I wrote earlier on Saturday about Wired's new piece claiming that MAGA (Candace Owens, Joe Kent, and some anonymous posters on a QAnon Telegram channel) is beginning to believe that candidate Donald Trump's assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, was staged. As I said, it was chilling that the majority of the people in the replies wondered how it had taken MAGA so long to figure out what they all knew immediately. Of course, it was staged. Sure, one of Trump's supporters in the stands was shot to death sheltering his family, but that was a risk they were willing to take.
These people certainly weren't MAGA, and posted ridiculous close-ups of Trump's ear to prove that he wasn't shot. I remember the immediate theory was that a bullet had shattered one of the teleprompter screens and a shard of glass had grazed Trump. People posted that there was no blood, and it was a ketchup packet.
One of the most insane people we cover on Twitchy is author Joyce Carol Oates. I first read one of her short stories in my high school English class in 1985. It was OK, but it certainly didn't compel me to track down her other works.
Oates doesn't type out the name Trump — she uses asterisks — which is pretty immature for someone who's 87 years old. She replied to a post by Morgan Freeman (not the good one).
Donald Trump personally shut down the investigation into his staged assassination attempt in Butler, PA.
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) April 18, 2026
Did he now?
(to his credit, T***p has kept very quiet about the "assassination attempt" in Butler PA. likely, he is embarrassed about its staginess & doesn't want to draw any more attention to it. among numerous theories is the theory that it was "staged" but not rehearsed & much went… https://t.co/IKZGPJN2K5
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) April 18, 2026
"… wrong, not least that it looked so awkward, amateurish.)"
LOL you absolute psychopath
— Name cannot be blank (@realchrishynes) April 18, 2026
What's an assassination supposed to look like?
What is wrong with you?
— Matt DeLuca (@MattDeLuca) April 18, 2026
She wasn't done.
my informal Twitter survey: if you believe in the "assassination attempt" in Butler PA, do you also believe that J. Epstein killed himself & that T***p won the 2020 election?
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) April 18, 2026
all responses welcome. https://t.co/IKZGPJN2K5
We ll be lucky to ever find out the full truth of what went down in Butler.Whether it was staged or a suicidal teen was manipulated into martyrdom,there’s something they’re desperately trying to hide from us.Its always something worse than any of us could even imagine
— Ed Adams (@uhhhhhuhhhuh) April 18, 2026
it certainly needs to be investigated seriously--but this isn't likely to happen while T***p is in power.
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) April 18, 2026
one of numerous inexplicable events within the past several years that, lacking thorough investigation by the media, passes into a cloud of speculation & skepticism. while… https://t.co/ezU5ELFHy2
"… the "assassination attempt" looked staged it did involve deaths; & if it involved deaths, in what way could it have been staged? as hard to believe that the debacle, complete with swiftly healing ear, was not staged as to believe that it was."
Imagine being her editor. You'd have to fix the capitalization of every sentence.
"Lacking thorough investigation by the media" … like Joe Biden's cognitive decline, or Eric Swalwell's rape allegations.
Again, it's absolutely unreal to me how many people think this was staged. Did it help Trump's campaign? Absolutely — it gave us that indelible "Fight! Fight! Fight!" image of a real leader. But that doesn't mean some psycho tried to kill him and missed his head by a matter of an inch.
They “staged” an assassination with life fire rounds fired at the president, endangering the life of innocent bystanders?
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) April 18, 2026
That's what they believe.
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