Trump has lost control of the conspiracy theories

Donald TrumpTrump has lost control of the conspiracy theoriesTrump has long used conspiracy theories to his benefit. But now that he's president, he's the target of some of these influencers who have pushed those theories. Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Chelsea Stahl / NBC News; Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 1, 2026, 1:17 PM EDTBy Allan SmithConspiracy theories have been central to Donald Trump’s political rise. He was a leading promoter of the “birther” conspiracy theory targeting then-President Barack Obama, embraced outlandish theories about a “deep state” in the government and still pushes false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.But conspiracy theories, and the people who support them, are unpredictable and hard to control. Now, Trump is increasingly the subject of conspiracy theories on both the left and the right, with many of his onetime supporters increasingly viewing him with skepticism. This new dynamic played out immediately after Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with conspiracy theories and false claims flooding social media, questioning whether the assassination attempt was “staged” for Trump’s benefit. There is no evidence suggesting that is the case.Some of those who circulated that idea were once among Trump’s most vocal backers. “Was The Trump Whitehouse Corespondents Dinner Shooting Staged??” posted the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones, who has recently broken with Trump over the war with Iran. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who similarly broke with Trump over Iran and his handling of the release of information about the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, questioned why the suspect’s writing was released “almost immediately.” On the left, prominent progressive podcasters Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan released an epi...