Originally published at: Trump’s Allies Quickly Respond To Shooting With Conspiracy Theories, Attacks On Political Enemies - TPM – Talking Points Memo
In the first few fraught hours after what for all intents and purposes looks like an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, some of his most ardent supporters did little to de-escalate the highly charged political environment. Instead, in the hours after a gunman attacked Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, multiple congressional…
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They can’t help themselves.
Remember how sympathetic when Paul Pelosi was almost killed in his home? Trump and many were laughing about it.
Both parties are not the same….
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Apparently
“Inability to Read the Room”
is an incurable disease.
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Of course they went immediately on the attack. Think back to Ronald Reagan, During his first term, his Administration was stagnating and his personal popularity was stagnating. The he got shot. The nation rallied around him, and they stayed there after he recovered. He got a second term. Which led to GHWB. Which led to Dubya. And likely, which led to Trump. Who will now be praised as an almost-martyr. The Democrats absolutely don’t need any of that.
This assassination attempt was worse than tragic - it was also stupid beyond belief.
I fully expect that Trump will recover just fine - his wounds are minor at worst. But I also pray that somehow, this attempt on his life will not rebound in his favor, and that people will think much more about Project 25, which will have a vastly profound and devastating effect on our nation. We need Biden and Democratic majorities in both Houses, or else we’ll wind up with a king - and absolutely not a Philosopher King.
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This is the guy who purportedly tried to kill Trump. Note his party affiliation. It’s quite convenient he was killed, no?
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What a mess…
It is being reported that the shooter was a 20 year old, no real word yet on his beliefs (of course some are claiming he’s antifa). I suspect we’ll learn he was some confused kid who was afraid of what Trump’s win would mean to him or someone close to him, and all the Biden drama of the past two weeks convinced him that Trump had to be taken out because Biden can’t win. Likely mental health issues of some kind too, there usually is. The biggest question is why a rooftop with direct line of sight to Trump’s speech was not covered, there’s a massive screwup by the Secret Service that has to be sorted out…if it can happen to Trump it can happen to Biden, especially with a trained shooter from a longer distance. And, this does show that there are nuts on both sides willing to take that shot, sigh.
The political consequences are hard to figure out right now. The story will turn away from Biden’s cognitive issues, so at least that goes into the background. But, this is going to fire up the Trump base, and we’re going to start hearing things like “they tried to kill Trump because they fear he will win the fight for you!” or somesuch. It’s going to put a hole in Democrat’s attacks against Trump, because they now have to be careful how they make statements about how awful his policies and plans are, and how he will try to turn the presidency into a dictatorship. Calling him proto-Hitler will sound like calling for him to be killed, but his policies really are what dictators try to do…his team is already lining up lists of people for criminal trials once he’s elected, people like Romney and McConnell are on those lists, as well as all the Democrats you’d expect.
The Republican convention is going to have a very martial strain to it, Republicans are going to be talking about civil war all the time now, “and Democrats fired the first shot” is going to be a theme…ironic since that Heritage guy stated that their coup would be bloodless if the left allowed it, so at least some of them are going to be just fine waving the bloody shirt and enraging the base. Democrats are going to have a hard time speaking back to all of this, both because they won’t be able to use the same terms without someone saying “you can’t say that after Trump was shot!”, and because not confronting the language will look weak. It’s a no win, for sure.
I have been expecting political violence during this campaign…this isn’t what I expected as the first shot, but the rhetoric is turned up so much that eventually someone was going to get shot at. Every Democrat needs to check on their security, as do people like Liz Cheney. If Trump loses, the right is very likely going to go bananas now, all this does is reinforce their belief that the deep state is out to get him and he’s their savior. I don’t know what that violence will look like, but vote counting centers and the people running elections are in trouble, and possibly voting sites in the swing states. A close election being counted for days is going to lead to violence if Trump is losing, people will gear up and go down to stop the “illegal counts”…maybe it will just be banging on the windows but this makes it more likely it will be more.
This really does help Trump enhance the idea that he’s the wrong one in the race…“would doddering old grandpa have gotten up after being shot and walked off the stage?” is going to be the argument. You have to hand it to Trump, his polticial instincts were right on in that moment, it makes him look tough, and coupled with the debate people will see “tough leader”. Biden’s job just got harder, but it’s not lost yet…3.5 months is enough time to make it clear that Trump won’t be a tough leader, he’ll be a dictator, and he’ll do lots of awful things people don’t want. Democrats absolutely have to get behind that message now, but I suspect some are instead going to insist Biden step aside and be replaced by whatever badass they can thrown against Trump…that won’t be Harris. If Democrats continue fighting amongst themselves they will lose the election now.
We won’t know the real result of all this until after the Republican convention, maybe a week later…polling by then will tell us how this affected the race. Biden’s debate didn’t move the needle, it’s back to where it was (and possibly was swinging towards him a bit), the convention would likely have swung it a bit towards Trump. The sympathy vote will go to Trump now, how much is the question…if a bunch of independents decide Biden’s failed debate plus Trump standing up is enough to make up their minds then the election might be done no matter what Democrats do or say (which is why they need to stop screwing around right now, any more of that will look worse after this).
I am sure this wasn’t a plant, the shooter wasn’t put up to it, it’s not a false flag, and it’s exceedingly sad that anything like this could happen. And, yes, Republicans are the leading cause of inciting violence in our politics, but it’s not one sided anymore despite how badly they have acted. It’s just astounding that once again something has happened that looks like it will help Trump when he needs it most, like the universe is looking out for this awful person who is doing his best to ruin our nation. Despite that, he can still lose, but it’s going to take hard work and belief that America can be better than what Trump and Project 2025 have planned for us.
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“In a followup post, Collins suggested the political comment was grounds for authorities to “immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination.”
If would be a legal order. That’s what the Supreme Court says.
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I didn’t read this until after my long post that no one will read. 
If he really was a Republican, and not antifa (his social media accounts all seem to say antifa on them, maybe that’s fake?), then that may change the story so it’s not the Democrat’s fault. At least for people who pay attention to the facts, I bet there’s already a full on conspiracy of how Biden personally anointed this guy to assassinate Trump, and some Trump voters will believe it. The effect is all going to come down to two things…how independents/swing voters/undecideds react to this, and if the Democrats get even more strident about thinking Biden can’t stand against “Tough Trump” and demand his replacement.
All of this will shake out in the next four weeks, after the Democrat’s convention we’ll probably know if the race is hopeless. If it’s not at that point, then the plans for the Trump administration can sink his campaign, people just don’t want a Christian theocracy or dictatorship with show trials of political rivals and social programs being axed.
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I know this sounds prickish - but…
after a bullet to the side of the head, having a full mental health work up - with all diagnostic testing would seem absolutely mandatory.
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So the 20 year old kid was a registered Republican? That is interesting. .
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To be honest, I think the shattered glass impact is more likely, a bullet from an AR-15 passing that close should have left more indication of its passage, like burn marks or other skin or hair damage. And, if it did pass that closely there could have been effects from the shock wave. One did pass near him, there’s a photo. It just looks like glass hit his face and ear instead.
I suspect the story told will be the bullet clipped his ear, and we’ll get no medical information, or information on if he had any kind of neurological testing. They just refuse to release any of that, and that’s not going to change…we’ll get at best another fake letter from a paid doctor saying Trump is the healthiest, smartest presidential nominee ever and that’s it, and the media will just go along like they always have.
Yes, if it’s true…it’s early so anything is possible, but it seems people have checked the voting records and found it. Of course, he might be a gay/trans Republican, or maybe he’s a true believer on abortion and felt betrayed by Trump’s efforts on the Republican platform, or maybe he was Republican and switched to antifa. He was probably just a confused kid who was driven by something to take a shot at Trump, and he paid the price for it, and he will be vilified as a left wing assassin and agent of Joe Biden by the right wingers no matter what his beliefs actually were.
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Perhaps he was inspired by this -
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Yep. You can hear Marge Green and Matt Gaetz saying that Trump was the target of a Biden assassin already. The truth is an assassination isn’t in anyone’s best interests. Jesus, Project 2025 alone is enough to sink Trump. This might be the violence Kevin Roberts was alluding to.
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Marjorie Maytag suppresses her concern for the Former Guy’s health and instead issues an attack on media and Democrats. It’s an opporunity to let fly with her crazy issues as others try to gather the facts
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Really? You’re going to speculate that the shooter was inspired by Democrats’ statements about Trump’s complete unsuitability to lead the country?
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All he’s going to lose is an earlobe or so. No mental health is in play.
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There is absolutely no reason for this kind of speculation as to motive, political persuasion, etc. with virtually no facts revealed to the public.
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