The Rising Tide of Violence and Conspiracy Around Trump’s Presidency

In a grim pattern that no American should shrug off, three separate attempts to kill Donald Trump have unfolded over the last year, each involving armed individuals driven by conspiracy-fueled rage and delusion. The latest, at the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, saw Cole Tomas Allen try to bypass metal detectors armed with guns and knives. Though stopped before reaching the event, the incident adds to a troubling tally of violent acts targeting the former president.

The first attempt came in July 2024 when Thomas Matthew Crooks fired an AR-15 at Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania, missing by mere inches before being shot dead by Secret Service agents. Another episode involved Ryan Wesley Routh, caught with a semiautomatic rifle near Trump’s Florida golf course. And in a lesser-known but equally alarming case, Austin Tucker Martin trespassed at Mar-a-Lago armed with a shotgun and gasoline, apparently obsessed with the so-called Epstein Files conspiracy.

What unites these attackers is not just their violent intent but their shared immersion in wild conspiracy theories. Allen, for example, believes the 2024 assassination attempt was staged — a belief shockingly common among large segments of the population, including nearly half of Democratic voters according to a recent Manhattan Institute study. This widespread embrace of conspiratorial thinking reflects a fractured civic landscape where truth is often sacrificed to sensationalism and paranoia.

The Epstein Files conspiracy, which alleges that Trump and other powerful men engaged in horrific crimes, has become a particularly toxic fixation. Despite scant evidence, it fuels moral panic and violent fantasies, as seen in the motives of both Allen and Martin. This obsession has seeped into international propaganda and popular media, further muddying the waters of public discourse.

America has always had its share of eccentrics and radicals, but the current wave of violent, conspiracy-driven attacks signals a dangerous escalation. These incidents are not isolated freak events but symptoms of a broader crisis: a democracy under siege by misinformation, cynicism, and extremism.

We cannot afford to normalize or downplay these threats. Holding power to account means confronting the toxic narratives that inspire violence and erode trust in our institutions. The safety of public officials and the health of our democracy depend on it.