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Home » Trump shot at PA rally; ear grazed

Trump shot at PA rally; ear grazed

The New Neo Posted on by

The news is everywhere, but we have few details so far. It does appear he’s basically okay.

I’m away from my computer and can’t post at length till this evening.

Comments

Trump shot at PA rally; ear grazed — 125 Comments

  1. Someone behind him was hit according to Senate candidate McCormick who was on the stage.

  2. Not only is he OK, but he pumped his fist in the air and said “Wait, wait, wait.” to the guards followed by “Fuck it!” or “Fuck you!” . A little hard to tell as the sound drops. But defiant as all hell.

    But he’s the fascist. Sure.

  5. Newsmax reporting Butler official saying shooter is dead

    I think a rallier also dead

  7. I suppose it’s crass to do a political calculation so early, but IMO this sinks the election for Trump.

    Trump is the brave outsider literally risking his life to oppose the Establishment and getting shot.

    Biden is the corrupt senile old politician now exposed after being protected for years by the party, the media, academia and Hollywood.
    _____________________________________________

    You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

    –Bob Dylan, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxjIBEZvx0
    _____________________________________________

    Funny how things flip around.

  8. I have been expecting this. Looks like it worked out better than TR in Milwaukee, thank God. Mr. Trump reacted as TR did, though.

  11. I’ve looked at the clip several times. I think Trump was shouting, “Fight! Fight!” and pumping his fist.

    Breitbart has sources saying the PA State Police took out the shooter. Other people may have been hit and one may have died. Gun sounded like a .22, reports say. Jeff Cox is right. We won’t know a whole lot more until at least tomorrow, other than Trump is not seriously injured.

    But the FBI assures us that church ladies are the real violence threat.

  12. Wait 48 hours. Initial reports always have major inaccuracies.

    To be sure.

    But “loud noises” and Trump’s ear bloody and blood streaming down his face in photographs?

    We may not yet know the shooter(s) is/are or why he/she/it/they acted, but one must go pretty far afield to suppose Trump wasn’t shot at by someone with reasons.

    Though I’m sure that some Democrats will whip up a conspiracy theory about how the Trump team planned this attempt à la Bob Roberts, the 1992 Tim Robbins film about a conservative demagogue who did exactly that..

  14. A lot of people in left-leaning media have been asking if anyone will rid them of this turbulent orange man…

    If it were a Dem, we’d hear about nothing but “stochastic terrorism” for the next six months and every Republican would be hassled about support for gun rights Trump, or for other Republicans who support Trump or gun rights.

  15. Sure looking like Secret Service overwatch killed shooter immediately.
    I think first couple shots from shooter the rest are him getting shot and killed.

  17. I fear the approving reactions to October 7th may be duplicated. There are people living in a carefully curated alternate reality and they want to destroy the good in the real one. The danger of “the narrative” is that it divorces people from reality and makes dealing with real things impossible. The masterminds are too clever by half because they depart reality first of all. They should not be forgiven for the destruction they cause.

  18. From X Link supplied by Miguel Cervantes @ 7:41 P.m.
    Per the Butler Police Department the Trump shooter has been arrested at the scene and has been identified as Mark Violets, an Antifa member.

    What a surprise…..

  19. You probably have seen the AP photograph? It will instantly become iconic:

    A picture is worth a thousand words. That picture may just be worth a million votes.

    Also, am I the only one who thinks the positioning somewhat resembles the iconic Iwo Jima photo?

  21. You probably have seen the AP photograph? It will instantly become iconic:

    Ackler:

    Please include a link.

  25. Re: Bob Roberts

    In case anyone is curious, here is the clip.

    Bob Roberts is a Dylanesque folk singer/conservative/financial whiz running for the US Senate. He has seemingly been been shot and paralyzed from the waist down by a black, disabled, leftist journalist.

    In a rally following the shooting, Bob Roberts is performing one of his folkie songs on acoustic guitar from a wheelchair:
    _____________________________

    This world turns its back on God
    We must fight to protect Him.

    –“Bob Roberts: the end”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stIK_uPpVjY
    _____________________________

    The camera pans and zooms in on Roberts’ paralyzed left foot. It is tapping rhythm to the song.

    Pretty cool. The scene gave me shivers when I was a leftist.

    I still think it’s a brilliant film at the craft level. It’s one of Jack Black’s earliest appearances, as a wide-eyed rapturous convert to Bob Roberts’ malign gospel.

  26. It looks like a few centimeters the other way and Trump would have been seriousply injured or killed.

    Curiously, early reports say that the shooter used a .22 rifle, which would seem like an underpowered and odd choice for such an assassination attempt.

    A few days ago Biden said that and Pelosi have been essentially saying that Tromp needs to be put in a “bullseye

  29. Actual CNN headline: Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally.

    Has anyone checked to see if the conspiracy theorists have begun claiming that Trump orchestrated this as a publicity stunt? As far-fetched as that sounds, I’m certain that the left will out-crazy it.

  30. On July 2nd Pelosi was quoted as saying, “This is not a normal election,Trump must be stopped.”*

    A few days ago the “New Republic” pictured Trump as Hitler on it’s cover.**

    Five days ago, after the debate, Biden is quoted as saying, “It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”***

    See https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2024/07/13/biden-put-trump-in-a-bullseye-n2641847

    ** See https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/07/08/leftist-rag-raked-over-the-coals-for-portraying-trump-as-hitler-on-its-cover-literally-1470838/

    *** See https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2024/07/13/biden-put-trump-in-a-bullseye-n2641847

  32. According to reports, the Biden Administration has repeatedly refused to give Secret Service protection to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., leaving him vulnerable.

    Now, a line from early reports on the assassination attempt mentioned that the agents guarding Trump had asked for more resources to protect him, and were turned down.

    A suspicious mind would ask, why?

  33. Last I heard, Bobby Jr was campaigning without SS protection. Anyone know if that’s still the case?

  34. Assassin just did a huge favor for Trump. Incredible photo ops & video – DEMs can kiss the Presidency goodbye this time…

  36. It is being reported that the government official who has been denying more Secret Service protection for former President Trump is Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the Secret Service.

  37. Cheatle should be hauled before Congress, post haste, and asked to explain herself.

    It’s pretty obvious that she has to go.

  38. huxley–

    Over the last several years the the Secret Service has had a number of scandals, and has not exactly covered itself with glory.

    Several months ago I suggested here that Trump should not just rely on the Secret Service, but should also be protected by his own private security as well.

  40. Following on to Snow on Pine:
    ______________________________

    I want to repeat, and can absolutely confirm, the USSS Director Kim Cheatle has repeatedly turned down requests for a larger security footprint around President Trump. Despite knowing the threat level is catastrophic.

    Resign tonight.

    USSS Director Kim Cheatle must resign. She was warned about this, and she ignored the warnings.

    –Dan Bongino @dbongino
    https://x.com/dbongino/status/1812295745921257983“
    ______________________________

    Damn you, Kim Cheatle.

  41. Personally speaking, I’m still pretending this wasn’t that Big a Deal.

    But it was.

    This could have been the day JFK died.
    Or MLK died.
    Or RFK died.

    Thank God, it wasn’t.

    But it could have been.

  44. huxley– Several months ago I suggested here that Trump should not just rely on the Secret Service, but should also be protected by his own private security as well.

    Snow on Pine:

    Me too.

    I included food tasters.

  45. There are legitimate questions as to how the shooter managed to get that close and why that rooftop was not previously cleared by the SS. cf CV at 8:12PM and Banned Lizard at 9:08PM.

  46. Miguel cervantes on July 13, 2024 at 7:41 pm said:

    I’ve seen it posted elsewhere that this is a red herring, NOT ANIFA. Is that an Italian blogger?

    Plenty of Fake News without adding to the pile.

  47. How bad was Trump’s Secret Service detail—and whatever other security that was there? This *BAD*

    That pic shows buildings with direct shots at where Trump was at. Apparently Secret Service didn’t think they were important.

  48. That is exactly what I was talking about, Karmi. Especially troubling because it is not an urban area, there were not a lot of buildings to account for.

  49. RNC releases a statement.

    “As was communicated earlier this evening, President Trump is doing well and grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their fast action.

    President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States. As our party’s nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again.

    Sincerely,

    Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Senior Advisors Susie Wiles & Chris LaCivita

    Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chairman Lara Trump”

    The convention proceeds as planned. I presume the security will be beefed up.

    We live in interesting times.

  50. @ Ackler > “am I the only one who thinks the positioning somewhat resembles the iconic Iwo Jima photo?”

    That jumped out at me immediately, almost as if someone asked some AI program for an inverted version of the IJ photo.

    @ Snow > “A few days ago Biden said that and Pelosi have been essentially saying that Tromp needs to be put in a “bullseye” – ”

    Where does Sarah Palin go to get her crosshairs lawsuit back?
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/01/palin-goes-to-trial.php

  51. > I thought the shooter had been “neutralized,” not arrested.

    The “neutralized” don’t talk.

  52. @ J.J. > “The convention proceeds as planned. I presume the security will be beefed up.”

    I don’t want to give anyone ideas (looking at the trolls here, and the Feebs who monitor “domestic terrorist” blogs) BUT if I was writing the screenplay for a fictional parallel, a couple of things would happen next:
    There would be a successful assassination of the GOP candidate.
    The Democratic candidate would soon drop dead of senility, before he could be displaced by one of the current crazy plans we’ve seen proposals for.
    Both parties would then be three months from an election with NO CANDIDATE.

    Interesting times indeed.

  53. Miguel Cervantes
    Mark violets so called antifa
    update:
    X:Bullzeye@utism_

    Seeing reports that several pictures & videos circulating on Twitter claimed to be of Donald Trump’s shooter, Mark Violet, are actually of Italian YouTuber Roma Giallorossa. youtu.be/W22usq8rBLs

    From Althouse.

  54. The NY Post stories seem to have the most complete information and good photos, including of the sniper’s position and the police counter-snipers who “neutralized” him.
    H/t huxley on the open thread for the first one.

    An hour ago, I had been quietly reading about hairy people and anticipating a quiet week-end catching up on the OLD news….

    https://nypost.com/2024/07/13/us-news/trump-rushed-offstage-after-sounds-of-gunfire-erupt-at-rally/

    https://nypost.com/2024/07/13/us-news/gunman-behind-attempted-assassination-on-trump-shot-and-killed-by-secret-service-sources/

  55. @ Snow > “Curiously, early reports say that the shooter used a .22 rifle, which would seem like an underpowered and odd choice for such an assassination attempt.”

    It would indeed be odd.

    This post clarifies a couple of things — but the 72-hour rule should still be observed.
    https://nypost.com/2024/07/13/us-news/video-shows-moment-secret-service-snipers-kill-trump-gunman/
    “The gunman wasn’t carrying identification on him and hadn’t attended the rally, according to sources.
    His AR-style rifle was recovered at the scene, sources told the Associated Press.”

  56. Secret Service is part of Homeland Security and ultimately reports to one Joseph Robinette Biden, incidentally.

    The military, Capitol police, CIA, and the FBI have already been politicized, so what makes us think the Secret Service is immune?

  57. It probably doesn’t need saying in this community, but the worst thing conservatives and Republicans could do is mount a real insurrection and start CW2.0 — even if that is what the Democrats have been trying to foment since at least 2016.

    I have no doubt the deep-Left agitators will try to start it off, expecting that they will be tolerated without repercussions from the current governing apparatchiks, at all levels.

  60. Is it possible that the security made the assumption that, since the rally was in a somewhat small-town area of PA, someone was unlikely to try to kill Trump there and therefore they could afford to relax a little bit?

  62. “Is it possible that the security made the assumption that, since the rally was in a somewhat small-town area of PA, someone was unlikely to try to kill Trump there and therefore they could afford to relax a little bit?”

    Very possible, if they are clueless, ignorant and incompetent.

  63. The myth mongers are at it again to indict the Constitutionally protected protest that became a riot on January 6, 2021.

    A header ad at Just The News.com loudly smears them and us as 5 time cop-killers that day — instead of the fact-based Truth that two women and one man died that day among protesters, the first two ding violently, including one from a bullet delivered by the half-billion dollars a year Cap Hill police.
    https://www.jan-6.com/capitol-police?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkaaZ1uGlhwMVs646BR3fPAbcEAEYASAAEgKClPD_BwE

    Whoever claims politics is a clean sport can’t the shit on our shoes.

  64. Salena Zito was at the rally, only a few feet from the stage.
    Her first-hand report:
    https://www.thefp.com/p/salena-zito-assassination-attempt-trump

    Some good commentary from Ed Morrissey, and useful information on the shooter’s set-up at the end.
    https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/07/13/fight-n3791784

    This post by Beege Welborn captures some of the early reactions, including from the Democrats.
    https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/07/13/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-peaceful-but-fiery-assassination-attempt-on-trump-today-n3791783

    Your reminder – as if you needed one – that you can’t hate the media enough.

    We are at a bar right now — DC suburb. It’s almost an hour after Trump was targeted at his rally and rushed off bleeding. Not a single one of the 6 TVs playing live sports games have interrupted the coverage or mentioned the news. No one here but us knows it happed…

    — Marina Medvin ?? (@MarinaMedvin) July 13, 2024

    The president has a chunk of his ear missing that’s big enough to be blamed on Mike Tyson.

    If you didn’t get to see POTATUS stumble out a few moments ago to garble some words about the shooting (or what CNN characterized as an ‘incident’) …
    you won’t be surprised to know the President of the United States couldn’t use the word “assassination” about the attempt on the life of his political rival.
    …
    This is literally an open declaration of war on everything we hold sacred and the democracy the Left claims is in peril. We know damn well it is, and we know damn well from whom.

    [supportive statement from Pres. Javier Milei]
    …

    From the OFFICIAL White House transcripts of the Vice-President’s remarks today:

    …On the other hand, the former president consistently incites hate, including toward the AANHPI community.

    I will not repeat his words. I will not repeat his words because they should never be repeated. But I will say that someone who vilifies immigrants, who promotes xenophobia, someone who stokes hate should never again have the chance to stand behind a microphone — (applause) — and the seal of the president of the United States. (Applause.)

    I screencapped those suckers. I imagine they’ll be doing some cleaning up.

    UPDATE: They’re gonna wish we were the rioting types. At least they’d know how to handle it.

    You will notice, there are no riots happening right now. pic.twitter.com/lnLP1WU2bZ

    — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 14, 2024
    Joe’s right. The media is clueless about their myopia.

    You guys have no idea how horrible you look right now. https://t.co/1G6BmOAu4J

    — Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) July 14, 2024

  68. Nothing is off the table. Including the SS being in on it. Who is so incompetent that they provide line of sight access to the principle?

  70. I am not an expert in this particular area, but from fiction and various news items I have read, the Secret Service should have checked and, it seems to me, put an agent on every obvious shooting point around the venue, and this rooftop location, near to and with a clear view of the speaker’s stand, looks like it is a perfect place from which an assassin could take a shot.

    At first glance, this looks like incompetence, and dereliction of duty.

    (OTOH, did the fact that the SS was denied extra manpower mean that they did not have the agents necessary to occupy every possible location from which a shot could possibly be taken?)

    There were also early reports saying that some rally attendees were saying that they had noticed the shooter on the rooftop, and were frantically pointing him out to security personnel, trying to get them interested enough to investigate him, this several minutes before he shot the President.

    I also note that a short video showed a counter sniper shooting at the assassin almost immediately after the first shot rang out, almost as if the agent had already noticed him, and had him in his sights, prior to the assassin taking a shot at the President.

    I predict that investigating this is probably going to be as murky and controversial as the Kennedy Assassination investigation.

  72. Have to wait a few days for the details to shake out.
    ==
    If you’ve been paying attention the last dozen years, nothing to date indicates that the Democratic elite or their media mouthpieces or street-level Democrats object to this sort of thing bar in the most pro forma sort of way. Remember James T. Hodgkinson?

  75. }}} I have been expecting this. Looks like it worked out better than TR in Milwaukee, thank God. Mr. Trump reacted as TR did, though.

    Actually, Teddy was shot right in the torso. It hit the speech in his coat pocket. Did go into his flesh but just barely. Teddy went on to actually give the speech he was planning, later that day.

    If Teddy hadn’t lost the plot with regards to the natural limits to government and created the first of these damned Alphabet Agencies which have become the “Deep State” we are now afflicted with, he would have been the most awesome PotUS ever.

    As it is, still gotta go with Grover Cleveland as our last Truly Great PotUS.

  78. Whether the Secret Service was merely incompetent or if there is something more nefarious involved is not going to matter to a lot of people. The years of overheated rhetoric against Trump has pushed them past giving anybody in government the benefit of the doubt. This is looking like the Epstein “suicide”. It is going to be up to the Secret Service to prove that their actions did not contribute to the assassination attempt, not the other way around.

    The fact that the attempt failed is the best argument that this was the act of a lone crazy person. It seems clear that the assassin never should have been allowed to take a position so close to Trump with a clear line of sight. But it also seems that if the was an organized attempt to get rid of Trump, the shooter would not have missed. It wasn’t a difficult shot for a trained marksman.

    Trump’s odds of winning the election have risen dramatically. So if this was a Deep State attempt to stop Trump, it failed spectacularly. Trump’s reaction to the attempt is the stuff of legend. How many people would have the presence of mind after nearly being killed to create an iconic moment of defiance, which will be used to define his campaign? Trump knows the risks he faces in continuing his campaign and he has proven that he is willing to die to save his country.

  80. Gregory.
    Anybody with a week’s training with a rifle can hit a man’s torso at 200 yards with iron sights maybe 99% of the time. A full size rifle ( M14, M1, most deer rifles) will have a good chance at defeating a “vest”.
    And if he’s good and using a scope….
    When I used to go to the range, fifty-plus years up, there was plenty of armor- piercing ammo left over from WWII in military calibers (.303 for rifles out of Canada, and 30.06 for all kinds of American rifles. Cheap. Not suitable for hunting.
    Got to be similar choices for the casual shooter today (7.62?), and for the pro….
    Point is, what happened yesterday indicates the space for a lethal shot may as well be infinite in terms of protective coverage.

  82. John McWhorter. He must be so disappointed . . .

    But, seriously: I’d like to hear from him.

  83. Richard Aubrey – I’m not a gun expert by any means, but having grown up in the country, I would not think that an AR-style weapon is the best gun for a shot at 100+ yards. Any other thoughts on that?

    Could leftist delusions about the AR-15 being a military-style “weapon of war” have saved Trump’s life?

  84. Bauxite
    Last I looked, the muzzle energy of the M16 (mil version of the dreaded Armalite platform) was about half that of the full sized “battle rifle”, . the M14 which preceded It in the Army.
    Some places don’t allow the smaller one for deer hunting. Can’t get a clean kill.

  85. This AM, I checked NPR to see what they were saying: called it a ‘shooting incident’ twice, said the Trump campaign was calling it ‘an assassination attempt.’ Finally, at 8:25 AM CDT, they called it an assassination attempt in their own words. I felt like my fifteen minute listen had bridged a change in the NPR style book.

  86. The “curation” of the shooter’s leftism is currently undergoing smudging, erasure, and nullification and will meet with approval by the “reporting” powers later today. In the meantime, just go with “registered Republican”. Thank you for your patience.

  87. I listened to NPR this morning and heard the brainless hostess try to get a Republican politician to equivocate on the issue of calls for Trump as a threat to democracy. He pointedly refused.

    I also wonder why the bystander killed and those wounded were not identified.

  88. On that Iwo Jima photograph of Trump before the SS hustled him away: a commenter on Althouse said that the Washington Post ran a version of it on the front page and edited out the American flag. I thought, “That can’t be true, they wouldn’t be that stupid — ” but I checked, and THEY DID. The angle on the two shots is very slightly different, but not enough to obscure the flag. It was manually removed. How can they have thought they could get away with this? That photo, unedited, is going down in history. Did they think nobody would notice??

    https://www.frontpages.com/the-washington-post/

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-assassination-joe-biden-election-b2579504.html

  90. Given that the shooter killed one person in the stands behind Trump, and nearly got Trump, an AR-type rifle would appear to be sufficient. Best weapon, maybe not, but it’s what the 20-year-old had, probably.

    Biden and all the leftists need to take some responsibility for their hate-filled rhetoric. Republicans at a baseball field in 2017, Schumer’s threats against the Supreme Court on the steps of the building, Kavanaugh, personal invective towards elected representatives and appointed judges in public and outside their homes — somebody just got killed.

    Trump very properly expressed condolences to the families of the dead and injured. Biden?

  91. I was watching my usual streaming shows so I didn’t even know about the assassination attempt until about 1030pm. Looked through some news feeds and read what you all had posted here, then went to bed.

    Read much more this morning, shooter ID’d etc etc. Several things have jumped out at me: total incompetency, or planned neglect by the SS. We were a USCGA sponsor family for 10 years so attended regularly CGA graduations. The years that the POTUS would speak the SS had everything quite tight: every line of sight was covered and as the CGA stadium is on the waterfront, the entire Thames river was cordoned off clear across to the sub base. An unsecured rooftop 100yds away with direct line of sight??? Bullshit.

    Second: the CYA responses from all the Democrats. Note how, as usual, no immediate response was forthcoming. Instead it took over 2 hours for the responses and also note the usual framing that is consistent: “we condemn political violence”. “Political violence” my ass! Call it what it is; an assassination attempt. I firmly believe all the Democrats actually think what this woman is saying:

    https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1812297150442946877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1812297150442946877%7Ctwgr%5Edc3f1f6209c5273f5975f823fa3d7c0caf1e92f3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fchoiceclips.whatfinger.com%2F2024%2F07%2F14%2Fthis-unhinged-leftist-is-having-a-meltdown-because-the-shter-missed-trump-these-people-are-deranged%2F

    Meanwhile the GOP will write strong letters and hold hearings.

    This is just the beginning. If we make it to November I’ll be surprised. I’ll be astounded if we make it to January.

  92. On leftist reactions: I am back from my early church service. A friend told me she could not got to receive Communion this morning because she is not “in love and charity with her neighbors.” There was a party in her condo building last night. When the news that Trump had been shot was announced, people cheered. Cheered an assassination attempt! This is in a very upscale Raleigh condo unit. Horrifying.

  93. Assassin did pretty good for a novice—climbing onto the roof w/ a rifle whilst being watched…slithering along the roof whilst being watched…taking aim and firing 5-8 (?) quick shots just before his head exploded. He had Trump but:

    Trump’s campaign manager reveals why former president moved his head before gunman’s bullet ripped through his ear

    Donald Trump’s senior campaign advisor says the former president life was saved by his decision to reference charts on the jumbotron … a slight move of Trump’s head to the visual aid on screen was the reason a bullet grazed his ear rather than went through his head.

  94. Did they think nobody would notice??

    I think a proper understanding of their frame of mind would be: They were highly confident that it wouldn’t matter if people noticed.

    And they are right by the way. At least it won’t impact their journalistic careers or reputations.

  96. On the Secret Service: The agents who were around Trump at the speaking stand appear to have done their jobs. Good. There is a photo of one of the agents surrounding Trump to walk him safely to the limo. How can an agent whose head barely touches Trump’s nose protect him from another head shot?

  97. Aside from wondering why they hadn’t secured the nearby rooftops, I’m trying to understand how the SS sniper could have gotten off a kill shot within a second or two if he hadn’t seen the shooter at least a few seconds beforehand. And in that case, why didn’t he shoot sooner, and why weren’t the agents near Trump already trying to move him out of harm’s way? I realize that maybe (giving them the benefit of the doubt) there were only 5-10 seconds, but this is what they’ve spent years training for.

  98. I sincerely hope the US Congress will now strip Rep Bennie Thompson of all committee assignments. I”d like them to expel him, but apparently that’s beyond the pale — negating the will of a Reps constituents. But committee assignments, by all means. Nothing official for him any longer.

  99. Current criticism is that the agents who converged on the President should not have let him remain upright and visible, nor should they have allowed him to remain on the stage but, instead, should have immediately hustled him off to a protected area.

    If there had been a second shooter, Trump would have been very likely killed by that second
    Assassin.

    Second point.

    One diagram I saw of the area had secret service personnel located on a rooftop very close to and with a direct line of sight of the rooftop from which the assassin shot, so, why didn’t they immediately see him and take him into custody, or down?

    I note, as well, that pictures of the roof chosen by the shooter showed no obstacles for him to hide behind or to obscure his position, so how come the agents on the relatively nearby roof— presumably with their heads on a swivel— didn’t notice him?

    So, take your pick—massive incompetence and/or a setup.

  100. For those thinking a .22 caliber cartridge is “too small” to be dangerous: the .223/5.56 mm cartridge which was designed to be used with the AR15 is NOT a .22 rimfire, which is a small cartridge. the .223/5.56 cartridge fires a 55 grain bullet at around 3000 feet per second, and is lethal up to around 600 yards. It is a very dangerous cartridge even though the diameter is .22 of an inch. That cartridge has been the US and NATO small arms standard for more than a decade.

  101. A thread by a fellow claiming direct knowledge of Secret Service protection detail procedures and methodology, worth a read, albeit merely one view among many:

    https://x.com/LtTimMcMillan/status/1812383798740324380?t=gSEZX3_EcWLlc8EjQbZROQ&s=19

    A snippet:

    (5) 2. People have wondered how could the counter snipers in the videos not have seen the would be assassin prior to him getting off a shot.
    This is because the area of responsibility for those counter snipers on the roof behind Trump was very likely in the extend tier

    The “extended tier”, he goes on to explain, is well beyond the middle tier of 150 meters, which would be covered by SS coordinated local and state policemen.

  102. Here’s the interview with a person near the building where the shooter was shooting. His friends were partying outside the venue near the building the shooter used. They tried to get the attention of police.

    How could this shooter got onto the building unnoticed? Should we trust the FBI to do a fair investigation at this point? The FBI has been the lead agency trying to get Trump.

    Trump Rally Shooting Witness SPEAKS OUT in VIRAL Interview
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG0qPDCWE9w&t=12s

  103. From some of the coverage so far it appears that the woman Heading the Secret Service is a diversity hire, and has little real applicable experience, and while it is being reported that she had repeatedly denied requests by agents on the ground for more assets to protect President Trump, it is her boss, Mayorkas, the shithead hand puppet running DHS and, ultimately, President Biden who where probably saying, “don’t give them more assets.”

    So, what was a possible play here, give Trump some security, but not really enough, and hope that something “unfortunate” might happen?

  104. From the Mr. X speech (Donald Sutherland) in “JFK”*:
    _____________________________________

    … it is standard operating procedure, especially in a known hostile city like Dallas, to supplement the Secret Service.

    We would have arrived days ahead of time, studied the route, and checked all the buildings. We never would have allowed all those wide-open, empty windows overlooking the route. We would have had our own snipers covering the area. The minute a window went up, they’d have been on the radio. We’d have been watching the crowd, packages, rolled-up newspapers, and coats…

    –Oliver Stone, “JFK”*
    _____________________________________

    As a layman I studied the map of the event and surrounding buildings. If there was one roof the SS wanted to occupy or monitor that looked like the one.

    * Not all of Mr X’s speech has held up. The man upon whom he was based, Fletcher Prouty, was something of a nut. But those lines stuck in my mind as commonsense security.

  105. While there can be all sorts of criticism of the Secret Service allowing bloodied President Trump to rise up, pump his fist in the air, and shout “Fight,” “Fight,” “Fight,” rather than making Trump crouch down behind a wall of Secret Service flesh, that image of a “bloodied but unbowed” Trump, pumping his fist in the air–American flag in the background–and shouting”Fight,” “Fight,” “Fight” is going to motivate many more people–including, I bet, a lot of undecideds–to get out and to vote for Trump, and likely for many down ballot Republicans, because they see the undoubted truth that this is the kind of indomitable leader (vs a senile, bumbling Biden, or cackling numbskull Harris ) this country so desperately needs.

    That one real and unscripted image is going to win Trump the election and, from now on, it should be the signature image of the Trump campaign.

  107. Mea culpa for all those concerned

    Yes the late donald sutherland embroidering a maskirovna deception operation as mitrokhin and max holland have fleshed out*

    *garrison got it from paesa e serra and le humanite, and stone picked up on it

  108. Noted, as well, are those pointing out that the female SS agents were generally imitating the Keystone cops, the one female agent actually part of the agents surrounding the President was just too short in stature to really completely cover her side of the President, and the couple of female agents pictured as Trump was loaded into a SUV looked like they were participating in a Chinese fire drill–they were just milling around, one was repeatedly unable to reholster her firearm, and another women seemed just way too concerned with getting her dark sunglasses into place; they looked like they were scared shitless.

    Cool and lethal Dirty Harry they weren’t.

  109. In the film he is implicitly accusing general y who is supposed to be lansdale of complicity played by dale dye

  110. So far the shooter appears to be the only twenty-year-old in the country with no social media accounts. We are all assuming he inhaled the toxic leftist air, and this may turn out to be true. However, I remember the Gabby Giffords shooter. The Dems went nuts blaming Sarah Palin’s political post, and it turned out the shooter was a schizophrenic of about the same age as as this shooter.

  111. One young person just interviewed said that he went to high school with the shooter, and that the shooter was a loner who was constantly “bullied.”

  112. The only way we can re-establish the FBI and DOJ as credible institutions is to re-elect Donald J. Trump!

    Why should be believe anything the FBI says. They believed a hoax document written over drinks at a bar. They shouldn’t be allowed to touch evidence surrounding the failed assassin.

    Tim Scott: I don’t have confidence that this DOJ will do the right thing
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77GVaVXp5M4

  113. Maybe the Secret Service detail needs to have a few agents nearby carrying ballistic shields to escort a person to the vehicle.

  114. Facebook commies are STILL pretending this was all an “op” made to make Trump a martyr.

    –Kevin Downey Jr
    https://pjmedia.com/liveblog/2024/07/13/live-coverage-trump-shot-in-assassination-attempt-at-pa-rally-n5#1720917523
    _______________________________

    Well, that was a fast turn-around on my Bob Roberts prediction earlier:
    _______________________________

    Though I’m sure that some Democrats will whip up a conspiracy theory about how the Trump team planned this attempt à la Bob Roberts, the 1992 Tim Robbins film about a conservative demagogue who did exactly that.

  116. “Maybe the Secret Service detail needs to have a few agents nearby carrying ballistic shields to escort a person to the vehicle.”

    The young woman closest to Trump does seem to have been too small to protect him fully, but nobody can fault her courage, right there with him while her own head and back were fully exposed and nobody knew yet whether the shooting was over. He’s a big guy, and even with larger men on his other sides, he was too exposed for too long while they got him to the car. Shields of some sort do seem wise. I imagine, though, that they’d be awkward to carry and could limit the agents’ ability to move quickly. Obviously this isn’t my field of expertise.

  117. Oliver Stone’s film was complete garbage.

    neo:

    Yes, I know you don’t like it on the facts. Not sure why you’re telling me. I’ve read Bugliosi and I’ve mentioned that in JFK topics here.

    I still say it’s a great film as filmmaking and the Donald Sutherland quote stands as commonsense — ignored by the SS yesterday.

  118. The entire government has been compromised and politicized to such an extent that no one of any sense can believe that the DOJ, the FBI, or Secret Service can be trusted to actually do a thorough, comprehensive, and objective investigation of anything connected to Trump, especially his attempted assassination.

  119. Snow on Pine: “One young person just interviewed said that he went to high school with the shooter, and that the shooter was a loner who was constantly “bullied.”

    I know people who were loners and who were bullied as kids who turned out fine, some of them very successful adults. We need more information.

  120. Kate—Just saw an article which asked the question, “was the shooter on psychiatric drugs.”

    I believe that there has been some speculation that a lot of these shooters—over the years— have been on such drugs, and that these drugs may have been—to some extent—responsible for their killing sprees.

    One recent article claimed that there was, indeed, a correlation between taking these very powerful drugs and these killings, but that this link has been covered up (because big pharma doesn’t want this connection to be recognized?).

  121. F. Point about ammunition is several-fold. One is that many types are likely available. While 5.56 is lethal, the larger sizes used by most armies up until the mid-late Sixties can be equally or more lethal at much longer ranges. And an AP round from one of the full-size rounds is far more likely to defeat various protections such as body armor or ballistic shields, or bullet-proof anything.
    This has the effect of greatly increasing the distance/area/features/buildings which must be controlled by the USSS from that when considering the 5.56 and similar rounds.

  122. I’m staying agnostic about most every report until the SS & FBI decides on their cover story.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/fbi-wonders-if-perhaps-theyve-been-investigating-the-wrong-people

    But FWIW –

    https://nypost.com/2024/07/14/us-news/local-cop-confronted-sniper-thomas-matthew-crooks-before-he-shot-former-president-trump-report/

    After rallygoers spotted Crooks on the roof of a manufacturing plant just 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police were notified and one officer climbed a ladder to investigate, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

    The officer – whose department had been enlisted by the Secret Service to help with security — encountered Crooks, who pointed his AR-style rifle at them. [sic – really, what is WRONG with our conservative news media!]

    The officer then backed down the ladder, and Crooks immediately took aim and loosed about eight shots at the former president – grazing him in the ear, killing one bystander in the rally crowd, and gravely wounding two others, the source said.

    After that volley of shots, Secret Service snipers shot Crooks dead.

    Despite the Secret Service’s quick response taking out the shooter, the agency tasked with protecting former and current presidents’ lives is facing harsh scrutiny for allowing a gunman to establish an open position so close to Trump’s rally.

    “This was a catastrophic failure. It should never have been a remote possibility,” former House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffet, who lead an extensive 2015 investigation into the shortcomings of the Secret Service in 2015, told the Washington Post.

    “We did all these investigations and did an extensive report so this would never happen again. It’s as if they paid no attention to the bipartisan recommendations,” said Chaffet, whose report focused on ways the Secret Service had been spread too thin.

    The Secret Service confirmed after the shooting that it relied heavily on local police to help support its security efforts at the rally, including at least six officers from Butler County tactical units supporting the counter assault team that covered Trump’s evacuation – which only included two officers from the Secret Service, according to the Washington Post.

    There were also two Secret Service sniper teams on sight, and an additional two were staffed with local officers.

    “Secret Service always has the lead on securing something like this,” Pennsylvania State Police lieutenant colonel George Bivens told reporters, explaining that local police are routinely enlisted to help the Secret Service.

    However, from that post, here is an excellent photo showing the buildings.
    Leaving the sniper’s chosen vantage unsecured is indefensible.

    https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/trump-grounds.jpg?quality=75&strip=all

    The comments about the alleged policeman’s response range from comparisons to the Uvalde school cops up to a few exculpatory suggestions — he was on a ladder and the shooter pointed a rifle at him — the one that I would accept is that the incident may have thrown off the shooter’s concentration enough to cause him to miss Trump.

    My question has from the beginning been “why would an assassin aim for the head instead of the torso,” but that might explain it.

  123. Richard Aubrey, there are a dizzying amount of types of .223/5.56 ammo available. As well as.22LR. Horses for courses as my wife says. I would not like to be shot by either caliber at 130yds. I didn’t understand at first that the other people were shot were hit by the assassin’s misses. I think when a timeline of the shooting comes out, the Secret Service’s counter sniper response might be as little as 15 seconds. I don’t know how many counter sniper teams the Secret Service had out that day, but there should have been 3-5 teams. From what I can see there was only one.

  124. AesopFan, why the head? Body armor. The saying among all the cool kids is ‘hips and lips’.

  125. If
    Point is with full–sized rounds, more damage can be done and at greater ranges. Complicates the protection effort.

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