“Let me get my shoes,” said Donald Trump, calmly under the circumstances. His coiffed pompadour was tousled, his white button-up disheveled.
A throng of panicked Secret Service agents was hoisting him to his feet. “Wait, wait,” he hissed, as they tried to hurry him off stage. Trump reached his hand over their shoulders and punched the air. “Fight!” Or maybe “F–k ’em!” It was hard to tell.
The terrified crowd, already riding a delirious adrenaline rush, cheered. If there were any questions as to which instinct they should follow in the face of danger — fight or flight — Trump answered them.
Trump’s campaign scarcely needed more publicity, nor his bad boy image more ostensible validation, but now he has both. Papered across every major news outlet on the planet were images of Trump, his fist raised in defiance, shouting to fans with blood streaming down the side of his face from some manner of wound.
The former president was regaling supporters at a Pennsylvania rally ahead of the Republican convention when he grabbed his ear amid a series of loud pops that sounded like gunshots. More followed. He ducked. Women screamed. Chaos ensued. It was mayhem.
Details were initially sparse, but eventually the shooter was confirmed killed. At least one rallygoer died too. Trump was “fine.” “Safe” and “fine,” according to his team. The visual, below, is iconic already. It was captured by AP photographer Evan Vucci.
That photo, which I paid to license once I tracked down the source, was everywhere. Everywhere.
The Secret Service indicated the shooter wasn’t a rally attendee and took aim from “an elevated position outside of the venue.” An AR-style rifle was recovered from the scene. Verified video footage showed the would-be assassin — a 20-year-old from the suburbs of Pittsburgh — dead on a nearby rooftop.
Everybody who’s anybody in American politics, including every top Democrat, immediately condemned the incident. In unequivocal terms.
“There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy,” Barack Obama said. “We should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics.”
“I thank God that former President Trump is safe,” Nancy Pelosi wrote. “Violence has NO place in our democracy,” Gavin Newsom said. “My thoughts are with President Trump.” Hakeem Jeffries said the same. And on and on.
And so, the legend grows. Trump’s now a former president who survived an assassination attempt. “[The] last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt,” Elon Musk mused. Expect more of that. A lot more of that.
In what’s sure to be the most viewed post in Truth Social’s short, ignominious history, Trump told the story. “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” he wrote. “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,” he went on. “So I realized then what was happening.”
Joe Biden called the incident “sick.” “There’s no place in America for this,” he said, adding that he was trying to reach “Donald” as quickly as possible.
Needless to say, conspiracy theories will now run wild. Absolutely wild. One US congressperson — Georgia’s Mike Collins — wrote, “Biden sent the orders.”
A Times reporter who was at the event overheard a man say, “Trump was elected today. He’s a martyr.”
Contrast that attempt at assassination with that of TR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Theodore_Roosevelt
…and if John McCain was still alive I’m sure he’d say “I like people who weren’t shot”.
Sadly, must agree with the bystander. Now. Imagine if the shooter is an immigrant.
You could almost hear the sad sighs of disapointment in the Fox and Newamax editorial offices when the shooter’s name was announced. He was a nice white citizen rather than an illegal Mexican rapist or, even better, an Iranian or Chinese terrorist who snuck over the border illegally.
I kinda/sorta got the impression on Sunday that people — just people in general — are getting exhausted with this by now. With Trump, with Biden, with all of it. It’s a soap opera. And it’s beginning to make the country look really, really bad.
Yep.
That’s all for the Democrats. IMO, Trump is a shoe in now.
Come on Heisenberg. Give up your politics and the embarrassing ‘alleged’ in your title. Good grief. As someone who has been lamenting (at least as much as a nihilist can) lamenting the fraying of the union at least have the decency to condemn violence. And…take a hard look at whoever the shooter may have been.
Gregg, nobody knows the facts here as of 9:45 ET. You want me to send out a real-time e-mail alert to thousands of subscribers on a Saturday night that runs any risk — any risk at all — of being in any way fallacious? With all due respect, f–k off with that. My readers expect me to exhibit the proper caution when it comes to titles and editorials, and it’s a fine line to walk, my friend. Try it some time. Try striking just the right balance between not being a credulous moron and not being conspiratorial. It ain’t easy, Gregg. It ain’t easy at all. And I can’t please everybody. Also, I didn’t fail to condemn violence. Nor do I appreciate the insinuation.
I changed it to “apparent” from “alleged.” Are you happy now, Gregg? Just for you, my friend. I changed it just for you. Because God knows I’d hate to hurt a sensitive Republican’s feelings.
I come for the articles and stay for the snark. Never change, H.
AP says, ‘The Secret Service said the suspected shooter fired from “an elevated position outside of the rally venue.”’ https://apnews.com/article/trump-vp-vance-rubio-7c7ba6b99b5f38d2d840ed95b2fdc3e5
Yeah, I added that if you look. I’m not going to keep appending this article, folks. This is just the anchor — the placeholder — the “Here’s what happened and here’s what was initially known” article. There’s more where this came from. Much, much more. This is all anybody’s going to talk about for the foreseeable future. We’ll have plenty of time to gather facts and regale each other with every possible electoral angle, and every imaginable hot take.
I know it. I’m seriously thinking now might be a good time to start one of my periodic media fasts. Honestly, this just happened and already I’ve had more than enough—Musk’s comment already drove this past my max tolerance for pointless heated BS. I’m not going to sit and even fucking read people seriously comparing this fucking orangutan to Theodore Roosevelt, that eclipses even the BS we’re used to at this point, and that’s probably just the beginning. I don’t even want to hear any of it. And Jr. has already jumped at the opportunity to open his yap again and grace us once again with the excreta of his cognitive deficiencies, too. These next few weeks are going to be extremely annoying.
Unfortunately I’ve gotten myself into the habit of browsing about four different news and current events sites every morning before I get up and out of bed. (Unemployment has its perks.) I might have to break that habit. We’ll see.
Martyr – a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty.
Trump would have to die to become a martyr. Two people died and Trump was not one of them.
It does seem this was an amateur, he missed.
Thank you.
Now I’ve removed the “apparent.” Do note, Gregg: It’s nearly 1 AM where I am. When I initially wrote this article, hours and hours ago, there was no confirmation from anyone — not even from Trump or his team — as to what, exactly, happened, let alone any official word from the Secret Service. Yes, we all saw the video, but what if it had turned out to be some silly idiot with a BB gun in the bleachers and I sent out a dramatic headline to thousands of people about a near-death experience for the former president? I should’ve said “apparent” initially instead of “alleged,” but I think you get the point: Whatever the “right” adjective was, the idea was to leave a little room for plausible deniability just in case it turned out to be something other than what officials now say it was. Do you know how many times mainstream outlets changed their headlines this evening? A lot, commensurate with the evolving nature of the situation.
(For anyone tuning in late, the initial version of the headline on this article read: “‘Martyr’ Trump Survives Alleged Assassination Attempt.” I then changed “Alleged” to “Apparent.” Then, once the Secret Service confirmed what happened and once videos showing the shooter dead on a rooftop starting making the rounds, I dropped the “Apparent.”)
The Secret Service sharpshooter heard the shot, located the shooter, then in almost no time took him out…ummm. Very good work but why didn’t he see the shooter sooner? I’ve watched too many JFK asassanation movies LOL
Lol, I got a little conspiracy-minded for a sec, too… my primary experience with firearms was discovering I can’t hit the broad side of a barn from 20 paces with a sawed-off shotgun, so I heard he pierced his ear at 130 yards, and first thing, I’m googling to see what kind of accuracy people usually get with AR-15s… lousy shot like me, I thought that sounded like kind of a suspiciously good shot. But, according to an old conversation I found between a couple of hunters on Reddit, turns out 130 yards is not far for someone who actually knows how to shoot. Suburban kid, what do I know.