It's Trump's fault that 24% of Americans think the attempts to assassinate him have been 'staged,' misinformation expert says

Donald Trump after being shot in the ear at a campaign event in 2014.

A new poll found that about one-quarter of Americans believe the latest assassination attempt against President Trump, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in late April, was staged, and a misinformation expert cited by The Washington Post blames President Trump for that phenomenon. 

The poll was commissioned by an organization called NewsGuard, which purports to evaluate the trustworthiness of news organizations, and conducted by YouGov during the last week of April and first week of May.

YouGov surveyed 1,000 Americans across the country and found that 30% of respondents believe at least one of the three assassination attempts against Trump over the last two years were "staged." The poll, rather shockingly, found that just 38% of Americans believe all three assassination attempts against Trump were authentic. Overall, the poll found 24% of Americans believe last month's assassination attempt was faked, and just 45% of those who were surveyed believe it was real.

According to the poll results, Democrats and younger Americans were more likely to believe one or all of the assassination attempts were staged. For instance, 55% of those who believe all three assassination attempts were staged were Democrats, the poll found. And 32% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 believe the attempts on Trump's life have been staged. 

Who is to blame for such a large swathe of Americans buying into these conspiracy theories? That would be Donald Trump, according to Joan Donovan, a so-called "misinformation expert" interviewed by The Washington Post. 

Donovan suggested that Trump's history as a reality TV show star and his affinity for showmanship have influenced people to hold certain conspiratorial beliefs surrounding the assassination attempts.

“It just seems incredibly Hollywood to imagine that this is staged,” Donovan said in reference to the latest attempt to kill Trump and members of his Cabinet. “The entire apparatus of the government has been turned into a reality TV show.” 

Donovan, a professor and researcher at Boston University, did not describe any studies or evidence to back up such a startling claim, and it doesn't appear that Liam Scott, the Washington Post reporter who wrote the story, pressed her for any. Essentially, a misinformation expert used (or was used by) a mainstream media outlet to spread misinformation and create a particular narrative about why a large amount of Americans view the attempts to assassinate Trump the way they do. 

Joan Donovan, a college professor who is said to be a "misinformation expert."

Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Boston University, Donovan led the Technology and Social Change Research Project, which focused on "misinformation," at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy. Donovan had a $3 million annual research budget over the four years she led the program from 2019 until she was pushed out in 2023. The only noteworthy thing her project produced was a study that, not surprisingly, blamed Trump for the events of Jan. 6, 2021 -- a narrative that was in high demand from the mainstream media at the time. 

In The Washington Post article, Donovan spoke in vague terms, but seemed to be trying to paint Trump as someone who has eroded trust in American government, and therefore, was to blame for such a large share of the population believing the assassination attempts were staged. 

"A lot of it has to do with people being very unsure about the reliability of all of our institutions," Donovan said. "Unfortunately, when governments or institutions are hiding the truth about what they’re up to or they’re playing fast and loose with certain regulations or they’re not imposing certain laws on different people. It is much easier to believe in a conspiracy against oneself than it is to believe that the system has become rotted.”

Meanwhile, on Monday Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old California man charged with attempting to assassinate Trump last month in D.C., pleaded not guilty. He faces a life sentence in prison if convicted.

Earlier this year, Ryan Routh was sentenced to life in prison plus seven years for attempting to assassinate Trump at one of his Florida golf courses in 2024. And Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old man who shot Trump in the ear at a rally in Butler, Pa., in July 2024, and fatally shot a spectator, was killed on the scene by a Secret Service sniper.