Trump 'vulnerable to his own weapon' as MAGA doubts assassination attempt

Donald Trump is assisted by guards during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

President Donald Trump's failed assassination attempt at a 2024 campaign rally has been widely credited with helping get him reelected, but as his second term begins to anger voters en masse, he has become "vulnerable to his own weapon" as MAGA acolytes begin spreading conspiracy theories that it was staged, according to MS NOW.

A gunman opened fire at Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, at a rally in July 2024, missing him and killing an audience member behind him. In the ensuing months and years since then, the president has extracted considerable political capital from the imagery of that event, but that win may now be turning into a poison pill as his own ardent supporters begin to doubt the official narrative of the shooting and accuse Trump of staging the incident for political gain.

As MS NOW's Zeeshan Aleem noted in a piece from Tuesday, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Trump ally-turned-critic and avid conspiracy theorist, has become the latest and perhaps biggest MAGA-aligned name to question the assassination narrative, sharing multiple social media posts promoting the theory over the weekend. The ex-congresswoman accused Trump of covering up information about the shooter, Thomas Crooks, suggesting that he acted "in concert with others who have yet to be identified," and further asking "why Trump has failed to [crack] down on them."

"Greene is, of course, a seasoned conspiracy theorist, so her posts aren’t exactly surprising," Aleem explained. "But what’s striking is how she’s advancing a trend: right-wing critics of Trump floating unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the Butler assassination attempt — sometimes suggesting that Trump himself may have staged the event. As Trump alienates elements of his right-wing base, he’s at risk of being engulfed by the kind of conspiratorial worldview he once commanded to his own advantage."

Besides Greene, Aleem highlighted Tim Dillon, a comedian and podcaster who has supported Trump in the past, who, earlier this month, said, "I think [Trump] should admit" he staged the assassination attempt. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, meanwhile, said in November that the FBI "lied" about Crooks' "online footprint."

"The subtext of the staged assassination conspiracy theories is also significant," Aleem argued. "Its proponents are effectively pushing a narrative of Trump as a showman who values the spectacle of martyrdom over actually getting things done. It’s basically a conspiracy theorist’s way of saying, 'Maybe Trump is a bulls–t artist.' That’s not a good place for Trump to be with his base — and there’s no obvious way for him to wrest back control of the narrative."

He concluded: "It’s not a coincidence that Greene, Dillon, [Joe] Kent and Carlson have all criticized Trump over his war in Iran all criticized Trump over his war in Iran, nor is it a coincidence that they are all turning to conspiracies to help explain their declining esteem for Trump. The more Trump doesn’t follow through on his MAGA promises, the more he resembles an establishment politician, or at least a politician beholden to the establishment. Thus, he grows more vulnerable to being seen as part of some hidden, truth-obscuring deep state apparatus. Whether they blame Trump or some other shadowy actor for making him this way, it allows them to apply their conspiratorial worldview for explaining a hard truth to swallow: Trump lied to them."

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