Trump rushed off stage - possible gunshots

[abs]

So a lot of discourse I’m seeing about this is….reasonable? I have a friend who started a discussion on FB today who has always voted Republican. She said it’s wonderful to see so many speak out against violence and that is why she won’t vote Trump again because she feels it starts with him. Not everyone agreed of course but the discourse has all been civil and way more agreed with her than I expected. I’m suddenly not as apprehensive about November. This will be interesting.

[underwaterrhymes]

Jul 14, 2024 17:56:57 GMT -5 abs said:

So a lot of discourse I’m seeing about this is….reasonable? I have a friend who started a discussion on FB today who has always voted Republican. She said it’s wonderful to see so many speak out against violence and that is why she won’t vote Trump again because she feels it starts with him. Not everyone agreed of course but the discourse has all been civil and way more agreed with her than I expected. I’m suddenly not as apprehensive about November. This will be interesting.

I wish this were the case across the board. I talked to my dad this morning (whom I think voted for Trump in 2016, although he would never admit it to me.) He’s historically a Republican, but my stepmom is liberal and he has become more liberal over the years as a result. He’s friends with a lot of super right wing people from his younger days, though, and he was telling me that his conversation with one of his old friends was… gobsmacking. His supporters are off the fucking rails.

I’ve defriended any overt supporters on social media, so I cannot personally speak to this, but if my dad is saying it’s unhinged, it’s definitely REALLY FUCKING UNHINGED.

[morecoffeeplease]

Jul 14, 2024 18:32:29 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Jul 14, 2024 17:56:57 GMT -5 abs said:

So a lot of discourse I’m seeing about this is….reasonable? I have a friend who started a discussion on FB today who has always voted Republican. She said it’s wonderful to see so many speak out against violence and that is why she won’t vote Trump again because she feels it starts with him. Not everyone agreed of course but the discourse has all been civil and way more agreed with her than I expected. I’m suddenly not as apprehensive about November. This will be interesting.

I wish this were the case across the board. I talked to my dad this morning (whom I think voted for Trump in 2016, although he would never admit it to me.) He’s historically a Republican, but my stepmom is liberal and he has become more liberal over the years as a result. He’s friends with a lot of super right wing people from his younger days, though, and he was telling me that his conversation with one of his old friends was… gobsmacking. His supporters are off the fucking rails.

I’ve defriended any overt supporters on social media, so I cannot personally speak to this, but if my dad is saying it’s unhinged, it’s definitely REALLY FUCKING UNHINGED.

@@@@@@@@



Obviously my experience doesn’t speak for a whole country but we’ live in a very very deep red area. My son had a birthday party to go to and I had to stay. And I’m assuming every single person there except for me is a republican and voted for Trump. And not one single person talked about it. It was like life carried on as normal. And the party was very much parents sat around and chatted while kids played. I was surprised.

[Velar Fricative]

Jul 14, 2024 16:13:34 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

I’m surprised we don’t have more info about shooter- messages or social media.

Trump did recently tweak the GOP platform on abortion and gay rights, which some people were upset by. And then there not much support for 2A. reason.com/2024/07/10/the-2024-gop-platform-offers-only-a-passing-reference-to-the-second-amendment/


Looks like lots of people saw the shooter ahead of time & there was even an officer climbing the ladder to his position. I’m shocked that that the roof wasn’t secured. How did this kid manage to come up with this plan and get lucky enough to bypass security protocols???

He didn’t seem to have much of a social media presence, it seems. I wonder if that’s typical of 20-year-olds these days? I could see that being the case, excluding TikTok.

So it might be a while until any motive is found, if ever. Until then, I’ll just assume he was a nutter, a la John Hinckley just wanting to impress Jodie Foster.

[Deleted]

Jul 14, 2024 19:00:16 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jul 14, 2024 16:13:34 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

I’m surprised we don’t have more info about shooter- messages or social media.

Trump did recently tweak the GOP platform on abortion and gay rights, which some people were upset by. And then there not much support for 2A. reason.com/2024/07/10/the-2024-gop-platform-offers-only-a-passing-reference-to-the-second-amendment/


Looks like lots of people saw the shooter ahead of time & there was even an officer climbing the ladder to his position. I’m shocked that that the roof wasn’t secured. How did this kid manage to come up with this plan and get lucky enough to bypass security protocols???

He didn’t seem to have much of a social media presence, it seems. I wonder if that’s typical of 20-year-olds these days? I could see that being the case, excluding TikTok.

So it might be a while until any motive is found, if ever. Until then, I’ll just assume he was a nutter, a la John Hinckley just wanting to impress Jodie Foster.

Statements from his former classmates are that he was a loner and was picked on a lot. I wonder if his motivations of many young men who experienced bullying, and he just wanted people to notice him. Trump may have just been a target of opportunity.

[neverfstop]

While we don't know much right now, I keep re-thinking about all the warnings over the last decade about domestic terrorism being the biggest threat. Mix in our teens and young adults that can't find social connections & have lived through hell (he was in HS during COVID and Jan 6), and it's a volatile mix. How do we turn down the temperature? How do we see our shared humanity? How can we find common ground to have discussions with our friends and neighbors? I have no answers, but I can see how we got here- we've been heading down his road toward political extremism, social isolation, and civil unrest for a while. Think of Gabby Giffords, the congressional baseball shooting, and Gretchen Whitmere kidnapping, not to mention the hundreds of threats from the top all the way down to local poll workers.


time.com/6998406/political-violence-united-states-recent-history/
In October 2021, Rachel Kleinfeld wrote in the The Journal of Democracy that an “unprecedented number” of elections administrators received threats in 2020, and that “acts of political violence in the United States have skyrocketed in the last five years,” utilizing data from the Global Terrorism Database maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.

[maudefindlay]

A relative reposted from Franklin Graham who called Trump "an amazing man" and "he credits God alone with saving his life".

Uhhhhmmmm....

[underwaterrhymes]

Jul 14, 2024 19:27:34 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

While we don't know much right now, I keep re-thinking about all the warnings over the last decade about domestic terrorism being the biggest threat. Mix in our teens and young adults that can't find social connections & have lived through hell (he was in HS during COVID and Jan 6), and it's a volatile mix. How do we turn down the temperature? How do we see our shared humanity? How can we find common ground to have discussions with our friends and neighbors? I have no answers, but I can see how we got here- we've been heading down his road toward political extremism, social isolation, and civil unrest for a while. Think of Gabby Giffords, the congressional baseball shooting, and Gretchen Whitmere kidnapping, not to mention the hundreds of threats from the top all the way down to local poll workers.


time.com/6998406/political-violence-united-states-recent-history/
In October 2021, Rachel Kleinfeld wrote in the The Journal of Democracy that an “unprecedented number” of elections administrators received threats in 2020, and that “acts of political violence in the United States have skyrocketed in the last five years,” utilizing data from the Global Terrorism Database maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.

I think we have always been here. This country was founded on othering, hatred, and extremism.

We just have an easy means of spreading hatred now through social media.

[underwaterrhymes]

Jul 14, 2024 19:41:35 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

A relative reposted from Franklin Graham who called Trump "an amazing man" and "he credits God alone with saving his life".

Uhhhhmmmm....

Fuck any god that spares Trump and not children.

[jlt19]

Jul 14, 2024 17:50:49 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Jul 14, 2024 17:41:03 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

*I’M* probably projecting here because I was, at one time, halfway through the process of joining the SS and I’m one degree of separation from an agent that’s been with him forever, but FUCK HIM for not ducking and rushing off that stage.

He stalled out to put his fist in the air for a photo op, forcing them to be living shields for far longer than was necessary.

He’s golfing today and has already had t-shirts made of him with his fist in the air. Fucking gross. Meanwhile, Biden halted ads as he did when Trump had COVID out of respect.

Of course he fucking did. He will take any opportunity to monetize whatever he can. How anyone thinks he’s above selling out this entire country, is beyond me.

[AJL]

Jul 14, 2024 18:55:35 GMT -5 morecoffeeplease said:

Jul 14, 2024 18:32:29 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I wish this were the case across the board. I talked to my dad this morning (whom I think voted for Trump in 2016, although he would never admit it to me.) He’s historically a Republican, but my stepmom is liberal and he has become more liberal over the years as a result. He’s friends with a lot of super right wing people from his younger days, though, and he was telling me that his conversation with one of his old friends was… gobsmacking. His supporters are off the fucking rails.

I’ve defriended any overt supporters on social media, so I cannot personally speak to this, but if my dad is saying it’s unhinged, it’s definitely REALLY FUCKING UNHINGED.

@@@@@@@@



Obviously my experience doesn’t speak for a whole country but we’ live in a very very deep red area. My son had a birthday party to go to and I had to stay. And I’m assuming every single person there except for me is a republican and voted for Trump. And not one single person talked about it. It was like life carried on as normal. And the party was very much parents sat around and chatted while kids played. I was surprised.

You were at a kid’s birthday party! I hope that parents were doing their best to carry on as normal. Whatever happen to “time and place”? 😳

[rachers]

I’ve had two people reach out asking for shirts and I (politely but firmly) declined. I was also offended because I’m very obviously a Democrat. Tacky tacky.

[neverfstop]

Here's a take on the events by a former secret service agent....

*don't want to overreact to all the crowd suspicions
*snipers are usually looking/scanning further away
*they shouldn't have let Trump wave at the crowd afterwards

www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/14/us/trump-shooting-news-biden#the-secret-service-fears-overreacting-to-unfounded-bystander-reports-former-agents-say

[morecoffeeplease]

Jul 14, 2024 20:36:19 GMT -5 AJL said:

Jul 14, 2024 18:55:35 GMT -5 morecoffeeplease said:

@@@@@@@@



Obviously my experience doesn’t speak for a whole country but we’ live in a very very deep red area. My son had a birthday party to go to and I had to stay. And I’m assuming every single person there except for me is a republican and voted for Trump. And not one single person talked about it. It was like life carried on as normal. And the party was very much parents sat around and chatted while kids played. I was surprised.

You were at a kid’s birthday party! I hope that parents were doing their best to carry on as normal. Whatever happen to “time and place”? 😳

@@@@@

Do you live in a red area? A lot of kids around here worship Trump just like their parents. Houses with children have fuck Biden flags outside. And I bet the majority of the kids at the birthday party have guns in their house and hunt on a regular basis.

[AJL]

Jul 14, 2024 21:03:57 GMT -5 morecoffeeplease said:

Jul 14, 2024 20:36:19 GMT -5 AJL said:

You were at a kid’s birthday party! I hope that parents were doing their best to carry on as normal. Whatever happen to “time and place”? 😳

@@@@@

Do you live in a red area? A lot of kids around here worship Trump just like their parents. Houses with children have fuck Biden flags outside. And I bet the majority of the kids at the birthday party have guns in their house and hunt on a regular basis.

I live in fucking Texas, my dude.

[AAM2012]

Jul 14, 2024 19:27:34 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

While we don't know much right now, I keep re-thinking about all the warnings over the last decade about domestic terrorism being the biggest threat. Mix in our teens and young adults that can't find social connections & have lived through hell (he was in HS during COVID and Jan 6), and it's a volatile mix. How do we turn down the temperature? How do we see our shared humanity? How can we find common ground to have discussions with our friends and neighbors? I have no answers, but I can see how we got here- we've been heading down his road toward political extremism, social isolation, and civil unrest for a while. Think of Gabby Giffords, the congressional baseball shooting, and Gretchen Whitmere kidnapping, not to mention the hundreds of threats from the top all the way down to local poll workers.


time.com/6998406/political-violence-united-states-recent-history/
In October 2021, Rachel Kleinfeld wrote in the The Journal of Democracy that an “unprecedented number” of elections administrators received threats in 2020, and that “acts of political violence in the United States have skyrocketed in the last five years,” utilizing data from the Global Terrorism Database maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.

How do we “turn down the temperature” when the former president running for reelection is shot in an attempted assassination and while he’s escaping raises his fist in defiance and also says “fight!” multiple times to his supporters.

I’m not sure exactly, but would love to know…and am still waiting for someone to explain.

[somersault72]

Jul 14, 2024 19:41:35 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

A relative reposted from Franklin Graham who called Trump "an amazing man" and "he credits God alone with saving his life".

Uhhhhmmmm....

I'm seeing a few posts on SM about God saving him. But God didn't want to save the guy who WAS killed? Or anyone that dies? Pretty sure that's not how God works.

Also have seen a couple of posts that Hillary or the Obamas were behind it. I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised because you have to be some level of crazy to be a Trumpster but it still pisses me off.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Jul 14, 2024 17:56:57 GMT -5 abs said:

So a lot of discourse I’m seeing about this is….reasonable? I have a friend who started a discussion on FB today who has always voted Republican. She said it’s wonderful to see so many speak out against violence and that is why she won’t vote Trump again because she feels it starts with him. Not everyone agreed of course but the discourse has all been civil and way more agreed with her than I expected. I’m suddenly not as apprehensive about November. This will be interesting.

FWIW, i am seeing this too.

[suzyp]

Jul 15, 2024 8:17:03 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

Jul 14, 2024 17:56:57 GMT -5 abs said:

So a lot of discourse I’m seeing about this is….reasonable? I have a friend who started a discussion on FB today who has always voted Republican. She said it’s wonderful to see so many speak out against violence and that is why she won’t vote Trump again because she feels it starts with him. Not everyone agreed of course but the discourse has all been civil and way more agreed with her than I expected. I’m suddenly not as apprehensive about November. This will be interesting.

FWIW, i am seeing this too.

I heard on the news this morning that Trump intended to change his remarks/speech at the RNC convention.  Will be curious if it's true and what way he goes - full burn this down or toned down on the violence talk.

I am sure this scared the shit out of him - but when he got Covid, I thought it may change the way he dealt with everything - but he did not, so I am anticipating doubling down on the narrative that this happened due to Ds rhectoric and making things 100x worse.

[underwaterrhymes]

Melania’s statement is hilarious AI-created nonsense and includes the phrase “A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion - his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration.”

Someone on Twitter responded “whom among us does not associate Donald with his deep love of music and laughter.”

I laughed.

[stuffandthings]

Jul 15, 2024 8:47:09 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Melania’s statement is hilarious AI-created nonsense and includes the phrase “A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion - his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration.”

Someone on Twitter responded “whom among us does not associate Donald with his deep love of music and laughter.”

I laughed.

Ah, yes, his famous laughter. When I think of Trump, I definitely think of laughter. He's always laughing. What a lighthearted guy.

[wildrice]

Jul 15, 2024 8:47:09 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Melania’s statement is hilarious AI-created nonsense and includes the phrase “A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion - his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration.”

Someone on Twitter responded “whom among us does not associate Donald with his deep love of music and laughter.”

I laughed.

This is actually hilarious.

Someone I know's H works for the secret service, and said that as a candidate Trump would have had far less of a security perimeter than a sitting president or even an official nominee - so if it was a week from now, he would likely not have had someone with a gun able to get this close. That makes a lot of sense for how the heck this would be possible, I guess.

[bkseller13]

As an aside, am I the only one who's annoyed that they keep calling him "President Trump" instead of "former President Trump" on all the news reports?

[fernweh]

Jul 15, 2024 9:48:26 GMT -5 bkseller13 said:

As an aside, am I the only one who's annoyed that they keep calling him "President Trump" instead of "former President Trump" on all the news reports?

It annoys me but I think it’s pretty typical. I still refer to President Obama or President Bush. If it was literally anyone else it wouldn’t annoy me. I avoided referring to him as President even when he was still in office though so….

[kath16]

Jul 15, 2024 9:48:26 GMT -5 bkseller13 said:

As an aside, am I the only one who's annoyed that they keep calling him "President Trump" instead of "former President Trump" on all the news reports?

i've actually been hearing the opposite and thought it was kind of strange. i hear "former President Trump" and i spent time in the car thinking about what i've heard for Obama, Bush, Clinton and whether they get "President Lastname" or "former President Lastname" when discussed. 

[bkseller13]

Jul 15, 2024 10:12:37 GMT -5 kath16 said:

Jul 15, 2024 9:48:26 GMT -5 bkseller13 said:

As an aside, am I the only one who's annoyed that they keep calling him "President Trump" instead of "former President Trump" on all the news reports?

i've actually been hearing the opposite and thought it was kind of strange. i hear "former President Trump" and i spent time in the car thinking about what i've heard for Obama, Bush, Clinton and whether they get "President Lastname" or "former President Lastname" when discussed. 

Watch the Today show and you'll hear it.  I don't know what I've heard either, but like what was said above, I didn't particularly like calling him President when he was President.

[neverfstop]

Jul 14, 2024 19:10:59 GMT -5 @villainv said:

Jul 14, 2024 19:00:16 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

He didn’t seem to have much of a social media presence, it seems. I wonder if that’s typical of 20-year-olds these days? I could see that being the case, excluding TikTok.

So it might be a while until any motive is found, if ever. Until then, I’ll just assume he was a nutter, a la John Hinckley just wanting to impress Jodie Foster.

Statements from his former classmates are that he was a loner and was picked on a lot. I wonder if his motivations of many young men who experienced bullying, and he just wanted people to notice him. Trump may have just been a target of opportunity.

Hmmm....wondering if this wasn't politically motivated at all and more a result of our mass shooting/incel cultures colliding with Trump.  This guy just wanted to do something? It was clearly suicidal, knowing that he'd likely be shot+killed.  Did this guy's path just happen to collide with Trump at a place where he'd have this kind of access to try this?   Supposedly he was turned away from the high school shooting team for being such a bad shot.  

[pixy0stix]

Jul 15, 2024 10:43:29 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Jul 14, 2024 19:10:59 GMT -5 @villainv said:

Statements from his former classmates are that he was a loner and was picked on a lot. I wonder if his motivations of many young men who experienced bullying, and he just wanted people to notice him. Trump may have just been a target of opportunity.

Hmmm....wondering if this wasn't politically motivated at all and more a result of our mass shooting/incel cultures colliding with Trump.  This guy just wanted to do something? It was clearly suicidal, knowing that he'd likely be shot+killed.  Did this guy's path just happen to collide with Trump at a place where he'd have this kind of access to try this?   Supposedly he was turned away from the high school shooting team for being such a bad shot.  

Yeah, when I read that he couldn't join the shooting team, but was wearing a pro-gun youtuber shirt... I wondered if the motivation was just plain old guns. "Look at me, you turned me away, and I shot someone famous."

[basilosaurus]

Jul 15, 2024 10:49:03 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jul 15, 2024 10:43:29 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Hmmm....wondering if this wasn't politically motivated at all and more a result of our mass shooting/incel cultures colliding with Trump.  This guy just wanted to do something? It was clearly suicidal, knowing that he'd likely be shot+killed.  Did this guy's path just happen to collide with Trump at a place where he'd have this kind of access to try this?   Supposedly he was turned away from the high school shooting team for being such a bad shot.  

Yeah, when I read that he couldn't join the shooting team, but was wearing a pro-gun youtuber shirt... I wondered if the motivation was just plain old guns. "Look at me, you turned me away, and I shot someone famous."

I was also thinking along these lines. It's not the target that's the point. It's just guns guns guns and pathetic young white men feeling marginalized in a diverse world. That's why I said about I think it's more a culture thing from those assholes with such broad media platforms.

I got my NRA badge for being a sharpshooter at summer camp at age 13ish. That's pretty fucked up that I was so proud to be good at such a skill since I sucked at everything athletic. Why does this still exist?! Can they not give badges that I could transpose without sheet music?

[AJL]

I feel like we're getting stuck in the weeds about why this guy shot at trump. I don't think it matters. His actions were the product of whatever anger-fueled motive he had, easy access to firearms, lack of security sweep to possible sniper-like locations to fire on the crowd, etc. It's sort of the go-to formula in this country when a gunman fires on a crowd. I hate all of it.

BUT I'm more concerned about what this means going forward from a political point of view. What are the people at the top of the GOP thinking/saying about all of this? What are the Dems going to do going forward to make sure that trump is NOT going to win in November? If he doesn't win, what can we expect from his base? Can we expect another attempt at a hostile action like January 6? Maybe these questions and discussion should more to another thread, but I'd love to be able to talk about the big picture.

I live in Texas. The state sucks ass. It's horrible here. I have voted in every single election I was eligible for (national, state, and local) since 1996. My vote really doesn't count in this state. Our electoral votes have gone to the Republican presidential candidate in every election since Jimmy Carter. I am a fighter in this state, but I'm tired and I'm worried about the future here. *sigh* I'm just rambling now, but I'd like to discuss more about what to do, besides just vote. I'm doing that, but there has to be more. Right?