Before I start, I will acknowledge that most people on either side of the political divide are rightly outraged and concerned about Saturday’s assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Unfortunately, there are plenty of left-leaning members of the chattering class who are doing their very best to spin the incident in a way that advances their agenda.

Shortly after footage of the shooting went viral on social media, leftists on various social media platforms began immediately pretending that the shooting was staged to help Trump’s campaign. In fact, there were so many floating this lie that the term “staged” was trending on X.

In the latest episode, Dmitri Mehlhorn, a political advisor to LinkedIn co-founder and Democrat megadonor, Reid Hoffman, floated this theory in an email obtained by author Max Meyer.

In the email, Mehlhorn made the brilliant claim that “Political violence is always either real or staged,” and acknowledged that it is possible that the attempt on Trump’s life was legitimate. Then, he descended into a rather bizarre fantasy about the incident.

The other possibility – which feels horrific and alien and absurd in America, but is quite common globally – is that this “shooting” was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash. This is a classic Russian tactic, such as when Putin killed 300 civilians in 1999 and blamed it on terrorists to ride the backlash to winning power.

Mehlhorn went on to characterize the attack as “a classic Putin play,” and claimed that this theory is “more plausible” than the notion that a deranged individual actually tried to murder Trump.

But wait, it gets even more bizarre. Mehlhorn then expresses outrage that major media outlets and influencers are not peddling this narrative. “I skimmed a few headlines just now. NOT ONE NEWSPAPER OR OPINION LEADER IN AMERICA IS WILLING TO OPENLY CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY THAT TRUMP ANND PUTIN STAGED THIS ON PURPOSE,” he wrote:

MAX MEYER EXCLUSIVE:

I have obtained the sick, twisted email in which @reidhoffman's chief political advisor Dmitri Mehlhorn says that newspapers need to consider that Trump may have staged the shooting - with PUTIN.

He says, "this is a classic Putin play"

Here it is in full: pic.twitter.com/EcX5MH4w1G

— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) July 14, 2024

Mehlhorn isn’t the only one on the left peddling the falsehood that the assassination attempt was staged. Others have been repeating these lies, while also making up others to somehow spin this incident to the left’s advantage.

The issue has become so ridiculous that even PolitiFact, whose members would likely love for the shooting to have been staged, have pushed back against this stupid narrative.

I don’t believe for a second that folks like Mehlhorn actually believe that Saturday’s shooting was somehow staged. The entire theory makes no sense.

One person actually died in the attack. Two others were wounded. Moreover, the shooter missed his mark, only grazing Trump’s ear. Anyone who believes that some 20-year-old could pull that off on purpose has been watching far too many movies.

At this point, it makes no sense to pretend the assassination attempt was a false flag – and folks on the left know it. They are entertaining this fantasy for two reasons: They don’t want to admit there are people in their camp that could carry out such an act and they know the failed attempt to murder Trump will only help his campaign. These people are motivated purely by politics.

In fact, here’s a prediction: If it does turn out that the shooter was a far leftist who wanted Trump dead, folks on the left will continue pretending the shooting was staged. If it turns out that the gunman was a Republican who happens to be anti-Trump, the theory will disappear overnight.

If the latter scenario proves true, there will be no reason for folks on the left to continue acting as if the incident is part of some conspiracy to boost the former president because they can simply blame it on the right. Either way, it will be clear that the “staged” narrative is nothing more than propaganda aimed at mitigating the positive impact of the incident on Trump’s campaign.