This claim conforms to the old explanation that clever Lincoln somehow "tricked" simple Davis into starting war at Fort Sumter.
One problem with it is that Davis himself never admitted such a thing, and indeed his own words long before Fort Sumter tell us he intended to start war at both Forts Sumter and Pickens.
Another is that by very far, Davis was the more highly trained and experienced political & military leader, a West Pointer, war veteran with decades of political experience by contrast with whom Lincoln was a simple & poor country bumpkin.
I think it's unfair to call either the other's "puppet".
Sending five warships, a troop carrier with munitions and at least 200 riflemen, and give them orders to attack if they are resisted, isn't much of a trick. That's pretty sure to start a war with anyone.
The "trick" was ordering the ships to follow the command ship, and then secretly sending the command ship down to Florida to start a war there if the Confeds don't take the bait at Charleston.