After an armed man attempted to breach the ballroom where [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) was set to speak to White House journalists on Saturday, conspiracy theories immediately spread about whether the event was staged. The rhetoric has become a common refrain from both sides of the aisle in an era of deeply fractured politics and intense distrust in political institutions and media, and in the president himself. The conspiracy theories about the White House correspondents’ dinner gunman came as some of Trump’s former allies had been discussing a conspiracy theory publicly, for weeks, about a prior assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania during his 2024 campaign being staged. Conspiracy theories are a frequent response to significant political events, including assassination attempts, said Scott Radnitz, a professor at the University of Washington who has [written](https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/9781) on conspiracism as its own theory of power. Online conspiracy theories especially receive more attention in the immediate aftermath of an event, when the truth is unclear and algorithms fuel sensationalism. People who distrust Trump will be suspicious of any political development he’s a part of, Radnitz said. “The administration does not have the best record of honesty and transparency when it comes to communicating with the public,” Radnitz said. “People who already believe the worst about what Trump is capable of can easily tell a story about the latest event to conform to their existing views.” Trump’s quick pivot to claiming that the shooting incident confirms the need for a more secure ballroom at the White House, and rightwing pundits’ near-uniformity in messaging along the same lines in the immediate response, heightened the conspiracy framing. The fact that most major news organizations were inside the event and reported on it should help strengthen confidence in the story of what happened, Radnitz said. “But people who have tuned out the ‘legacy media’ will have plenty of alternative accounts to choose from,” he said. Extreme rhetoric, which often accompanies conspiracy, has been normalized amid a rise in political violence, said Clionadh Raleigh, founder of Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a non-profit that tracks violent events globally. She pointed to the Iran war’s early days, where it was mainstream to make “casual references to assassinating political leaders”, which lowers the threshold for violence. “The US is facing a particularly volatile mix: widespread access to firearms, persistent lone-actor threats, and an increasingly hyper-radicalized political culture,” Raleigh said in a statement. “Disorder in the US is decentralized, opportunistic, and difficult to predict. And the risk extends across the political spectrum, to anyone in public office.” While many of the immediate conspiracy theories about the incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner came from the left, neither political party is immune to conspiracy theories in an era of declining trust in government . A [YouGov poll](https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/January_6th_Capitol_Takeover_poll_results_hcgtEnh.pdf) in December 2025, for instance, found the majority of Republicans did not believe Joe Biden won the 2020 election – but also that about half of Democrats didn’t believe Trump legitimately won in 2024, either, though the false elections claims on the left haven’t been elevated by the Democratic party or elected officials. Trump has also faced a wave of conspiracy theories in recent months from his own, loudest former supporters. The revolt by leading Maga personalities comes as Trump’s hold over the [Republican party](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans) weakens and others, with financial incentives to weave tales, angle for prominence after the president leaves office. Trump, some on the right have [hinted or directly](https://www.wired.com/story/staunch-trump-supporters-are-now-asking-if-hes-the-antichrist/) claimed, is showing signs he is the antichrist. He should admit, some have suggested, that he [staged](https://www.wired.com/story/maga-is-increasingly-convinced-the-trump-assassination-attempt-was-staged/) the assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, where an attender was killed. Israel is [blackmailing him](https://x.com/LibertyLockPod/status/2046434758540845375) for untold reasons, perhaps related to the [Jeffrey Epstein](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/jeffrey-epstein) files, and dragging the US into war in Iran. Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who now has a podcast [said](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/22/tucker-trump-carlson-torment) he regretted voting for Trump and persuading others to do so. While his split was motivated by the war in Iran, he also intimated in recent weeks that Trump – after an expletive-laden post on Easter, an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus and an ongoing feud with the pope – is waging an attack on the Christian faith. “Could there be a spiritual component to what we’re watching?” Carlson [said](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/tucker-carlsons-biggest-conspiracy-theory-yet-donald-trump-iran-israel-nuclear-weapons/) in an episode of his podcast. “Could this be the antichrist? Well, who knows? At least that’s my conclusion. Who knows?” he said in a subsequent episode. Carlson has also pushed the idea that FBI lied about the Butler shooter, and the theory that the shooting was staged has gained prominence in recent weeks, Wired [reported](https://www.wired.com/story/maga-is-increasingly-convinced-the-trump-assassination-attempt-was-staged/). Tim Dillon, a comedian and podcaster who previously supported Trump, said this month that people maybe didn’t know the “full story” about the assassination attempt. “Maybe it was staged. Maybe it was faked. I think now is the time to just come out and say we staged the assassination attempt in Butler,” he [said](https://www.tiktok.com/@cnn/video/7631295509142965517). Joseph Uscinski, a political science professor at the University of Miami who studies conspiracy theories, said that for years, the president had been able to hold power while claiming he was a victim of power, advanced by a deep state, political opponents and the media. “That can only work for so long,” Uscinski said days before Saturday’s assassination attempt. “So eventually, like moths to a flame, these conspiracy-minded people in this coalition are going to turn their ire towards him, and that’s what we’re seeing happening. And it should not be surprising that a coalition built with a bunch of cantankerous personalities at some point can’t get along with each other.” But Uscinski said the topic of the theories being talked about was not the point. “We shouldn’t be focusing on the conspiracy theories themselves,” Uscinski said. “We have a coalition of conspiracy-minded people, and we should not be shocked that they believe conspiracy theories.” Radnitz added that when people are motivated by conspiracy theories, they tend to see conspiracy theories. “In their worldview, the only explanation for why Trump hasn’t fulfilled his promises is because he’s also now part of the system. He is the system.”

Jeffrey Epstein’s death on August 10, 2019, sparked a [flurry of conspiracy theories](https://news.miami.edu/as/stories/2019/08/conspiracy-theories-uscinski.html), and the [release of Epstein](https://www.fastcompany.com/91538362/jeffrey-epsteins-suspected-suicide-note-now-public-after-being-released-federal-judge)’s [purported suicide note](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/nyregion/epstein-suicide-note.html) on May 6, 2026, is a good bet to be fodder for more. But Epstein’s death is only one facet of the convicted sex offender’s story to spawn and sustain conspiracy theories. The Department of Justice has released [more than 3 million](https://www.justice.gov/epstein) publicly available documents related to the shadowy sex-trafficking networks surrounding Epstein. Journalists and researchers are working [to make sense](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/10/struggling-to-navigate-the-epstein-files-here-is-a-visual-guide) of the massive trove of data, but it is going slowly, and the interface built by the Department of Justice for the documents is unwieldy. In response, some Americans have taken it upon themselves to [dive into the archive](https://apnews.com/article/epstein-journalism-files-amateur-researchers-sleuths-38e83e59f61e27965fc9a74ee1685de1). They are using [artificial intelligence](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/artificial-intelligence) to develop platforms to make navigating the Epstein files easier and to conjure up new assessments of all the information. As a [scholar of online conspiratorial activity](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=N2nnvUoAAAAJ&hl=en), I’m seeing that these tools are also helping conspiracy theorists craft their narratives. Because the Epstein files are a massive, unstructured dataset made up of PDF files, videos, photographs, and other materials, these platforms make it easier for people to see connections where none exist. Some of the platforms are intentionally masquerading as neutral, data-driven AI research tools but are actually [designed by conspiracy theorists](https://x.com/Thewebb_io/status/2030425347922284773?s=20) to [encourage and amplify](https://x.com/Thewebb_io/status/2036593598486245716?s=20) conspiracy thinking, leading to what I call “platform conspiracism.” Expand to continue reading ↓

Sep 10, 2026 10:34 AM Experts say conspiracy theorizing about the identity and motive of Charlie Kirk’s killer will likely continue for a long time to come.  Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images In the days after the [assassination of conservative activist](https://www.wired.com/story/charlie-kirk-shot-at-utah-valley-university-event/) and [Turning Point](https://www.wired.com/story/a-year-after-charlie-kirks-death-turning-point-plans-to-spend-big-on-the-midterms/) cofounder [Charlie Kirk](https://www.wired.com/story/charlie-kirk-obituary/), the online reaction was a mess. Graphic videos of the shooting were [everywhere within minutes](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/graphic-video-of-kirk-shooting-was-everywhere-online-showing-how-medias-role-has-changed) of his death, far-right figures [called for violence and vengeance](https://www.wired.com/story/far-right-reactions-charlie-kirk-shooting-civil-war/), and right-wing lawmakers and influencers [called for the cancellation](https://www.wired.com/story/right-wing-activists-are-targeting-people-for-allegedly-celebrating-charlie-kirks-death/)—and worse—of anyone celebrating. Then, [the conspiracy theories began](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_DCrfVp3uU). It’s been one year since Kirk’s death, and conspiracy theories about the shooting have persisted, supercharged by social media algorithms and right-wing influencers like Candace Owens, who has used her huge following to push [baseless allegations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_DCrfVp3uU) about the incident. Experts believe these conspiracy theories will continue for a long time to come. “There’s no reason to believe conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder will lose steam anytime soon,” Jared Holt, senior researcher at Open Measures, tells WIRED. “If anything, I expect them to escalate further as the criminal trial against Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Kirk, plays out over the next year or so. The trial is bound to draw major media attention and offer conspiracy theorists a source of new material to work from.” In the [immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death](https://www.wired.com/story/charlie-kirk-obituary/), some conspiracy theorists claimed the assassination was a false flag operation designed to deflect attention away from [President Donald Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_DCrfVp3uU&t=13s). Others claimed the [entire thing was staged](https://x.com/VOX_of_SU/status/1966314917352583513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1966314917352583513%7Ctwgr%5E8d5ede9b78aee8527120baedef309335544da7a6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fm.economictimes.com%2Fnews%2Finternational%2Fglobal-trends%2Fus-news-who-is-anastasia-j-casey-mysterious-book-the-shooting-of-charlie-kirk-amazon-surfaces-online-a-day-before-tragedy%2Farticleshow%2F123850765.cms). There was the [AI-powered gun theory](https://x.com/Trillion0x/status/1985393935116619881), the claim that the [shooter was a Kirk supporter](https://politifact.com/article/2025/sep/11/charlie-kirk-shooter-wrong-identity-motives/), and even claims that [Kirk was still alive](https://www.wired.com/story/conspiracy-conference-rural-ireland-charlie-kirk-quantum-clones/). But ultimately, the baseless claim that persisted is that someone close to Kirk, or operating on behalf of Israel, was responsible for his death, that Robinson was simply a patsy, and what really killed Kirk was [an exploding microphone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn_oWg_w_Rk&t=1s). This is the narrative that has been central to [Owens’ monthslong conspiracy theory campaign](https://www.ms.now/news/who-killed-charlie-kirk-video-documentary). Her Kirk content has racked up hundreds of millions of views. Owens’ success is fueled in large part by the way that social media platforms today encourage their users to post content. “X and YouTube are rife with speculation about Kirk’s death, where it is both still possible to recruit new audiences and monetize them,” Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University, tells WIRED. The result is that Kirk’s death has become yet another rabbit hole, or a way for viewers to distract themselves from reality. “Candace and other conspiratorial influencers make things seem much more mysterious and exciting,” [Renée DiResta](https://www.wired.com/story/influencers-algorithms-bespoke-reality/), an associate research professor at Georgetown University who tracks disinformation, tells WIRED. “For many, her explanations are preferable to the reality of an act of violence by a solo individual.” There have already been real-world repercussions: Researchers at the Network Contagion Research Institute [recently found](https://networkcontagion.us/reports/permission-to-kill-how-candace-owens-built-a-digital-assassination-culture-targeting-erika-kirk/) that “Candace Owens caused a measurable, statistically significant surge in death threats and calls for violence against \[Charlie Kirk’s wife\] Erika Kirk.” In May, a man was [arrested for allegedly threatening to kill](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/erika-kirk-death-threat-arrested-tpusa-san-antonio-b2985558.html) Erica Kirk ahead of her appearance at a Turning Point USA event in San Antonio, though the man has yet to be charged. Owens did not respond to a request for comment. Erica Kirk and Turning Point have repeatedly [called for Owens and others to stop](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1553759762295075) spreading baseless rumors about the assassination. While those calls have not been heeded, Turning Point believes the impact the conspiracy theories are having is fading. “The conspiracy theories have much less reach and potency now than they did six months ago, and I think I’ll say the same six months from now,” Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point spokesperson, tells WIRED. “They won’t stop because many of these personalities were completely unknown and broke before Charlie was killed, and this is their moneymaker, but their influence and credibility have collapsed and will continue to do so.” But some experts disagree, arguing that conspiratorial thinking has been an aspect of American life for decades. “Historically, this is quite normal,” Joseph Uscinski, professor of political science at the University of Miami and author of _American Conspiracy Theories_, tells WIRED. “Majorities of Americans have believed for decades that JFK was killed by a conspiracy rather than by a lone gunman. In fact, almost 80 percent of Americans believed in the 1970s there was a conspiracy behind the assassination.”