President Donald Trump was seemingly the target of an assassination attempt on Saturday — yet millions of Americans believe the event was “staged.”“Trump’s focus on his planned redecoration in the face of an apparent attempt on his life – the third in less than two years — has provoked a barrage of conspiracy theories,” wrote The Telegraph's Ed Cumming on Monday. Mere hours after Cole Thomas Allen allegedly tried to storm the White House Correspondents Dinner to shoot Trump, Trump called a press conference to demand completed construction of his proposed $400 million White House ballroom, Cumming pointed out, fueling the conspiracies.“The most prominent is that Trump and his administration staged the attack to help shore up the ballroom project, which he hopes to have completed before he leaves office in early 2029,” Cumming reported. “Authorities have stated they believe Allen acted alone and left a ‘manifesto’ in which he clearly stated he wanted to target officials in the Trump administration. But according to a report by The New York Times, the term ‘staged’ appeared in more than 300,000 posts on X by noon on Sunday.”He added, “On Bluesky, the social media network with a more Left-wing user base, many posts simply stated ‘staged’. Several prominent accounts reshared theories — without evidence — that were skeptical of the official version of events.”The skepticism is not limited to liberals. As Cumming pointed out, the flurry of supposed assassination attempts on Trump — as well as his habit of politically exploiting them to vilify his critics and push his agenda — has raised suspicions everywhere.“In recent months, former Trump supporters, such as Tucker Carlson, have suggested the FBI was involved in the Butler attack. Joe Kent, the former US National Counterterrorism Center director who resigned over the Iran war, used an interview with Carlson to raise his own doubts, including claiming – without evidence – that investigations into the Butler shooting were shut down prematurely,” Cumming wrote. “Some prominent Right-wing accounts have suggested that Saturday’s incident may have been staged, too, possibly in order to facilitate Trump’s ballroom.”He added, “Despite the rapid destruction of the old building, the new facility has run into trouble recently. In March, Judge Richard Leon temporarily halted construction, upholding a complaint by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) that Trump’s planned improvements required congressional approval. Work has resumed after an appeal, but is only allowed to continue until another hearing — due to take place on June 5 — is held.”Indeed, lending credibility to these conspiracy theories, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted shortly after the shooting, “I'm dropping a bill tomorrow. Let's build the Ballroom.” Similarly Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who often crosses over to support Republicans, likewise posted that critics of the ballroom have “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS). “We were there front and center,” Fetterman posted on X on Sunday. “That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these.”As Cumming reported, skeptics of the assassination attempt point to reactions like these as evidence that the whole thing was planned to help Trump advance his agenda.“Guy. It was staged.” political commentator Tom Santos posted on X. “We’re not stupid. Well, not all of us anyway. They’ve figured out the only thing that shifts public opinion is the idea of an assassination attempt. There are going to be many fake claims at pivotal political moments, for the rest of his term. Bookmark this. It’s near certain.”The influential activist Beks wrote on X, by contrast, that the proof the whole thing was staged was that the “grifters got their marching orders,” quoting social media posts from conservative activists Tom Fitton, Jack Posobiec, Libs of TikTok and Wall Street Mav urging the ballroom to be built.“The more that right wingers talk about the ballroom, the more it's going to seem staged to many people,” commentator David Pakman posted on X. “Jumping from ‘security should have been better in the lobby' to 'build Trump’s scam bribe ballroom’ is just ridiculous.”By contrast novelist Joyce Carol Oates cast doubt on the possibility of the ballroom shooting being staged… although she said she thinks one of the other supposed attempts on his life was not genuine.“Though I think it is highly possible that exceedingly awkward Butler PA was staged, I don't think that last night's D.C. shooting was staged,” Oates posted on X. “... For one thing, there was no bravado photo-op for [Trump], so no image to play on TV; nor was the shooter killed, the usual protocol for a staged incident. in addition, the shooter got nowhere near [Trump], so no dramatic pay-off.