Picture of suspect on Trump’s Truth Social<\/p>\n
On Saturday night, during the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, a gunman opened fire. He wasn\u2019t in the same room as Donald Trump at the time, but that is presumed to be his target.<\/p>\n
Nobody was killed; one Secret Service agent was hit, but he was allegedly saved from serious damage because the bullet hit his phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n The failed assassin was disarmed and arrested at the scene. His name, released later, is Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher whose motive was initially said to be \u201cunclear\u201d<\/a>, but they have since discovered the inevitable \u201cmanifesto\u201d.<\/p>\n Apparently, it was because Trump is a \u201cpaedophile and a rapist\u201d.<\/p>\n He also, rather helpfully, outlines how an armed extremist was able to get so close. Spoiler Alert: It was hubris and incompetence on behalf of the authorities:<\/p>\n I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.<\/p>\n What I got (who knows, maybe they\u2019re pranking me!) is nothing.<\/p>\n No damn security. Not in transport. Not in the hotel. Not in the event.<\/p>\n Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance.<\/p>\n I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.<\/p>\n So that explains that.<\/p>\n Anyway, he appeared in court about an hour ago and was formally charged<\/a> with the attempted assassination of the President of the United States.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the official story, so far.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fake, of course. It should barely need to be said. The question is to what degree and why.<\/p>\n Certainly, the people present barely seemed concerned, taking the chance to pilfer some bottles of wine<\/a> or carrying on eating<\/a>.<\/p>\n In fact, the only interesting or noteworthy aspect of the incident, as yet, is the speed with which people started doubting it.<\/p>\n Within hours, it was popularly thought to be a false flag, and outlets like NBC were already countering it\u2026weakly.<\/p>\n Take this paragraph, for example, from NBC\u2019s \u201cFalse flag conspiracy theories swirl around White House Correspondents\u2019 dinner attack\u201d<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n The speed with which conspiracy theories flowed from Saturday\u2019s event underscore just how common some of these claims have become. While staged or \u201cfalse flag\u201d attacks do have some historical precedent<\/a>, they are exceedingly rare. That has not stopped the idea from becoming one of the most common conspiracy theory tropes. In recent years, some on the political right have labeled everything from the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot as a false flag. But that idea has also more recently percolated on the left, particularly around\u00a0the Butler assassination attempt<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a refutation, sure, but it\u2019s not a good one. Actually acknowledging that false flags even happen is very unusual.<\/p>\n So, is it just a bad argument? Or is it deliberately fuelling speculation via weak refutation?<\/p>\n I guess we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n But what do you think?<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Support Off-Guardian:<\/p>\n Ko-fi<\/a><\/p>\n\n