Conspiracy Theorists Think Alleged Trump Assassin Had Inside Information About His Location

When quality broke Sunday that someone had a weapon adjacent the play people wherever Donald Trump was playing successful Florida, it didn’t instrumentality agelong for the satellite to observe different imaginable assassin was astir apt coming for the erstwhile president. But the conspiracy theories started astir immediately, with 1 thought becoming highly fashionable connected far-right societal media sites similar X. Conspiracy theorists are convinced the feline who brought an AK-style weapon to the play people indispensable person been tipped disconnected astir Trump’s determination from idiosyncratic wrong the national government.

“How does idiosyncratic who’s from North Carolina and lives successful Hawaii cognize wherever to beryllium successful Florida, astatine the nonstop location, astatine the nonstop play course, wherever Trump made a past infinitesimal determination to play golf?” a right-wing influencer named Phillip Buchanan, much commonly known arsenic Catturd, tweeted connected Monday.

How does idiosyncratic who's from North Carolina and lives successful Hawaii cognize wherever to beryllium successful Florida, astatine the nonstop location, astatine the nonstop play course, wherever Trump made a past infinitesimal determination to play golf?

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) September 16, 2024

Buchanan is referring to the alleged attempted assassin Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old who lived successful North Carolina passim astir of his beingness until moving to Kaaawa, Hawaii successful 2018, according to the Associated Press. Routh allegedly had a weapon adjacent the play people earlier helium was spotted by a Secret Service cause who fired connected him. There’s nary denotation Routh ever fired a changeable astatine Trump, and helium was apprehended aboriginal portion allegedly fleeing successful an SUV. Local instrumentality enforcement posted bodycam footage of the apprehension connected Facebook, which happened astir 45 minutes aft helium archetypal fled the Trump play course.

Routh was charged Monday greeting with 2 weapon crimes, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, according to the Washington Post. It’s unclear what helium whitethorn person been charged with if helium wasn’t already a felon and had allegedly scratched disconnected the serial number. Just having a weapon adjacent a play people isn’t needfully a transgression successful Florida if you didn’t occurrence it.

The thought that it mightiness beryllium hard for anyone to find Trump’s determination is benignant of comic if you deliberation astir it connected conscionable the astir basal level. Trump was playing astatine a play people with his sanction connected it, Trump International Golf Club successful West Palm Beach, Florida, arsenic helium infamously does that each the time. It was besides made nationalist connected Monday that Routh was successful the country for astir 12 hours earlier helium was confronted by the Secret Service, according to the AP. One tin deduce that Routh was staking retired the place, conscionable arsenic the shooter successful Butler, Pennsylvania, who took a changeable astatine Trump did backmost successful July.

Mike Adams, the laminitis of the fringe wellness tract Natural News, tweeted astir the conspiracy mentation connected Sunday arsenic well. Adams, who has appeared connected Alex Jones’ show and goes by “the Health Ranger,” adjacent claimed to person a “source” with peculiar cognition of what happened.

“A root tells maine the leak of Trump’s whereabouts is coming from Homeland Security, not USSS. Homeland Security is leaking determination details to FBI, and FBI is moving the assassins. The full apical enactment of the FBI is desperately trying to fig retired however to destruct Trump, portion the loyal elements of US Secret Service are trying to halt it,” Adams wrote.

There’s a batch to unpack there, including the information that USSS (the U.S. Secret Service) is nether the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But it’s besides absorbing to spot idiosyncratic reason that the FBI, an bureau that has virtually ne'er had a manager who was thing but a registered Republican, was really a concealed left-wing enactment trying to termination Trump. But Adams didn’t halt there.

“Homeland Security and US State Dept are full-on treasonous transgression ops astatine this point. If Homeland can’t destruct Trump soon, State Dept volition marque definite a warfare begins with Russia. If they fail, hundreds of apical radical wrong FBI and Homeland are going to either fly the state oregon beryllium criminally prosecuted nether a Trump presidency. This is what’s astatine stake,” Adams continued.

A root tells maine the leak of Trump's whereabouts is coming from Homeland Security, not USSS. Homeland Security is leaking determination details to FBI, and FBI is moving the assassins. The full apical enactment of the FBI is desperately trying to fig retired however to destruct Trump,…

— HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) September 16, 2024

Laura Loomer, who was precocious spotted exiting Trump’s level earlier the caller statesmanlike statement successful Philadelphia and attending a 9/11 memorial with the erstwhile president, besides stoked the flames of conspiracy theories by heavy suggesting the imaginable shooter had concealed accusation astir wherever Trump would beryllium connected Sunday. But dissimilar Adams, she didn’t assertion to person a root this time. Loomer often claims to person sources for her ridiculous claims, similar erstwhile she tried to accidental an detonation astatine the U.S.-Canada borderline back successful 2023 was really the enactment of extremist Islamic terrorists.

“Really makes you wonderment however the shooter knew wherever President Trump would be!” Loomer tweeted connected Sunday. But there’s nary grounds Routh had immoderate benignant of wrong information, nary substance what radical similar Loomer are trying to say.

Really makes you wonderment however the shooter knew wherever President Trump would be! pic.twitter.com/t7NsDcUJZc

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 16, 2024

Natalie Winters, co-host of Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room, tweeted suggestively astir the imaginable assassin arsenic well. “How did helium cognize Trump’s play schedule?” Winters wrote connected Sunday.

As wide influencer Ron Filipkowski joked, helium astir apt knew Trump’s play docket because, “it was a time that ends successful ‘y.'” Trump is alternatively good known for perpetually golfing. The erstwhile president does ain a fig of play clubs with his sanction connected them, aft all, and often played play portion helium was successful office. In fact, he’s estimated to person played astir 261 rounds of play portion president, according to the Washington Post.

It was a time that ends successful ‘y.’ pic.twitter.com/3MTUQgKdqU

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 15, 2024

Newsweek, which was a respected mag successful the 20th period earlier regularly platforming right-wing propaganda, helped substance the conspiracy theories connected Monday by interviewing Chris Swecker.

“The biggest question to reply is: ‘How did the would-be assassin cognize to beryllium astatine that determination astatine that time?'” Swecker reportedly told Newsweek. “There are lone 3 imaginable answers: He guessed and got precise lucky; helium conducted surveillance connected Trump and followed him to the play people oregon helium had wrong accusation astir Trump’s schedule.”

Swecker continued, “The past reply is scary and has implications that different idiosyncratic was involved.”

Who’s Chris Swecker? He’s the erstwhile adjunct manager of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division from 2004 to 2006 who has much precocious turned into a talking caput who often appears connected Fox News.

It wasn’t conscionable conspiracy theories astir the imaginable shooter’s determination that person been spreading since Sunday. Ian Carroll, a close helping influencer and conspiracy theorist, tweeted a video speculating that Routh was a “CIA asset.”

“Is this grounds the Trump assassin was a CIA asset? It’s inactive early, don’t leap to immoderate conclusions. I’m conscionable retired present doing the FBIs [sic] occupation for them due to the fact that we each cognize Chris Ray engaged prepping the screen up arsenic we speak,” Carroll wrote, misspelling the past sanction of FBI manager Christopher Wray.

Conspiracy theorists ever importune the CIA is someway involved, similar erstwhile they insisted the archetypal attempted assassin was brainwashed by the CIA utilizing techniques from MK Ultra, the notorious experiments from the 20th century. The CIA denied those alternatively weird allegations.

Then determination were radical similar Matt Wallace, a right-wing property connected X who’s a large instrumentality of posting open-ended questions that marque the scholar conjecture the value of what he’s posting.

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS IMAGE TIME MAGAZINE POSTED 4 DAYS AGO ON 9/11 ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/Jw3NOJO68t

— Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) September 15, 2024

The accusation present appears to beryllium that Time mag knew up of clip that idiosyncratic would effort to assassinate Trump connected the play course. Or something. Shouting successful all-caps that you request to “pay adjacent attention” without really stating what you mean explicitly, allows radical to conscionable work immoderate they privation into the tweet. The constituent of these conspiracy theories isn’t to contiguous a logical lawsuit oregon a coherent wide worldview. The constituent is to disturbance the cookware online and get radical riled up.

That tweet from Wallace has implicit 8 cardinal views astatine the clip of this writing, apt acknowledgment successful nary tiny portion to the information that Wallace buys “verification” connected X, a work that utilized to beryllium escaped to combat the impersonation of users. But Elon Musk started offering the bluish checkmark for $8 per month, allowing the accidental for anyone to get boosted by the X algorithm and seen by much radical if they forked implicit immoderate money.

Guys similar Musk were peculiarly delicate astir the code of the governmental sermon starring up to Sunday, blaming the shooting connected Democrats.

“The incitement to hatred and unit against President Trump by the media and starring Democrats needs to stop,” Musk wrote portion quote-tweeting Donald Trump Jr.

The incitement to hatred and unit against President Trump by the media and starring Democrats needs to stop. https://t.co/3gMWEk1pku

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 16, 2024

Musk’s pearl-clutching is peculiarly amusing erstwhile you retrieve that the billionaire openly wondered wherefore Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hadn’t been assassinated yet. Musk deleted his tweet aboriginal connected Sunday, posting a mates of tweets trying to suggest helium was “joking.”

For his part, Trump himself dialed up the heated rhetoric connected Monday portion penning connected Truth Social that “terrorists” were crossing the borderline illegally and that “the bullets are flying” owed to “Communist Left Rhetoric.” It should beryllium noted, of course, that the lone bullets flying connected Sunday were coming from a weapon owned by the Secret Service and the imaginable assassin ne'er got a changeable off, arsenic acold arsenic we know.

“Allowing millions of people, from places unknown, to INVADE and instrumentality implicit our Country, is an unpardonable sin,” Trump wrote earlier going into all-caps mode.

“OUR BORDERS MUST BE CLOSED, AND THE TERRORISTS, CRIMINALS, AND MENTALLY INSANE, IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM AMERICAN CITIES AND TOWNS, DEPORTED BACK TO THEIR COUNTIES OF ORIGIN. WE WANT PEOPLE TO COME INTO OUR COUNTRY, BUT THEY MUST LOVE OUR NATION, AND COME IN LEGALLY AND THROUGH A SYSTEM OF MERIT. THE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT US AS FOOLS, THEY ARE STEALING OUR JOBS AND OUR WEALTH. WE CANNOT LET THEM LAUGH ANY LONGER. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” helium wrote.

There are 50 days until Election Day.