SAN ANTONIO – Within minutes of an attempted assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, conspiracy theories began circulating.
Jon Taylor, chair of the department of political science and geography at UTSA, said conspiracies are often derived from a lack of concrete facts.
“Often they come from people not understanding the facts, trying to grasp what’s going on. Trying to understand details of a situation that is in many respects so big that it’s hard to fathom,” Taylor said.
There are still many questions up in the air after the shooting. The FBI identified the shooter but has yet to release a motive.
Taylor said people begin forming their own ideas of what occurred due to this lack of information.
“Americans have a hard time believing that lone wolves or lone nuts can actually take out a president,” he said.
People on both sides of the political aisle have claimed the opposite party orchestrated the shooting.
The Secret Service said claims that the former president’s request for extra security was turned down are “absolutely false.”
As for the relevance of the conversation around conspiracy theories, Taylor said it is important that they be debunked.
“It’s important because it needs to see the light of day, much like disinfectant,” he said. “You have to get these things out in the open to basically disprove them. Otherwise, you know, we’ll run rampant or run rampant with conspiracies forever.
