Within minutes of reports of Donald Trump’s shooting, conspiracy theories began circulating online.
In the United States, “Staged” quickly became a top trending word on X, formerly Twitter, and since then millions of people have viewed posts and comments questioning the authenticity of the event.
Here are some of the main theories doing the rounds.
Photos ‘too perfect’
Striking photos capturing the moments after Trump was shot have been dissected by conspiracy theorists for evidence of inconsistencies that prove the moment was staged.
One was taken by Evan Vucci, the Associated Press’s chief photographer in Washington.
His photo of Mr Trump raising his fist in defiance, blood dripping from his ear, has come to define the attack, with newspapers around the world splashing it on their front page.
However, one post on X which gained nearly a million views claimed the picture was “too damn perfect” to be true, pointing to the apparent positioning of the American flag in the background and its overall composition.
The user later deleted it, and stated in a separate post: “It’s important to correct yourself if you’re wrong.”
Yellow object in Trump’s hand
Some people have chosen to focus on what appears to be a yellow object in the hand Trump used to touch his bloody ear after he had been shot suggesting it was a theatrical gel pack filled with fake blood.
Posting a video of the shooting on X, another user said it was strange there was no blood on Mr Trump’s hand after touching his ear.
“I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but take a look and tell me if this seems genuine,” they said. “I’ve slowed it down and zoomed in. Something just doesn’t add up.”
The video has garnered 502,000 views.
Secret service were in on it
Videos of people in the crowd apparently ducking before shots were fired have fuelled speculation that the Secret Service had prior knowledge of the attack.
“Pay attention to what the secret service agent does seconds before!” wrote one Twitter user in a video that has received 40.6 million views.
However, it’s not uncommon for secret service agents to be moving crowds around at events to ensure general safety, which may explain what was happening here.
Spectators knew what was coming
Dominic Michael Tripi, a Political analyst, echoed the theory that attendees had prior knowledge of the shooting by sharing a video of a woman who ducks in apparent anticipation of the attack.
“This video of a woman located behind Donald Trump during his attempted assassination is HIGHLY suspicious,” he wrote.
“Her body language & behaviour seem to indicate she knew that something was coming.”
Snipers chose not to react
Some have gravitated to the idea that counter snipers had eyes on the shooter well in advance, but did nothing to stop him.
“The “counter snipers” didn’t take the shot at the shooter sniper,” wrote one user on X.
“They were looking at him at least 42 seconds before the ear shot on Donald Trump and failed the president.”
BlueAnon frenzy
“BlueAnon,” a term inspired by the Right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon that refers to liberal conspiracy theories, went into a frenzy following the shooting.
Dmitri Mehlhorn, a political adviser to Reid Hoffman, a Democratic donor, urged supporters in an email late on Saturday to contemplate the “possibility… that this ‘shooting’ was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash”.
He added: “Not one newspaper or opinion leader in America is willing to openly consider the possibility that Trump and Putin staged this on purpose. Ask the question, people.”
On Sunday, Mr Mehlhorn issued an apology and expressed regret over the email.
Some prominent anti-Trump accounts also suggested that the death of an audience member was part of the show.
“I can totally see Trump ‘sacrificing’ one of his cult followers to make his ‘assassination attempt’ look more realistic and believable,” wrote @LakotaMan1, the pro-Democrat influencer, who has more than 500,000 X followers.
The tweet was later deleted.
