‘Civil War 2’ hits new high for number of searches in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s rally shooting
Online searches for queries related to a “Civil War” have soared in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, it has been revealed.
Saturday, the day of the assassination attempt on the Republican nominee, and Sunday, saw major usage spikes on Google on phrases such as “Civil War 2” and “American Civil War,” New York Post reports.
Google Analytics showed that the search term “American Civil War” skyrocketed, hitting a 12-month high on Saturday in the aftermath of the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, shooting at the former president and grazing his ear, causing blood to streak across his face as his Secret Service detail swarmed around him.
The assassination attempt has given birth to a number of conspiracy theories, with some Republican lawmakers and right-wing personalities blaming President Joe Biden for the event, causing tensions to rise between political leanings against urgent calls for calm.
Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene baselessly alleged that “Democrats wanted this to happen” and have “wanted Trump gone for years and they’re prepared to do anything to make that happen”.
Others are calling out political commentary on Trump from Democrats and the Biden administration after the violent act on Saturday, such as Trump’s newly announced running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, posting on X that Democratic “rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination”.
Another search term to see a rise after the shooting was “Secret Service,” which also reached its highest spike in interest for the past five years on Saturday, the New York Post said.
Other terms also saw increased trends in searches, such as “long distance shooting”, “gun store near me”, and “how do I move