If you think it's crazy that they would do such a thing (lie to us to further their goals), look no further than the Iraq war, which was based on supposed evidence that the Saddam Hussein regime had weapons of mass destruction. However, it was later proven that the government had no such evidence and lied. Is it really that crazy to assume that these same actors would not lie to us about other things for other ends that they desire?

The Smith Mundt Act was repealed in 2012. This act previously prevented the US government from using false and/or misleading propaganda against its own population. Can you imagine a scenario where a decent government would want to repeal such an act? Is all of this really that hard to imagine being true?