He was surrounded by a lot of highly trained good guys with plenty of guns, the Secret Service, and even they couldn’t stop the bad guy, only respond to him.
(I’m paraphrasing from the second season premiere of The West Wing, but the writers were dead on 24 years ago.)
Holy shit, he had blood on his ear? If that’s true, he was about a foot away from assassination. That’s wild.
Edit: saw a picture of him and he was def hit in the ear. We won’t hear the end of this for a long time. “Radical democrats are so scared that I’m going to win” etc
Edit 2: let’s do count of “how many push notifications does the news junkie get?” I’m at 34 7 so far. Edit: it’s a lot more than 7 but I’m done counting
He put his hand up to his ear before he went down and you can see blood on his face when Secret Service took him away. Whoever it was missed him by that much.
Nobody in the crowd was hit with anything it seemed, so I don't think he was shot. If anything, the secret service takedown probably did whatever it was. He's never going to stfu about this. Wouldn't be surprised if this was staged.
just saw the news at it was kinda wierd. did not seem like anyone behind him got hit and he was hit in the ear and pumped his fist after ward. They said metal detectors are used so sounds like a sniper type thing. I sorta think they likely would figure out the origin. I wonder if they have him or are after them but don't want to update yet.
That's my gut reaction too. It's done. That fucking photo where Trump stood up and did the fist pump with the blood on his face and the American flag in the background:
There's no beating that. That's literally like a movie poster. Whether Biden stays or goes, I really don't think it matters now.
Also as an aside, I don't mean this as a compliment to Trump. I think he's a raging piece of shit and I hope he loses. But it's elections are all about perception and I really don't see Biden doing anything to top this.
My vote is irrelevant. I live in a deep blue stronghold. Nothing I can personally do is going to change what is coming, and the path that we are on. It is time to prepare for the worst.
"I wasn't going to vote because I don't care about or follow politics. Now I see they are trying to kill this guy so I am going to vote for him because clearly the powers that be want him gone. So, he must be doing something to fight the system like JFK."
Nobody who was going to vote Dem is changing their vote. It's all the people who weren't going to vote that now will because they either think he is badass for surviving an assassination attempt, or because of the web of new conspiracy narratives that are sure to be born from this that further serve to frame Trump as the savior of the common man from the clutches of the evil deep state.
I don't see it, the lines have been firmly drawn for years. The maga crowd will vote for him regardless of anything and the rest of us wouldn't piss on him to put out a fire.
This gets touted any time any consequence could come to him. Saying this makes it a lose lose situation. Either we let him get away and do whatever or "he's a martyr." No. He reaps whatever consequences come to him for his actions. It shouldn't come as an assassination, but he has to have some consequence for what he does.
I wonder how Trump's public image will change after this event. Will the MAGA crowd radicalise even more? Or will he have to drop out of the presidential race for safety concerns?
Trump's going to milk him being a victim and come out looking like he's super tough and cheated death. Nothing could have been better for the Trump campaign than a failed assassination attempt in which Trump was hit and survived practically fine. I think things are about to get pretty bad. This is terrible terrible news for the country.
Not really. The second amendment is about states protecting themselves from the federal government. That’s why it’s talking about militias, not lone gunmen.
Violence begets violence, and Trump is responsible for no shortage of violence. Is this for the violence of Jan 6, or the violence against the women in his life, or some other time? I want to find out.
Edit: his base is going to be insanely fired up now. I’m genuinely scared about what’s going to happen now. I can see it already “the deep state tried to stop him and God saved Trump!” ugh.
"I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.
I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information.
Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."
If the roles were reversed, Trump would be offering the shooter a posthumous pardon and probably a medal. And no, I'm not joking. Trump would never be seen giving someone else the respect he demands from others.
When he yells "fight", what does he mean to fight for? Fight against freedom? I wonder the same thing when it comes to Qbert and Empty-G. Fight? What are they fighting for, exactly? More tax cuts for billionaires? More special privileges for xtians?
I was told today that someone we know is going to vote for donnie - because "economy". What. The. Actual. Fuck. They said that the economy was better under donnie. I just can't even. And this is someone that will be a target under fascist rule.
Their potato chips and beer have gone up a lot in the past few years, therefore we were in the economic golden age under Trump. Life is pretty simple for some people.
Yeah, I see that all the time for people that don't even have to think about being targets - read: xtian white cishet males that are cons...this was someone that would definitely be in the crosshairs of the Project 2025 types. Repeating Bullshit Mountain style propaganda about "the economy".
The economy won't mean shit if you are a political prisoner or made a second class citizen.....or even worse.
If I do assume that’s a bullet, let’s test if the size of the streak makes sense. A bullet travels at about 750m/s. That streak (using Trump’s head for scale) is about 50cm long, or 1/2 meter. A 750 m/s bullet travels 1/2 meter in 1/1500 seconds. When you consider projection effects (we might not be looking with a line-of-sight perpendicular to the bullet’s trajectory), we expect the length and time used in my above calculations to be lower bounds, with the true answer probably being within about a factor of 3 of that bound. This means that this image only makes sense as a bullet if the shutter speed is between 1/1500 and 1/500 seconds. That lines up with this website’s recommendation of 1/1000 second exposure time for bright outdoor shots.
Either a very good fake that considered the kinematics, or this is a real image of the bullet.
Has me wondering if this was an attempt to start a race war, like a bunch of past mass shootings, attempts to knock out power by shooting transformers, etc.
Who knows. Someone that would take it upon themselves to do something like this could have all kinds of flawed thought processes, as well as mental illness.
I mean, the Republicans have a habit of constantly casting each other out for various forms of apostasy, real or imagined, and declaring the apostate a "RINO". With the way they talk about non-Republicans, that unperson is then a lower lifeform not worthy of empathy...if that's the kind of thing that led to this, it wouldn't be that surprising, I guess. I mean, look at how they view Liz Cheney. Liz. Cheney.
Honestly, this seems more likely than what he's saying. The angle he was standing at didn't seem likely that he would have been hit unless someone was in the stands behind him, which didn't seem like the case from the video.
Turns out, calling out for violence over and over again or continuously calling for the blood of your opponents, threatening with imprisonment and a literal dictatorship, will be answered with violence. I am sooooooo shocked!
Tbh that's the most characteristic thing about Trump. Saying things so outrageously stupid, so far outside common sense and so detached from reality that people end up thinking about them more than they should.
This should seal the deal on Biden dropping out of the race. His odds of winning already weren’t good, and now he’s completely lost control of the popular narrative.
The assassination attempt will be all everyone’s talking about until something extremely big replaces it. The only possible story that can shift people’s focus is Biden’s deeply patriotic decision to sacrifice his second term for the good of the country.
Devise a framework where negative ads are not allowed, and debates are civil and informative to the public. Find the best candidate the old fashioned way.
seriously, at this point the Democrats have got to do something bold. the combined trajectories of this election and the country are not promising.
edit to say... my bold move would be:
biden steps aside (powerful good of the country speech and all that - huge opportunity to remind everyone what a shitbag trump is)
kamala sanctions this process by somehow transitioning funds to a diff general account.
dems flood the news cycle with a mini primary (flash campaign and debates) all the way up to the convention with a diverse selection of candidates... showcase the big tent and range of ideas.
don't know how they deal with delegate votes for a nominee, but the dems have to take over the news cycle and keep the focus on them with at least the veneer of something vagely democratic and energizing, otherwise I think we get king klepto-fascist.
this is likely a pipe dream and I am going to shut up now.
Exactly. Trump threw out the playbook and won. Biden got by with old politics and won, but it’s not going to happen again. Not after today.
The Democrats need to finally establish a cohesive identity. Introduce someone who can tell you what voting Democrat will deliver for your family.
And maybe please involve James Carville in the process. He consistently has his finger on the pulse of economic issues, which are what actually matter right now for “swing voters.”
New York Post is the first to identify the shooter. Not linking it here because, well, New York Post... but it is being floated out there on non-social media.
Edit CNN is speaking to Evan Perez, Senior US Justice Department Correspondant, confirming the information first reported by the New York Post.
"An incident occurred the evening of July 13 at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has implemented protective measures and the former President is safe. This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available."
Audio reads "shooter is down" and there are reports of someone in custody.
Edit Definitely blood on his right ear. Just got a better look at it, top of his right ear.
Edit TMZ reports the bullet hit the teleprompter and the shattered glass hit Trump in the ear.
"I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
There's an extended video that shows a lift spewing hydraulic fluid with one more gunshot. I'm guessing homie moved and the secret service donated a bit more lead.
Edit. He was firing the left of the stage from our viewpoint, so he probably did hit the poor lift.
Okay, this settles it: Biden is gonna be the nominee. Nobody else on the Dem side is gonna want to be the sacrificial lamb going up against Trump after today.
Lots of people seem keen to jump to this being staged. That makes zero sense: Trump was already winning before this, especially with Biden (his preferred opponent) looking to hang on to the nomination.
conspiracy theorist in me sees several venues where it is Very beneficial to POTUS45 to stage this:
finally come out as victim
frame Biden/CIA/FBI as villains
come out as "defiant" hero and rally support to the point where it's a landslide win, where he would be able to go after anybody and anything he doesn't like.
more wicked stuff comes to mind but I think above is sufficient . Fact that bullet grazed him and nobody around him in a tight setting is kind of strange, with his bravado on display with fist shaking. One can only dream for this election campaign video to be run on repe 24/7 on fox and other outlets, giving him more air time, and now that Biden asked everyone to read project2025 entire nation will be watching nothing but POTUS45. Still could be some morron that didn't get his signature at the rally pulling out his Beretta..
There is no scenario where this helps Treason Trump. Now the entire world knows that Convicted Criminal and Sex Offender Treason Trump is so widely hated that people literally want to kill him. And now Treason Trump knows it too.
A lot of deep haters here in the comments. Trump derangement syndrome is live and well in many coddled minds. I was a Trump fan back then but I realized that Trump was not getting anything done as president that Trump campaigned on during 2016 and ever since then, was no longer a fan and was quite dissapointed. Came to realize Trump was an egomaniac at best.
However I do not wish for voilence. I do not see him as a good option as president in 2024 due to his track record of getting nothing done during his first term. However for lefties to hate Trump because "The TV told me so" and being spoon fed with the opinion that "Trump is the next Hitler" is such mental gymastics. Look lefties, Trump is not a threat to your woke agenda, he did not drain the swamp in 2017, he hired the swamp. I am sure if he wins in 2024, he will hire the swamp in 2025 again and it will just be four years of fuck all nothing.