Previously Published in The Messenger
Firstly, we’ll say that we’re beyond relieved that former President Donald Trump (R-FL) miraculously walked away from an assassination attempt at his Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, about thirty miles north of Pittsburgh. A bullet hasn’t been fired at a U.S. President, sitting or former, since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 by John Hinckley, Jr., mere months into his first term.
Regardless of politics, this isn’t something that anyone wants to see. It’s a true display of weakness to the entire world, as well as enemies foreign and domestic, when someone makes an attempt on the president’s life.
But Trump turned the moment of weakness into one of strength and resilience. After the sniper was subdued, Trump was helped up by Secret Service agents, and before being escorted back to the motorcade, he approached the podium and mouthed the words “fight.” Ear bloodied, with no clear indication that he was safe to idle at the podium for a few moments, Trump chose to address his supporters, as well as the world, that he is clearly not going down without a fight.
Miraculously, had Trump not tilted his head slightly to his right, the bullet would have likely killed him. The fact that a reflex that came down to the millisecond and millimeter saved his life shows God had His hand over Trump this weekend.
Trump can get shot, walk off stage, and appear at the Republican National Convention just two days later. Meanwhile, President Biden (D-DE) needs a two-week paid vacation to Delaware and an ice cream cone after giving a pitiful five-minute press conference.
Politics aside, who displays strength and resilience better?
Cynicism and observation of a truly rare and historic moment aside, there are other components of what led to such a “sick” act, as Biden rightfully put it, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t take the opportunity to point out the rhetoric that may very well have led to this moment.
The first to blame for our culture of mass hysteria and chronic hopelessness is the mass media, sans your preferred local newspaper. In their infinite wisdom, the media at first refrained from mentioning gunfire, saying Trump “fell” at the podium just fifteen minutes into his rally, while others called the assassination attempt “apparent.”
What’s “apparent” about gunfire at a former president who’s campaigning for a second term? If someone opens fire on a person of such interest, there’s really not a lot of room for speculation. We as a media outlet understand holding off on absolutes until all the facts come in, but anyone who watched the rally could very clearly see what had unfolded. And if shots are fired at or around a president, it’s unlikely someone is shooting clay pigeons nearby.
We’ll log the “apparent assassinate attempt” alongside the “fiery but mostly peaceful protests” we saw in 2020.
But the mass media is almost entirely on the hook for the “wag the dog” style of guerilla journalism. What used to be called journalism is now akin to social conditioning and cheap shilling, in the eyes of the mainstream media, that is. The reality is, the media carries most, if not all, of the blame for Trump’s perception in the country. Had they covered him realistically from the day he came down that escalator, and had people not felt comfortable openly supporting him, 2016 might not have come as the shock that it did, and Saturday’s rally might have carried into the evening as originally planned.
It’s almost as if comparing someone to Adolf Hitler for eight years might have convinced someone that assassination was the only option.
Enter the hysterics of social media, dominated by people who have fallen victim to the contagion of the hyper-sensational news cycle. These people legitimately believe that if Trump is re-elected, that their rights will be taken away and he will govern like an authoritarian.
As if similar warnings panned out from 2017 to 2021, but we’re not keeping score (we are).
Naturally, social media has had a field day of unparalleled proportions and damn-near incorrigible derangement. Never have we seen such callous disregard for the life of another person, as well as the innocent bystander who died protecting his family and two others who were critically injured by the sniper fire. Across all platforms of social media, the morally bankrupt dissidents who believe that they are the soul of this nation are calling for better aim “next time,” and expressing dismay over the inaccuracy of the would-be assassin.
It’s reprehensible and signals to us that a portion of the population, however small that might be, is borderline irredeemable in their lack of mercy, compassion, and empathy. It’s not who we are as a nation and it’s certainly not the type of discourse and behavior that exhibits any strain of strength to our neighbors at home and abroad.
President Joe Biden (D-DE) defended Trump, saying that political violence has no place in our country. While an admirable response at face value, we’ll be the first to ascribe claims of incitement against Biden, as he has repeatedly called Trump a “threat to this nation.” If there’s grounds to throw Trump in jail for life for organizing the January 6 Capitol Insurrection – even though he repeatedly called for peace – then there’s certainly grounds to pin this on Biden and company. In fact, just days before the rally, Biden publicly stated that Trump is a “threat to our nation.” Biden is also quoted as recently saying that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” referencing his ability to defeat Trump in the election. Biden has since called that comment a “mistake.” But if we’re playing Devil’s Advocate, is it possible that the shooter was motivated by such words and took matters into his own hands?
The left wanted to run Trump out of town on a rail during the COVID-19 Pandemic for encouraging use of hydroxychloroquine (HQC) because someone heeded his suggestion and drank fish tank cleaner. It’s ludicrous to blame Trump for that, but we’re here to call balls and strikes. If Trump was responsible for that, then Biden is certainly responsible – at least in part – for Trump’s near-death experience.
Congressman Dan Goldman (D, NY-10) said on NBC that Trump is “destructive to our democracy and he has to be eliminated.”
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11) recently called Trump a “danger” and said he would govern as an “authoritarian.”
These are only a few prominent comments made recently, but Democrats have regularly embraced rhetoric advocating for physical altercations, intimidation, and civil unrest against Trump’s supporters, including, but not limited to, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D, CA-43), former Attorney General Eric Holder, Congressman Ted Lieu (D, CA-36), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Congressman Joaquin Castro (D, TX-20), and Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), just to name a few.
None of these people were even remotely admonished for their comments. In 2021, Congressman Paul Gosar (R, AZ-09) posted an anime video on social media that depicted himself killing a hyperbolic version of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY-14). He was censured, and rightfully so.
Where’s the censures and condemnation for others who make similar comments and displays? Predictably, many of them hide behind double-speak, as their comments are almost innocuous enough when interpreted differently, but Trump’s would-be assassin might beg to differ. If we’re playing by the same rules that the left set regarding rhetoric and alleged results, they should face the music for why someone felt the need to murder Trump.
Interestingly, social media has had a field day calling the assassination attempt “staged,” asserting that Trump staged it to garner brownie points and sympathy votes just days before the Republican National Convention and about four months from the election.
What’s amazing is that the same people who had no problem with you losing your job, pension, and/or livelihood over a vaccine you didn’t want to take because you deemed it untrustworthy; the same people who call you an “election denier” because of reasonable questions – although they themselves have denied every Republican presidential win this century; the same people who mockingly tell you to adjust your tin-foil hat and that not everything is an inside job suddenly seem to be true believers of false flags, psy-ops, and conspiracy theories.
Some accounts do show an interesting picture, however, as videos are now emerging of rally-goers yelling about the sniper on the nearby roof, as Secret Service failed to intervene until shots were fired. There are certainly questions surrounding the response and security of the event, but to insist that Trump staged this is ludicrous. If presidents could successfully stage an assassination attempt that resulted in a bullet-graze to the ear to garner sympathy, a lot more presidents would have pulled this stunt by now.
We’ll meet the left halfway and say that Trump should probably invest in his own private detail, as the Secret Service should have had their own snipers on the building the would-be assassin set up shop, let alone simply being more vigilant and proactive. Videos also show Secret Service firing at the sniper only after the first shots were fired at Trump.
But to say that Trump did this for a sympathy vote is also overblown. Breaking down polling information from state polls across the country show damning trends for Democrats: lack of enthusiasm among their core demographics, a dearth of support among Independents, and Trump’s historic leads or percentages among minority voters. Trump has firmly been in the driver’s seat in this election since November. The momentum was already his and didn’t show any signs of fading before this weekend.
Besides, with the electorate being so polarized, it’s unlikely the attempt on his life would have swayed voters who weren’t planning on backing him anyway, especially not those online publicly wishing that the first assassination of a president since 1963 was broadcasted live for the world to see.
It’s truly a sad spectacle to see so much jeering and wishing for a different outcome that would have been overwhelmingly and objectively negative for all Americans, regardless of registration or ideology.
Political violence, inside jobs, and a mainstream media who can’t report anything objectively reeks of third-world autocracies that the left swears aren’t happening on their behalf, or at least to their intended benefit.
It’s official: the U.S. has become the country we used to laugh at.
Nevertheless, God bless the United States, and may this be a straw that breaks the political camel’s back. It was certainly as close as a call could be for Trump on Saturday, but we all, and all means all, face a much closer call if we don’t pick our nation’s soul path forward wisely.