MEGA THREAD - Trump shot but safe, 2 others killed at PA rally

JonsJava@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 408 points –

WHAT

  • Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump was shot at a rally in PA.

TRUMPS STATEMENT

“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!”

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW SO FAR

  • gunman is dead
  • Trump "is fine"
  • one attendee is dead
  • another attendee is in critical condition

News Sources

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Alright, let's get it out ahead of time, since I'm already seeing this:

It's probably not staged. Trump reacts quickly - the fuck kind of timing you think that bloated potato has? To lift his hand to his ear just as the gunshot rings out? And the idea that the shooter grazed him on purpose is, likewise, absurd. The kind of risk that would entail, to just nick his ear?

Whether the shooter was insane or politically motivated, this is a real event.

Plus, the rally attendee being confirmed dead. Someone shot at him, 100%.

Do we know yet whether the would-be assassin or Secret Service hit the bystander? I was driving when it happened and am still getting up to speed

Edit/update: It seems the gunman was on a rooftop, not in the crowd, so, no idea what happened. I have a few theories, but I'm not gonna risk starting rumors.

Same. And same with Biden. When asked, he said "I have an opinion but we'll wait for the facts to come out."

You're still getting up to speed? You might want to buy a new car, mate.

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Thanks. Added your link and context to the mega thread

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I said this in another one of these threads- it is not at all outlandish to think that someone unhinged with a gun would see the threat of a fascist dictator and decide to do something about it.

Yeah, I remember my grandfather telling the story of how Hitler held a speech at a Stadium that was visible from his attic window, and his biggest regret was, that he did not have a machinegun to take him and the other Nazi officials with him out. The US has enough guns and desperation for someone to attempt this, definitely.

What year was that?

I don't remember him mentioning the exact year, it's been ages and I was a child still when he was still alive, but I know it was before the Machtergreifung, because he told it as having been a rally during an election campaign, eerily fitting, I guess.

The right has been agitating for stochastic terrorism for about sixteen god damn years. Well, they got it.

It's likely a good thing the guy missed. Trump being assassinated might just kick off the open violence that has been brewing. Still might, but it'll depend on the next couple of days. If that dude turns out to be a left-winger, and Trump makes no attempt to stop it, I could see things getting very, very ugly.

If that dude turns out to be a left-winger

That dude's political leaning will turn out to be whatever the news we prefer says he was.

Reports are coming in that he was a registered republican, but had donated to dems once in the past. He was only 20 so not a lot of political history to go on.

it happens a lot more than you would think throughout american history, sometimes with guns, sometimes without. Obama had 8 attempts throughout his terms in office. Biden has had one so far, trump has had a few, nothing more significant than obama though, except for maybe being shot, just barely.

I don’t doubt the shooter was genuinely trying to kill him. But I also think there are an unprecedented number of Republicans and Democrats who would be secretly relieved if their own party’s candidate were assassinated.

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It's a very common gut reaction to assume something like this has to be "staged", I said it in the other thread in some discussions: It's understandable to have it as this feeling. But everyone who feels that way: take a breath, remember the world is much more chaotic and much less controlled than you think, you don't have to think of yourself as stupid for thinking it, but wait for more information to come out and be ready to give it up then.

Reacting properly to this new reality is much more important, than trying to adjust reality to fit an emotion. It's human to do that, react instinctively in a first gut reaction, but it is also human to be able to let go of that.

In the spirit of not promoting violence, I'd like to promote the alternative of the Alex Jones treatment. Gaslight the fucker and set a conspiracy in motion to hound him the rest of his days.

I am hoping it results in visible signs of PTSD. That would be a modern Tar & Feathering.

I agree. We're all just processing this and should probably take a break and come back when there is more info and we can think critically. That said, this is very scary, like, I feel like my physical safety is at risk because of this. So, not knowing what others are going through, I'm going to have some compassion for any initial reactions. People are having these same discussions face to face right now but not everyone can do that and may need to.

the way i like to look at it, is that it doesn't matter whether it was staged or not, it still happened. People still died, people still evacuated, trump still got shot, none of that changes.

If it does, you're doing a conspiracy theory, and you should stop.

I think it absolutely does matter for the political conclusions.

But at the very least it is far to early to get into these conspiracies, even if the events had unfolded very differently like the bullets not hitting anywhere close.

However given what we already know and what was caught by dozens of cameras, all the points the conspiracy theorists are coming up with are just insane.

it does inevitably matter, but as of right now, we barely even know who did it, so conspiracies aren't going to help at all. That was mainly my point behind the comment.

Thank you. And fuck the idiots spouting off with the "staged" nonsense. The time to believe something is staged is when you have evidence that it was.

People are obviously on high alert, considering how far Trump is willing to go given Jan 6th. From the Reichstag fire to the Russian apartment bombings, such events manufactured or actual have profound impact on public perception and action. Naomi Klein's (not to be confused with the nut job Naomi Wolf) The Shock Doctrine details this well.

No sign this was a false flag, but holy fuck does it have terrible implications.

Oh, it's all tongue-in-cheek, and yet: quid pro quo.

Trump's entire persona is built on lies, it shouldn't be a surprise that it's many people's first thought.

But it shouldn't be. He shows no signs - cognitively speaking - of being capable of putting something like this together as a stage-managed event, and all of his past stage-managed events have been shitshows because he micromanages everything and he's incompetent.

i mean honestly, it's scary, but it's also not a good time to be an american right now, from the immunity rulling to the jan 6th delays, and all the other bullshit going on, things seem to be getting vastly more interesting now than they were just a few months ago.

Yeah, a 120 meter shot to graze does not exist. One inch to the right and he's dead. With wind variables and stuff, the shooter who can reliably pull that off in one shot or volley does not exist.

Everyone keeps saying it can't be staged because it was so close.

I just wanted to point out it can be both staged and a successful assassination if the end goal is to point the finger at the left and martyr a polarizing figure.

With a better rifle and a spotter maybe.

Edit. Just want to say I don’t think it’s a false flag in anyway. Just speculating lol

Not how guns work I'm afraid. I wouldn't trust Olympic shooter with that type of shot at a closer distance.

It is not marvel movie, you don't go for the head.

It’s probably not staged. Trump reacts quickly - the fuck kind of timing you think that bloated potato has?

it's absolutely what you would expect the reaction to be. Much like burning your hand on a stove where your brain deals with the situation a lot quicker than you can logically process it, these kinds of injuries can do the same thing. It's more than likely the people surrounding him that clued him in on it quicker than anything. That's the one thing you would be prepared to expect.

Yeah, if you’re going to stage a fake assassination, you don’t fire a bullet a couple inches away from a kill shot. It’s crazy how close this was to a successful attempt.

If it was staged, the only feasible way would be that he wasn't shot at all and all we saw was fake blood. Regardless, I don't think it was actually staged

It seems far more likely that Trump has some sort of quantum immortality than this being staged. Truly an insane shot to miss so narrowly while still grazing. I get why it makes people scratch their head. It will be interesting to see what happens.

If it was staged then they are playing a very risky game. It doesn’t take much error to make a bullet that grazes your ear dome you. It’s basically certain that this wasn’t staged.

Genuinely infurating that the moment anything happens, NeoLibs will just start copying right-wing talking points.

Will or they did? Any examples?

If you check the modlog, before the Mods here started removing them, dozens of commenters said its a false flag, set up by trump.

Here's a screenshot of it happening on PoliticalMemes. EDIT: Used the proper screenshot. https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/9664605

And here's some screenshots of the mod logs:

This isn't getting into the ones on Mastodon and Twitter who also repeated the same Alex Jones level thinking.

EDIT: Weird how I gave proof, they move the goal posts. Give proof, move the goal posts. I'm starting to think they just want an excuse for their weird takes and Q-Anon thinking.

And how do you know they are NeoLibs?

On twitter/Mastodon with 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 in their profiles, and treating any valid criticisms of Biden are actually by Russian bots.

That's why I consider them NeoLibs.

I see, so you just use the term “NeoLib” to mean “people you disagree with” rather than “people with neoliberal political beliefs”

If it advocates for Neoliberal polices, speaks for Neoliberal polices, defends Neoliberal polices, yeah I do. Take your concern trolling elsewhere. I'm not going to bootlick for Reagan and every president afterwards.

You think the people you’re calling “NeoLibs” above are Reagan fans? Your criteria for neoliberal policies is “supports Ukraine and Israel at the same time” and “is aware of the current reality of Russian disinformation tactics”? Neither of those have anything to do with neoliberalism. I don’t think you know what “concern trolling” means, either.

You're being pedantic. The dominant ideology of the Democratic party is neoliberalism. Democrats continued neoliberal policies following Reagan, like NAFTA and others. They will consistently defer to the market based solutions and "free enterprise" as opposed to actual socialism. The dominant political user on these platforms (especially .world) are capital D Democrats and liberals. You see this on Reddit a lot in /r/neoliberal.

This user likely isn't wrong when using this description as a generalization.

Neoliberalism was invented to criticize Reagan's policies. Clinton took those polices with a coat of blue paint. Bush made them worse. Obama continued them. Trump made them worse. Biden continued them.

^ This is a decently accurate account of how neoliberalism grew to become the dominant economic ideology in the US and Western Europe. Though it was really just a description of Reaganism and Thatcherism at first. Read David Harvey if you disagree.

Weird how I call out bullshit, people ask for proof, I give them proof, they move the goal posts, I give that goal some proof, they move the goalposts.

It's like... I know these weirdos when I see them and call them that for a reason.

I love lemm.ee

Yhe mod log is available for all to see. You can even search by username.

Only one ban so far, I think I'm doing good!

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