The Trump Assassination Conspiracies Have Reached the Capitol
Plus: Five minutes to midnight on the government shutdown clock.
The grassy troll
Capitol Hill is full of conspiracy theorists. Whether we’re talking about the belief that the Great Depression was an inside job, the idea that California wildfires were the product of space lasers operated by a shadowy cabal of Jewish bankers, or a prophetic dream about “Federal squads” raiding homes, there is hardly a theory out there that someone in the 118th Congress has not considered and adopted.
The latest—and perhaps one of the most dangerous—theories to reach the halls of American power is that the recent attempted assassinations of Donald Trump were not the actions of troubled, isolated individuals, but the fruits of a larger plot.
It’s obviously important for lawmakers and federal investigators to probe every possible angle on these events, and federal agencies and congressional task forces are doing just that. But this is not that. Leaving aside expert testimony, rigorous forensics, and other features of real fact-finding work, some Republican lawmakers are instead trusting hunches and things they read on the internet to guide them to the true true.
You know it’s bad when the sentence begins with the words Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) uttered on Glenn Beck’s radio program in July after the first assassination attempt on Trump.
“I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist,” said the Arizona Republican. “But at the same time, I don’t want to, you know, rule anything out, because I don’t put it past some of the people in our government to do anything necessary to hold on to power.”
Since that interview, Crane and others have aired baseless theories and referred to a vague “they” responsible for trying to take Trump down. Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) said on Fox News that he knows the first assassination attempt was conducted by someone who received some form of help.