‘False Flag’: Don Winslow raises questions on legitimacy of Correspondents' Dinner shooting

Following the reports of gunshots from the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday night, social media was flooded with conspiracy theories about the attack. Many have questioned whether the events were staged, with author and long-time critic of President Donald Trump, Don Winslow, calling the event a "false flag". In a series of posts on X, Winslow claimed the attack was "BS", while others claimed it was a ploy to get Trump's Ballroom plans approved. Meanwhile, the president and some who were at the event have dismissed the theories as "disturbing". 

A gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton hotel and was stopped before he breached the basement-level ballroom where Trump, the first lady, the vice president, and cabinet members were sitting, along with 2,500 guests to celebrate the First Amendment freedom of the press. After shots were fired, the president was evacuated, and the gunman, Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from California, was taken into custody. According to CBS, Allen emailed what a senior official called "a manifesto" to his family members before the attack. Almost as soon as the reports came out, conspiracy theories started floating on social media. 

In a post on X, Winslow pointed out that there were only two ways to look at the events, one where people would believe that the Secret Service is a "grossly incompetent collection of mall cops" who didn't even scan the suspect when he entered the building, or the second way was to see it as a "false flag stunt."  The author doubled down on his claims in another post, questioning why, after two previous assassination attempts, there would be a "lower level of security" with the president and all the important members of the administration present in the room. "It makes no sense. This is not a conspiracy theory. This was a FALSE FLAG imo," Winslow wrote.

Meanwhile, many far-left commentators, including Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, floated the idea that the shooting was staged as a ploy to make a case for Trump's 1,000-seat ballroom in the East Wing of the White House, which is currently facing legal challenges, as the president unilaterally approved the plans for its construction. "Shooting at the WHCD and all these cultists instantly start talking about Trump's ballroom," Piker wrote in his post. 

Following the incident, Trump spoke with CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell in an interview that aired Sunday night on "60 Minutes" and described the ordeal. While the president claimed he "wasn't worried" about what was happening and that he wanted to "see what was happening" before leaving the room, he also expressed hope to move more events to the new ballroom in the White House, which would be ready by 2028. 

Meanwhile, MS NOW hosts who were present at the event dismissed the conspiracy theories as "disturbing".  "One thing that I’m disturbed by as we woke up this morning is seeing folks on the internet say that this was a false flag, that we are basically all in cahoots to do, to say that this was staged," MS NOW host Eugene Daniels said on "The Weekend."

He added that it was frustrating to see such theories circulating, given how stressful the event had been. "It is frustrating, and it’s disturbing, and it shows that the issues that we have to try and fix in this country," he said.