Alleged would-be assassin Cole Tomas Allen in a selfie photo taken at the Washington Hilton on April 25, 2026
President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April — but many of his own supporters seem unwilling to believe the official story.
“It turns out that Trump supporters, already swimming in a sea of other conspiracy theories, don’t necessarily trust the WHCD shooting story presented by the feds, either,” wrote The Bulwark's Will Sommer on Monday, juxtaposing widespread liberal skepticism about the shooting attempt with the comparatively more surprising right-wing response. “That’s one of the big findings of a recent focus group conducted by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell’s Longwell Partners of nine people who voted for Trump at least twice (in 2020 and 2024). Those nine people were picked for the focus group because they all now say they disapprove of his presidency.”
Sommer added,” As for the WHCD attack, six participants said they believed the assassination attempt attributed to California teacher Cole Tomas Allen was ‘a psyop.’”
Sommer proceeded to quote some of the ex-Trumpers who expressed doubt about the assassination attempt story. One focus group member observed that “it doesn’t make sense that somebody should be able to get that close this many times in that way to the President of the United States,” while another pointed out that “I can’t even go to a baseball game and bring in a can of Diet Coke . . . or a concert without a metal detector or them emptying my pockets.”
A third, noting how Trump and his supporters immediately began calling for a White House ballroom (one of Trump’s longtime and controversial projects) very shortly after the assassination attempt occurred.
“I feel like it was a ploy to get his ballroom that he wants, and that’s his reason,” the commenter explained. Still another participant expressed doubt about the assassination attempt during the 2024 election in Butler, Penn., comparing it to Nazi propaganda and speculating that there was “a paintball or something in his hand that he squished on his ear because I think he wanted to gain some support.”
Longwell, speaking with former Republican speechwriter David Frum, argued last week that people are overall distrustful of Trump and American leaders in general.
“It just doesn't make sense to me that we have our leader — who is supported/protected by what is supposed to be the … the most dominant military force on the planet,” one Trump voter told Longwell. It doesn't make sense to me that there have been this many close attempts on his life when we have all these other presidents recently who haven't really had that issue.”
Last month The Telegraph’s Ed Cumming also reported widespread doubt among Trump’s own supporters that the assassination attempt even happened.
“In recent months, former Trump supporters, such as Tucker Carlson, have suggested the FBI was involved in the Butler attack. Joe Kent, the former US National Counterterrorism Center director who resigned over the Iran war, used an interview with Carlson to raise his own doubts, including claiming – without evidence – that investigations into the Butler shooting were shut down prematurely,” Cumming reported. “Some prominent right-wing accounts have suggested that Saturday’s incident may have been staged, too, possibly in order to facilitate Trump’s ballroom.”
He continued, “Despite the rapid destruction of the old building, the new facility has run into trouble recently. In March, Judge Richard Leon temporarily halted construction, upholding a complaint by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) that Trump’s planned improvements required congressional approval. Work has resumed after an appeal, but is only allowed to continue until another hearing — due to take place on June 5 — is held.”
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
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- Why do people believe the Trump assassination attempts are fake? – podcast | White House correspondents' dinner shooting | The Guardian ›
- Trump supporter and hater: We both think he staged shooting plots ›
- Trump assassination attempt sparks new wave of unfounded conspiracy theories ›
- The Ballroom Truthers Have a Theory - The Atlantic ›
- Information from social ties predicts conspiracy beliefs: Evidence from the attempted assassination of Donald Trump - PMC ›
- Fact-checking the wild conspiracy theories related to the attempted Trump assassination | PBS News ›
- How would an assassination attempt be ‘staged’? | CNN ›
- MAGA Is Increasingly Convinced the Trump Assassination Attempt Was Staged | WIRED ›
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