Another assassination attempt on Trump yesterday.
Donald Trump was the target of what the FBI said “appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life. The former president said he was safe and well, and authorities held a man in custody.
U.S. Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away.
Looks like eight years of “denormalizing Trump” is bearing fruit.
I’m glad you mentioned that part about the rifle.
I’ve read various items, from both before and after this event, that an AK-47 type rifle is not suitable for use as a sniper rifle. Some knucklehead might be able hit an adult at 100 yards (w/ or w/o a scope), and an expert, maybe 200; but 400 yards away? That’s the first iffy aspect.
Next – and actually it ties in with a number of other similar events in the past – from where did this weirdo get his rifle? He has a record, so he can’t buy legally. And why choose an AK (which is an unusual gun anyway in the US – with unusual ammo)? Much less with a scope? And from where did he find the money?
And how the heck did some SS agent simply spot the barrel in the bushes from a few 100 yards away and open fire?
Saw a photo and the rifle looked more like an SKS, not an AK. I could be wrong.
It’s interesting when there are physical attacks, potential shooters or assassination attempts on people with an ‘R’ behind their name, the news actors will never refer to the perps as left-wing, far-left, or that extra sinister and terrifying label of far-left extremist like they would if it happened the opposite way. There also isn’t the immediate crying out for gun control, either.
It’s like there’s some kind of bias or narrative to uphold.
^ I have no problem being corrected in this.
My first question is, how did this CIA operative know that Trump would be at the golf course and what time he would be there?
My second question is, does anyone else find it more than a coincidence that this idiot and the first shooter, were both in a Blackrock commercial?
Nothing about this incident passes the smell test, nor a facts check.
After this most recent incident, I wonder why Trump still uses the Secret Service instead of hiring a private security company to protect him? Is it a PR move? Afraid to have a shooting incident involving an assassin killed by his “private mercenary army”? If that’s the case, I’ve got to admit that he’s braver than I thought. I bet Melania is fit to be tied.
Yeah, yeah, Trump didn’t get shot THIS time, so Big Success for the SS. But they did’t get the assassin, either. The SS opened fire at the fence line – missed everything – and the assassin would have gotten away clean if not for some busybody bystander who took a photo of the shooter’s license plate and was later able to ID him sitting in the back of the squad. That’s some impressive law enforcement work by the witness who, at this point, remains unnamed, which is not at all suspicious, either.
I realize the point Mitch is trying to make is that the Left’s insistence on painting Trump as Literally Hitler and a Threat to Our Precious Democracy is exactly the short of violence-inspiring speech that Liberals have always accused the Right of using. It’s also a form of victim blaming – he had it coming – which is completely unacceptable when applied to any other crime victim. And I know that Mitch is reluctant to let SITD slide into the dank sewer of conspiracy theory right-wing kookism, but seriously – is there anybody who believes in the endless string of Oopsies which allowed these two assassins to come so close to killing the President?
The Secret Service really needs to stop relying on pure, blind, dumb luck to be the final line of protection between a shooter and any of their protectees. It’s also becoming easier to believe in either conspiracy theories or divine intervention.
The first guy gets onto a “sloped” roof that doesn’t have anyone stationed on it because of safety concerns (please don’t tell me that the SS Agent in charge of the site transferred from OSHA), got shots off between the time that the crowd noticed him and the counter sniper finally went weapons free (insert the idiotic comment about it could’ve been a guy with a telescope!! If it crawls like a sniper on a rooftop, open fire.) The only thing that saved Trump’s life was the fact that he just happened to turn his head.
Now we have a leftwing looney that was able to get onto the golf course and set up in a bush, and he didn’t get to take a shot because he stuck his barrel out of his hide? I’m not a sniper, and I know not to do that. How did he get that far and still make a rookie mistake? Was it pure beginners luck up to that point.
The Left whines and moans about Trump’s language, despite the fact that “Economic Bloodbath” is a specific turn of phrase that they use themselves.
The Left whines and moans about political violence from the Right, despite the fact that while January 6th happened, it was a riot not an insurrection and the only shots fired were fired by law enforcement (disclaimer: I’m not justifying, condoning, or rationalizing J6), while the vast majority of political violence are Lefties tearing down statues and burning down minority owned businesses.
The Left caterwauls about gun ownership and the risk to Democrat politicians, but it’s nut jobs on the Left (or Left Adjacent) that are the ones actually doing the shooting and it’s usually Republicans being shot. The Kennedies and Gifford were NOT shot by Republicans/Right Wingers. Reagan, Scalise, and Trump 2x were also NOT shot by Republicans/Right Wingers. At best, the shooters were merely crazy and apolitical, but even the really crazy ones were Left Adjacent. Reagan’s would be assassin was the least political shooter, and Reagan was a backup target of opportunity, not the original target.
By G-d, I don’t want to see the reaction if a crazy Democrat voter manages to actually assassinate Trump. That’ll be UGLY!!
Smith, let’s play that out a bit. Somebody manages to kill Trump. What next?
Ballots have been printed and distributed. Early voting has begun. It’s too late to un-cast votes for Trump. How should those votes be counted? As votes for Trump’s replacement, DeSantis? As spoiled ballots which must be discarded? But what about the other races on the ballot – shouldn’t votes for Senate be counted? Maybe just ignore the Presidential election portion? But then third party candidates RFK/Shanahan and write-in DeSantis don’t get votes legitimately cast for them? Count votes for Kamala and third party Presidential candidates, but ignore votes for Trump?
You just know the DFL already has lawyers writing briefs for the lawsuit explaining why Kamala should win. You just know the GOP is having lunch meetings trying to decide whether contesting the lawsuit would be in good taste, or whether it’s better to just let it go and concentrate on finding more moderate, more centrist, more likable candidates to become Literally Hitler in 2028.
So the Republican candidate is assassinated, the Democrat candidate is elected, everybody is happy except a few deplorable domestic terrorists bitterly clinging to their guns and Bibles, and then what?
I’m serious. I really want to know. The election is incontrovertibly stolen and everyone in the world knows it, then what? Another J6, this time with guns? Burn down Minneapolis again, only this time it really is middle class white people setting the fires? Shooters from Thief River Falls and Canon Falls and Granite Falls descend on the Twin Cities and start killing Liberals/Democrats/Vegans as part of a spontaneous Great Reset to take back the state?
Or maybe nothing happens. Maybe the United States becomes Cuba, with “free and fair elections” that the Democrat always wins, with fewer and fewer opportunities for people to succeed without political connections, with more and more surveillance to root out wreckers and saboteurs who are not sufficiently enthusiastic about the joys of diversity and multiculturalism but instead complain how much better things were in the olden days. History has seen that story played out repeatedly, worldwide, over the centuries.
I really want to know how this time, it will be better. This time, it will be different. How?
Today, it was revealed that this idiot was “known to the FBI, via previous incidents.” This is number 8 of the shooters in previous incidents. But, I guess that they have better things to do than stop potential shooters. After all, those moms that are taking school boards to task, are obviously more of a threat.
John,
The short easy answer is immediate, unfocused, and uncoordinated violence. It won’t be a good thing.
Now let’s do a couple of your hypotheticals, and remember, the Electoral College is now largely bound by law to vote for the winner from the ballot. Before that, it would’ve been a relatively simple manner for the GOP to host an endorsing process (relatively is doing a lot of work here) and for the Electors to then vote for DJT’s replacement. Now, those Electors are bound by law to vote for a hypothetically dead candidate. The Advisory Opinion Podcast did an episode 4 years ago going over the different timelines with the hypothetical that Joe keeled over from old age (or COVID) before January 20th, 2021. Sarah drives me nuts a lot, but she’s got a fair amount of experience with Election Law from her time as a campaign/Party operative.
Between now and November 5th. Ballots are printed, early voting has started. Heck, maybe it 11/1/24. Best case scenario, Congress is immediately called into session and quickly passes a one time law that calls for a “snap” election. Everything except the GOP nominee is locked into place, the RNC organizes an new endorsing convention using existing delegates, and a delayed election takes place. The sooner that can happen, the fewer deadlines need to be postponed, and we might even see Inauguration happen on time. If that doesn’t happen, amid massive outbreaks of violence, and behind a wall made from chain link fencing, razor wire, and National Guard Troops, Congress either certifies Harris/Walz under protest from the GOP or the Election is thrown to Congress.
Do voters STILL vote Trump, or do many of the swing voters switch back to Harris. Does Harris win 270 EC votes outright, or does Trump still get enough votes to have wone? If Trump would’ve won, and if the non-bound Electoral College Electors vote as enough of a block to get an alternative GOPer on the ballot in the House, then it’ll be a vote between Harris and the replacement. All bets are off at that point because Congress votes by State, but the GOP is very fractious. Gaetz, Boebert, et al could muck it all up and get Harris elected. Again, more violence.
All admit, I don’t remember if only the top three EC vote recipients are eligible for the Congressional vote is Constitutional or Statutory Rule, and I’m not checking it right now.
Party Responses:
Of course the Democrats are prepping contingency lawsuit like you think. They always do. They’re also the Party that regularly has a few members contest the Certification on January 6 every 4 years, but get the vapors if the GOP does it. They’re hypocrites and they lead the way with eroding “norms.”
I disagree about the GOP. Trump has his second round of hand picked RNC Chairman and staff in place. They are MAGA. They’ll continue to file every lawsuit they can. Half of the moderates in Office that don’t like Trump have already left Congress, and the majority that remain are probably Senators who don’t factor in as much as Representatives. So I don’t expect the GOP to roll over.
The biggest issue with anything you lay out is the use of the words incontrovertibly stolen. 1) An assassination is an assassination. It’s very different from the Stolen Election claims from 2020. 2) How many people think that? I know many people that that 2020 was Incontrovertibly Stolen!! I don’t think that. I think that there were different shenanigans in different States, and that too many States have an election process that is very susceptible to marginal manipulation (Minnesota is at the top of that list). Combine that with elections that only have marginal victories, various types of bad votes could determine the election. But there isn’t a dark shadowing cabal affecting everything, everywhere at once. But a major part of the current problem is that things aren’t Incontrovertible. Sure, the Partisans on the Left have their willful blinders on about the issue. They only care about Election Integrity if it’s a Democrat on Democrat Election. I’ll point you to DFL Conventions that require ID and a particular UPS Store used as a residential address until Omar challenged Khan for the State House, twice. We need to convince those voters in the middle about the issue, and for many of them Trump and his people aren’t credible about it. I’m a Republican, and I don’t think Trump is credible about electoral integrity issues. But people like Kim Crockett should be because she’s spent decades on the problem, but they get lumped in with Trump and his lack of credibility on the issue. My wife pointed out to me recently that the majority of Minnesotans don’t think Voter ID is an issue that needs to be solved because they think it’s currently required. They are misinformed on that problem.
So ultimately, what happens? As I said violence. It’s going to suck to be here. Civil War is bad, especially when it’s tribal in nature and doesn’t have clear battle lines. The question becomes what do the Democrats do with power. If the Democrats take over, and if they use their limited majorities in a divided country as if they had super majorities in most of the States to pack SCOTUS, install 4 new Democrat Senators, etc, it will shatter our Union. The solution is for the Republican led states to withdraw from the Country. It can be orderly, or it can then even uglier. But remember, the majority of the military, especially enlisted, are more likely to be red stater republican, than rabid blue stater democrat. The States already have the National Guard and their various armories. The more Harris orders attacks on those States, the more of the military will desert or even defect. I hope to G-d that doesn’t happen.
If they act more consistent to history and don’t nuke the filibuster? Taxes will go up. Regulations will increase. SCOTUS vacancies will be filled by highly educated and probably intelligent Justices with moronic ideologies like Justice Jackson. Pro-Lifers will be sent to prison because they blocked too much of the hallway in front of an abortion clinic. The Great Sort will continue. And violence will continue. The difference between right now and then is it won’t only be Republicans getting shot at.
And that’s not even talking about what will happen Internationally because the USA is too busy fighting itself. The CCP takes Taiwan. The Middle East really ignites with a wider conflict with Israel and Saudia Arabia on one side and Iran with its proxies on other. NATO crumbles, hopefully into an EU Alliance against Russia, possibly into nothing but an eastern European remnant facing Russia. Thankfully Nordstream was bombed or Germany would be an energy client of Putin already.
And now I really do have to get to work.