Trump strikes a defiant pose as Secret Service agents rush him of stage. AP.
Donald Trump survived a sniper attack during a Pennsylvania rally. AP. The former President and presumptive Republican nominee came under fire in a shooting that grazed his ear. The gunman was killed by Secret Service counter snipers and one attendee was killed with two more in critical condition. Trump said that he knew something was wrong and he ducked down to try and avoid gunfire. Trump was treated and released from the hospital and the wound appeared to be superficial, though it very well could have killed him. The shooter had climbed on a roof of a nearby manufacturing plant that was 150 yards away from where Trump was speaking. The attack was condemned by politicians on all sides of the political spectrum while Biden and Trump talked to each other briefly after the attack.
This is a breaking news story and the following news outlets have live updates.
As always, with breaking news stories things may change quickly.
Yahoo News also has a good photo gallery as well.
My Comment:
Only divine intervention, or perhaps the attackers incompetence with his weapon, saved Donald Trump's life here. If he had just been a little more accurate and Trump would be dead and this country would be in an incredibly dark place. It's a miracle that it didn't happen that way and we can all be thankful for that.
As it stands right now the major question is how this was allowed to happen. From what I have seen the building where the sniper was shooting from was the only likely sniper spot in the area and there was no coverage there. Yes, the Secret Service was able to quickly kill the shooter but he never should have been able to get the shot off in the first place. There is going to be hell to pay here even though the counter snipers did their job and blew the attackers head open reasonably quickly.
Trump handled it perfectly. Indeed, he might have saved his own life by moving his head at the last second when the gunman opened fire. And he managed to strike a defiant pose and came up saying "Fight". And I think if the gunman had been close to Trump he would have tried to beat him to death himself, that's how angry he looked. The man came less than an inch from death and his reaction was to get angry about it. You have to respect that.
I won't speculate too much as to motive as it is far too soon to say what the attacker's motivations are or even if he had any. Remember, President Carter was almost assassinated twice by two members of the Charles Manson cult. It could be anything at this point and until we have a clear identity of the shooter and his motivations it's stupid to speculate. There are pictures out there that show the shooter, dead as a doornail, but I won't post them here. It does seem to show that, at the very least, it's unlikely that this was an Islamic terror attack, but even that can't be ruled out at this point. I am sure we will find out soon enough.
There are already conspiracy theories flying. Some on the right are convinced this was Biden's doing and some on the left are saying the whole thing was staged. I think both of those ideas are pretty obviously wrong as an actual plot would have involved a shooter that wouldn't have missed. And they would have used a bolt action, higher caliber weapon, like a deer rifle, not an AR-15. I don't think this was part of a larger plot. Biden's not nearly stupid or insane enough to try and assassinate his political rival like this and every indication was that this was just some moron acting on his own. And no shooter is going to volunteer to get killed just to stage an attack.
This should have absolutely huge implications on the 2024 election. The attack on Trump and his subsequent survival are going to give him a tremendous amount of sympathy. He gets the benefit of being a martyr without actually having to die. It's going to be very difficult to criticize him after this.
Plus there is the fact that Trump himself was defiant and looked like he wanted to fight. He looked strong and had to be dragged off stage. Indeed, if it hadn't been for the Secret Service I think Trump would have pulled a Teddy Roosevelt and kept the rally going, though given that at least three other people were shot, it's probably for the best that didn't happen. Like I said before, Trump handled this attack very well considering the horrific circumstances.
I don't know what the Biden campaign can do at this point. The only positive for them is that at least questions about Biden's fitness are going to be on the back burner for awhile. But I honestly don't see how Trump loses after this. Who are people going to vote for, an unpopular man who is too old for the job or a man who took a bullet for his beliefs and came up fist raised ready to fight?
As for me, I have to say that I am in a state of shock. I was kind of expecting some kind of political violence in 2024, but the idea that Trump himself would not only be shot, but would survive it, was not something I was expecting. I am so relieved that Trump survived this attack as, like I said, the country would be heading to an extraordinarily dark and dangerous place had he been killed.
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