The White House’s J6 Revisionism Includes a Wild New Conspiracy Theory

The White House marked the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack by posting a stunning display of alternate history on its official website. 

A new page entitled “January 6: A Date Which Will Live In Infamy” appeared on WhiteHouse.gov on Tuesday. It was filled with many of the blatantly false narratives President Trump and his allies have promoted in the years since thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an effort to prevent the certification of his loss in the 2020 election. But along with the more standard, now-familiar January 6 denialism, the White House website included a suggestion that assassination attempts against Trump have been orchestrated by rogue forces inside the government.

The primary feature of the White House’s site was a timeline presenting the alternate history of the attack and ensuing investigations that culminated in an entry detailing Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, which the page described as “TRIUMPH OVER TYRANNY.” That entry also suggested Trump’s win came after a government plot to kill him.

“Despite relentless Deep State efforts to imprison, bankrupt, and assassinate him—all designed to sabotage his political comeback through fabricated indictments, invasive raids, and rigged show trials—President Trump emerges triumphant,” the site said.

Trump and his allies began to popularize the notion of a “deep state” conspiracy against him during his first term as he faced federal investigations for his conduct. The term functioned as a nebulous scapegoat to rebut any allegations of impropriety against Trump. But the new White House website seems to go much further, implying these same forces have now turned to assassination.

During the 2024 campaign there were assassins who targeted Trump as he ran to return to office. Most notably, Trump was injured from a passing bullet shot by a man named Thomas Crooks as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. A little over two months later, a man named Ryan Routh was found lying in wait with a rifle as Trump golfed at a course in Florida. Crooks was killed at the scene in Butler and his political beliefs remain somewhat mysterious. In a handwritten letter provided to law enforcement by an associate, Routh indicated he found Trump “unfit” to lead. Routh was convicted of attempted assassination and other federal charges in December. There is absolutely no known indication Crooks or Routh had ties to any larger plot. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the apparent assertion the “deep state” was involved in these attempts on Trump’s life. They also did not respond to questions about whether there is any evidence for that shocking claim.

This isn’t the first time prominent Trump allies have promoted the idea that Butler may have been part of a grand conspiracy. In October 2024, the far right broadcaster and activist Jack Posobiec and a co-author published a book entitled “Bulletproof: The Truth about the Assassination Attempts on Donald Trump.” The book, which featured a foreword from the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., posits multiple supposed “scenarios” for the assassination attempt, including the possibility it was an “inside job.” Posobiec’s version of that idea brings in dark forces in the government, the media, and Democrats. 

“A version of the inside job hypothesis is, in our view, the most compelling narrative,” the book says, adding later, “The shadow elite, the oligarchical panopticon, that opaque collective networked institutional organism of the unelected managerial class of the military-intelligence-media industrial complex, all associated with the Democratic Party, they among all potential suspects have a uniquely known motive — to stop Trump.” 

Posobiec has long been associated with outlandish and thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories, including the “Pizzagate” fiasco. 

The assassination attempts against Trump have become something of an article of faith among some Trump supporters who see his survival as evidence of divine intervention on his behalf. Along with this near-religious devotion, both Trump supporters and opponents have gone down the rabbit hole with online content variously claiming the event was staged or some type of grand plot.  

Trump and his allies have never been shy about promoting absurd narratives and dark conspiracy theories to animate his base and attack his rivals, and the White House’s January 6 site is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Among other things, the webpage advances the idea that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, which has been debunked by officials at every level of government including members of the Republican Party and officials from Trump’s first administration. The page also focuses on the role of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, in the security lapses that day without acknowledging the Republican Senate majority leader’s authority over the Capitol Police or the president’s oversight of the D.C. National Guard. It also frames the people who attacked police officers and broke into the Capitol as “patriotic” and “peaceful protesters.” In order to promote this false narrative, the site frames Trump’s speech wherein he encouraged the crowd to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” as “explicitly calling for peaceful protest.”

Overall, in a wild piece of projection, the website claims it is the Democrats and Trump’s rivals who have “masterfully reversed reality after January 6.” While the facts make abundantly clear it is actually the White House doing this — including on this particular webpage — the site’s depiction of the effects of this type conspiratorial misinformation is dead on.

“This gaslighting narrative allowed them to persecute innocent Americans, silence opposition, and distract from their own role in undermining democracy,” the site says.

A gaslighting narrative weaponized against opponents and the democracy at large is exactly what this is.