The attack on Donald Trump during a rally last weekend has spawned the inevitable conspiracy theories, both malicious attacks and ones that suggest the whole thing was set up to improve Trump’s own electoral image. But one of the most intriguing theories comes from one of the unlikeliest corners of American pop culture: a political satire from the ’90s.

Citizen Bob Roberts. In 1992, Tim Robbins directed and starred in ‘Citizen Bob Roberts,’ a dramatic comedy that recounted the political rise of a controversial yet acclaimed public figure who had denounced the spectacularization of American politics more than two decades earlier: a country singer with chillingly reactionary ideas.

A piece from Casablanca. Robbins, known for his work as ‘Citizen Bob Roberts’ and increasingly sidelined from major productions as his progressive ideas, which he shares with his ex-wife Susan Sarandon, were increasingly emphasized, denounced the populism of recent politicians. In this case, the protagonist’s status as a country singer also allowed him to take on the right wing of popular culture and its use as a weapon for political influence. The film’s best moments include video clips such as ‘Wall Street Rap’, which parodies Bob Dylan’s legendary ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’.

The attack was prepared. In the film, Roberts prepares a fake attack that will boost his popularity and motivate voters to vote for him — a plan that, of course, bears a striking resemblance to one of the weekend’s most pervasive conspiracy theories, which features a Trump with his face smeared with fake blood and a conveniently dead scapegoat accused of a crime.

Everything is rejected. Robbins had no choice but to respond to the comments on the subject with a post about a real assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. Those who deny the assassination attempt were really bothered.”

Robbins is on a completely different political spectrum than Trump, but he remembers how problematic it is to trivialize the lives of those who died in the attack: “They shot a human being yesterday. Another one was killed. They may not have been human. For those of you who agree with me politically, but let’s have some shame, guys, get over your blind hatred of these people. This collective hatred is killing our souls and consuming what’s left of our humanity.”

Movie attacks. Interestingly, this wasn’t the only film about the assassination attempt to pop up on social media this weekend. Of course, there was mention of Kevin Costner’s film ‘JFK’, which is itself a brilliant practical examination of conspiracy theory, already depicting the successful assassination of Kennedy and the entire investigation that followed.

There is also talk of David Cronenberg’s film ‘The Dead Zone’, adapted from Stephen King’s novel and taking on a more apocalyptic tone: the main character, played by Christopher Walken, has clairvoyant powers and sees that a political candidate (Martin Sheen) will come to power and trigger the end of the world. He decides that assassination is the only option and luckily (for the fate of the world) he fails to achieve his goal, but he exposes the politician who used a baby as a human shield and sees his chances of reaching Casablanca ruined. Luckily, Trump did not have the baby in his hand.

Title | Gage Skidmore on Tumblr

In Xataka | Was the attack on the Capitol a coup? No, but it is a sign of violence in a weak democracy