Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price |
Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price
A truism of life — right up there with “don’t read the comments” — is that what goes around comes around. Put another way, if you live by the sword, you will eventually die by the sword.
For more than a decade, these maxims didn’t seem to apply to President Trump — a man who once strongly suggested that Barack Obama had not been born in America, that the 2020 election was stolen, and that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating dogs and cats, just to name a few of his whoppers.
To be sure, Trump defenders will note that Democratic conspiracy theories (“Russia-gate,” for example) have also been aimed at Trump. Yes, but Trump legitimately invited scrutiny, and credible analyses rejected the most extreme conclusions anyway — for example, the existence of a “pee tape” or the notion that Russia somehow manipulated election results or otherwise rigged the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf.
Regardless, we have entered a new and possibly ironic phase of the timeline: Trump is finally discovering what it’s like to be on the losing end of a conspiracy theory.
Trump’s failure to release Epstein files was probably the inflection point. But more recently, the conspiratorial thinking about Trump has metastasized.
After Trump cast himself as Jesus on a Truth Social post, some corners of his own political ecosystem began speculating that he might instead be the Antichrist.
Tucker Carlson, for example, went on his podcast and asked, “Could this [Trump] be the Antichrist? Well, who knows? At least that’s my conclusion: Who knows?”
Others settled on demonic possession, which in internet discourse is considered the moderate position.
Inevitably, this theological turn led to interpretations of the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Some figures, like Ali Alexander (of “Stop The Steal” fame), turned to the Book of Revelation, suggesting that “There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”
Comedian and podcaster Tim Dillon offered a theory about the assassination attempt that hinged less on eschatology and more on political survival: the assassination attempt might have been “staged” to “show people how important it was to vote for [Trump] and how far [he] was willing to go for them.”
There are, admittedly, details that fuel this sort of absurd speculation. Trump’s defiant, fist-pumping pose, moments after the attack, seemed at odds with his reputation as a man not overly fond of physical risk. The Secret Service response (allowing him to strike the heroic pose when there might have been a second shooter) seemed unorthodox. And — save for the bandage he wore during the 2024 Republican National Convention — the much-discussed ear injury appeared less than catastrophic.
On the other hand — and this is important — two people were shot and killed in that incident. Death tends to complicate the whole “it was staged” narrative, unless one is willing to follow that logic into some very dark places.
Still, the beauty of conspiracy theories is that they are unfalsifiable. As such, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) framing of the assassination attempt — “I’m not calling the Butler assassination a hoax, but there are a lot of questions that deserve public answers” — is structurally identical to the rhetoric that has fueled past QAnon conspiracy theories.
But it’s not just the big, dramatic examples, like an assassination attempt or Trump casting himself as Jesus, that invite wild speculation. Even smaller, more ordinary events are now being filtered through the same conspiracy theory lens.
Take Trump’s recent “DoorDash grandma” event — a publicity stunt meant to promote Trump’s “no tax on tips” policy.
It turns out that the DoorDash deliverer had previously testified before Congress in support of the policy, which led some observers to conclude she might be a “paid actor” or (using an even more ominous phrase) a “crisis actor.”
Taken together, these examples make it pretty clear that MAGA influencers haven’t stopped their conspiracy-theorism. They have just finally migrated toward one of the most suspicious-looking supervillains in the nation — namely, Trump himself.
It would be easy to lament all of this as evidence that Americans have lost trust in institutions and a common reality. And yes, that is a huge problem. But it is also difficult to ignore the cosmic irony: Trump spent years encouraging the very style of thinking that now has people claiming he is the Antichrist who faked his own assassination attempt.
Which brings us back to the truism: What goes around comes around. And sometimes, when it comes around, it’s holding a laptop and is very, very interested in “just asking questions.”
Matt K. Lewis is a columnist, podcaster and author of the books “Too Dumb to Fail” and “Filthy Rich Politicians.”
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