Two Days After

I don’t have much to add to the news of the shooting attempt at Trump.  I don’t have much to add because the press doesn’t have much to add – other than playing the 20-second clip over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and…

One thing we do know is the shooter’s name – three names, of course, which is obligatory for those who shoot at a president.  Though I just had a thought why that might be:  It's possible, of course, that there are a lot of (for example) Fred Johnson’s in the country, and to just say that the shooter was “Fred Johnson” would deeply unfairly put all of them at risk of misidentification.  Though are far fewer Fred Peter Johnson’s.  Although, having come up with that theory, I suspect that other than immediate family members, most friends of every Fred Johnson don’t have a clue what any of their middle names are.  So, the theory likely doesn’t hold.  Though it should.

We also know that though he made one $15 donation to a progressive organization, he is a registered Republican.  Which probably annoys most MAGOPs to discover.  And a gun enthusiast.  Which probably annoys most MAGOPs to discover.  Though shouldn’t surprise them, since he did have an AR-style rifle, after all.

A few reactions, though, to the reactions.

First, I’m very glad that Trump not only wasn’t killed.  I don’t want to see any politician or public figure killed.  It’s ghastly, tragic, unravels the public, and is no way for a rational society to exist.  And risk leading to more shootings.

I’m glad, too, that seemingly the blood on his face did not come from a bullet, but it was a glass wound, from the shattered TelePrompter.

I’m saddened by the one innocent bystander who was killed, Corey Comperatore, and wish there was more attention to him.  At the very least, I’d have thought Republicans and the NRA would send their “thoughts and prayers” (tm).

Further, I do want to see Trump badly beaten in the election and humiliated, discrediting him and the fascist MAGOP party and movement.

For the life of me, I don’t begin to understand why the Secret Service was walking Trump across the stage for everyone to see, as he waved.  “They got the shooter” is no explanation, since for all they knew, there was a second shooter – and that’s not how they operate.  In fact, you may recall that when Trump was in office, he was giving a speech one day, and there was a noise that appeared it could be a shooting (it wasn’t). The Secret Service immediately buried Trump with their bodies and got him off-stage – and Trump went with them, no standing up and waving.  Compare that, how the Secret Service always operates, to Saturday.  It’s weird.

I’m bewildered by the BBC-TV interview with an eyewitness who said he was trying to get the attention of the police for the longest time to say there was a man with a rifle on the roof.

I am not suggesting conspiracy theories about any of this.  I am questioning competence.

I am not remotely shocked, though repulsed by a lot of reactions from MAGOP officials –

Some blame “MSNBC” for daily calling Trump a threat to democracy.  Some directly blame President Biden for saying that Trump should be put in a “bullseye".  Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Trump was “protected by God.”

Okay, for starters, Trump is a threat to democracy.  He’s said he wants to be a dictator, said he wants to throw out parts of the U.S. Constitution, fomented an Insurrection to overthrow the government and calls the Insurrections who have been convicted to be “patriots.”  That’s the definition of a threat to democracy.  That doesn’t remotely mean he should be shot – he shouldn’t be – but he is a threat to democracy.  In his specific, very own words.

Further, the faux-tenderhearted “outrage" of MAGOPs saying that President Biden is supposedly directly responsible for the shooting because of using the word “bullseye” doesn’t even pass the idiot test – though it does qualify for “Let’s rile up our unthinking base” points.

For starters, although using the word “bullseye” isn’t the best choice of words in our gun-crazed society, it’s not only a common expression, but one used often by Republican politicians towards Democrats in speeches dripping with gun references and defense of firearms, as well as often on posters that literally have Democrats in a cross-hairs bullseye.  What President Biden said was –

“I have one job and that's to beat Donald Trump.  We're done talking about the (June 27) debate. It's time to put Trump in the bullseye. He's gotten away with doing nothing for the last 10 days except ride around in his golf cart, bragging about scores he didn’t score…The fact is, he's not answering questions."

Only the most disingenuous, craven, deceptive Republican would tie that to a shooting attempt.  Unfortunately, there is no shortage of them.

And that's without adding “the most hypocritical” to the list of adjectives, because for the past seven years Trump has pushed violence in his speeches and statements since he first began running for office – telling his rallies that if any protestors interrupted, he’d pay the bail of anyone who beat them up.  And saying that "Second Amendment people" could stop Hillary Clinton.  And calling the press the “enemy of the people,” which required reporters having to be protected at Trump events.  And telling police they should be more aggressive when putting suspects in police cars, roughing them up more.  And asking if Black Lives Matters protestors could be shot.  And calling for his definition of traitors to be killed.  And helping promote the January 6 Insurrection attacking the U.S. Capitol.  And telling the violent white nationalist group, the Proud Boys, before January 6 to “Stand back and stand by.”  And being okay with a hangman’s noose built for his Vice President Pence.  And so much more.  Like Trump inviting Kyle Rittenhouse to the White House for killing to protestors.  And Trump saying there will be a "bloodbath" if he loses the 2024 election.  Violence has been at the core of Trump’s time leading the Republican Party, without even a whisper of “outrage” from any party official.  But then, it’s been a part of Trump’s adult life going back to when he took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the death penalty, in the midst of the trial of the Central Park 5 – who were later exonerated.

Not to mention Republicans being gleeful over Nancy Pelosi's husband being beaten to near death. Josh Hawley (R-MO) giving a thumbs-up to Insurrectionists on Jan. 6, Tom Cotton (R-AR) suggesting Gaza protesters would be thrown off bridges if they were in Arkansas, Kari Lake running as the Republican nominee for the Senate in Arizona telling her supporters to "strap on a Glock," Andrew Clyde (R-GA) giving out AR-15 pins, Andy Ogles (R-TN) sending out Christmas cards with his entire family holding semi-automatic weapons,  Andy Biggs (R-AZ) describing politics as being that "We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye,” the RNC inviting to speak at their convention the Missouri couple who brandished rifles in front of their home as protestors marched by.  And so much, so much much much more.  Endlessly.  This here is nothing more than the frosting on an 12-layer cake.  As the expression goes, it's not bug with Trump and the Republican Party, it's a feature.

Oh, but yes, the handwringing by MAGOPs over President Biden – who has been highly and aggressively vocal about supporting gun control – saying that his campaign should focus on defeating his opponent, by putting him in a “bullseyes” as supposedly being directly responsible for the shooting transcends pathetic and pushing “hypocritical” off the charts.

As for the Rev. Marco Rubio, if God actually was involved in protecting Trump, He would have made sure the gunman didn’t even get off any shots in the first place and not killed the innocent bystander, Corey Comperatore.  For that matter, if God was in the shooting protection business, he wouldn’t have allowed Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, Las Vegas, Tree of Life, Charleston, Pulse, Columbine…and more and more and more.  No, it’s up to us to protect our politicians and public figures and fellow Americans.  Not rely on God to get in the way of the NRA.

What remains is the question of how Trump will use this all to make himself even more of a martyr than he already has for being a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist and guilty business fraud.  I have one friend who wrote me that the election is over, since Trump will use his flag-waving bloody photo, and therefore all is lost.  Trump absolutely will use it (and already is, selling “playing cards” with the image on his website – really).  But it’s an emotional issue in the immediacy – and the problem for Trump “overplaying” it is that it risks him being even more out of control over it (which I suspect will happen) and overplaying it also risks reminding people that he is a threat to democracy.

Ultimately, do you think this changes one single vote of anyone who was going to vote for President Biden?  Do you think undecided voters leaning Democratic are now going to suddenly say, “Wow, someone shooting at Trump likely because he’s a fascist and convict felon makes me think I should vote for the fascist and convicted felon and rapist instead”?  Do you think women outraged by his anti-abortion actions will now overlook that?

Republican voters will still vote for him.  Some undecided voters leaning Republican might vote for him now.  But they were likely going to vote for him anyway.

Most undecided voters stay undecided until the last week or two.  They don’t vote early because they just don’t know – and don’t know until the last week or two.  That’s four months away.  And the public's standard for getting past mass shootings, even things like the massacre of schoolchildren, and then moving on, next!, four months is almost a lifetime.

It will impact some voters who hate both candidates.  But while it may benefit Trump with some, he has to hold that support for fourth months and not keep reminding them why they hate him – and I don’t know if he has that in him.  And it may impact some of those voters by reminding them how much a chaos agent Trump is.

I’m saddened by the shooting.  And I’m glad Trump wasn’t killed.  As for what comes next from all this, I don’t know what will happen.  Yes, I am 100% sure Trump will try to use this for all he can – but mostly, I suspect it will solidify his already sold base.  But the campaign hasn’t even officially started yet.  Trump isn’t even the official Republican nominee yet.  And Trump, being Trump, still has early dementia, still is fascist, still is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, still is a chaos agent and still will continue to remind people why they hate him, only now he’ll likely be more maniacal about it.

I don’t know what will happen.  But then, I don’t even know if President Biden will still be the nominee.  Maybe this will gain sympathy for Trump, maybe it will remind people that he’s a fascist who wants to destroy democracy and is against gun control.  I have no idea.  I only know no one knows what will happen.  And any guesses are only guesses.

Okay, I know one other thing.  I know that anyone who suggests President Biden is the cause for ratcheting up violence in America rather than Trump is someone you should never trust.