Politics XVI: Democracy In The Balance

[Malle Babbe]

Yeah, the Archduke got shot in 1914 and the world came apart.

PA is a swing state and I live in the land of "Let's Go Brandon" flags... sigh...

[believeland]

Jul 13, 2024 19:56:05 GMT -4 Spinderella said:

makes this seem like Trump survived some sort of war-level gun fire and now it's only going to make him look better. It's so ridiculous.

Maybe that was the point.

Tin foil hat? Cynical about all things Trump? I don’t know, but I’m eager to learn more. Walking away with seemingly just a graze and get that photo op of the fist in the air and blood dripping down seems a little too convenient. Or maybe this man just continues to get by with nothing bad ever really happening to him, just those around him.

[dragonflie]

2 other people were killed (one was the shooter). Another person is in serious condition. eta: 2 people are critically injured. This wasn't just a photo op/staged.

eta: I just saw a report that the shooter was on a rooftop outside of the rally. (can't verify)

[seat6]

This is really terrible news.

I’m on vacation in an area with no cell phone coverage and limited internet and it’s just the strangest experience to know something momentous has happened and not be able to get any details.

I’m glad to see Biden has immediately condemned this shooting in the strongest possible language, as any decent president would.

ETA: I just watched the footage of the shooting and I have to say that crowd has some of the worst survival instincts I’ve ever seen. When you hear shots, you hit the ground and crawl away and get behind a barrier, you don’t whip out your phone to get video. That was just bizarre. There could be more than one shooter!

I’m just contrasting it with footage of Reagan being shot and there seemed to be a lot more urgency in that situation.

CW: people being shot!

Reagan assassination attempt

[Carolinian]

The Washington Post has video from the rally. There's no sound of a teleprompter shattering before Trump clapped his hand to the side of his head and in looking at photos taken while the officers had him covered I don't see a broken teleprompter. I think he was actually grazed by a bullet. He was lucky.

[piscessiren]

I find it concerning that some rally goers were pointing out the man with the gun before the shots were fired.

I thought all roofs were covered by agents or at least air support by helicopters or drones?

I think the Secret Service is taking the fall for this.

Moment of Sarcasm: How soon does Melania rush to his side?

[Spinderella]

TMZ has the video footage of the man up on the roof outside the rally before, during, and after (!!!!!!!!!!) the shooting. Even when he was taken out by the Secret Service. SERIOUSLY?! How is that even possible? My house is buzzing with "Deep State" and "I knew it!" the whole night. It was already going to be a lot as we get closer to November, but this? Sweet Jesus.

I remember like it was yesterday how nervous and anxious I was to get the results after days of waiting after the election...how did we get here and how did four years go by that fast?! I really don't know how this is going to be handled or received by the public, but even if it wasn't staged (I don't think it was), I agree that the response was so ODD. That fist in the air, standing up and staying put until the crowd responded with cheers, all the while the Secret Service is trying to get him off the stage, and yet he just waits? That's the part I don't like.

This just screams a little too convenient in my opinion, but it's just too bizarre to wrap my head around.

[WestEndGirl]

Jul 13, 2024 21:23:47 GMT -4 seat6 said:

ETA: I just watched the footage of the shooting and I have to say that crowd has some of the worst survival instincts I’ve ever seen. When you hear shots, you hit the ground and crawl away and get behind a barrier, you don’t whip out your phone to get video. That was just bizarre. There could be more than one shooter!

I’m just contrasting it with footage of Reagan being shot and there seemed to be a lot more urgency in that situation.

CW: people being shot!

Reagan assassination attempt

The news feed had an eyewitness yesterday and she said she was in the front row. She said none of them in the front row ducked or moved. She said, paraphrasing, “we had to be strong for our president!” It’s a cult.

[Malle Babbe]

You can spot the folks who grew up in the era of school shooter drills in that audience. They hit the dirt.

However, gunshots IRL don't sound like they do in movies. I was a student at Penn State in 1997 when a disturbed woman set up a sniper nest in a stand of bushes along a big lawn behind the student union building. I was in that building when it happened, and the 5 shots sounded like a nail gun.

I was wondering what construction was going on until I saw campus police pull up.

I have sympathy for the attendees who were killed or wounded, but I have no patience for Trump. He's been playing with matches for 8 years, and he got burned, and once again, other people suffer.

[Carolinian]

I am relived the shooter was white. If he'd been a person of color I can easily imagine racial retaliation, both verbal and physical.