President Donald Trump and others in his circle have portrayed political violence as a problem exclusively or mostly on the left, which has then been used as justification for proposals that seek to crack down on left-leaning groups. While there is evidence of a rise in left-wing violence in recent years, data show that political violence in America spans the ideological spectrum.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation on social media began clouding coverage of the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump almost immediately after it happened. We addressed several of those claims.
Viral online posts make the unfounded claim that a woman at former President Donald Trump’s July 13 rally acted “suspicious,” suggesting that she might have been involved in a plot to assassinate Trump, and that a QAnon-related character may have also been involved. The FBI has said that the “investigation to date indicates the shooter acted alone.”
Posts from the anonymous online forum 4Chan have been spreading the false claim that Secret Service officials prevented an agent named “Jonathan Willis” from shooting former President Donald Trump’s attempted assassin. The Secret Service has no employee by that name, and the claim is “categorically false,” the agency said.
While speaking about the potential loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, former President Donald Trump said if he isn’t elected, “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”