A news report on the attempted assassination on Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, plays on a TV screen at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.
Credit: Reuters photo
Not long after former President Donald Trump was shot at on Saturday, unsubstantiated rumors started swirling on his social media site, Truth Social.
Truth Social users posted memes suggesting that President Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton was behind the attack at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and argued that there might have been multiple assailants. They hailed Trump as a heroic figure, circulating the now-ubiquitous photos of his bloodied face and ear.
Right-wing conspiracy theories are par for the course on Truth Social, a niche social media platform dominated by conservative political discourse. Over the years, Trump has used the site to repeat his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and to criticise the judges and prosecutors involved in the criminal cases against him.
Since the shooting, Trump has posted occasional updates, reporting that a bullet had pierced his right ear. On Sunday, he said it was "God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening."
Since the attack, Truth Social coursed with an unusual degree of anger. "Let us know if there's anything you would like 100 MILLION RED BLOODED AMERICAN PATRIOTS to do for our country," one user wrote in a post addressed to Trump. "Say the word Sir, say the word."
Kash Patel, a Trump confidant who in the past has threatened to target journalists for prosecution if the former president regains the White House, took a more measured stance in a post Saturday evening. "Now is not the time to attack the media," he said. "Let law enforcement and secret service do their jobs."
"Anyone putting out speculation and false information does not deserve our attention and has shown you what their priorities are," he added.
But soon, another user responded to his message with an all-caps missive: "HOW DOES ANYONE TRUST ANYTHING THIS GOVERNMENT/DOJ SAYS?? WE CAN'T."