It was all staged so he could stand up, raise his tiny fist, and yell "FIGHT!" There's not even a scar on his ear! All a bunch of crap to get his MAGATS in an uproar. AND - 2 people died! But he doesn't give a crap. He only cares about himself.
The fact that we still don't have answers smacks of institutional cover up. I remember clearly the MAGA declarations of "this just won him the election" One bystander died, two injured, and the shooter dead as well,Trump wins his election. No reports, more questions than answers. It feels very much a set up. We already know that Trump does not care who gets hurt along the way, as long as he gets what he wants. #Holdfast
I never believed it was real , I always thought it was a set up. None of the behaviors by Secret Service was appropriate by letting him get his damn shoe to letting him expose himself instead of rushing him off stage. Then no follow up media at the hospital if he even went there and lastly the ear has no scar and he never complained about the loud sound the bullet would have made so close to his head. Very interesting cover up…
Think of the non-stop coverage for a LONG time about the shooting when Regan was involved and Brady was hit. This time, they pretty much stopped immediately with him never saying anything else about it shortly after it happened. If it were real, he would be milking it for as much as he could by mentioning it daily.
Yes, so many odd and unbelievable things happened to make this a real attempt at his life. It was staged to gain him the traction to have increased followers.
I will admit that the main reason I immediately thought it was, as Tom Schell pointed out, a WWE spectacle is that trump is a liver bellied spineless coward and he would never have jumped back up with a bloody ear, he would have been in full fetal position crying for his mommy. Just look at videos where a protestor said mean things to him.
There was no blood on the collar of his shirt.
There was no blood in his golden locks.
His detail acted in total disregard of protocol. Remember Reagan.
Dozens of people pointed out the gunman and yelled at the government snipers who ignored the shooter.
I am sure the planners knew there had to be loss of life to get the ball rolling.
He has never impressed me as the sort who would bravely stand up and raise a fist if someone was unexpectedly shooting at him. And I also remember the Secret Service reactions back when Reagan got shot. Full body coverage, haul him off into a bulletproof car ASAP. Nothing about Butler was what I would have expected as a result of an unexpected event. The fact that there’s been no report since the incident just makes it even more suspect.
Unfortunately, just another “death by mystery” - any innocent people who are hurt or killed are collateral damage or just another day at the office. As I was reading Jack’s frame of events & collaborating details, the Dallas murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, with all sorts of law enforcement around, kept running through my head.
Never believed the Pennsylvania assassination was legit. I agree with others who have mentioned if it had been legit, Yrump would have been in a fetal position. He doesn’t possess the bravery to throw his fist up in the air and yell “fight!” It was staged and staged poorly. I am curious about the young kid who was the “sniper.” We certainly haven’t had him or his “story” dissected in the media nor not have we heard much about his parents. Wonder how much you get paid for a “sacrificial” child?
I think the kid was told he could do that and become famous. He was probably told they would be there for him afterwards. I suspect that he didn't think he was going to be shot. He was a pawn who was played.
This whole event was a set up, but to be used to trump's advantage. Certainly more questions than answers. However, damaged ears don't heal that quickly and Certainly nit without damage to the tissue.
A fishy, stinking pile of a setup. The Secret Service agents didn’t respond in the manner they were trained to protect and get their principal out of any further harm’s way. They took too long, plus what was with a staff member bringing the press out to the front right after the shooting?! All for tv ratings and a photo op. I think Trump’s team took advantage of the earlier warnings about Iran and ran their own parallel operation to coincide with it if needed. The whole thing stinks!
Completely staged bs. He doesnt GAF about the "collateral damage". Cartilage doesnt regrow. Secret service would never have allowed him to stay on that stage for his photo op
At the time it happened we didn’t have facts as to exactly what went down. That said, I had an immediate sinking sensation and my words were, “shit, he just won the election.” No doubt in my mind and then when things started to surface I was really uncomfortable. I look forward to the deep dive.
Jack Hopkins is writing about the July 13, 2024 moment in Butler, Pennsylvania as more than an isolated incident—he is treating it as a warning about how political violence, spectacle, and narrative can merge into something that reshapes public reality. Even without full access to the text, that framing aligns with a broader pattern: when political events are immediately absorbed into competing myths, they stop being just events and become tools. Jack is correct to emphasize that what matters is not only what happened, but how it is interpreted, amplified, and used to mobilize people afterward. That interpretive struggle is where democracies are most vulnerable, because it determines whether citizens respond with reflection or with escalation.
At the same time, the deeper implication of his argument is about responsibility—who has the authority to define meaning in moments of crisis, and whether that authority is exercised with restraint or exploited for gain. This is where historical perspective matters: democracies do not usually fail in a single dramatic rupture, but through the normalization of distortion and the gradual acceptance of heightened rhetoric as ordinary. Jack is correct that when political actors and media ecosystems treat such moments as opportunities rather than warnings, they risk accelerating that process. The danger is not only the event itself, but the precedent it sets for how future events will be understood—and used.
The fact that the Secret Service allowed him to stand up, then they did not cover him getting into the limo (and let him stand up again), and there is no visible scar ---- there is no way this was real, unless UNLESS the Secret Service is as fed-up with him as the rest of us are.
The very definition of a clusterfuck. I still have larger questions: A convincing motive was never assigned to the shooter - obviously a kid with issues - but the unanswered question is "was he part of a much larger scheme to create a situation that would result in a wave of sympathy votes for Trump with a deliberately close miss?" If so, the security people in on it would have known about the shooter's whereabouts all along and his immediate death was part of the plan to keep him silent. The fake blood on Trump's ear and Trump's miraculously quick recovery without even a scar also stretches credulity. The kid could have simply been a bad shot and accidentally killed that bystander.
The moment that the shooting happened, I believed it was a setup.
It was just too much of a spectacle. The way he composed himself immediately and raised his fist and then his “Fight”
Nope. Not even close to being legitimate. IMHO
It was a fucking WWE spectacle.
It was all staged so he could stand up, raise his tiny fist, and yell "FIGHT!" There's not even a scar on his ear! All a bunch of crap to get his MAGATS in an uproar. AND - 2 people died! But he doesn't give a crap. He only cares about himself.
Tiny fist… 😂 thank you… I always believed his over-exaggerated time lapse of pointing to ? was 🐂💩
The fact that we still don't have answers smacks of institutional cover up. I remember clearly the MAGA declarations of "this just won him the election" One bystander died, two injured, and the shooter dead as well,Trump wins his election. No reports, more questions than answers. It feels very much a set up. We already know that Trump does not care who gets hurt along the way, as long as he gets what he wants. #Holdfast
I never believed it was real , I always thought it was a set up. None of the behaviors by Secret Service was appropriate by letting him get his damn shoe to letting him expose himself instead of rushing him off stage. Then no follow up media at the hospital if he even went there and lastly the ear has no scar and he never complained about the loud sound the bullet would have made so close to his head. Very interesting cover up…
#HOLDFAST
Teri
Yeah, the shoe part did it for me.
Yep that and the fake blood
Think of the non-stop coverage for a LONG time about the shooting when Regan was involved and Brady was hit. This time, they pretty much stopped immediately with him never saying anything else about it shortly after it happened. If it were real, he would be milking it for as much as he could by mentioning it daily.
Yes, so many odd and unbelievable things happened to make this a real attempt at his life. It was staged to gain him the traction to have increased followers.
I will admit that the main reason I immediately thought it was, as Tom Schell pointed out, a WWE spectacle is that trump is a liver bellied spineless coward and he would never have jumped back up with a bloody ear, he would have been in full fetal position crying for his mommy. Just look at videos where a protestor said mean things to him.
There was no blood on the collar of his shirt.
There was no blood in his golden locks.
His detail acted in total disregard of protocol. Remember Reagan.
Dozens of people pointed out the gunman and yelled at the government snipers who ignored the shooter.
I am sure the planners knew there had to be loss of life to get the ball rolling.
#HoldFast
Sue
Under the “dead women tell no tales” banner, I strongly believe Ivanna had “help” falling down those stairs - all within hours before her NDA expired.
Absolutely
He has never impressed me as the sort who would bravely stand up and raise a fist if someone was unexpectedly shooting at him. And I also remember the Secret Service reactions back when Reagan got shot. Full body coverage, haul him off into a bulletproof car ASAP. Nothing about Butler was what I would have expected as a result of an unexpected event. The fact that there’s been no report since the incident just makes it even more suspect.
Unfortunately, just another “death by mystery” - any innocent people who are hurt or killed are collateral damage or just another day at the office. As I was reading Jack’s frame of events & collaborating details, the Dallas murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, with all sorts of law enforcement around, kept running through my head.
Never believed the Pennsylvania assassination was legit. I agree with others who have mentioned if it had been legit, Yrump would have been in a fetal position. He doesn’t possess the bravery to throw his fist up in the air and yell “fight!” It was staged and staged poorly. I am curious about the young kid who was the “sniper.” We certainly haven’t had him or his “story” dissected in the media nor not have we heard much about his parents. Wonder how much you get paid for a “sacrificial” child?
I think the kid was told he could do that and become famous. He was probably told they would be there for him afterwards. I suspect that he didn't think he was going to be shot. He was a pawn who was played.
This whole event was a set up, but to be used to trump's advantage. Certainly more questions than answers. However, damaged ears don't heal that quickly and Certainly nit without damage to the tissue.
#HoldFast
A fishy, stinking pile of a setup. The Secret Service agents didn’t respond in the manner they were trained to protect and get their principal out of any further harm’s way. They took too long, plus what was with a staff member bringing the press out to the front right after the shooting?! All for tv ratings and a photo op. I think Trump’s team took advantage of the earlier warnings about Iran and ran their own parallel operation to coincide with it if needed. The whole thing stinks!
Completely staged bs. He doesnt GAF about the "collateral damage". Cartilage doesnt regrow. Secret service would never have allowed him to stay on that stage for his photo op
And he would still be bitching about it. Putin get him to stage it to help his election?
I knew it was fake in that moment. I was not wrong. I'm a JH team.
At the time it happened we didn’t have facts as to exactly what went down. That said, I had an immediate sinking sensation and my words were, “shit, he just won the election.” No doubt in my mind and then when things started to surface I was really uncomfortable. I look forward to the deep dive.
Thanks, Jack.
Jack Hopkins is writing about the July 13, 2024 moment in Butler, Pennsylvania as more than an isolated incident—he is treating it as a warning about how political violence, spectacle, and narrative can merge into something that reshapes public reality. Even without full access to the text, that framing aligns with a broader pattern: when political events are immediately absorbed into competing myths, they stop being just events and become tools. Jack is correct to emphasize that what matters is not only what happened, but how it is interpreted, amplified, and used to mobilize people afterward. That interpretive struggle is where democracies are most vulnerable, because it determines whether citizens respond with reflection or with escalation.
At the same time, the deeper implication of his argument is about responsibility—who has the authority to define meaning in moments of crisis, and whether that authority is exercised with restraint or exploited for gain. This is where historical perspective matters: democracies do not usually fail in a single dramatic rupture, but through the normalization of distortion and the gradual acceptance of heightened rhetoric as ordinary. Jack is correct that when political actors and media ecosystems treat such moments as opportunities rather than warnings, they risk accelerating that process. The danger is not only the event itself, but the precedent it sets for how future events will be understood—and used.
The fact that the Secret Service allowed him to stand up, then they did not cover him getting into the limo (and let him stand up again), and there is no visible scar ---- there is no way this was real, unless UNLESS the Secret Service is as fed-up with him as the rest of us are.
The very definition of a clusterfuck. I still have larger questions: A convincing motive was never assigned to the shooter - obviously a kid with issues - but the unanswered question is "was he part of a much larger scheme to create a situation that would result in a wave of sympathy votes for Trump with a deliberately close miss?" If so, the security people in on it would have known about the shooter's whereabouts all along and his immediate death was part of the plan to keep him silent. The fake blood on Trump's ear and Trump's miraculously quick recovery without even a scar also stretches credulity. The kid could have simply been a bad shot and accidentally killed that bystander.