White House Correspondents’ Dinner Conspiracy Theories Run Amok; Tom Steyer Is Spending Big to Become Governor–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: April 27, 2026

Indy Digest: April 27, 2026

Ever since the news broke about the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, my social media feeds have been chock-full of posts espousing conspiracy theories. Yours probably have, too.

Wired magazine reports:

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, influencers, pundits, and random posters lit up social media platforms like X, Bluesky, and Instagram with conspiracy theories about the attack and the alleged shooter.

Both left- and right-wing accounts claimed, without evidence, that the attack was staged.

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and dozens of other high-profile administration officials and journalists were attending the dinner at the Hilton hotel in Washington, DC, when a suspect, later identified by media reports as Cole Tomas Allen from California, allegedly ran past security towards the event. …

On Bluesky, which has a predominantly left-leaning user base, many people simply wrote the word “STAGED” over and over again, echoing the response to the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024.

On X, many claimed the shooting was staged as a way to bolster support for Trump’s plan to build a new ballroom in the White House. The president referenced the ballroom in a press conference after the incident and a Truth Social post on Sunday morning. Many prominent online Trump boosters echoed the need for the ballroom, including far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec, Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik, and Tom Fitton, the right-wing activist who runs Judicial Watch.

Look, I get it. Our federal government is dishonest at never-before seen levels. PolitiFact’s Donald Trump page is full of statements deemed “false.” Recent articles written by CNN’s fact-checker regarding the Trump administration include headlines with phrases like “make no sense,” “nonsense,” “false claims” and “can’t be trusted.“

That said, let’s review the second paragraph from the aforementioned Wired story: “Both left- and right-wing accounts claimed, without evidence, that the attack was staged.” (Emphasis mine.)

Anyone has the right to speculate or make claims or have beliefs about what truly happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night—or about any news event, really, as long as those claims don’t cause harm.

But as of this writing, there is truly no legitimate evidence whatsoever that Saturday night’s events at the Washington Hilton were staged. It’s possible—highly unlikely, I think, but theoretically possible—that some evidence could emerge in the future.

But until such evidence emerges, claims that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack was staged have the same level of credibility as claims about “chemtrails,” or about Bigfoot, or that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Mpox cases are rising in California. SFGate reports: “California health officials are encouraging at-risk individuals to receive the mpox vaccine as cases rise in the state, the California Department of Public Health announced this month. … ‘So far in 2026, California is experiencing more than double the average weekly number of clade II cases compared to the same period in previous years—14.5 weekly cases in 2026 compared to 5.8 in 2024 and 3.4 in 2025,’ an April 17 California Department of Public Health news release says. While the risks of contracting the disease are low for the general public, the department is ‘strongly encouraging’ at-risk individuals, including gay and bisexual men, to get vaccinated. The vaccine, which is administered in two doses, helps protect against both clade I and clade II mpox.”

• Above, I wrote that “our federal government is being dishonest at never-before seen levels.” There’s a whole lot of apparent grift, too—and there’s plenty of evidence. The New York Times reports: “To build his mammoth White House ballroom, President Trump last summer chose Maryland-based Clark Construction. Since then, Mr. Trump has repeatedly sung the company’s praises, even saying he wanted it to refurbish projects all over Washington. In January, government documents show, the Trump administration secretly gave the company a no-bid contract to do another job at a sharply inflated price. The National Park Service wanted to repair two ornamental fountains in Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. The Biden administration in 2022 had estimated the work would cost $3.3 million. But Mr. Trump’s government agreed to pay Clark $11.9 million to do it, and later added tasks that increased the contract to $17.4 million, the documents show. The agency did so without considering offers from other firms, citing a rarely used ‘urgency’ exception to normal open-bidding procedures usually meant for emergencies like war or natural disasters. By law, federal agencies are generally supposed to seek competing bids to find the vendor that provides the best deal.”

• Scientists on an independent board that helps determine federal science funding have been suddenly fired. The Washington Post reports: “Members of the National Science Board, which helps govern the National Science Foundation, were dismissed in a message from the Presidential Personnel Office thanking them for their service, according to screenshots shared with The Washington Post: ‘On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I’m writing to inform you that your position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately.’ The National Science Board was established in 1950 to guide the governance of the National Science Foundation, in an unusual structure within the federal government that echoes the setup of a company board in the private sector. It helps guide an agency that operates Antarctic research stations, telescopes, a fleet of research vessels and supports basic science research in laboratories across the United States. … The board’s members are scientists and engineers from universities and industry and are appointed by the president, but they serve six-year terms, ensuring overlap between different administrations. There are typically 25 members, but some slots are empty—including the NSF director, which has been vacant since the former director who was appointed during the first Trump administration, Sethuraman Panchanathan abruptly resigned a year ago.” The Post reported that it was unclear how many board members were fired, and whether they’ll be replaced.

• Donald Trump is again calling for Jimmy Kimmel to be fired. CNBC says: “President Donald Trump said on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel should immediately be fired by ABC and parent company Walt Disney, joining his wife Melania Trump in calling out the late-night talk show host for a monolog he delivered prior to a shooting near a gathering of journalists and politicians over the weekend. Kimmel said last Thursday, in a parody segment on the upcoming White House correspondents’ dinner, that Melania Trump ‘had a glow like an expectant widow.’ … Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to remove comedy or news programs he dislikes or that have been critical of him and pressed regulators to take action to revoke licenses of broadcasters he says are unfair to him. Broadcasters have broad First Amendment rights to make jokes—even ones that are distasteful, experts note. Earlier on Monday, Melania Trump called Kimmel’s remarks ‘corrosive’ and a symptom of what she described as a political sickness in the United States.”

• Tom Steyer is spending big in his attempt to advance in the California governor’s race. Our partners at Calmatters report: “Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist and self-styled progressive candidate for governor, is on track to run the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history, having already spent more than $132 million. He’s saturated the Internet and TV as special interest groups ramp up advertising of their own ahead of the June 2 primary and county officials prepare to mail out ballots. Campaign finance disclosures filed late Thursday show that through mid-April, Steyer continued to outspend his opponents twenty- to thirty-fold, mostly to blitz the state with television ads that began airing early in the race. Nearly all of the money came from Steyer personally, $105 million of which he poured into the campaign from January through April 18. He’s already dwarfed the $73 million Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign spent fighting the recall election against him in 2021 and surpassed the amount Newsom’s political committee spent last fall to pass Proposition 50, the Democratic gerrymander effort with intense national interest.”

• And finally … today’s recall news involves … chocolate bonbons! This one is a mislabeling issue. USA Today says: “A chocolate manufacturer has recalled bonbons for undeclared walnuts. French Broad Chocolates PBC, based in North Carolina, is recalling Bette’s Bake Sale Bonbon Collections in 6-, 12- and 24-piece boxes due to undeclared walnuts, according to the company’s recall published by the Food and Drug Administration on April 24. People who have a walnut allergy or sensitivity run the risk of serious or life-threatening reactions if they consume these chocolates. French Broad Chocolates PBC was notified on April 20 by a team member about the labeling error, the company recall states. The labels for the Walnut Fudge and Peach Cobbler bonbons are switched in the printed guide, providing inaccurate information to consumers.“

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