The FBI is currently investigating an apparent second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on September 15 at his golf club in Florida. A 58-year-old man, Ryan Wesley Routh, was detained for his involvement in the apparent attempt on Trump’s life, although he was not able to fire off a shot.
In July, when someone tried to assassinate Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, conspiracy theories and calls for civil war soared across social media. History is now repeating itself, with users on 4chan, Bitchute, the Fediverse, Gab, GETTR, Telegram, and Rumble spreading conspiracy theories that the assassination attempt was orchestrated by the government, the Trump campaign, and the Jews. Conspiracies and hate speech have flourished on these platforms over the past 24 hours, which have led to conspiracies even trending on mainstream social media platforms like Twitter.
On September 16, #StagedAssassinationAttempt was trending on Twitter with over 25,000 posts made using the hashtag (Source: Twitter)
On 4chan, which is a hotbed for conspiracies, hate, and violent rhetoric, commenters seemed convinced that the incident was “staged,” and called for violent retribution. Comments suggested that “Trump has enemies all around, even some of his closest ‘friends’ are in on this deep state fuckery… They all need the rope.” The “rope” refers to a noose, a reference to killing someone by hanging them and is deeply tied to America’s racist history of lynching. Some even suggested that there will be several more attempts before the U.S. presidential election on November 5. Similar theories invoked the idea that the CIA was behind the assassination attempt, citing MKUltra, which was a CIA program attempting “to produce a perfect truth drug for use in interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the Cold War, and generally to explore any other possibilities of mind control,” and that it was orchestrated by Jews, repulsively referred to as the “k*ke deep state,” who find it “important for trump to die… like jesus on the cross.” Antisemitic comments were followed up by threats saying that “Jews are doomed.” Others claimed that Trump “tipped off the shooter” in order to “help Trump’s poll numbers,” and that Trump orchestrated the attempt following the recent debate against Kamala Harris.
On Gab, a platform with a similar interface to Twitter, several conspiracy theories, calls for violence, and antisemitic comments made the rounds. Typical “deep state” conspiracies were common, such as comments saying, “the deep state…are behind the assassination attempts on Trump and the attacks on MAGA!” Some of these conspiracy-peddlers made calls for violence, like saying the “deep state… MUST BE DESTROYED! AN EYE FOR AN EYE!” More threats directed at the “deep state” claimed that those associated with it will be “removed and judged for [their] evil ways.” Other commenters called the incident “staged [bullshit]” and “a shooting hoax” which “proves that the jews are boss,” following up with “cometh the Pale Rider,” a Biblical reference to Death, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Antisemitic hoax conspiracies also painted Jews as “promot[ing] Jew Trump as some kinda holocaust survivor of assassination attempts.”
Another antisemitic angle taken by these commenters included calling Trump a “jew worshipper” despite the apparent conspiracy by Jews, which includes the “entire media,” to “[try] and have him assassinated or imprisoned.” Others, in bizarre fashion, attempted to link the attempt to Ukraine, saying that this “Jew shit show” by Routh is meant to make “Ukraine to be the new Askhenazi jew Jersualem.” Routh has been vocal about his support for Ukraine on social media, including making attempts to recruit new members to fight in the war and even flying there himself. Similarly, some users claimed the “Deep State Khazarian Mafia,” a reference to an antisemitic conspiracy used to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were “behind it all.”
In the comment section of Rumble, a video platform which hosted RNC debates, commenters focused on “deep state” narratives. Users called it an “inside job,” claimed “the jews engineered it to keep people on-side,” and that the “CIA/FBI is recruiting people to kill Trump.” They also blamed Trump’s “closest security detail and staff,” “MK Ultra,” and the “deep state cabal” (cabal is often used as an antisemitic dog whistle when describing the “deep state”). Some commenters tried to link the “deep state” to Routh’s involvement in the war in Ukraine, saying that he was “working for the Deep State… recruiting Americans to fight in Ukraine.” These conspiracies culminated in violent rhetoric, such as “we are at war,” and predicting an impending “civil war” if Trump were successfully assassinated by the “deep state.”
Conspiracies on the comment sections of Bitchute, a video platform, blamed “Deep State Globalism,” which was equated with “Jewry,” for carrying out these “fake” assassination attempts. Others said both incidents, referring to the failed assassination in July, were “staged,” and that this was a “Fake CIA Hollywood Shooting” which adheres to “Deep State Agendas,” including “gain[ing] sympathy for their puppet, so he can be selected to be the President.”
On Telegram, channels and commenters claimed “it’s all planned and staged by the evil cabal with Trump playing his role,” and that “Kamala and Trump are only characters acting” along with supposed orders from shadowy institutions. The Hell Valley Proud Boys claimed that “Ukraine tried to kill Trump.” In the chat group on MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec’s Telegram channel, users blamed Jews, the United States Secret Service, and the “deep state” for the recent assassination attempt.
On Jack Posobiec’s Telegram channel, his followers blamed Jews and the “deep state” for planning an assassination against the former President (Source: Telegram)
On GETTR, another platform similar to Twitter, users, like on all the other platforms, blamed the attempt on the “deep state” and called it an “inside job,” implying that Trump staged the attempt. Comments included saying that “the Deep state want (sic) him dead,” that it was deliberately planned to “pause on the (sic) election,” and that the “FBI, [Secret Service], & CIA…are 100% complicit.”
On the Fediverse, short for “federated universe,” which is a collection of community owned, ad-free, decentralized, and privacy-centric social networks, users claimed that the United States Secret Service “staged” the attempted assassination, questioned whether it wasn’t the “deep state,” but rather Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that ordered the attempt. Conspiracies around “MKUltra,” Trump orchestrating the attempt himself, described as an “inside job,” and that Jews “keep trying to kill him” were also popular.
With the second attempt on a former president’s life in only a few months, and the worrying melange of conspiracy theories, hatred, and calls for violence flourishing across social media, there will continue to be a risk of further political violence in the coming months. Social media companies must take responsibility for the content posted on their platforms to prevent the spread of harmful content, before there is more violence.
