Influencers Are Racing to Profit From the Trump Shooting

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Pro-Trump influencers and supporters raced to put out merchandise featuring the image of Trump with blood on his face and a fist in the air just hours after the deadly shooting and assassination attempt on Saturday.

By Sunday afternoon, right-wing activist Candace Owens and former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka had released shirts with the image. “For God and Country,” Owens’ shirt read. “The President of America,” said Gorka’s.

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Far-Right Extremists Call for Violence and War After Trump Shooting

Far-right communities online lit up on Saturday night with calls for violence, retribution, and civil war in the wake of the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.

“I guess they really do want war,” a member of the pro-Trump message board known as The Donald wrote on Saturday evening in a post that has since been deleted.

Many other members of the message board, which played a significant role in coordinating activities leading up to the Capitol riot on January 6, agreed in responses to the post.

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Trump Shooting Conspiracies Are Coming From Every Direction

In the minutes and hours after a 20-year-old repeatedly shot at former president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, social media platforms, message boards, and encrypted chat groups lit up with conspiracies about the shooting.

From wild claims that the incident was a “deep state plot” devised by President Joe Biden to allegations that the entire incident was staged to boost Trump’s chances of winning the election, the conspiracies came from all sides of the political divide. They were driven not only by online conspiracists and random accounts online, but also by elected lawmakers.

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Elon Musk ‘Fully Endorses’ Donald Trump After Deadly Rally Shooting

Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for reelection Saturday evening shortly after gunshots appear to have been fired at the former president’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump was escorted off the stage by the Secret Service and seen with blood on his face afterwards.

“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk wrote on X Saturday.

A few minutes later, Musk posted, “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt.” The X, formerly Twitter, owner also shared a photograph of Trump raising his fist with blood on his face, as Secret Service agents surrounded him.

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The Kamala Harris Conspiracies Are Here

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After President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate, speculations that Vice President Kamala Harris may fill the void are everywhere. Today on WIRED Politics Lab, how the far right is already pushing racist and misogynistic conspiracies that question Harris’ ability to be president. Plus, why RFK Jr. is looking to capitalize on the moment.

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This Is the Moment RFK Jr. Has Been Waiting For

The presidential debate on June 27 between President Joe Biden and former president and convicted felon Donald Trump was widely panned as a shit show. Trump lied about issues like abortion, taxes, and the Capitol riot on January 6, while Biden struggled to respond to questions and appeared lost or confused.

In the days since, Biden has been fighting for his legacy and his candidacy: Post-debate polls have not been favorable to the president. An AARP poll released earlier this week in the swing state of Wisconsin showed Biden lagging behind Trump by six percentage points, with 9 percent of respondents preferring Kennedy. A poll from the Cook Political Report found that Trump now leads Biden 47 percent to 44 percent percent in the “the most drastic shift in the race all year.” Pundits and some Democrats have called for Biden to leave the race.

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Silicon Valley Hasn’t Embraced Trump. But It’s Wavering on Biden

The supposed Silicon Valley revolt happened even before the disastrous presidential debate. “The Blue Wall of tech is crumbling before our very eyes,” Ryan Selkis, the founder and CEO of Messari crypto, wrote on X last month. He was referencing a then-upcoming event: Just days after Donald Trump was convicted on 34 criminal counts in a hush-money case, organizers of a San Francisco reception for the former president announced that it had sold out, with attendees paying $50,000 and up.

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Reid Hoffman Hasn't Given Up on Biden Just Yet

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Hey, everyone! It’s Makena. I’m back after a charming getaway to the Adirondacks. A lot has happened since I’ve been gone. Namely, what the heck is happening with Joe Biden and the Democratic nomination?

Luckily, I spoke with Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder and Democratic mega-donor about Biden and whether Silicon Valley politics are swaying right.

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She Made $10,000 a Month Defrauding Apps like Uber and Instacart. Meet the Queen of the Rideshare Mafia

To understand Priscila Barbosa—the pluck, the ambition, the sheer balls—we should start at the airport. We should start at the precise moment on April 24, 2018, when she concluded, I’m fucked.

Barbosa was just outside customs at New York’s JFK International Airport, 5-foot-1, archetypally pretty even without her favorite Instagram filter. She was flanked by two rolling suitcases stuffed with clothes and Brazilian bikinis and not much else. The acquaintance who had invited her to come from Brazil on a tourist visa, who was going to drive her to Boston? The one who promised to help her get settled, saying that she could make good money like he did, driving for Uber and Lyft?

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How Disinformation From a Russian AI Spam Farm Ended up on Top of Google Search Results

In the space of 24 hours, a piece of Russian disinformation about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife buying a Bugatti car with American aid money traveled at warp speed across the internet. Though it originated from an unknown French website, it quickly became a trending topic on X and the top result on Google.

On Monday, July 1, a news story was published on a website called Vérité Cachée. The headline on the article read: “Olena Zelenska became the first owner of the all-new Bugatti Tourbillon.” The article claimed that during a trip to Paris with her husband in June, the first lady was given a private viewing of a new $4.8 million supercar from Bugatti and immediately placed an order. It also included a video of a man that claimed to work at the dealership.

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