One-third say at least one Trump assassination attempt was faked, poll says
By: Terry Collins (USA TODAY via MSN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
About 1 in 4 Americans believe without evidence that the alleged attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last month was staged, reflecting a deep partisan divide in who believes what, a new poll shows.
A NewsGuard/YouGov poll released on May 11 found that 24% of adults believe the incident at DC's Washington Hilton was fake, compared with 45% who believe the attempt was legitimate. An additional 32% poll said they were unsure. Trump and several other top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, were present at the dinner.
When broken down by politcal party, 1 in 3 Democratic respondents polled said they believe the April 25 gala was staged; whereas, about 1 in 8 Republicans polled said they think it was fake, according to the NewsGuard/YouGov poll. NewsGuard, a platform that rates the credibility of online information sources, and YouGov surveyed 1,000 American adults between April 28 and May 4.
"I think the results are very striking," Sofia Rubinson, an editor at NewsGuard, told USA TODAY, noting a broader skepticism among Americans toward the government and the media. "I think it's very telling that people on either side of the political spectrum are distrustful of both this administration and the media."
In an emailed statement to USA TODAY on May 11, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, "Anyone who thinks President Trump staged his own assassination attempts is a complete moron."
The poll comes on the day Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect accused in the correspondents’ dinner shooting, pleaded not guilty to multiple federal charges, including attempting to assassinate the president and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon during his arraignment hearing in Washington on May 11. His lawyers plan to ask that two top Justice Department officials present at the dinner be disqualified from involvement in the prosecution since both were at the dinner and could have been targets.
The NewsGuard/YouGov poll differs from polls that focus mostly on the president's job approval ratings, which have been declining for more than a year and surveys that gauge reactions to his personal traits and views on the Iran war.
Poll shows some Americans also believe all 3 Trump assassination attempts were fake
The NewsGuard/YouGov poll also found that 1 in 3 Americans believes at least one of the three recent assassination attempts against Trump was staged.
The closest assassination attempt occurred during a presidential rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, when a gunman fired multiple shots toward the stage, grazing Trump’s right ear and killing one audience member.
The FBI identified the shooter as 20‑year‑old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by Secret Service agents. Federal authorities said the incident marked the gravest breach of presidential security involving Trump and prompted the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Joe Biden, to offer their support to Trump.
Asked about the Pennsylvania assassination attempt, 24% of respondents said they believed the shooting was staged, and overall, 42% of Democratic respondents polled said they thought the shooting was fake, compared to 7% of Republicans who didn't believe the shooting was real.
Federal investigators called the rally shooting an assassination attempt and later concluded the suspect had acted alone.
In its aftermath, lawmakers launched investigations into security failures, and several Secret Service agents faced disciplinary action.
In Sept. 2024, Secret Service agents disrupted what the FBI described as an apparent assassination attempt while then-candidate Trump was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Agents spotted a gunman concealed in nearby bushes and opened fire before he reached Trump. Trump was not injured, officials said. The rapid response underscored the Secret Service's heightened presence in the wake of the rally attempt on his life.
About 16% of those polled said they thought the assassination attempt at Trump’s golf club was staged. When broken down by political party, 26% of Democrats and 7% of Republicans said they believe it was faked.
Meanwhile, 18-and 29-year-olds polled were more likely than their older counterparts to say the incidents were staged. The largest gap was for the April 25 assassination attempt in Washington. The poll found that 32% of 18- to 29-year-olds said it was staged, compared with 15% of those aged 65 and up.
Of those who believed that all three assassination attempts against Trump were legitimate, only 13% were between the ages of 18 and 29.
Overall, by political party, around 21% of Democrats polled believe all three assassination attempts on Trump were staged, compared with 11% of independents. Only 3% of Republicans think all three were fake.
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False flag? PR stunt? Typical Trump?
It tells us that about half of democrats’ brains have been destroyed by conspiracies
Do you mean like Trump's brain ? He was retweeting Q Anon and flat earthers yesterday.
You mean the democrats have brains like Trump?
Who won the 2020 election?
um....biden was certified....that was the answer over and over again at confirmation hearings for judges
Why do people that hate him with a passion follow his every word?
Biden.
Why?
Joe Biden,
Who won the 2016 election?
Or 2000, or 2004? There are so many democratic conspiracies about elections....
And election deniers.
From chat gtp
Yes — some Democrats have denied or challenged election results in the last ten years, most notably regarding the 2016 presidential election and the 2018 Georgia governor’s race. Democrats in Congress have also formally objected to electoral votes in 2001, 2005, and 2017, though in those cases the losing candidates had already conceded.
📌 Key Examples of Democrats Challenging Election Results
1. 2016 Presidential Election (Trump vs. Clinton)
Hillary Clinton has repeatedly suggested the 2016 election was “stolen” or influenced illegitimately by Russia.
Kamala Harris agreed with claims that Trump was an “illegitimate president.”
House Democrats objected to certifying Trump’s victory during the 2017 joint session of Congress.
2. 2018 Georgia Governor’s Race (Abrams vs. Kemp)
Stacey Abrams has never formally conceded and has repeatedly argued the election was not free or fair.
3. Congressional Objections to Electoral Votes
Democrats in the House have objected to counting electoral votes in:
2001 (Bush vs. Gore)
2005 (Bush vs. Kerry)
2017 (Trump vs. Clinton) In all these cases, the Democratic presidential candidates had already conceded.
4. Broader Pattern
Some Democrats have questioned or cast doubt on Republican presidential wins going back decades, including:
2000 election (Bush vs. Gore) — many Democrats called it “stolen” or “fraudulent.”
Objections to every GOP presidential win since 2000 have occurred in Congress, though typically symbolic and not supported by the party’s nominee.
MAGA does it to themselves. It the administration wasn’t so deeply full of shit on a daily basis, the public wouldn’t distrust them over stuff we wouldn’t normally question.
cartilage doesn't grow back
And no one being shot at stands up for a photo op.
Not unless they want to get shot at again.
But hey! Maybe if he had actually enlisted to go to Vietnam he would have learned that lesson
What about the person that was killed in the stands?
Was he a prop?
Did he stand up for a photo op?
Kinda hard to stand when the left winger killed him.
It's funny that the blueanon criticism of Trump from the left is that's humanly impossible to act as bravely Trump did.
I was talking about trump....you know, the subject of the fucking article?
Define evidence. If you were waiting in line at the bank and three people walk in with guns to rob the place, and every customer but one is legitimately scared shitless while the one is nonchalantly checking his watch, some would say that it is evidence that he is in on the job. There are striking similarities to that scenario and the correspondents dinner.
The gunman never got onto the same room
When did he know what was going on....when the secret service told him to move?
Then some would be idiots. No prosecutor would charge the guy.
Except everything
Blueanon is alive and well.
Meanwhile cameramen are busy filming the chaos without a care in the world, nonchalantly zooming and panning instead of diving under tables like everyone else, while Trump casually deals with the situation.
So news people and people covering it were in on it too?
The conspiracy keeps getting better and better.
Blueanon is working overtime.
Only a true idiot would look at the videos and not immediately see that there is something strange about the activity. I see what camp you’re in. How ironic that you routinely side with the folks who also think Hillary molests children in pizza restaurant basements that mysteriously do and don’t exist simultaneously.
Correct. It could be that, "Salad Guy" and "Drink Guy" continuing to eat and drink while some are diving under tables, JD Vance being moved for cover first (explained ad nauseum but people still question it), the suspected assassin's weapons of choice and the fact his wasn't killed (with his "white-side" coming into play), the lax security and secret service, Miller grabbing his pregnant lady's right boob and using her as a shield while running away, how T-rump always appears within seconds, minutes afterwards wanting to "go on, continue with the event...TR-moment"...any number of things.
Or it could be after all these attempts people are asking themselves how come not one person has hit the mark
Didn't take you long to get here.
Neither camp would be the correct answer
I never bought into this either. To paraphrase Reagan "it is not that your comments are ignorant, it's just that you know so much that isn't so."
Didn't take you long to get here.
It doesn’t need to be an elephant in the room to be observable. Put yourself behind that camera and tell me how there was nothing so worrisome happening that you should stop focusing and start ducking.
I never bought into this either.
Doesn’t make it any less humiliating that you are all rooting for the same moron.
You don't think camera people are trained to keep the camera rolling, especially the ones in a room that the gunman was not in? Naw, the conspiracy theory is much easier to buy into.
I am rooting for America. A concept lost on several liberals consumed by one man
I am rooting for America.
How stoic that you can say that with a straight face while supporting the most notorious grifter, criminal, destroyer of democracy in our lifetimes. All while having the temerity to choose a screen name that implies anything but independent thought. [removed][✘]
You don't think camera people are trained to keep the camera rolling, especially the ones in a room that the gunman was not in?
The responsible thing to do would be to quickly leave the camera with a wide shot to capture as much evidence as possible, not pan and zoom into individuals attempting to defend from or escape a mass shooter.
It is refreshing that Trump hasn’t yet given those cameramen a special medal for their extreme bravery. By getting dramatic close ups of the president’s protectors that would rival any Hollywood movie set, who knows how many wavering Trump-supporting morons were brought back into maga’s loving arms. You can’t put a price on that kind of reality tv catnip for dumbasses.
It was funny seeing RFK Jr ditch Cheryl Hines (his wife, lol), who is trying to escape being murdered all by herself. She is an actual actress, and I bet when she saw the footage she knew acting when she saw it. She was so good on Curb Your Enthusiasm. What an embarrassing fall from grace for her. Larry David must be heartbroken.
Didn't realize Cheryl Hines was maybe to Froggy-voice. You're correct, damn, what a fall
Damn again, no emoji to express what I'm thinking, saying, feeling
strange things happen every minute in this world. i think trumps ear was hit because it started bleeding. now it could be that it was literally no more than a scratch. the ear is very sensitive and any impact on it will cause bleeding. imo it was a one in a million freak result that the bullet only scratched him, but one in a million results happen.
Having pierced my ears several times I know they can bleed. But even a nick or a scratch that bled like that is going to leave some kind of scar. There's no indication of an injury
If someone standing behind him wasnt killed the false flag theory might hold some water
The fireman that died was directly behind him? I thought he was in the crowd in from of trmp
he was in the audience behind trump
oh...ok. Now why would he be behind trmp? Didn't he want the full visage of his Lord and Master?
It’s fun to watch people out themselves as blueanon
And a little scary there are so many
Riiiight. Conspiracies are imaginary things that never happen in reality. The right has relied on this mantra and the idiotic term blueanon to armor their plague on the country. Thats the problem with conspiracies - some of them are not theory, they are just planned well enough and defended well enough to play your game.
Yep. Trump had himself grazed by a bullet and two people murdered and covered it all up.
This article and everything I have mentioned is in relation to the correspondents’ dinner. Nobody died, and no blood was shed, despite shots fired at a supposed assassin in a crowded room. The fact that Trump would even seriously attend such a function is extraordinary.
I'm dubious about the shots fired. I think it was the SS that shot off the rounds and hit their co-worker. I didn't think the "shooter" actually got shot
You don't believe a shooter can miss?
Again, if you want to out yourself as believing Trump pulled off this conspiracy in front of countless cameras and hundreds of media dedicated to destroying him, there's really nothing I need to say. . Sometimes the best argument is just letting the other side talk.
Yes because showing up to an event where the president and much of his cabinet is to be with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives is a very normal thing in DC S/
Try to keep up. The premise of this article is not about a real assassin.
So what was Allen doing there heavily armed?
Looking to have tea?
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