TRUMP-WASN’T-SHOT THEORIES PROLIFERATE. From the moment former President Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania, there have been people, usually his political opponents, who have suggested that Trump was not actually shot. Of course, there were the usual conspiracy nuts who claimed it was all made up. But there were also more mainstream figures who suggested that Trump was not hit by a bullet from the would-be assassin’s gun but rather a bit of shrapnel that came from…somewhere.

The first theory held that a bullet had actually shattered a glass teleprompter panel, and a shard of glass then hit Trump’s ear. That theory suffered from the fact that the teleprompter panels were not hit by bullets and appeared to be intact after the shooting. But that did not stop the theorists from starting with the glass and going on from there.