Government & Politics Theories

The October 1, 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, which killed 60 and wounded over 400 — the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Various conspiracy theories claim multiple shooters, ISIS involvement, MGM/security cover-up, or government-directed false-flag operations.

The July 20, 1993 death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia, officially ruled suicide by five separate investigations. Conspiracy claims allege murder by the Clintons or a cover-up of connections to Whitewater or Hillary Clinton.

The Bush administration's 2002-2003 claim that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had operational ties to al-Qaeda, used as a central justification for the 2003 US invasion. The 9/11 Commission, Senate Intelligence Committee reports, and a 2006 Pentagon IG report all concluded no such operational relationship existed.

The false claim that the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was staged by the US government or involved "crisis actors" rather than being conducted by the Tsarnaev brothers. The real bombing killed 3 people and injured 260+.

The July 16, 1999 crash of a small aircraft off Martha's Vineyard piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr., killing him, his wife Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette. Conspiracy claims allege assassination by the Clintons, a senior Kennedy family cabal, or staged disappearance — the latter a QAnon staple.

A satirical movement launched in 2017 by Peter McIndoe claiming that all birds in the United States were exterminated by the CIA between 1959-2001 and replaced with surveillance drones. Designed as parody, it was widely shared without the satire being recognized.

The false claim, most prominently promoted by Alex Jones and Infowars, that the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut was staged by "crisis actors" to justify gun control legislation. The shooting killed 20 first-graders and 6 adults.

Claims that Denver International Airport (opened 1995) houses an underground New World Order bunker, hosts occult murals, and that its dedication capstone contains coded Freemason messages.

The claim, popularized by British writer David Icke from 1999 onward, that a race of shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from Alpha Draconis secretly rule the Earth by posing as political and royal elites including the British Royal Family.

The 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash has spawned decades of conspiracy theories alleging assassination by British intelligence, the Royal Family, or other state actors — most forcefully championed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed who died in the same crash.

The false claim that a child sex-trafficking ring linked to Democratic Party officials operated out of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington DC, based on misreadings of John Podesta's hacked 2016 emails.

A sprawling conspiracy movement originating on 4chan and 8chan in October 2017, centered on anonymous "Q" posts alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile elites controls government, media, and finance, and that Donald Trump is leading a secret war to expose them.

A loose coalition of researchers and activists who reject the official account of the September 11, 2001 attacks, alleging government foreknowledge, controlled demolition of the World Trade Center, or a staged Pentagon strike.