Maga World in turmoil: 'Trump attack was a set-up'

In recent weeks, as criticism of Donald Trump by his own supporters has peaked over the war against Iran, a new conspiracy theory has taken hold in the Maga world. Some of his most ardent supporters claim, in fact, that the tycoon staged the attempted assassination that took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024, and that he is now trying to cover it up as he did with the files on Jeffrey Epstein.

"I think it was all a charade," said one of Trump's strongest supporters, Tim Dillon, on his show last weekend. Dillon even suggested that the US president should admit that he organised the bombing 'to show Americans how important it was to vote for him and how far he was willing to go for them'.

Some of these theses started circulating months ago. In November, former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson began to insinuate that the FBI was somehow involved in the cover-up of the shooting, claiming on X that "the Bureau lied" about some details. But in recent weeks, with the tycoon increasingly on his own, the theory has been gaining traction on social media and right-wing podcasts.