Far-right social media users spread an image of a transgender woman, falsely positioning her as Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump.
Per Erin Reed, a reporter on LGBTQ+ issues, the now-deleted post on X purported that the trans woman, who Reed identified as Rose, was another photo of Crooks — a claim that conspiracist Alex Jones quickly amplified, along with crypto influencer Matt Wallace, who boasts nearly 2 million followers.
Gaps in X’s content moderation allowed the post to spread across the platform, gaining at least 7 million views and countless more through quote-tweeted posts, before its removal.
Rose, who was notified of the image after her friend sent her a post on Facebook, was reportedly alarmed by the false comparison.
“I’m just an artist, I enjoy drawing and writing, and occasionally playing video games. I’m literally the most average random person,” Rose told Reed. “A lot of people just went along with it simply [because] I’m trans.”
Trump, whose plans to ban gender-affirming care, restrict funding for medical facilities that treat trans patients, and ban trans people from serving in the military have garnered criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates, was targetted by Crooks, a cisgender white 20-year-old male whose motives are unknown, but who was a registered Republican described as “conservative” by those who knew him.
The far-right has previously been quick to falsely blame tragedies on trans individuals, including Arizona Congressperson Paul Gosar’s 2022 lie that the Uvalde shooter was a “transsexual leftist illegal alien.”
The viral baseless conspiracy theory comes amidst an uptick in acts of violence against trans people, and countless legislative and judicial attempts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights from right-wing officials.