The Open Society Foundations, a non-profit set up by billionaire George Soros, denied claims from conservatives that the organization’s chairman issued a veiled threat against former President Donald Trump.
On Sunday, Chairman Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, shared an article to X detailing statistics related to crime and inflation. The article, published by the Atlantic, made an illustration for the piece by combining two stock images: one showing a bullet hole through glass, meant to represent crime, and a hand holding cash, intended to signify inflation.
Trump supporters, however, noted that the amount of cash in the photo totaled $47. Given their belief that Trump will become the 47th president after winning the 2024 election, the bullet hole and cash were seen as undeniable proof that Alex was cryptically threatening Trump with assassination.
Despite Alex having no involvement in the article’s publication, Trump supporters began calling on the FBI and Secret Service to open an investigation.
Others on X tagged everyone from Elon Musk to the CIA while calling for Alex to be incarcerated.
In a statement to the Daily Dot, a spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations denied that Alex’s post contained any secret double meaning.
“Alex was sharing the positive news that crime and inflation rates are trending downward—developments that should be celebrated by all Americans. Nothing more, nothing less,” the spokesperson said. “It’s amazing the lengths to which some people will go to try to distract and divide the country in the face of objectively good news.”
The Atlantic did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Dot.
Alex’s post has since garnered more than 2.1 million views and has been inundated with comments from outraged supporters of Trump.
“Everyone should report this post as a death threat,” one top-rated comment said.
It remains unclear whether the Secret Service is aware of the complaints. The Daily Dot attempted to reach the Secret Service but did not hear back by press time.
