TOI correspondent from Washington: Within minutes of gunfire erupting outside a Washington media dinner attended by President Trump, conspiracy theories flooded social media, reflecting the polarised environment in America in which even violent incidents are instantly refracted through partisan suspicion.
Online forums lit up with claims that the episode was "staged," - the hashtag trending on X - with users parsing video clips, eyewitness accounts, and body language to construct narratives. The swirl of speculation-unsubstantiated and often contradictory-underscored a broader erosion of trust in institutions and official accounts.
