Also, why didn’t the authorities just disable the gunman?
I think they did - they shot him and killed him.
Also, why didn’t the authorities just disable the gunman?
"Shoot him in the kneecap so he drops the gun" only really happens in the films. If it is correct the gunman was lying on a roof some distance away, that's an unreasonable expectation. I'm police sceptical by instinct but I doubt disabling (without killing) the gunman would have been a practical course of action unfortunately.
JFK assassination, U of Texas Tower shooting, Las Vegas concert mass shooting...all lone gunmen shooting from an elevated position.
I'm with @funkmasterp - I'm not actively hoping for a more successful attempt, but at the same time I can't help but think the world would be better off without him.
Missed his brain by about 6 inches apparently....
Only three scenarios I suppose.
1 No assassination attempt. Trump finishes rally, Biden/ Dems still have an outside chance of winning the election.
2 Trump assassinated. Martyred, all the lies about the deep state etc etc are immediately held up as being "true". Possible carnage, law agencies, even military involved in an insurrection attempt. Or... the more sane republicans have a chance to steer the party back to some semblance of normality but they "command" a MAGA mob that will partly see them as part of the conspiracy too...
3 Assassin makes attempt, near miss but gives Trump the election. A living martyre, able to actively participate in the myth/ hero creation. Democracy itself under sustained attack in his second term. NATO on extremely shaky ground and Ukraine gifted to Russia. Israel effectively given free reign in Gaza and west bank and further destabilisation in the middle east ensues.
Overall, I prefer option 1 but comes on, we are all trying to guess the future here. Fair to say that Europe, if it didn't know this already, can no longer rely on the US for it's defence.
Trump isn't the real winner today, Russia, N Korea and China** are.
**China you say, trump hates china? Sure, trump might slap them with some tariffs and talk the talk but it's all manageable and medium/long term the damage he does to the US, NATO, the west is beyond what China could ever have hoped for.
Also, why didn’t the authorities just disable the gunman?
Because most people who carry firearms professionally train to hit centre mass.
Higher likelihood of hit and reducing the chance of injuring or killing someone other than your target or getting dead because you've elected to try and hit their pinky.
Can we please stop asking this dumb ****ing question?
BBC saying that the shooter is a registered republican.
BBC saying that the shooter is a registered republican.
No doubt with legally held guns, and a lifetimes gold membership in the NRA.Probably also a member of the 'shame we can't kill brown people any more' club.
Have we had Farage out yet ? making comparisons from his recent interaction where he came off wearing a milkshake.
He'll be milking his milkshake.
TL;DR - how come his injuries were so minor if it was a rifle?
I'm confused
TL;DR – how come his injuries were so minor if it was a rifle?
I’m confused
Because the shooter missed, well, one bullet slightly grazed his ear, hence the minor injury. A couple of people in the crowd copped it a lot worse.
It appears the shooter used a semi-auto assault rifle of some sort, rather than a hunting or sniper rifle, so probably let of a few shots very quickly and the recoil after the first shot meant the subsequent shots went all over the place unless he took time to re-aim properly.. Assault rifles are not really designed for sniping, they are more a closer range gun.
Hell of a photograph of the bullet in travel next to his head(or the trail or whatever that was). Expect that one to go on permanent display in some museum.
Once it's been milked.
BBC saying that the shooter is a registered republican.
As an aside, it's not unknown for activists in and members of Party A to register as aligned with Party B. It allows them to participate in Party B's primary and vote for the worst candidate to get Party B's nomination. The idea is that that puts Party A in a stronger position - unfortunately the last decade seems to suggest the nuttier the candidate, the more likely they are to win...
What are the chances that in a country where 50% of the population appear to live at the gun range, the shooter managed to miss. Lee Harvey oswald managed 3 shots into a moving target ffs
As for not celebrating his assination. Are we allowed to celebrate when he has a massive heart attack in the white house toilet in a few years time? Just so I know whether to keep the champagne on ice rather than open it if football comes home tonight..
Because hitting a moving target from 150m away with an assault rifle isn't easy. It wasn't a hunting or sniper rifle
I've also seen people asking why others in the crowd behind him weren't hit. They were but the ones behind him form the film aren't behind him from the perspective of the gunman. The bullets didn't travel front to back of photos, rather left to right. Also the foreshortening of the camera, the people look right behind him but we're actually quite a way behind...maybe 20m from arial plans.
I don't understand why the shooter doesn't appear to have been Muslim.
I thought Trump had established that the threat of terrorism in the United States came from Muslims?
Just caught up with a friend of MrsMC who moved back to the UK in 2018 after 20 years in the US. She's a fierce Democrat, and agrees today has been a good day for Trump.
Lee Harvey oswald managed 3 shots into a moving target ffs
Ah but did he…? 😉
Because the shooter missed, well, one bullet slightly grazed his ear
Has the comment "nobody's been this disappointed by two inches since Stormy Daniels" been made yet?
Probably also a member of the ‘shame we can’t kill brown people any more’ club.
The Democrats?
and agrees today has been a good day for Trump.
Credit where credit is due.....only Trump could get shot in an assassination and get the heroic covered in blood money shot, but the wound be so unfeasibly superficial an elastoplast would have done the clean up job. The odds of achieving that must be millions to one. His band of looney followers will have elevated him to war vet meets crosses with the Messiah status.
How can you miss a pumpkin topped by a load of unwound shredded wheat. Trump will be loving every minute of this. Bestest, most bigly failed assassination attempt in history. He’ll now be seen as a hero by the MAGA crowd.
Could be worse.
Could be heading into trump's second term with a Tory government given another 5 years mandate too...
Imagine that scenario for one moment.
Could be worse.
For all those subscribing to the virtue signalling in some circles to this failed shooting... what would be the reaction to hearing Putin had been shot? Or the Ayatollah? Or Kim Jon Un ? Or in the past, Polh Pot, or Mugabe, etc
Celebration ? Why any difference with Tronald Dump ?
what would be the reaction to hearing Putin had been shot? Or the Ayatollah?
Are you aware that the President of Iran died suddenly two months ago and nothing has changed as a result? Or that Khomeini died 34 years ago and both his cult of personality and regime persist?
You picked a great example to show that people's deaths rarely solve problems on their own but assassinating them might come with the added bonus of reprisals against the weak.
Someone with real humility would have recognised that the bloke that did get killed turned to deliberately place himself as a shield between the shooter and his family. That’s a brave and righteous hero.
But not Trump, he’s only interest in his own distorted monstrous self indulgent legacy.
Short interview of Evan Vucci telling how he got that pic. After hearing shots he went towards the podium. A guy doing his job without considering his safety.
https://apnews.com/video/pennsylvania-butler-national-national-decb43c08e0f497bb4ce70c2fbd625b5
You didn't answer the question. I didn't ask for the reaction after a heart attack straining to pass an oversized jobbie.
Because the shooter missed, well, one bullet slightly grazed his ear, hence the minor injury.
Or he banged his head on the lectern as the security men took him down.
Donald! Duck!
Also, why didn’t the authorities just disable the gunman?
First off, the Secret Service really screwed the pooch on this job, by clearly not putting an agent or other agency agent on top of every flat roof within two miles of the conference.
Second, to answer the question, the shooter was lying prone on the roof, presenting a very, very small target of opportunity even to a skilled sniper.
Because the shooter missed, well, one bullet slightly grazed his ear, hence the minor injury.
Or he banged his head on the lectern as the security men took him down.
Ah, so you’ve missed the video footage where you hear the first shot, then dTrumph immediately puts his hand up to his ear, followed by him dropping to the floor, where the SS (unfortunate initials, those…) pile on.
TBH, from 600ft away, using a commercially available AR15, to literally put a bullet through dTrumph’s earlobe, brushing the side of his skull, is pretty remarkable accuracy; it may only have been dTrumph turning his head slightly as he was talking that saved his life, or even just a breath of wind…
agent on top of every flat roof within two miles of the conference.
What, even the ones out of ear shot?
Ah, so you’ve missed the video footage...
Yes all of it.
the authorities could only identify the shooter using his DNA.... that was a pretty RAPID result, as they said that the aforementioned shooter was not known to them.... they must have had his DNA somewhere on the database...
They got everones when installing the 5g chips during the scamdemic
Trump was definitely crazy lucky that day.
The murder of Putin would not result in a more peaceful, democratic Russia. There are no institutions and no succession plan. Whoever seizes power would likely be more erratic than Putin
Assuming he’s not already dead and we are already seeing it 🙁
where the SS (unfortunate initials, those…) pile on
That reminds me, have the Pet Shop Boys been blamed for all this yet?
He was going to beat Biden anyway. He is an awful man but all this "the world is safer without him" stuff is nonsense.
Ooof… just heard a Republican on radio4 blaming the secret service for being too “woke” and being too focussed on “recruiting women and whatever” rather than their job.
The woke thing is nonsense but they really did drop the ball here. That kid had a perfect vantage point well within the range of most assault rifles, never mind proper hunting/sniper rifles. A drone in the air would’ve easily spotted him lying prone on the roof.
I think some have an unrealistic view of what the secret service can really do at a series of whistlestop campaign events, cultivated by film rather than reality. I suspect there are many times a day when the candidates are exposed to potential risks like this, because it is just logistically impossible to provide the kind of security we seem to expect. And conversely maybe it is that unrealistic view of that discourages more assassination attempts, another case of security theatre.
I saw something yesterday where an ex secret service man explained there are three zones close (stage), mid (crowd) and far (perimeter).
The mid is controlled by local police and that's where the shooter was. Communication between local police and secret service is not direct and in the recent past there was a close call between the CIA and secret service not knowing about each other at a event and the CIA nearly getting shot.
Also the shooter was so "close" the secret service snipers had to adjust (aim down?).
There's no doubt in my mind that the Secret Service messed up and all of those rooftops should have had security/police/whatever controlling them. The director of the secret service, Kimberly Cheatle, has some questions to answer and she was appointed by President Biden, which will fuel some conspiracists
Donald Trump now needs to control his followers, tit-for-tat violence from the conspiracy wing is the last thing that his campaign needs with Jan 6th still very raw (and unresolved) for US democracy and justice. His "Fight" message wasn't his best idea.
Violence will disaffect more "silent" US voters come November, along with those already pulling away on a variety of rights grounds. Many will foresee a stronger erosion of rights as he feels it more necessary now to bring trusted rather than competent people into his orbit to MAGA
EDIT to say that assassinations and regime change rarely have a simple outcome. It wasn't a good idea
