Taylor Lorenz Instagram – Minutes after Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., online users began flooding social media platforms with conspiracy theories.
They claimed the blood on former president Donald Trump’s ear was from a theatrical gel pack; that the shooting was a “false flag,” perhaps coordinated by the Secret Service in collaboration with the Trump campaign; that the scene of a bloodied Trump raising his fist under an American flag was “staged.”
As more Americans lose trust in mainstream institutions and turn to partisan commentators and influencers for information, experts say they are seeing a big uptick in the manufacture and spread of BlueAnon conspiracy theories, a sign that the communal warping of reality is spreading well beyond the right.
Reporter @taylorlorenz explains.
(Video by @drea_cornejo and Julie Yoon/The Washington Post) | Posted on 16/Jul/2024 04:03:43
