Not even an hour after it shooting incident during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with Donald Trump, the most bizarre conspiracy theories flooded social media. The most shared theory on X, Facebook and TikTok was that it was all ‘staged‘ was, or staged by Trump himself. This would have been done to divert attention from bad polls or the war with Iran.
On X alone, more than 300,000 messages containing the term ‘staged‘. Other social media users pointed – as is often the case, without any evidence – to Israeli groups pulling the strings, sometimes supported by images that were clearly manipulated with AI. The Russian state broadcaster RT actively helped to reinforce all kinds of wild theories.
One of the most shared rumors was the claim that the perpetrator was shot dead on the spot. He was actually arrested alive. Images have been released showing him lying undressed on the ground. Even when corrections were posted, they only received a fraction of the views compared to the theories that were viewed millions of times.
Intermittent connections
When Fox News reporter Aishah Hasnie’s phone connection faltered during her report from the ballroom, it was also conclusive evidence for conspiracy theorists: the network was deliberately trying to suppress her story. The fact that the reporter then provided text and explanation about the poor connection was no longer important.
Conspiracy theories about previous events were also revived; For example, there are still many influential accounts that claim that the previous attack on Trump in Pennsylvania two years earlier was staged, despite two deaths there.
Who is pushing the theories?
The theories are driven by notorious influencers on X, Facebook and TikTok, who capitalize on the information gap to generate followers and especially advertising revenue. Sometimes they do this with manipulated AI images as evidence.
Psychology is always involved: many people search online mainly for information that confirms their own beliefs. “Finding the truth and checking facts takes time,” says Amanda Crawford, a media scientist at the University of Connecticut The New York Times.
“But the public has no patience for that, and so you immediately see stories emerge that respond to what people want to hear and that cleverly use the prejudices of the people who spread them further.”
New ballroom
But American specialists also point to Trump himself. The president immediately seized on the incident online for his own agenda — in this case, his desire to build a new ballroom at the White House for better security. Some of his supporters promptly took over this.
An earlier comment by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt — “Shots will be fired” — also unintentionally suggested that an attack was planned. She meant that the president would defend himself fiercely in his speech in front of a room of journalists. But it didn’t come to that.
Security experts were unanimous afterwards: the system had worked perfectly, partly because agents had been deployed tactically, sometimes disguised as waiters. The perpetrator never entered the room.
What really happened
Breakthrough occurred on the evening of April 25 Cole Tomas Allena 31-year-old man from Torrance, California, running into the hotel’s outer security ring. Security intervened almost immediately. He never made it to the ballroom.
President Trump, First Lady Melania and Vice President JD Vance were immediately taken to safety by the Secret Service and were unharmed. One officer was injured, but was wearing a bulletproof vest and is doing well.
His main targets were government officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel. He did not mention Trump by name — he spoke of a “traitor.” Hotel guests and employees were expressly not targeted. According to the manifesto, officers were allowed to act ‘only if necessary’.
Allen is charged with, among other things, using a firearm in a violent crime and assaulting a federal agent.
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