All I’ll say is that the vibes on this one are very strange. On Saturday night, Donald Trump was making a rare public appearance at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the middle of his speech, shots rang out. New agencies say the shooter, a 20-year-old registered Republican named Thomas Matthew Crooks, got off as many as eight rounds from an AR-style rifle. Trump was hit… in the ear. One Trump supporter is dead, as is Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Former President Donald Trump says he was shot in the ear after a gunman perched on the roof of a nearby building opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday — a harrowing incident that the FBI called an assassination attempt.
The shooting, which set the country on edge on the eve of the Republican National Convention, left one spectator dead, two others critically injured, and sparked chaos at the event. As the former president spoke, shots crackled and Trump, hand to his ear, dropped to the ground where he was surrounded by agents before behind hustled off the stage into a waiting car amid the screams and confusion of the crowd.
The shooting, which is being investigated by the FBI overseen by the Justice Department’s National Security Division, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh, comes amid a heightened threat environment.
The Secret Service, in a statement, said that a shooter “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue” after which agents “neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased.” The shooter fired as many as eight rounds from an AR-style rifle while perched on a rooftop adjacent to the venue and was 200-300 yards away at the time of the shooting, law enforcement sources told ABC News. It was “surprising” that the suspected gunman was able to get off as many shots as he allegedly did, law enforcement said, adding that the gunman was a “very determined attacker.”
I’m including some footage below. I’ll choose my words carefully… before all of this, I would have never believed that the Secret Service would allow their primary to lift his unprotected and already-bloody head and raise a fist to his supporters just seconds after gunfire. The Secret Service agents who covered Trump on the stage gave him enough space to do all that before they even had a handle on who was shooting, whether the shooter had been neutralized or whether there were multiple shooters. It’s odd, that’s all I’ll say.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Odd, and very convenient for trump. I’m not far enough gone to assume a staged conspiracy just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised tbh.
I had read reports that the gunman was reported by several different people and they went on with the rally?? This smells like last week’s fish.
Right? Because it totally makes sense that the average Joe Trump supporter would identify a threat before the secret service.
He’s attracts chaos, danger, incels, and now even death to his followers. Sure, no immunity AND this time let’s crown him King Donald!
The media are again joining the whiplashed inaccurate euphoric MAGA posts that this nightmare ENDEARS voters to him.
When really, everyone’s thinking
“THIS again?!”
“Run for your life!”
“Stay indoors until the election!”
“Can’t wait until November to Vote him OUT again!”
Plus there were 3 shots before he reacted, SS reacted, and then the people behind trump just stood there like nothing was going on? Sus with a capital S for sure. I will say it with my whole chest, it was staged. Right down to the Iwo Jima like photo op in the end.
Vivica, I’m in agreement with you. This was staged. So many glaring questions : how did the shooter know that roof would have no SS or sniper on it? Why did the SS allow trump to grab his shoes (wasn’t he wearing them?) and his hat, then allow full head a body view of him fist pumping before getting him away? What hospital did he go to? Where is the medical team who treated him? Where is the medical report? Was he grazed by a bullet or a piece of glass?
He’s been pretty much silent for the last 2 weeks. He met with Orban, who had recently met with Putin. This stinks.
I agree the whole thing is sus, but I was in an active shooter situation and it is very confusing and hard to react. It takes a few seconds to realize what is happening and then it’s hard to choose which way to move since a wrong move could mean death.
It feels like a setup to me as well to boost his numbers and sway the undecided by painting him as a martyr. You’re telling me they just happened to leave an elevated position in full view of the podium completely unguarded? And I saw a picture that people were using of proof of the trail of the bullet that “hit” him where it looked like a jet trail through the air. It looked like a totally fake photo-I’ve never even in movies seen smoke through the air from a bullet. And I’d say Trump probably bladed himself like a pro wrestler except we all know he’s too chicken, so my guess is someone had a vial of fake bloom back there.
yeah the secret service looks very incompetent in this. Like really bad as if they can’t protect their charge at all especially after the shots. Their behavior is just untrained chaos.
This was SO STAGED…
I thought he was hit by glass from the teleprompter. Can’t believe the bullet just grazed his ear….its like one of these you and one job memes, lol.
My husband and I were watching TV when the special report came on. We both turned to each other and said “This is weird. Something doesn’t feel right about it.” Also, we all know what a coward Mr. Bonespurs is. I can’t believe he took the time to shake his fist instead of duck and cover.
I don’t know if it was staged or not. I don’t think it was, but you can’t trust that man about anything so it could have been. If it wasn’t staged, then it played out very weirdly. How did they not know if there was a second gunman somewhere who could have killed him while he was pumping his fist?
But let’s say it wasn’t staged. It says a lot that so many people think Trump could have staged something like this and that we can’t trust anything related to the Trump campaign. That does not scream “someone we trust to lead the country.”
Every word you wrote 1000%.
And what really gets me is all of the people on FB saying they weren’t going to vote for him before but now they will. Like, what?? Him avoiding an assassination attempt doesn’t change who he is or all-of-a-sudden make him fit for office, it just makes him very lucky.
WHO IN THE WORLD would you possibly trust enough to say “go on that roof over there 200 yards away and just graze my ear. Don’t shoot me in the face- ONLY the ear- so I can get a good promo pic!”????? STOP it with the Q-anonish conspiracy crap, we are better that this!
@FancyPants: amen, I think it was an alarming display of incompetence by the Secret Service and not a conspiracy.
All good points, Becks1. I agree especially with your second paragraph. I don’t think it was a setup but this is convenient for the campaign and we can’t trust him. We know that.
@FancyPants I agree – that would require a lot of trust in the marksmanship of a 20 year old. Unless people are going to full on “lone gunman” JFK Conspiracy theory here (so the person we think was the shooter wasn’t actually the shooter.)
So that’s why ultimately I don’t think it was staged. But like I said, it says a lot about Trump that so many people immediately just assumed that it was.
Whether it was staged or not I can’t say for sure, but I do know that he was/is hoping to get the sympathy vote for this. It also whips his incandescant followers up into a frenzy…for more violence. Don’t trust him and I do believe he could have set this up for these very reasons….”just don’t kill me” he says
@Jayblue 100000%
Gotta say, before this, I had no idea the SS would stage sharpshooters on adjacent building rooftops. Inspect them & clear them ahead of time, sure, but sharpshooters?
I don’t believe false flag arguments are ok from either side. Conspiracies can be found everywhere. Are there oddities? Yes. CNN did a transcript of the Secret Service communications and he was not moved until they knew the shooter was dead. At the end of the day, it doesn’t even matter. t
The problem is simple. They will use this to lionize him and we will be screwed come November. I reserve judgment, but know this doesn’t bode well. Occam’s razor…it’s a security lapse that will be used over and over again to bring this horrible man back into power. And we will all suffer for it. If you are not familiar with Project 2025? Please google it.
Wag the Dog vibes.
Total Wag the Dog vibes !!!
Does anyone here believe trump was brave enough to have to be held back by the Secret Service after being shot at? I’m not a gun person, but, wouldn’t an AR15 take an ear off?
It was very odd indeed – a combination of planned and unplanned events? It will be interesting to find out. Very sorry for the loss of life and injured people.
I am so worried the press and maga will go after his parents. The discourse will get uglier
I have sympathy I can give to Trump, that was a very close call. But I will still burn in hell before I ever give support to him.
His mouth helped create this violence in this country..he could take this moment and be bigger, but I know he’s going to be petty and make things worse
I think this is staged as well. It all seems too convenient. I wouldn’t put it past the republican party to do something of this sort, whether to curry sympathy or favour. They don’t care for any casualties as long as it’s not them who are affected.
My partner saw the clip first and my reaction was “he’s a cockroach, he’s gonna survive” and he has.
I am almost certain it is staged. Also, was it a bullet or glass as someone reported initially?
Regardless, gop should be happy. They like guns.
Right? That was my thought, they like guns. How are they going to handle this? Just say everybody should be armed at all times?
Wasn’t Trump promising something along the lines of “will be wild” for this rally? I hate to be so cynical, but there is no way secret service were that off their game.
If you keep your eye on the SS, from gun fire to exit from the rally, they move like hired actors playing the role of SS agents.
I doubt trump is behind this. He already got all the steam for his campaign from the debate. All he has to do is wait and get re-elected.
Yeah lets not forget him demanding to be allowed to put his shoes back on as well as making them stop to he could get his photo op – the behaviour of both him and his SS agents is very odd which is fuelling the staged theories.
Either way this will reinvigorate his base and his campaign – it could be what gets him the win in November. Regardless of what the Dems say or do about it it will get used against them. Biden is already being blamed because he compared Trump to Hilter (who also had a botched assassination attempt made on him).
Interesting the shooter used the same weapon that the MAGA rats love to pose with and have made their sigil – an M16 rifle.
Scary times ahead.
His base was energized in 2020 and he still lost, despite what he says. I think the ones who are more energized are Democrats. They should keep playing that clip of the Republican lunatic in NC who said “some folks need killing” over and over because that is who these people are. Evidently it even includes their own party members.
Thats good to hear that the Dems are very energised – the spin that we are getting here in the UK is that this could give him the big boost in support that he needs but I will defer to my US based CBers – fingers crossed for you all in Nov and I not only pray that he loses but that the gov are able to stop and repeats of Jan 6 before they get started.
There was a lot of that type of initial reaction. That this will get him elected. Piers Morgan was saying it too. Feels like wishful thinking and also just a misunderstanding of how people actually feel. If I was the dems, i’d be making reels of all the violent remarks trump and his supporters like MTG and others have made over the years.
Exactly. His racist base was and is always energized. The failure of 2016 was that Dems and others sat the election out. That is why he won. Folks didn’t in 2019-20 during a pandemic and now that Project 2025 has been exposed people are scared, disgusted and determined. And the Democrats’ (not the wimpy house and senate members) but US the electorate have been energized before this staged attempt.
Dems are energized, but we need independent voters to win. I am deeply concerned that Trump projected an image of strength while Dems are squabbling among ourselves about Biden’s weaknesses. This incident could easily put Trump over the top.
@Megan, I used to be an Independent for years before becoming the firm Democrat I am now. I don’t consider a fist in the air (which seemed to morph into a more of a Nazi salute as they carried him away, but I digress) a sign of strength.
Independents can be won over by emphasizing the reasons to vote against Trump that don’t involve his personality – Supreme court and lower court judge appointments, abortion rights, student loan forgiveness, unhinged behavior and statements from the rest of the GOP, etc. But you are right, Democrats need to unify.
He’s getting re-elected, no Dem will want to step in to replace Biden and Biden is not stepping down for sure now. And Biden can’t win.
Speaking in absolutes about who is winning in July is pointless conjecture. If you actually talked to people on the ground, it’s also closer than the media will admit.
It won’t change votes. I’m old enough to remember white supremacist presidential candidate George Wallace being shot. It put him in a wheelchair but he was still a festering garbage dump of a person. Now, let’s talk about the Trump-Epstein stuff that’s come out.
Thank you Tom!!! This is either staged or this is Epstein related. I can’t believe the media hasn’t covered the Epstein stuff at all. I went down the reddit rabbit hole. The Epstein and Facepalm subs. OMG! There are pics of Ivanka as a young child with Epstein. She looks so uncomfortable. The way Trump is touching her is weird. I never thought I’d feel sympathy for Ivanka but I did seeing those pics. They turned my stomach. There are a ton of pics on there and video.
The 13 year old who was raped by Trump and Epstein is now in her 30s. She gives an interview detailing what Trump and Epstein did. There are pics of her with Trump too and apparently a video of the rape. This is probably why Ghislaine is still alive. She made sure those things would be released if anything ever happened to her. Trump is on 63 different flight logs for the Lolita Express. SIXTY-THREE.
The media is barely touching on the shooter is a registered Republican. Thank you Kaiser for pointing this out! I’m shocked Trump called Biden’s call “nice” but it’s still early trust me he will eventually imply Biden tried to get him killed to put a target on Biden’s back and rile up that rabid base.
That’s what I have bene reading/hearing, this will not change the voters’ mind. What Trump-Epstein info has come out? I must have missed it between this, two big soccer matches, five celebrity death and the Alabama shooting. It’s been a hell of a week.
@Seraphina — There’s been no new information linking Epstein to Trump in several years, just a lot of the usual tinfoil hat conspiracy nonsense being spread on Reddit and Tik Tok lately.
George Wallace was a Democrat.
Lacey, George Wallace first ran as an Independent for President. The second as a Democrat. He was Governor of Alabama many times. He wasn’t in the US House or Senate. A Democratic Governor for Alabama. Do I need to say more?
Omg we need to open the schools. Yes the democrats were racists and KKK members up until the civil rights act was passed by LBJ and then it all flipped and republicans took over the racist base.
“The Rise of Southern Republicans” is a great book if anyone wants to learn more about the Great White Switch in the south from the 60s through the early 2000s.
@Seraphina no new info just the younger generations revisiting re-opening those files sort of like how Tik Tok revisited the Menedez case.
At the urging of a friend’s kid i got on there. There are a TON of photos and videos and some that I had never seen before. So i think that generation is rightfully asking, if it were Biden that were on these flight logs 63 times, would the media bombard us with those images of Biden and Epstein 24/7? Would it be THE story of the decade? Would we wake up to it and fall asleep to it every damn day until the election? the answer is yes.
Look at the weight they placed on a poor debate performance – you’d think it was tantamount to raping a child. 🙄
But just like that poof we’re talking about a White Supremacy baby fist pump and a shooting and the media is incorrectly (and intentionally) saying this guy made a $15 donation to a Liberal organization but no that’s false – a guy in his 60s did that who happens to have the same name. The shooter is a registered Republican – one of them. Even their reporting on it has been outrageous. Some media outlets even first reported the guy was Chinese wtf
Sure, it will energize his base but his base isn’t enough. For anyone else, I’m not so sure. Trump is chaotic and not everyone wants that. People will see this and possibly react in the opposite way and towards stability. Most people at this point are aware of trump and his supporters’ violent rhetoric.
I’m also surprised at how everyone in the States thinks this has clinched him winning this fall (and I’m hearing that from both sides). I mean, how, exactly? I think the people who already love him still love him, and for people who don’t like him, this doesn’t make him more likable. And if you are somehow, at this late date, still on the fence about him, he wasn’t heroic or somehow more competent by dint of getting shot at. I teach in Texas and I have to think about shooting situations all the effing time. If I get shot at my job, I won’t be a hero, you’ll just “have to get over it.”
It feels like certain segments of the media crowing that this will get him elected more than anything else. It feels artificial. Also feels like a failure to read the room actually.
I haven’t heard anyone saying that. I’ve heard some media pundits wondering that. But Trump is hated by a large segment of the population. He was an unknown quantity in 2016 but not anymore. Putting aside his criminality, its just his incompetence that is breathtaking. Trump ran on his ‘big business tycoon” image but that’s been shot to sh*t. That is why the “Biden should step aside” talk is so dangerous and dumb. Democrats need to spend the next four (three now) hammering home who Trump is, not trying to pump up some other candidate.
@OldandTired. Not everyone thinks this way. I don’t think many besides his base thinks this. Some Fox and Fox adjacent pundits and those like them who have been both sides-ing issues since Hillary ran are mistaking public concerns for pro Trump votes. People are concerned anytime there is a shooting in a public space, regardless of who the victims are.
And the conflicting reports don’t help. 45 says he was shot and the FBI says he was struck by glass from his teleprompter. When was the last time one of these shooters missed their target? The Repubs have continued referring to 45 as Pres 45 and one “news” moron even claimed that 45 was being hustled into The Beast, the presidential limo, while the news clip clearly showed him being put in an SUV. They really think their base is that stupid. Most people know that only a sitting Prez has access to The Beast, like a jet is only called Air Force One when the president is in it.
And yes I noticed that the MSM has pointedly been ignoring the Epstein files and Trumps disgusting connection/relationship with Epstein. Some YouTubers have stayed on point and provided fair coverage and pointed out the shooter was a Repub (and predicted Repubs would still blame Dems. But the election is in November and it’s still July and we need to keep talking about the evil Project 2025 the Repubs are trying to distract from. If Dems stay on message and people vote for the sane candidate/administration, 45 won’t win.
because he wears lifts. he didn’t want anyone to see his actual height (which of course he lies about)
My first thought is that whatever actually happened, some of his vigilantes are going to be looking to avenge him. Democrats and other antiTrump people need to beef up security.
I don’t think it was staged for Trump’s benefit, but knows? How would they know to contact this specific 20 year old from Bethel Park? Maybe everyone here is right, but couldn’t it be that this exceptionally bright young man decided for himself that Trump was a threat to democracy and took matters into his own hands? And couldn’t it be possible that the Secret Service saw the gunman, but waited for him to take his shot?
I guess I want to know why the Secret Service and local authorities stood by while the shooter lay prone on the roof with an automatic rifle in his hands.
And how will Trump navigate the NRA? How will his words be parsed so as not to offend the primary source of funding for the GOP.
What was that comment about his shoes, anyway? Did the SS knock them off when they finally got him down on the ground? Did the bullet grazing his ear knock him out of his shoes? Was it a weird comment from a doddering fool in a stressful situation?
This is where we are at — I think a huge number of people firmly believe that this is all a set up. It takes no imagination whatsoever to believe that the Trump campaign is capable of killing people for press coverage. This is the party that consistently stokes violence, asks outright for it, supports access to the most dangerous guns imaginable. This is also the party that regularly and consistently places pictures of their rivals in the crosshairs of a rifle and places those pictures on their political websites.
I don’t know about the “set up” part. It would be dangerous to have someone firing in Trump’s direction while under instructions to only lightly wound him. We have enough isolated, alienated young men with a fondness for weapons of war and access to them to explain how this could happen. Politics rarely enter into it. Any target will do, even a classroom full of children unfortunately.
The media’s reaction to this is what I find most disturbing. Trump’s cult-like base is happy to declare him the “Chosen One”. The media should not be going along. And once again, they are delivering their patented “both sides are at fault” bull sh*t. The one person in the US most responsible for the debasement of our political rhetoric into hatred and vitriol is Donald Trump himself. From the moment he rode down that Trump Tower escalator in 2015, he is the one deliberately and viciously dividing us. He “others” every one but white men and targets his political opponents with stochastic terrorist threats. That he is the one who got shot is not surprising. People who incite violence and chaos often find themselves targeted at some point. “He who lives by the sword …” well, you know the rest.
If you do it right, there didn’t have to be any shooting near him or his orange head — it’s easy to rig a very small charge to clip his ear so he can pretend to be shot at. I’m not saying that happened. My point is only that we have massive amounts of people who believe it is a set up because we have a political party that knows no bottom. Nothing is too disgusting for them to do.
@Brassy Rebel, ITA.
The only reason I do not believe this was a setup is the shooter. He was a young man with no ties to organizations or any professional weapons training. Help me out, please. What am I missing?
@Jacques — he was a member of a local gun club, a loner and weirdo. He was bullied and shunned for the most part at high school. Interestingly, he was wearing a t-shirt from Demolition Ranch, a YouTube channel that posts videos of members firing handguns and assault rifles at targets that include human mannequins.
He could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
You knew he was a snake when you took him in.
Death is not a step too far for furthering their agenda, whoever the ‘they’ are working for bringing Trump, a wholly unsuitable person who proved his unsuitability in his previous term, back into the White House.
This was a “Brooks Brother Riot”.
Political theatre with a body count with some: ‘they’d never go that far!/but someone died!/it has to be real someone died!’ extra seasoning and the media complicit in amplification of their spin that has even entered the title of this post -they say he was actually hit by broken glass, not shot in the ear. A photo released to the public nearly at once, helpfully circled with an oval to purport the streak pictured there ‘was a bullet’. ‘Eye witnesses’ interviewed for TV careful to repeat certain talking points as part of a sluggish spectator crowd that in no way behaved as if there was a ‘real’ shooting at a rally for all someone died and the most cartoonishly slow motion clown car ‘protection’ of a politician there could possibly be, allowing two separate photo ops.
Someone died. People were injured. Not unlike January 6th. And, let’s face it, Trump is a cowardly sort. He knew full well this was his ‘Bull Moose’ moment rather than a true attack you could see he had no panic over anything save getting seen without his shoe lifts and making sure he achieved a clear photo of his fist in the air.
I was out with a group of friends for brunch yesterday. They all thought it was staged. I’m not sure but it sure is strange.
of course outlets like they dailymail are running with him being a biden supporter in the headline and only mention him being a republican in the article itself. they claim he donated to his campaign, but last i heard it was a different man going by that name, who is 69 years old. he would have been 17 years old when the 15$ donation happened.
I heard it was his dad (same name, but Senior and the shooter was Jr.) that donated to democratic pac. It was also his dad’s gun.
So I didn’t pay attention to any of this this weekend. But now that I’m looking at these photos, maybe I have watched too many movies and it’s impacted how I expect real life organizations to act, but if they just identified a sniper who made a shot that connected, seems odd that they would leave his head completely unprotected. Why wouldn’t they make him crouch, as they covered his body and issued him out? Either way, this is pretty indicative of what happens when you dehumanize, other, and constantly spew rhetoric about ” taking things back” and ” fighting to the last”, you have people who start to fantasize of being part of a revolution. Problem is you don’t know how the chips are going to fall on those people who act. Also, paying attention this morning very convenient to me all these billionaires all of a sudden have full throttle Trump support. Guess they realize trying to get Biden to step down wasn’t working
DEI hire. That woman should have never been on his body team. Every agent should be at least as tall as the person they are protecting.
Did you not see the male agents smiling in that photo? They could have easily grabbed that old man by the seat of his pants and drag him to the vehicle.
As they did when Reagan was shot, and when Gerald Ford faced a few attempts.
One female in the mix is not why orange idiot was pausing and pumping his fist for that photo.
@Lacey, GOP talking points… 🙄
How could the shooter enter the arena with a gun?? Don’t they check people if they brough a gun to a rally? It is really weird.
I read the shooter was on top of a building adjacent to the designated rally area. You would think the Secret Service would be doing perimeter checks.
I worked at an event venue in the middle of D.C. for years. Sometimes, high profile politicians would attend events there and their security detail absolutely did checks around the entire property. Not sure how they missed this one.
I read a thread on Twitter by a former SS. They explained the 3 levels or perimeters of security at an event like this. His opinion was a breakdown in communications with local LEOs, who would likely be helping in the middle perimeter and outside perimeters. They would not be communicating directly to SS, but through their leader and then to SS. His opinion is likely biased toward SS, but it sounds like it’s based in fact.
I was at a Cubs game years ago and Clinton was there. I think he was still potus, but I don’t recall. Anyway, the SS was *fully* there. They had snipers on the roof watching everything. lol We had more fun watching them than the game. I dunno, how this could have happened. But will there be Congressional hearings? If not, I’m very suspicious.
He wasn’t in the arena, he climbed up to the roof of a nearby building to avoid detection.
I’m in the South and my FB page was completely unhinged. One person was screaming that it’s about God and Faith and Freedom and I just want to shake then and say “he doesn’t care about any of that! He only cares about himself!!” And I’m sitting there like “okay you’re losing your minds over this but not when our children are being shot at in school? Got it.”
A lot of people have completely tied their identity into being a supporter of this man. And if you point out that their support has all the hall marks of cult behavior, they get offended. But here’s the thing if you point out how people defended and supported David koresh, or Jim Jones, or Charles Manson, is not different. It’s always so interesting to me how people consistently, psychologically believe that this thing would never happen to me.
Yeah. People have literally died for this man. firstly on Jan. 6 and now the supporter who was just killed at this rally. MAGA is just another f–king death cult.
That is so true, Dee(2), I’ve seen it first-hand. Especially in 75+ year old former hippies whom I had previously known as staunch environmentalists, the last people I would expect to succumb. What is it about his garbled “message” that appeals to boomers? No one can even cogently say what his “message” is. Covfefe? I feel like we’re all living in a carnival (un)funhouse right now.
@Agnes I hate to say this about your elderly friends, but the only thing that comes through clearly and consistently through all his garbled messaging is the racism. I have to think that people who love him, love the permission he gives them to support racist policies and say racist sh*t.
Yeah, you already guessed they’re all white. They want the days of a country club establishment back. When they were young they had “grown-ups” to rebel against, but they themselves never grew up. SO of course they support a racist toddler.
We were out when the shooting happened. I happened to hear about it from a friend who posted something rather cryptic on FB.
Sadly, for all of us on the ‘correct’ side of history, this is a huge blow for the election, and sadly probably cemented his win in November. As much as I believe our country can pull away from and condemn the current republican agenda, the events of the past week are not looking good for the Democratic party. this was the last straw, and I think that will throw this evil man over the top.
And yes. i would not put him past staging his own ‘assasination’ he has shown the world that he is willing to do anything to win.
I only wish that he was willing accept a life of golfing in his miserable golf courses, and just being a nasty, despicable version of a rich old man.
Lisa, Trump isn’t going to win. That is a silly take away. There’s absolutely nothing in history that makes an assassination attempt survivor turn into a winner. TR, Ford, Wallace all lost after surviving attempts. RFK was shot and the Dems lost in 68. Plus, most people already see it as just another “school shooting” since it’s been revealed that the shooter fits that profile. Everyone is sick of chaos.
Never in the history of presidential elections has a candidate been THIS far down in the polls THIS close to the election and won. I will never ever understand this willful denial on the part of some Dems. We should all sound the alarm right fucking now and scare folks into voting. We don’t need anyone fostering complacency right now. Everyone should be panicking like hell, voting life their
life depended on it (cuz it does) and mentally preparing for a very likely second Trump term.
Never in the history of presidential elections has polling been more sus. Who answers their landlines or an unknown spam number or text on their cells? Who are they polling and how? People hate Trump with the heat of 1,000 suns, much more fiercely now than in 2020 when he lost and then incited the Capitol Hillbilly insurrection, got busted for selling state secrets at Mar-A-Lago, had his SCOTUS cronies abolish women’s bodily autonomy, was indicted 91 times, buried his first wife under suspicious circumstances on his golf course, was mentioned 69 times in the Epstein logs, was adjudicated guilty of rape, was convicted of 34 felonies, and lost his New Jersey liquor license. If Trump wins, we all deserve him, because it means nobody voted.
Lisa, it’s comments like this going around that will ensure Trump doesn’t win. I think the Republicans are going to be very surprised with the blue votes on November 4th. This will not change people’s minds.
What people need to consider is that the media (NY Times, etc.) have been campaigning for Trump. That’s why you won’t see anything on the Epstein files. They evidently determined that there’s money to be made by doing this. I really don’t want to believe that Trump made some kind of deal with them. What I’m enjoying is the number of people who are cancelling subscriptions. That’s going to affect their bottom line. Be careful what media you consume. It’s as reliable as polls.
@Agnes Agreed! Appreciate your comments when some other people here want to be condescending and say we are “in denial” just because we can see through the doom and gloom narrative perpetuated by the media and narcissistic pundits that lost political relevancy years ago.
I think Trump loves himself too much to stage such a thing. It narrowly missed killing him because he turned his head to look at a graph on a screen.
I’m more interested in knowing how the shooter could get in that position with all the Secret Service and snipers around. Even people in the crowd noted him and alerted police.
Think about who would benefit from either the success or failure of an assassination attempt?
Rnot, when I was texted by a friend that this happened, I wondered if the Heritage Foundation wanted a different candidate. I decided to go with a straightforward assassination attempt. The SS look like fools. I believe that’s the real story here.
@Saucy&Sassy: I was rather surprised the SS couldn’t wrangle this old out of shape man a little more quickly & efficiently. Then again, maybe hefting up a deadweight 300 pounder ain’t that easy.,
The entire thing is weird.
I also heard Trump was cut by glass, not a bullet. But according to Republicans: he’s blessed (F the kids that get killed by guns); he “took a bullet for the country” (with weird muscle Trump photoshop jobs); it’s Democrats who, by speaking the truth about Trump, have incited violence (completely ignoring that they laughed at Pelosi’s husband and film political videos with guns in them all the time); and lastly, no one is “allowed” to talk about January 6 anymore.
Way too convenient.
Emily, we’re never going to stop talking about January 6th. I don’t care what they say, we will never stop.
Here’s a funny thing that happened: Milania released a statement that read “A monster who RECOGNIZED my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out” …blah blah blah. Recognized? Yes, I recognize him as an inhuman political machine also. 😂 And I believe that that inhuman political machine engineered this. And Kaiser is so right, The Secret Service should have completely collapsed on Trump, covering his head and allowing no opportunity for that “brave” show of courage of his.
My husband is in the business of intelligence and security. He knows his shit. And he’s not buying this.
It does smell, even to a layman, but the kid does fit the whole loner “school shooter” profile, and his car was wired with explosives too. I’d be interested to hear your husband’s thoughts about the SS allowing that exposed head photo-op post-shooting.
Well, last night when I asked what the Secret Service should’ve done, he said “let it happen”.😂But I’l ask for a more serious analysis later on and report back!
Hahaha. I tried not to laugh at the hashtags coming out afterwards like #youhadonejob etc. and failed because I’m a horrible person. But seriously, I hate hate hate the climate of HATE MAGA has brought to our big messy country.
Don Jr was tweeting pictures of Trump holding his fist up after getting hit by glass (I refuse to say shot) like less than 2 hours after the incident. I find that suspicious.
I’ve turned off all news and won’t be supporting the propaganda and out right lies they are spreading it is just to much. There has been zero coverage or communication with medical professionals where he was supposedly treated. All those news agencies and people out on a weekend and no one caught his motorcade after a shooting, no one? People need to step away from the news coverage, I made up my mind after long ago the only choice for me is to secure the constitution, and that means vote blue no matter who. I’m stepping off the media pushed roller coaster 🎢 of chaos, I hope others do also I would love to see them all feel it financially.
I’m afraid this event has made at least the crypto market boom- and lots of the crypto bros (and every huge bank) are social democrats but voting R for their wallets bc they don’t care and have zero integrity.
I haven’t checked securities this morning but I expect a trump pump there too sadly.
The whole thing is weird
I also found it odd how many people at the rally have given interviews to news outlets saying (paraphrasing), “We saw someone crawling to the top of that shed and pointed it out to the secret service.” You’re telling me the average Joe Trump supporter identified a threat before the secret service?
It was also unnerving how relatively calm the crowd was when it happened. A former president gets shot right in front of a crowd and it’s not absolute pandemonium? Everything about this feels weird.
Frankly, it sounds almost exactly like the “crisis actor” scenario that they themselves put forward after every massacre. Like they’re manifesting their own bullshit.
This tracks, since every accusation is a confession from them.
I feel a bit of a lone voice here. I thought it was awful. Yes, he isn’t on my list of great or even nice people but he is a human being with kids and family. If he had been shot, there’d be open warfare on politicians in general and absolute hell, and no doubt bloodshed, between warring factions who support him and hate everyone else. The “fight fight!” was dreadful. Is that what he went and said? I watched it with my partner and we thought he was swearing but obviously it was a dangerous war cry. The man is the most un democratic opportunist ever. But the basic remains: I’m relieved he wasn’t killed, for everyone’s sake.
I also think it wasn’t staged, not that Trump is above that, but I think he would have had the suicide shooter register as a Democrat and wear a Biden t-shirt or somehing like that.
So I believe more that the shooter was either a Republican who would prefer another candidate to Trump, or he was somebody who really wanted to leave a mark on the world and have his name in the press, like school shooters do. Assassinating a former president/presidential candidate is guaranteed immortality.
I do not believe, tho, that this had anything to do with Biden or the Democrats.
I did read that the kid loved guns and was part of a rifle club at school but he was such a bad shot that he was made to quit. This could be a “oh I’m not a bad shot, I shot the president.”
It could have way more to do with gun culture and access to guns than Republican vs Democrat.
Emily, I agree. Men steeped in gun culture and toxic masculinity will shoot anyone for the attention. We have hundreds of school shootings to prove it.
I don’t think it was staged. The whole thing is giving me Mark David Chapman vibes (the guy who shot John Lennon). He’d loved the Beatles but became infuriated by Lennon’s lavish lifestyle and public statements like saying the band was “more popular than Jesus”. He was obsessed with the J. D. Salinger novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ and admired the novel’s character Holden Caulfield, who was deeply unhinged and antisocial. Chapman also contemplated killing other celebrities including David Bowie, Johnny Carson, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul McCartney and Ronald Reagan (shot by John Hinckley Jr. in an attempt to impress Jody Foster who he was obsessed with.) They’re out there folks, and they’re allowed to have weapons.
I don’t know that you’re a lone voice. I think everyone agrees that it’s awful. Gun violence is awful. Do you mean lone in that you don’t see anything weird or conspiratorial about it?
Hi Jais. Yes, lone as in some comments on here and lots elsewhere think it was faked. Not in that a potential killing isn’t awful in general.
I leave conspiracy theories to the Trump fascists. They’re much better at it.
I don’t know where you’ve been, but there’s already been open warfare on politicians for years because of Trump. All around the country there have been quite a few politicians and civil servants who have been threatened by MAGA cultists, the first of which was Mike Pence.
And then there are all those people who have been denying his lie about a stolen election. Many of them have been threatened and run out of office. The only real surprise is that Trump is the first one to have been shot over this (to my knowledge).
Exactly. Remember “Hang Mike Pence”? People are crazy if they think this bunch won’t go to extremes to have their way.
I am already concerned about some of his ‘Stand back and standby’ crowd deciding to avenge their Brave LeaderTM. Things definitely would have been worse if he’d been killed or even actually shot.
Thank you! It feels like every commenter in here has lost their minds and humanity. This is still a person with a family, we should not be crowing over this. And that man that died saving his family deserves dignity too. And all of these conspiracy theories sound like the people who believe the election was rigged. Take a step back and touch some grass yall.
It not ‘crowing’ to say point blank the irregularities of that scene are too blatant and the rush to amplify talking points in the media to swift supporting a huckster who’s reputation as a con artist is his pride and joy is fishy. The man who died saving his family deserves the truth of this situation to be reported on, they should not have to be sacrificed to US conservative political ambitions.
Nicky, I’m not crowing. I do not wish anyone harmed or dead. Ever. In Trump’s case, I want justice to prevail and he will live a very long life behind bars. His actions will put him there.
He was not shot. We need accuracy at times like this. He was struck with a glass shard from the billet hitting a teleprompter.
There are tons of images of the aftermath of the shooting. Both teleprompters are intact. It was not glass.
I admit I know nothing but why wouldn’t they put him in an ambulance? They usually have one standing by. Even at concerts and sporting events they have an ambulance near the arena in the event of heart attacks, etc. Something seems weird about this. And then Trump wanting to get his shoes when there could be an active shooter in the area is totally bizarre.
Can someone explain the part about the shoes? Why would he have taken them off in the first place to give a speech?
Yes, that was odd. My partner and I kept saying, but why aren’t people talking about the shoes. Odd that they were off and odd that you’d care about putting them back on after being hurt. The only thing I can come up with is that it was hot, it looked warm, and maybe his feet had swollen and he’d taken off his shoes. People behind would surely have seen this and thought how strange that our leader has his shoes off. I don’t know.
I assume Trump’s shoes came off when he was initially on the ground being covered by the Secret Service. And pausing to ask for them seems odd, but people do often act oddly and non-rationally in a traumatic situation.
And I think it is fairly well established that he wears lifts so it makes sense that his shoes would slip off in that situation.
Good point, Kathryn K. I can see that now. People do indeed do weird things in high stress situations. Whenever something happens to the kids, including one of them getting heat stroke but his school staff thinking he’d be OK sitting in direct sunlight until they finally picked up the phone to tell us he “seemed ill”, I start talking myself through everything I need to do to get out of the house asap. Even the most stupid things, such as “close the kitchen door, walk down the corridor”. It’s madness.
Trump is like 6’2″ or 6’3″ why would he need lifts? And you’ve been shot in the head and you are worried about people seeing you without shoes? When there could be an assassin (or multiple assassins) running around? Plus Trump is a coward like most bullies, no way he would want to get the hell out of dodge as soon as possible if this was real.
Trump is 5’11” and only 6’2″ with his lifts in his shoes. Plenty of photos on the internet with him standing next to others of known height (including his son Barron) to prove it. In pictures taken from the side, he’s got a pronounced lean and a weird gait because of the lifts. He’s vain and wouldn’t want the shoes with lifts left on the stage.
I just Googled two different places and each one says 6’2″ or 6’3″. Plus there is a documentary on Trump and it talked about how when he was a kid he was much taller than his classmates and liked to intimidate (bully) the other boys. Now maybe he wears lifts to look like he’s 6’5″ but he is tall already. The average height of US Presidents is 5’11”.
You should Google photos of Trump wearing his lifts and leaning forward like he’s about to pop out of his shoes, then,
The shoes thing could be functional as he can move faster with his shoes than he can barefoot. The same doesn’t apply to his hat.
I was horrified by this video because I am a fairly decent and compassionate human being sometimes. But this man then stood up and shouted “Fight!” to his supporters. His first instinct was more violence. He has openly called for weaponizing the military, and insurrection, and violence, against elected American officials. And now his supporters are saying “tone things down, Biden’s rhetoric (aka the truth) is too much”. Welcome to the Find Out era. Thoughts and prayers.
I agree. I think you’re also saying it’s authentic? Yes? I’ve also noted somewhere on the thread that the “fight!” rallying cry was awful. Seriously, Trump, you’ve just been shot but rather than leaving the stage you take the opportunity to whip up fervour. Thank goodness he wasn’t seriously injured or killed, not only because at a basic level this is a human being we’re talking about, but the overwhelming and dangerous bloodthirst of his supporters would now be all out.
I actually find dog whistle comments l like this so offensive. He has been inciting horrific levels of violence for the past six years. Mostly against women and people of color. He is a convicted sXual assailant. He is a criminal who encouraged his fan club to storm the capitol and unalive congress. Give me a break with this “I feel sorry for him because I’m a decent human.” Like, no. He’s an evil person. It’s okay to not feel sorry for him. The real victim who lost his life trying to protect his family, indeed. I feel sorry for his family, no doubt. But Trump? This video horrified and shocked you? Where have you been the past six years? This kind of violence is his bread and butter. I actually find it so depraved and offensive to women and people of color to hear all the “pray for peace” and “stop the violence” speak now. Where was your compassion for them when DJT was calling to harm BLM protestors? When maternal and infant mortality rates are already staggering since overturning Roe? There are actual people in this country who are being harmed and losing their lives every single day because of this guy, and yet here we are feeling compassion for him and his family because he had a scrape to his ear? What? It’s actually so offensive and feels like gaslighting that everyone is on this “pray for peace” stuff when it comes to him… it’s upsetting.
Preach!
I have had a very shrug reaction to this, and my husband is shocked. Like I told him, this man has proved he literally wouldn’t p*ss on me if I was on fire (assuming he didn’t light it himself), why do I need to expend any energy for him? I don’t. The most ill I wish him is to fully comprehend the horror and pain he has personally caused some day, but that seems unlikely.
Yes to all of this so very well said!!
justjj, I don’t have sympathy for him. I will never wish anyone to die. I don’t care who they are. I wish Trump to spend a very long life in prison for his actions. I honestly don’t think there’s much sympathy for Trump other than his supporters. I have to ask myself how much of their sympathy is for the man rather than his encouraging them to be hate, raging racists, sexists, etc. I suspect a small portion have sympathy for him.
Just jj, I was all set to be like PRO TRUMP DOG WHISTLE WHAT?! (because we all know them’s fighting words around here) and then I sat with it. I did not mean to imply any kind of moral superiority or judgment by feeling horrified watching someone being shot at. I was only trying to describe my reaction even knowing the person hiding in fear was Trump. But I see how it reads as condescending. Sorry for the poor phrasing.
The rest of my comment was about how Trump is a horrible violence-inciting pile of dog shit with his every impulse, and how the GOP f’ed around with all these lunatics and now they’re finally finding out, and offered them the same “thoughts and prayers” they offer us when our children are murdered in their schools by gun violence… sorry if that read as gaslighting “prayer for peace”, i guess my sarcasm must be rusty.
^^^agree. Trump is an evil person and anyone who can’t see this hasn’t been paying attention for the last 10+ years. Open your eyes.
I would 💯 have no problem believing it was staged. I would even believe the RNC etc. would do it and keep Trump out of the loop for plausibility. There’s no level they won’t sink to, so why not?
I don’t think it was staged. Someone did get his head blown off 15 feet away from Trump. I don’t believe an actual bullet nicked his ear, that wound looks very minor, more likely glass as TMZ reported. It seems like a crazily incompetent failure of security. Let’s hope the Secret Service is much better at protecting Joe Biden. This country has become sooooo stupid thanks to Trump and his supporters. Jesus Christ.
After January 6th, it’s clear that Trump doesn’t care if there is collateral damage as long as he gets what he wants.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Even the MAGAs in the crowd stated they saw the shooter get set up for several minutes and screamed to the authorities that someone was on the roof and were ignored.
I read the local police were in charge of the area outside the security perimeter where the shooter was, that an ARMED trooper actually climbed up onto the roof to see what Crooks was doing, but climbed back down after the rifle was pointed at his head. SMH. And they expect teachers to protect classrooms, this world is buck-naked insane anymore.
It blows my mind that a cop backed off because a mass shooter on a roof with an AR-15 pointed a gun at him. What the Hell is is their job, then?
I guess they’re too busy shooting at scary Black men armed with … cellphones.
I can’t even, there aren’t enough WTFs in the world left anymore. I think I’ll just turn off the Wi-Fi and sit inside knitting till November 5.
So many aspects of this event are BIZARRE! From the obvious, complete failures of the Secret Service to the reaction of the crowd behind him, who just stood there as shots were fired, to the immediate vitriol that came from actual members of Congress who blamed Biden – my first gut reaction was this was staged. Mind you, I am not some conspiracy theorist, but something rots to high hell here. Then of course, we learned the shooter was a registered Republican and apparently a gun enthusiast – making him one of their OWN demographic, but no one on the MAGA right wants to comment on that. Instead, they want to blame CRT, DEI hires, the liberal media, and of course Biden.
A comparison of the Secret Service’s response to this and the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan is incredibly obvious. You never see Reagan again, after the SS pounced on him. WHY would Trump’s SS let him lift his head up, giving any other potential shooter perfect aim at his head??? They had no idea in that instant if there was more than one shooter!
I condemn violence of all kinds, but none of this gives me an ounce of sympathy for the twice-impeached, convicted felon, civilly liable rapist, an associate of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, wanna-be dictator and fascist, malignant narcissist, and pathological liar. #sorrynotsorry
I also thought it was weird that the crowd behind him didn’t run. All we’ve ever seen in these horrible shootings is shots fired, everybody scatters in terror. They just stood there.
I thought the same about Trumps reaction. Most people would be scared to have a bullet whiz by but he looks up and throws up a fist? Sorry, no. It’s sketchy AF.
@Aimee – that was the first thing that stood out to me, in the initial coverage of this (before we even knew the identity of the shooters, or heard the various eyewitnesses who saw him before the Secret Service did). The crowd literally just stood there! Why wouldn’t they be running for cover???
Freezing is normal. Nobody expects a shooting in a highly secured rally by a candidate. I think they didn’t register quickly that someone was shooting at Trump.
The two possible explanations there are that the crowd around Trump was in on it and knew it was coming, or else that they froze in a mass shooting situation. Considering that one of the crowd died and two are still in the hospital, that would require real commitment to the cause, and an implausibly large number of people to be in on the conspiracy in advance, and to keep quiet about it afterward.
My husband immediately thought it was staged. He pointed out that when the bullet grazed Trump’s ear, nobody in the audience directly behind him reacted. Like…a bullet just whizzed very closely past them….and nothing?
Someone has a video showing a particular woman right behind him on stage while it happened. She was perfectly calm the whole time, and kept recording him with her phone after the shots were fired. Just sitting there unrattled. It was weird.
Very, very strange is all I’ll say at this time.
Why do many articles say “Trump says a bullet hit his ear”? Hmmm.
Shoremon523, probably because they can print that, but it would be a lie if they printed it was a bullet rather than glass. That’s my guess.
Good point. Unless something new comes out, I do not believe he was hit by a bullet.
I watched this all go down live on TV. My husband and I were like wait whaaaat?! The secret service identified that roof top as problematic. The roof top was outside their purview and local law enforcement was asked to cover that area. It all smells rotten to me. What made me convinced it was a bigly hoax was him breaking through the barrier of SS agents to do that unhinged fist bump and screaming fight! Fight!. There is no way in hell that the SS would be that sloppy. They specifically train for this. Where did he get medical treatment? Why were his shoes off?
American here. IMO this assassination attempt will not move the needle. People online think this was staged; some did TikToks mocking the whole thing. But some postings and some US news outlets are reminding people of Trump’s own words that are incendiary and mocking, e.g. January 6 and the murder attempt on Nancy Pelosi’s husband. I’d like to throw in Trump’s attacks on judges and prosecutors on his multiple trials. He also accused Biden of ordering the FBI to assassinate him during the raid at Mar-a-logo for the classified documents. Trump must be shook now despite his current bravado; a young white male who was registered as a Republican wanted to kill him. The FBI is investigating this as domestic terrorism, meaning it’s looking for coconspirators. The FBI are working on getting access to the shooter’s phone to forensically check his search, talk and text history. Scary times here.
Perhaps the shooter thought all on his own that he was accomplishing something. It’s strange,
The shooter was a white registered Republican who had access to an AR-15 rifle. Who knows what his motivation was, but thank G-d, he’s one of theirs, not one of ours.
Agree this is a political gift to Trump, but I don’t see how any setup or staging could shoot him in the ear without risking that he gets shot in the head. Also, why would the shooter agree to participate when he ended up being shot on the spot? I can see his campaign doing all they can to make hay out of this, but I can’t with the “setup” claims.
Don’t some fringe rightwing groups want to start a civil war? Maybe, he thought the best way to it is going after Trump; not killing him, but injuring him. I read that it wasn’t the bullet which hit him, but the part of a glass hit by the bullet. There were multiple shots and none of them hit him. Either he was very lucky or the shooter didn’t want to kill him.
Oh absolutely, the far right wants to start a “race war,” and it’s quite possible that’s what the shooter thought he was doing. I just think it’s extremely unlikely Trump or his campaign would conspire to have someone shoot in Trump’s direction with an AR-15. The risk of hitting him by mistake would be too high.
Otoh Trump hasn’t previously shown the kind of quick thinking that the raised fist and “Fight, fight” seemed to show? To me that’s the only sus thing about the situation. They have a lot of heavily-armed far-right yahoos in their crowds; it’s unsurprising one would attempt a mass shooting.
But Trump (who also wants a civil war, he -is- the far right) sure seized the opportunity. Not to mention the raised-fist Trump merch that I’m sure is launching as we type.
Michael Flynn has been on record before saying that an assassination on Trump is good for their movement. Some resistance Twitter folks has speculated for awhile that the extremely radical faction of MAGA led by people like Flynn have calculated when the movement will no longer need Trump as they sometimes do not see him as extreme as they are. While I am not sure I would say Flynn and co. set this up, I would not be surprised either if the shooter was radicalized by this rhetoric, which you find courtesy of the right wing media ecosystem and all those freaking podcasts they have.
I’ve seen several mentions that he’d been upset about Epstein and had a “shoot your local pedophile” sticker but I can’t find trace it back to any credible source.
I love this site as I find like minded souls and new information as well as an opportunity to express my feelings.
I will not lie – my first reaction to the incident was that I was disappointed that the shooter wasn’t successful. Yes, as an old hippie peace marching woman I’m saying it.
However, I do see the small lens I was looking through.
And I do appreciate the good perspectives I read here. A learning curve.
Peace to the Spirit of the firefighter and condolences to his family.
May some good come out of this election cycle. May our democracy remain but grow with all we are learning about its imperfections.
PS I also think it was staged. That was my second reaction.
You all gave good credence to that theory as well. Thank you.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter if it was staged. Even with irrefutable proof either way, half the country wouldn’t believe it – such is the alternate realities that we live in now, in part thanks to Trump.
I know. It’s a cesspit situation. Can’t Trump supporters not see the sad irony in all the conspiracy theories they are now finding unpalatable, given their Alex Jones narratives and so on. It’s reflected right back at them and they can’t/won’t see it.
Lucille, I think it’s less than half the Country.
There a weird video online where you see the shooter crawling on the roof from which he shot at Trump. What’s weird is that you see people telling the security people to do something about the guy crawling on the roof and not a single agent does a thing about it.
https://x.com/dc_draino/status/1812642041391915384?s=46&t=5d0289ex1Xv47-d5NoPIhQ
Wow, this video is damning. How could the law enforcement drop the ball like that?
Holy sh*t…this is giving me Zapruder vibes!!
Twitter has found the account of the guy who was shot and k*lled in the crowd and it’s unsurprisingly a MAGA hatefest.
Really? I haven’t read that but it sounds exactly right. A 20yo white man who is a registered Republican and has access to an AR-15, and attempts a mass shooting? That is their base, not ours.
The Democratic governor of Pennsylvania was eulogizing him yesterday as a hero who protected his family. Someone should tell Democratic elected officials that there are times when it’s better to keep quiet. Nothing requires any of them to speak sympathetically about any MAGA.
Exactly, Oh Come On!
Argh I misread @Flower’s post. I was talking about the shooter, not the 50yo retired firefighter. But of *course* the firefighter’s Twitter was a hatefest: that’s why he was a Trump fan.
Sounds like Shapiro bent over backwards to praise him, maybe bending farther than he had to, ugh. But I guess he’s trying to appeal to the “centre” (between Dems and MAGA neo-Nazis, ugh) to keep the Dems afloat in such a competitive state 🙁
Bleak times.
PA is a very purple state, Shapiro has to be the governor for both sides.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
I don’t think it was staged but I also would not be surprised if it turned out to be. There are just so many things off about the whole thing as commenters have already mentioned. I will say this about the people reporting the person on the roof…I read that Pennsylvania is an open-carry state and in normal circumstances, law enforcement can’t really do anything about a guy just carrying a gun until he starts shooting. But given the rally was not normal circumstances, and even though he wasn’t in the venue, shouldn’t he at least have been questioned? It was an obvious potential sniper spot…how was it not addressed in advance by Secret Service? Given that there were reports of the guy on the roof and the snipers had spotted him, why did it take 8 shots for them to take him out? Or did everything just happen so much faster than we are being led to believe? Is this going to just turn out to be run-of-the-mill secret service incompetence, no conspiracy needed?
I do think it’s going to help Trump in the election. He is a martyr now, a “patriot.” I think where it will move the needle is with right-leaning independents and right-leaning apathetic voters with Trump-fatigue who might have stayed home on election day…those people are going to come out in droves now.
Karen, the MAGAs were going to come out to vote either way. The Independents and never Trumper Republicans are not going to be turned toward Trump by this. Especially, when he pumps his fist and yells ‘fight’. What does that tell them?
The Independents and never Trumper Republicans are slowing going blue. Project 2025 is helping. Biden telling everyone what he wants to accomplish in his second term is helping. There are WAY MORE rational people in the US than there were in 2020. Too many people have seen their lives improve under Biden.
Can someone tell me this. Or thoughts. When the security guys covered him in a circle, I thought it was odd that the one to the left (front on) wasn’t looking to see what was going on behind him and in the direction of the shooter. Yes, cover him by all means, but wouldn’t you also want someone in the huddle assessing what was going on, rather than completely turned inwards and away. He could have covered him with his back facing in. Listen to me, all SAS. Just logistically a bit weird.
If you watch the video of the Reagan assassination attempt, the response is much more by-the-book, including the team immediately propelling Reagan into the limo and getting the hell out of there, but you see the agents who DONT have their hands on him facing outward to cover. The other thing weird about the Trump thing was the counter-assault team. I’ve read several books about them specifically, and one author stated it simply …”It’s their job to get the principal out of there as quickly as possible, it’s our job to kill anyone trying to prevent it and to kill as many (bad) people as possible before we are killed.” NOT what happened on Saturday. The counter-assault people didn’t join in until later and there were just two guys wandering around on the stage, with more guys not coming in until he was being taken away.
Thanks, Karen. The security seemed really amateur. I kept thinking, Andy McNab must be going nuts! Would top notch security be allowing him to talk about his shoes, retrieve them, put his head up, and stop to fist pump? Surely they’d be almost be pushing him along to get out of there asap. There could’ve been multiple shooters not just one. Really poor. Thanks for the info re Reagan. It seems he had a better team around him.
They got Reagan out of there fast and it turned out his injuries were very serious.
I pray to God it wasn’t staged because that would be a level of depravity of which I didn’t want to believe even Trump would be capable. That fireman that died protecting his family, although a Trump supporter, did not deserve to die so that Trump could boost his image. I hope that it was just a mentally ill shooter and a major f*ck up by Secret Service.
All historic evidence points to trump having no bottom to his “level of depravity,” I’m sorry to say. So, yes, he is absolutely capable.
During the 2016 campaign, something happened at a rally that made the SS agents surrounding Trump think he was in danger. I can’t remember what it was, but they were shook. They grabbed him and hustled him off stage immediately, and he cooperated. There was no lingering moment where he could stand and pump his fist, nor did he seem to want one. He let them get him the hell away from the podium.
This seems weird and off to me. I don’t know if it was staged, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it were. Not one bit. That’s how much of a fraud this guy is, and how compromised I think the Secret Service is. Also, Twitter was swarmed yesterday with people making crazy statements about what an “iconic” moment Trump’s fist pump was. Some of them I am sure were bots. Which is not necessarily related, since these things take on a life of their own. But still.
Some idiot said that now, black people would be more likely to vote for Trump. Because he was “shot” (he wasn’t, the blood was from shattered glass from the podium or something), or because he was “defiant,” or something. Black Twitter’s response to THAT dumb take was hilarious. There was a parody video within hours.
If someone was shooting at me, I would be petrified. I wouldn’t be popping up, telling people to fight. Fight who, the sniper? The entire situation was bizarre, it was off. I’m already tired of hearing about it.
We were out when the shooting happened. I happened to hear about it from a friend who posted something rather cryptic on FB.
Sadly, for all of us on the ‘correct’ side of history, this is a huge blow for the election, and sadly probably cemented his win in November. As much as I believe our country can pull away from and condemn the current republican agenda, the events of the past week are not looking good for the Democratic party. this was the last straw, and I think that will throw this evil man over the top.
And yes. i would not put him past staging his own ‘assination’ he has shown the world that he is willing to do anything to win.
I only wish that he was willing accept a life of golfing in his miserable golf courses, and just being a nasty, despicable version of a rich old man.
Lisa, you’ve said this many times here. I suspect a Republican plant. No, this is will not harm the Democratic Party. I know that’s what the Republicans want to happen. But it will not.
Hard disagree. This won’t sway anyone who wasn’t going to vote for him and there’s no such thing as undecided voters. If Trump wins it will be because the Dems screwed the pooch yet again.
Disturbing similarities. Straight out of The Manchurian Candidate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ZnaRMhD_A
Very, very suspicious. I have been to several presidential campaign rallies and to see different U.S. presidents. The secret service always have control, and there is security everywhere. I have a very hard time believing that the shooting could have happened as is claimed.
Cheeto Mussolini cannot be trusted. He will do anything, ANYTHING, to win.
Suspicious. Trump was a flustered coward when Sec Service got spooked by an earlier threat. Happy to see the anti Trump block not wavering for a second.
The people saying Donald J Smollett are hilarious.
I love it.
If the photo I saw was legit, I just don’t think Trump has the guts to be that close in danger for it to be a setup he was part of.Ibkean that bullet hit him in the EAR..so dangerous!
It is my belief that someone comes along every now and then to remind us of evil.
He represents this to me.
I noticed this from the very beginning.
I’m not surprised this happened.
But I do not ever wish for violence, gun use for violence or political violence.
I also believe he will just literally just fall over one day.
He has just as much evil in his veins as he has blood 🩸
God how I agree with you.
Today could have been so different..
I don’t know if this hideous event is going to change much other than get the lunatics who were already going to vote for him more fired up. I can’t see this being the “turning point” to get Independents and others on the fence to vote for him. Now, if he dove in front a potential victim to save her life and showed what a hero he is, that might be different… I do find the fist pump thing very odd. I can’t imagine if someone shot me that I’d have the wherewithall to do a white power fist pump. But it is possible that one of his hideous enablers/cronies on stage told him to do it.
Linney, I agree with you. It’s not going to move the needle, except for those who were undecided and watched him fist pump and yell ‘fight’. Who does that after VIOLENCE? Someone who incites violence, that’s who.
He says he was shot in the ear – the secret service says he was cut by glass from the teleprompter.
Go watch the video of him leaving the stage. Then do a Google search for “WWE hold me back gif” and then watch other videos of the Secret Service evacuating a principle after a threat.
Exactly!
It made me think of James Brown being led away before he threw off his cape and rushed back to the microphone. How in real life do body guards move their principle away from danger leaving him visible and exposed while moving so comically slow?!
Speaking for myself, I’m grateful that the shooter wasn’t Black or a Democrat.
MAGA would never ever have shut up about it.
Even worse an IMMIGRANT
This whole thing just feels off. Also, could the Dems please grow a pair and quit allowing Republicans to blame them for this, because they pointed out a hard truth: that Trump is a threat to democracy.
He wasn’t shot. He was cut by a piece of glass at best. If he was shot, he’d be unalived. You can’t make contact with a high powered rifle and survive, especially if it was his ear.
The rules are different for Trump. 🙄
The conspiracy theorizing, here and elsewhere, is alarming. We have a picture of the bullet whizzing by Trump’s head, FFS. People need to wake up to the fact that the assassination attempt doesn’t change anything: we still need to defeat Trump, at the ballot box, in November. #VoteBlue
I love this site and all the people that comment. Yall are just on the FRINGE of the truth of it. Yes, it’s a conspiracy. Yes, it was staged. But not in the way you think. Trump was NOT in on it. I always say, think like a criminal, follow the money, and follow who benefits from a scenario. In this situation, the answer is…..the Republicans. They want trump’s base, but he is a rabid dog they can’t leash. So, the answer is killing him. But in a way that benefits them. Have him assassinated 2 days before the RNC. He’s a martyr, and they can replace him with anyone they want because it’s a tragic, chaotic situation and Trump’s base will support anyone they chose to replace their marty, because it’s WAR in their minds. If he survives, he’s not the option they want but he’ll rally his base on the attempt to kill him. They still hold power. Think about it. They told that poor kid he would be a hero, cleared that roof specifically for him, and the SS made way. They wanted trump dead but made plans for his survival so they seize power regardless.
That’s an interesting possibility. Perhaps they told him something was going to go down but didn’t tell him there would be live rounds not blanks. That “fight fight fight” shhht looked so rehearsed. Yeah, Putin or whoever could be behind this is probably like, “He’s a crazy loser, we got all the nuclear secrets we need already, take him out, and put Vance in.” Tinfoil tiara. Chilling to even halfway believe.
It could very well be that he wasn’t supposed to be hit by a bullet but somewhere along the line he was grazed by either a bullet or a shard of glass from the teleprompter. I haven’t seen proof that it was actually a bullet that hit him. Nothing surprises me anymore about Trump, he’ll do literally anything to sway public opinion and encourage his MAGA sycophants to turn to violence. It wouldn’t be hard to sway some young effed up kid like Crooks into thinking he was changing history for the better by elevating Trump to martyr status and giving the MAGA Republicans a pulpit from which to spew more malicious lies.
And “much bleeding” ! I have seen more from a skinned knee. His pumped fist morphing into a Nazi salute is disturbing, but unsurprising.
My first impression was that it was staged because he didn’t appear concerned for his own safety or the possibility of a second shooter. As for his height, people shrink as they age. I am three inches shorter than before.
Funny how in recent history when it is a Democrat they get killed or badly injured but when it is a Republican they seem to survive……………………….Reagan – Kennedy family……..
Please vote! If you haven’t signed up to vote yet, there is still time to register, and please do so. He’s named Vance as his VP, and if you’re not familiar with Vance, this man is VERY Trumpy. Due to this dumb@$$ assassination attempt, Agent Orange has gained a lot of sympathy from many people and it’s motivated his base. Murder is wrong, and Trump’s politics are wrong—this isn’t an either-or situation. Please vote!
As an outsider from NZ can I just say it was weird.
I was firstly horrified watching someone get shot but then confused when he popped up like a meer cat with his head looking over their shoulders to give the shooter a chance to take another shot?! And the secret service let him?! They were so slow they let him look around for an eternity?
Amd then when he did the fist pump I thought this is very odd behaviour.
If you’ve just been shot surely you want to hide and run away as fast as you can.
I despise the man and even I did think that was pretty brave of him and I think a lot of people are thinking the same .. however I also think it’s very suspicious and weird.
I can’t explain it as I don’t think he’s willingly allow someone to shoot him.
Doesn’t make sense
But it’s also strange that this kid who wasn’t good enough for the high school shooting team managed to hit him from that far away.