Why the Trump attack has spawned myriad conspiracies theories – from left and right alike | Colin Dickey

When we can't make sense of a dramatic event, fake news pedlars rush to social media to fill the information gap

Accusations that the assassination attempt on Saturday was staged have proliferated all over social media. Many on the left are arguing that the attack was meant to garner pity for Trump and ensure a kind of Reichstag fire" scenario so Trump could seize power unilaterally. Many of these focused on the photos of Trump in the immediate aftermath, his fist raised in defiance, as evidence that the entire event was set up to garner sympathy and show the ex-president as unbowed. Meanwhile, on the right, rumours swirled that it was an assassination attempt by President Biden - on Sunday, Alex Jones blasted out an email with a subject line that read in part: Desperate Deep State Will Try to Assassinate Trump Again".

None of this is surprising - the United States has a long history of presidential assassination and assassination attempts, and a long love affair with conspiracy theories of all kinds. But the ease with which conspiracists of all political alignments have been able to assimilate Saturday's shocking, unexpected news with their preformed opinions tells us what political conspiracy theories do for people and how they operate.