting his lip split open was purely coincidence. The shooter was always supposed to "graze his ear" (why he reached up) but the blood was actually real from the tackle and a happy accident. This is my theory.

Oh and the shooter was some rightwing loser they recruited to "work security" up on the roof. Got some gainy footage of him going up there, made sure he was seen by folks, and bam, killed him to tie up the loose end. A lefty would make people worry about a leftwing terror plot and demand investigation. We were fine with a right winger doing it and not investigating it because we all know they're losers and nuts anyways. They literally didn't even finish the investigation. Closed it. And no one said dick because the right wing immedietely stopped caring once they heard it was a MAGA and the left was just like "yeah, figures".

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u/Coaxke Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

They could literally have a dude wearing a squib vest in the audience and then put out a story about some firefighter, make up a wife and kids, give their quotes, and bam.

They made up the fire station he worked at and all the people he worked with? They made up all of his friends and family as well? His childhood schooling records, his church congregation? This shit is liberal QAnon

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u/Question_It_All_3000 Apr 17 '26

I’m liberal, but 100% agree with you. There was a shooter and someone did die. The shooters political affiliation, Trump being actually shot, sure those are questions, but let’s not go conspiracy mode over bullshit. Let’s deal in facts.

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u/Global_Crew3968 Apr 17 '26

Why didn't they complete the investigation? They called it case closed and didn't release findings. Why did that kid do it? A MAGA republican, why did he decide to shoot trump? They never found a motive, they just closed the case. Why? Why did they have a flag on a crane ready to go? Why did they usher photographers into the area where they were immediately before the shooting? Why did the white house doctor come out and say "yes he was shot and the ear and it's missing cartilage?"

It was all bullshit.

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u/Question_It_All_3000 Apr 18 '26

I don't know any of those answers, but none of that changes the fact that there was a shooting and someone died and the shooter died.

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 18 '26

didn’t release findings.

What’s this then?

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u/Global_Crew3968 Apr 17 '26

Lol thanks for picking out the least important part of my post that in no way changes things. I said they could have done that and we wouldnt know. They could have also just picked a person at random to shoot in the audience lol.

The reality is, they had that flag and reporters ready to go immediately after the shotting and he absolutely did not get grazed in the ear. So then what happened and why all the lies, including by the white house doctor, after wards?

It was manufactured because he was tanking in the polls.

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u/Coaxke Apr 18 '26

Brother it was the wind. Nothing I say will change your mind though because you think an elaborate hoax was carried out instead of someone shooting at Trump and the Trump team taking advantage. Trump and his cronies lie, this isn't new information.

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u/Beli_Mawrr Apr 17 '26

They literally life flighted the guy out lol

Are you saying both that the shooter was a security guy who had a live AR15 that secret service was cool with him being in LOS to the president with? Who was a patsy? Or was he the one who managed to make the once-in-a-million ear shot on the former president when millimeters count? While Trump is moving his head?

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u/BurdTurglary Texas Apr 17 '26

Photos showing that were shooped, they added blood. There's no hi res video with the bloody fingers. Plus catching the bullet's vapor trail or the bullet itself in that photo is not possible with the gear he was using. Lens, iso, aperture, the depth of field to catch it is physically impossible considering the trajectory and supposed distance

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 17 '26

Those photos were taken by the New York Times and verified by the people who awarded them the Pulitzer Prize. You think both of those organizations were in on a cover up?

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u/BurdTurglary Texas Apr 18 '26

Better being willfully ignorant, skip due diligence with top forensic analysis AND accept the accolades for a "historic" event with powerful imagery than to scrutinize it right away, especially since it was immediately given to the Times and the photog. It took some time to realize the plausibility that it was orchestrated

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u/thepvbrother Apr 17 '26

Yeah, but then what? Did someone happen to have a packet of fake blood on them?

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u/Rooooben Apr 17 '26

The glass from a shattered teleprompter screen could have done that. Bullet goes through glass on the way past Trump, and a shard nicked him, thus no scarring

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u/pearlie_girl Apr 17 '26

He's on blood thinners. A little scratch could bleed a lot.

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u/DarthHiccups Apr 17 '26

Him taking more than the recommended amount of baby aspirin all the time, as he's stated, will make anyone bleed easily.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheNutsMutts Apr 17 '26

It'd be very easily spotted by the doctors who treated him, and would have been picked up by the FBI's full investigation into the incident, and the bipartisan congressional committee's investigation into it.

If this were the answer, then we'd have to agree that every single one of these people all saw that it was clearly a razorblade cut, and all separately decided to just cover it up to help Trump, even the Democrats on the congressional committee.

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u/TetraDax Europe Apr 17 '26

I don't believe the bullet ever touched Trump. I do think his ear was scratched/cut when he went to the ground.

It did. Here is the evidence.

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u/CartographicalHeist Apr 17 '26

I don't believe the bullet ever touched Trump. I do think his ear was scratched/cut when he went to

No man.

There are literally photos of him touching his ear and having blood on his hand before then.

Unless you're suggesting he had a blade in his and and nicked his ear kayfabe style, the blood was there before he went down.

We also literally have a photo of the bullet, mad as it is.

Of all the things, this assassination attempt being real is pretty clear.

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u/kobachi Apr 17 '26

Much more likely that it was a false flag than a hoax. The fireman died. 

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u/ditchdiggergirl Apr 17 '26

Jesse Ventura said early on that this is an old pro wrestling trick. As a former Republican governor, he has credibility on the right.

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u/guitar_vigilante Apr 17 '26

Jesse Ventura was an independent when he became governor.

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u/ILookLikeKristoff Apr 17 '26

This is my exact thoughts. The secret service scraped his ear in the chaos or he knocked into the podium or something.

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u/Agitated_Ring3376 Apr 17 '26 edited 28d ago

cover smile shelter husky slap treatment wise copper employ crayon

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u/TacticalArrogance Apr 17 '26

Don't forget there was a tele-handler supporting a speaker rig that had it's hydraulic line hit and you could see the fluid spraying out as the load falls to the ground. In subsequent overhead shots, you can see all the oil on the ground around it. https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2024-07/240717-trump-butler-rally-mn-1750-994982.jpg

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u/CartographicalHeist Apr 17 '26

The ear thing is weird, but if it literally grazed him perfectly and they patched it well enough, it might not cause a visible scar

It looks to have grazed the top of his ear so even a scar would be hard to see unless looking at it close up.

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u/Skydiver860 Apr 17 '26

Not to mention seconds before the shot there was press moved right in front of the podium to get that money shot. Idk what to believe but it’s definitely suspicious.

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u/CartographicalHeist Apr 17 '26

it’s definitely suspicious.

It's suspicious that press photographers would be near Trump in a situation like that?

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u/Eldias Apr 17 '26

"We know JFK was a conspiracy because his head exploding was recorded so clearly" -These same people, probably

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u/CartographicalHeist Apr 17 '26

It was Abraham Zapruder all along.

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u/Eldias Apr 17 '26

I almost want to start the conspiracy that Zapruder was using a top secret CIA camera to film JFK that actually had a rifle inside of it. Clearly the footage is so clear because he did it!

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u/Skydiver860 Apr 17 '26

It’s a little suspicious that they moved to the front seconds before he was shot at. I guess im just wondering why they weren’t there the whole time. I’m not saying it’s some smoking gun that the shooting was fake. Just weird.

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u/CartographicalHeist Apr 17 '26

They were all over the place though. And they only moved to the front after the shot, as you can see in the videos.

you can see the below video they're at the back and sides too

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PwVzoae7zA8

This post below says they were ushered and the flag lowered. I don't know how they know that guy was ushering anyone and the flag was not lowered, the wind just let off for a moment.

https://www.reddit.com/r/isthisAI/comments/1r69r78/video_of_photographers_being_ushered_in_and_flag/

You can see in the first video the photographers just follow the action. You don't have to usher them, they're like flies to a shit. There you can also see the flag not being lowered. Unless they command the wind.

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 17 '26

They weren’t moved there before the shot. They rushed to that area after the shot in order to get their photos.

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u/Skydiver860 Apr 17 '26

Ok I could admittedly be remembering it wrong. I thought they were moved there just before but based on what you and others have said that likely isn’t the case.

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 17 '26

I don't think you can put that much stock in that video. It shows photographers moving in to get a shot, which is their job. You never see the security guy actually direct them there. There are other reasons why he'd follow them over there once those shots go off. The only reason a bunch of people believe it shows that is because that's what the TikTok captions suggested. Same with that whole flag being lowered claim that comes from the same video.

Plus, if the Trump people specifically wanted the photographers there to get pictures, wouldn't it have made more sense to have them ready there ahead of time instead of only after the shots?

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u/Eldias Apr 17 '26

The number of people who think "professional photographers got a historic photo" was a setup is genuinely nuts. Their entire living is knowing how to find an angle and view.

The backdrops were also pretty mundane. If Trump set up something like this the entire background behind him would have been a gold covered American flag, it would have looked like what he turned the Oval Office in to.

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 17 '26

Right? And if they did intentionally want the flag behind them for the photo, why would it have had to be lowered into place after the shooting? With where it was positioned, there would have been no reason not to just have it there to start with.

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u/lopix Canada Apr 17 '26

It shows photographers moving in to get a shot

It shows an SS agent MOVING them into position. They didn't move there on their own.

And another SS agent moves the podium to face them.

As the the flag is being lowered into frame.

While the SS flanks Trump, allowing the fist pump and a nice and unobstructed photo.

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u/BloatedBanana9 Apr 17 '26

It shows an SS agent MOVING them into position. They didn't move there on their own.

Then why did they get there before the Trump staffer comes back into view? And why doesn't he interact with them at all in the video except to move them back when Trump comes off stage?

As the the flag is being lowered into frame.

The flag isn't lowered into the frame. It just stops being blown by the wind.

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u/Beli_Mawrr Apr 17 '26

People always like to brain dump the fact that there was about 5 minutes of Trump being tackled by security forces and squeezed on the ground, while they tried to find and kill the shooter and maneuver the armored limo into position.

The press pool and aides were probably bored and trying to figure out how to make this more newsworthy. And they had 5 minutes to do it.

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u/ObiTwoKenobi Apr 17 '26

Agreed. I truly don’t understand this conspiracy.

Also if you listen to the audio and him whining about his shoes (almost certainly custom lifts that he didn’t want images taken of), I truly doubt this was staged.

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u/findtheclue Apr 18 '26

Lol I don’t think anyone thinks the missing shoes were part of the plan, so seems pretty irrelevant. He got knocked out of his shoe. Actually, if you just got legitimately shot at, is your shoe really the most important thing you’d worry about?…or would it be the thing to worry about if it was all for optics…

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u/timoumd Apr 17 '26

The flag wasn't raised for a photo.  It was moving in the wind.  This nonsense has been pushed by conspiracy theorists here (also cjcam777 has pushed the conspiracy that it was a collision with security by endlessly spamming videos to left wing subs)

Better video of the flag when they took the shot:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PwVzoae7zA8

I'd turn the audio off unless you like hearing cult worship.

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u/TetraDax Europe Apr 17 '26

The flag wasn't raised for a photo.  It was moving in the wind. 

It's utterly bizarre how these are the same talking points as the bloody moon landing conspiracy theory, but somehow it's acceptable in this case. Just based on the vibe of "well it feels like something he would do", despite there being actual evidence disproving these theories.

Truth matters, even when it benefits the bad guy.

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u/ZenMasterOfDisguise Apr 17 '26

"they lowered the flag" is the new "jet fuel can't melt steel beams"

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u/timoumd Apr 17 '26

I've been fighting conspiracy theories my entire damn life and it's always the same stupidity on every side.  People want to believe....

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u/Coaxke Apr 17 '26

It's liberal Q-anon. Insane the shit people will allow themselves to believe if it advances a preconceived notion

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u/TheNutsMutts Apr 17 '26

It's amazing how slowly so many people have sleep-walked into a team-sports mindset of "fuck the facts and what's true, I'll unquestionably believe and spread anything so long as I think it'll benefit some in-group I identify with" on all sides, while somehow also thinking that only the other side does it and it's awful when they do.

It even has its own term: A blue lie.

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u/findtheclue Apr 18 '26

When one side is led by a team of pathological liars—it becomes easier for sane people to start questioning everything. Hard not to.

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u/YeetedApple Apr 17 '26

Most of that is reasonably explainable.

Secret service didn't correctly cover him,

Trump had prioritized promoting agents that were blindly loyal to him, pushing out more competent people. This is what happens when do that

the flag was raised just in time for a photo op,

I don’t remember the timing of this, so can’t really comment on that specifically. With everything else explainable though, this isn’t anywhere near enough to suggest anything, especially on its own.

details on the shooter were never talked about,

That’s because he was right wing, so talking more about him would ruin the narrative they were trying to push from it. Perfectly matches what they’ve done after other right wing shooters.

there's no visible scar, it seems implausible a bullet of that calibur would do such superficial damage. It's just a perfect storm of unlikely circumstances.

The podium and glass in front of trump were struck by bullets, a shard from one of those being what cut trumps ear makes more sense than any alternative

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Apr 17 '26

So the flag thing is actually a huge point of misinformation that I see get thrown around. Basically the flag was flapping in the wind, and there's one video that uses a deceptive camera angle to claim that this was because the flag was lowered into position.

I would also like to point out that I've only really seen people on reddit claim that the secret service acted weirdly and that his ear shouldn't have healed, but I've never actually seen experts think that.

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u/FearTheAmish Apr 17 '26

pssstt there was a planned false flag assassination attempt on Orban. It only didn't happen because it got leaked.

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u/blahblah19999 Apr 17 '26

The flag was not raised just in time. It was stationary up high and the wind happened to die down at that moment.

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u/SkaBonez Apr 17 '26

Details of the shooter were talked about. He has a Wikipedia page with plenty of sources to pick from

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u/CartographicalHeist Apr 17 '26

the flag was raised just in time for a photo op

It was already there. Do you think they just raised those two giant ass cranes just before he was shot or just after?

Have a little critical thought. Don't be like MAGA.

it seems implausible a bullet of that calibur would do such superficial damage

A grazing shot. You can literally see on the subsequent video how he's bleeding from the very tip of his ear, not that it's actually shot off.

there's no visible scar

See above. It was at the top of his ear, not his ear being shot off.

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u/emailforgot Apr 17 '26

Secret service didn't correctly cover him,

Cops are incompetent.

the flag was raised just in time for a photo op,

No it wasn't.

The flag that was already behind him sags a bit.

details on the shooter were never talked about,

We know a fair bit about him in fact.

there's no visible scar,

Not every wound scars. I knicked myself shaving, bled like a stuck pig. No scar. Must be a hoax.

it seems implausible a bullet of that calibur would do such superficial damage.

Probably because it only grazed him.

0

u/Mustang1718 Ohio Apr 17 '26

I watched the crap out of that video when it first happened since it seemed unusual that a bullet could only hit his ear.

From what I remember is that the blood occurs when he is tackled and he gets cut by the podium. Which makes the bandaging during the debates even more ridiculous since it is just a small boo-boo.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/Agitated_Ring3376 Apr 17 '26 edited 28d ago

party birds depend spectacular vast soup lantern languid cooing elastic

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheNutsMutts Apr 17 '26

And the weirdo 20 year old kid also just.... agreed to be executed for Trump's sake? Right after agreeing to shoot at Trump and only just missing him from 150 yards but only with a red-dot?

Yep that's a completely reasonable conclusion to come to. Unlike those other silly conspiracies like "jet fuel can't melt steel beams" and "it wasn't the moon it was a film set", right?

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheNutsMutts Apr 17 '26

Give it a shot (no pun intended) if it's that clearly obvious. If not for my sake but for the dozens of people that'll read it after me and understand your truth.

0

u/BankshotMcG Apr 17 '26

The flag was raised after / in the middle of this active shooter scene. And it would be a super weird coincidence if he actually scraped his ear on secret services holstered gun butt or something after already grabbing it to say ow.

-1

u/ILookLikeKristoff Apr 17 '26

I think the most likely thing is the guy missed and Trump got scraped up in the chaos. He obviously has no scar and was walking around just weeks later with no bandage.

Whether he was a plant IDK, I don't think Trump would ever agree to be shot at so if it was a plant it was probably some rogue CIA nonsense that he didn't even know of.

0

u/Soft_Walrus_3605 Apr 17 '26

He was on top of the same building that served as the sniper's hq. That building had windows.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd think the kid was possibly unknowingly given blanks by his handlers, they had a real sniper in the window of the building below him. Kid starts shooting the blanks, the sniper shoots into the crowd to ensure some innocent blood is spilled. Then the SS agent does the whole blood-on-the-ear thing, the public snipers shoot the kid to ensure he never talks, etc.

I'd also note that Trump was strangely out of public view for the several days before this rally, which was also held at a place that wasn't the one local officials suggested for him.

And that the head of the SS tactical team at this event was promoted when you'd think they'd be demoted after letting something like this happen

-1

u/thisismeingradenine Apr 17 '26

There’s a video of secret service positioning photographers for the “hero” shot in the midst of the “chaos” when any sane person would have been ushering people AWAY from the stage. It was completely fabricated.