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What if he had died? Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
In roisterous social discourse, I’ve repeatedly expressed my amazement that no one has ever taken a shot at Trump. I’ve even tossed off callously, “Where’s American gun nuttery when you need it?” (Sorry.) But until Saturday evening, the former president having neglected to provide target practice for his rabid detractors is doubtless more due to the diligence of his security detail than to the restraint of his foes. As for his perhaps unjustly maligned security service in Butler, Pennsylvania, you know what they say: nobody’s perfect.
I’ve written two novels that employ a parallel-universe structure, so my mind compulsively reels with alternative worlds. Now that Trump’s right ear has been bloodied like Vincent van Gogh’s, we are literally one inch from a very different present — in which the 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks pulled off a clean head shot.
On the Right, all hell breaks loose. Mass demonstrations, possibly riots. Trump becomes an instant martyr. Photos and murals of Trump’s mug shot spring up on the sides of buildings, in front yards, on cars and T-shirts. Marches consume main streets, their pavements painted in tribute. Trump Tower in New York is smothered in flowers and baptised in tears by weeping women. Trump’s memorial service is a vast international hullaballoo, his casket gold. This explosion of anger and bereavement is easy to imagine, because that’s exactly what happened after the death of a mere petty criminal in 2020.
If it’s not delayed, this week’s Republican convention is mobbed. In the chaos, J. D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and Doug Burgum bicker among themselves over whom Trump intended to anoint as his vice-presidential running mate, the closely held choice now forever unknown and following Trump to the grave. In the Trump era, Republicans have so narrowed their bench to sycophantic Trump loyalists and so winnowed their brand to one man that a substitute candidate for November is anything but obvious — a political lesson that both parties might take to heart (always have a backup).
In my fantasy world, boring-but-sane Florida governor Ron DeSantis steps up to unite his shaken party, or my distant second choice Nikki Haley takes Trump’s place on the ticket. But sanity wouldn’t necessarily prevail in an aggrieved, febrile atmosphere that fosters extremes and strengthens the radical Right. So maybe instead the conspiratorial firebrand Steve Bannon seizes the nomination and runs from prison — just as it was once supposed that Trump might!
Whoever it is, the last-minute replacement makes the campaign all about Trump, demanding a Republican victory as the only just result, which will show the world that Americans will not be intimidated, and killers won’t be rewarded. The ticket’s slogan “Vote for The Donald!” is so effective that some idiot mourners take the imperative literally and write in the late president’s name in November. In any case, Republicans sweep the election up and down the ballot, taking not only the White House but both houses of Congress. As usual, however, the pressure building on the GOP over the summer to finally support stricter nationwide gun control measures inevitably dissipates, and lots of budding Thomas Matthew Crookses can grow up to take potshots at the political leaders of their choosing.
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Subscribe“The chances of Biden prevailing are now scant to non-existent.”
There’s still four months or so before the election. Four months for the legacy media, the White House, the federal bureaucracy, the NGOs, to scheme, disinform, and conspire against Trump.
My plea to Trump and his reelection team is please, please don’t become complacent in the run-up to this election.
Who can possibly know how many Black Swans await us? The left will do anything to hang on to power. They are the modern equivalent of the Bolsheviks who took control in 1917 and hung on until the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1989,
The only thing that might throw yet another big loop into things would be an unexpected “health episode” for Biden which would necessitate Kamala becoming the first woman President. I still think Trump wins under that scenario though.
In the event of a Trump slaying his embalmed body could be set in permanence at the Trump mausoleum, formerly Trump Tower.
Obviously, swamp town, Washington DC, would not be fitting for one such as the great Donald.
Or perhaps on his golf course next to his wife Ivana.
Trump has the second most beautiful wife in the world.
A trophy wife. I wonder what she’s like.
Wow, 9 more disappointed souls as I post. Ain’t life a b***h? ALL that planning, and the guy misses, at least the intended target. What a bunch you left-whingers are.
Wishful thinking. I bet you think this was planned. The shooter, journalist all conspiring to make Trump look the extraordinary man that stood up after a very, very, near death experience. Up until then I was a Trump fan over the Democrats because anything of the Left reeks of hypocrisy. They are everything the mythical far-right they claim exists is supposed to be.
But, to see his response to being the width of an earlobe from death is stunning. Who wouldn’t want a man with that amount of courage leading you?
The only sad thing is I doubt even Trump can clean out the Augean Stables that constitutes the US Deep State. Heck, even Nigel would struggle with our own cess pit in Westminster.
Unfortunately for us Miliband is likely to destroy more than the Labour Government with his Net Zero insanity. With the only gleam of hope, that when Reform finally get in, the deep state will be broken anyway, it will just need sweeping away, the ground cleared to rebuild. Mind you how violently it ends up prior to that depends upon how much Net Zero insanity breaks the grid and so every other aspect of economic life, including food supply.
“There are only a small number of meals between humanity and anarchy.”
So many are claimed to have originated the quote, I won’t bother with an attempt at attribution. We just wait to see how many meals that is in the UK sans Working National Grid.
Please, what was “courageous” about standing up after a bullet grazed his ear?
But, but, what does Lee Seigel have to say??
‘As for his perhaps unjustly maligned security service in Butler, Pennsylvania,…’
Are you serious? Having been given several minutes warning of a gunman crawling on an adjacent building’s roof and yet doing nothing much about it, it’s hard not to jump to a ‘justly maligned’ conclusion. Not to mention a trio of somewhat overweight fumbling pony-tailed girls trying to pretend they can do a man’s job.
I’ve seen footage of the secret service in action when Reagan was shot. The difference is stark indeed.
Indeed. The number of female police officers currently keeping British streets ‘safe’ is also extremely disconcerting…
Yep, diversity hires in any critical service is unforgivable, but in Biden’s case he is likely safe from outside threats- he seems eminently capable of orchestrating his own demise.
Trying to inflict physical harm on Biden would be completely superfluous, he’s so close to the finish line anyway.
Okay, that comment warranted a full “belly laugh”, thank you.
It would be in the Democrat interests if they can’t remove Trump by all the foul means they have tried to have Biden removed. (I make no judgement about the attempted assassination except to say Kennedy Jr summed it up with “you can shove your Secret Service up your …..)
I know one! Five foot three, hefty, unfit and really not the brightest.
But the box is ticked
At least they are trying, it is a tough job protecting people from criminals! What do/did you do for a living?
That’s really not the point. I have the greatest respect for police officers: their job is one of the most dangerous, thankless & essential. I’m saying that having females who are not as physically strong as their male counterparts do such a dangerous job puts everyone at unnecessary risk: themselves & their fellow officers included.
I’ve seen struggles with criminals & the male officers basically have to carry twice the load. In Germany recently a policeman got stabbed (by a follower of the religion of peace, naturally) and died while the policewomen literally ran from the scene.
In my opinion, successful policing is more about interpersonal skills than brute force. Also when an AfD politician was attacked recently in Germany, all police officers present failed to engage the attacker, the original victim and two helpers tried to restrain the attacker until the police shot him (the attacker), sadly a police office was killed, having a p***s did not help him!
Inter-personal skills didn’t help there much. Nor did they do away with Brute Force in the Iranian Embassy Siege IIRC.
The German Police suffered from the philosophy that puts the tick-boxers in such positions. The philosophy is bad enough in the abstract as it hinders the Rough Men. add in some tick-box candidates to the ranks of those Rough Men and you build in failure and casualties.
Try getting an honest opinion of the Rough Men about the box tickers IF you can.
Even without that philosophy in times of peace the dilution of the ability of Rough Men due to incompetent yes men leaders is more than amply documented throughout history. UK history in particular. The incompetents’ legacies even tarnish the competents’ legacy. Witness how long it has taken to show that the Great War threw up competent and war winning tactical innovative leaders in the British Army BUT Oh What a Lovely War & Black Adder are considered ‘factual’. Or the myth that the Upper Class stood by as the working class were butchered. The Upper Class Captains and Officers suffered more in term of % casualties than the body of their men.
Still, back to the subject. Watching Trump stand up afterwards was amazing. Barring the Democrats fiddling the result or another successful attempt. I expect Trump to get into the White House next time. Mind you Biden may have been as unconcerned, but in his case it would be lack of cognisance that a bullet had just shaved the top off his ear. That poor man should be given a good home NOT in the White House.
Try asking some police officers what they think of many of their box-tick colleagues. Such people risk the lives of the competent, so I have no truck with the whataboutery the Left whinge at when the right use it, but use themselves far more inappropriately.
‘Trying’ – that’s a great comfort. I believe it was McMillan who once introduced his armed body guard as
“The man who kills the person who just killed me.”
The question is, would they succeed in killing that man? IF not, then why even risk it to tick a box?
More to the point, why aren’t you up in arms at what is basically abuse? You don’t put someone in the line of fire IF they are incapable of defending themselves never mind defending someone else. Unless of course you are a Ukrainian General and short of 500,000 troops.
Yes, all those gals deserve a participation trophy.
Not our streets. We see the odd car blue lights flashing whizz along the main road, but only I’ve been to Westminster and seen REAL policemen I probably wouldn’t recognise one if I saw one. The sub-machine guns are new since I last saw a policeman, only the word POLICE written on him identified him and his colleague (Yep, 2 machine guns and their handlers!) I’d never have recognised them as the officers we once saw on our streets.
Short and big rears is the new standard.
I’m not a security expert nor one for conspiracy theories, usually regarding them as somewhere between a hobby and evidence of mental illness.
But even I can’t unsee how ridiculous it is that an untrained civilian with an assault rifle should be able to climb unhindered onto a building with a clear line of sight 150 metres from a former President holding a rally.
300 feet I read , so less than 100metres .
“Assault rifle.” You can tell how informed someone is by whether or not the seriously use the term “assault rifle,” a perfectly meaningless, undefined word created just to make guns sound skeery.
Let yourself go a little more and you too will be a conspiracy theorist. It’s only smart.
Yes, instead of looking as if they were recruited from MMA or an Icelandic cross-fit competition, the agents in his bodyguard looked more suitable for taking down a super stacker breakfast plate at IHOP than subduing a burley attacker.
This is the real story that will come out of this incident. It’s yet more incompetence from yet another government bureaucracy. I’m reminded of those memes on the Internet where the tagline is “You had ONE job”. There’s a story circulating now that local law enforcement actually did respond to the tips and one officer tried to confront the assassin on the roof. Supposedly he had another officer hoist him up but before he could get a foothold the shooter noticed him and pointed the rifle back at the officer, forcing the officer to take cover. Supposedly the shots were heard only moments later. If that turns out to be true, then that officer may have saved the former President’s life by forcing the shooter to aim and take his shot quickly and under pressure, knowing he had been discovered and had only moments to live. He only missed by inches. Again, if true, it paints the USSS in an even poorer light than they already are. Kudos to the BBC who covered this event, btw. No news outlet is trusted more highly by Americans than the BBC, well, other than the weather channel.
https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/49552-trust-in-media-2024-which-news-outlets-americans-trust
It is foolish to trust the BBC. Its days of being reasonably neutral are long gone. I see PBS is next after the BBC despite being extremely biased in recent years. By far the highest is the Weather Channel — which surprises me because their forecasts are unreliable and they constantly push climate panic nonsense.
Well, I think it’s more because they’re a foreign news outlet and thus, to use an old horse racing phrase, they ‘don’t have a horse in the race’ in the same way the domestic news sources do. It presumably doesn’t matter as much to the average Brit who the American President is, which party is in power, or what the hot button culture ware topic of the day is, but perhaps we’re wrong about that.
Sadly, these days, I wouldn’t trust the BBC to show static. It used to be one of the best companies in the world. Their coverage of the Israel-Hamas crisis has been unforgivable
Well at least we can agree on that. I find Al Jazeera a good news source, unfortunately being arab the non-nuanced outlook of most Americans prefer the Guardian and BBC! ‘Naked capitailism’ is outstanding btw.
Even Al Jazeera is losing it’s touch. Now IF you want reality you have to watch masses of substacks, Youtube videos, X posts and gradually decide on what is the ‘middle ground’ reality from the Left/Right propaganda. It is possible but it’s hard work. I made the mistake of thinking Times Radio would be good. But when I discovered that the Ukrainian’s were actually retreating and not fighting in the Moscow Suburbs as Times Radio seemed to think, I binned that one too.
Two great substacks for Energy and the insanity of the Greens are
Doomberg – the Green Chicken site
David Turver’s Eigen Values substack.
So far the Ukraine war is hard – I’ve given up on most other than mapping. That at least shows which way the Ukrainians are moving (backwards usually) as they wipe out yet another Russian army. (sic) Perhaps Starmer might like to check that before encouraging, Boris like, fighting to the last Ukrainian?
It matters a great deal to the Woke in the US AND the BBC. The BBC even worry about Ukraine’s casualty figures such that they massage them ans much as they can.
The problem is one has to be on top.
I struggle to recall in my decades onEarth a time when the BBC was ever ‘reasonably neutral’. It is a massive propaganda machine, funded by public taxation (£3.74 billion in 2023), that is publicly unaccountable. Few organisations can surpass it for arrogance, bias and Left-Wing commitment. It is the domain of the Woking Class elite.
Donald’s ears may be big, BUT inches away from his head?
That blind BBC correspondent — yes, literally blind — out-hustled all of the lazy American newsmen and newshens who checked with their offices on how to shape the narrative while he was moving to the back of the crowd to interview people who had seen the shooter at his work.
just look at the drone photos. The BEST site for his secret service team was on a roof immediately behind the shooters roof! AND don’t give me the garbage “It was outside the security perimeter.” It may have been but a perimeter that excluded that roof-top is Prima facie evidence for incompetence at best AND something else at worst. I once saw UK security services pick up a colleague at the back of a crowd during a Royal Visit, as we opened a garage door underneath our first floor office. He was spotted from a roof-top that was over 1/4 of a mile from the crowded street where we were. At least according to the security men that frisked us. That was decades ago. Either the US SS is totally incompetent or someone hoped for something that nearly happened.
This election is still wide open. Democrats like to refer to Trump supporters as lemmings but the Party of Machine Politics will fall in line with their candidate regardless of circumstance every bit as much as the so called “Ultra MAGA voters.” It doesn’t matter who they run or whether the candidate is lucid. The Democrats candidate still has a floor of 40%
Election Day is now Election Month. Whereas one person one vote in a private booth used to be the mantra. Now voting can be a public act. “Voting access” dictates that some people simply aren’t capable of casting their own ballots and may need “assistance” filling them out and taking them to the drop box. Democrats now claim that “fraud” is mythical or at least so rare that it can have no impact on outcomes. This despite their 2016 election denialism and the 2005 Carter-Baker reported casting extreme doubt on the use of mass absentee balloting.
The Corporate Press outside of Fox News is so overwhelmingly made up of Democrats that its comical. When President Biden stumbles all over his words, a humble correspondent from an Alphabet station will translate and reinterpret his words for the public. All the late night “comedy” shows have Democrat mouthpieces that make no attempt at impartiality.
They will do this for any Democrat that runs whether or not its Joe Biden. Every Corporate Press Narrative is slanted to favor Democrats. They control what is deemed “Misinformation and Disinformation.” They can cherrypick narratives and splice things out of context and do it in the name of “Protecting Democracy.” In many minds this is fine because the Electoral College currently favors Republicans. Nevermind that America is actually a Democratic REPUBLIC not a Pure Democracy.
Maybe Trump can win but the idea that it’s over is just false.
Great comment. My cell phone is flooded with texts begging for donations to the Dems and to vote for Biden. Not a peep from the Republicans. If the Republicans become complacent they’ll lose.
One would hope so.
Hope springs eternal. Just keep practising on that golf course. Then who knows, you might better the last shot. 😉
Maybe that’s because you’re a Democrat?? I get no Democrat texts but many from Republicans. Imagine that.
You must be not a registered Republican. Why would anybody bother calling you?
Don’t forget the huge number of recent non citizens being assisted to register in almost every state.
In another place I see Democrat voters claim they would vote for a goat,a duck or an ape so long as it was the candidate.
I think you lot (Americans) will get what you deserve…
Perhaps moving to Moscow might be an idea. They do have shelters for ordinary people when the nukes get exchanged.
All might be an improvement on the sad man occupying the seat at present AND you can be certain the even more demented than Biden running the US would continue as before.
Lionel Shriver is clearly a very intelligent woman but she has a serious blind spot and case of TDS when it comes to American politics. The tone of this article strikes me as seriously off, and a little introspection from someone as influential and respected with regards to her vitriol against Trump over the past 8 years wouldn’t go amiss. Still a big fan, but a little disappointed.
I think Shriver is alright. If that is TDS, it is a pretty mild case compared to what I am used to. The problem that comes through is she does not understand many of the important little nuances in current American politics. It might be because she no longer lives in the US. For example, Haley would be roundly rejected by Republican voters if party leadership tried to substitute her as the nominee. This would be like if there was an assassination attempt on Nigel Farage and I had to write an article about it. I would try my best but there would be so many little trends and important details I would not understand or even be aware of simply because I am not familiar enough with the politics.
A few things you couldn’t get wrong would be , first unalloyed joy of the Left it is were to happen. (Hypocrisy is Them) second their attempt to blame the Far Right, and third then their claim it put them in danger.
I think if one is being actually objective about Trump, it is difficult to argue that Shriver issues “vitriol” against him.
Trump has without question uttered many misogynist, racist and just generally obnoxious comments, without any provocation from anybody. Is this the guy we want as commander in chief and the head of the Western world? He is endlessly rude and narcissistic, admittedly often in an entertaining way – and simply seems to have no ability whatsoever to see the merit in anybody else including those supposedly people on his own side. This can be almost comical but still he remains a narcissistic braggart. Secondly his own mental faculties of clearly deteriorated over the past few years although not to the extent of Biden’s.
On a political level for some reason people seem to be vested in a kind of worship in him which is almost completely detached from any real assessment (did he actually build that wall?). However he repels more people than he appeals to and I don’t think this assassination attempt will make any difference to that. He has certainly in my view no asset to any conceivable conservative movement, although perhaps you can argue that he has been a transitional figure.
“Is this the guy we want as commander in chief and the head of the Western world?”
You seem to be labouring under the belief that we get to choose the President we want. In reality, we get to express a preference for the least worst of two very bad options, while hoping that the count isn’t rigged.
and yet he started NO wars, met and didn’t invade dictators such as N Korea. Didn’t decide to fight to the last Ukrainian to put US/NATO nuclear capable missiles in Ukraine. So meaning ANY unexpected missile launch in the area gives Russia ZERO time tho decide it it is a NATO pre-emptive nuclear strike. Shades of Cuba?
You need to listen to Putin – he talks sense, in fact about the only leader of those surrounding his country that does!
You may not like Trump, but I’d rather be alive and well with a disliked US President, than cinders thanks to one you think affable.
I agree with your conclusion, and I think you’re doing an exercise that is well worth doing (in the vein of Thomas Sewell’s famous question, “compared to what?”). But, man, do I disagree with the reality of the details in your imagined alternate reality…
IDK. Mostly a weird and fantastical essay. This nugget was interesting though, and something I haven’t heard from anyone else; “Dems in PA have urged their voters to register for the opposition, the better to support the weakest of Republican candidates.”
My son in law came up with the most plausible explanation for his registering as a republican- he’ll receive notice of the rallies.
You have a smart daughter as well! 🙂
I got that impression. Specifically, the irritatingly long excursion
in order to get ‘mere petty criminal’ in.
When you’re rolling your eyes on the journey, it’s unlikely you’ll like the destination.
Agreed. Considering the gravity of what would have happened if the trajectory of the round was less than 1” to the right. All hell would break loose globally and WWIII would become officially begun. Ms. Shriver is obviously suffering from something, but this article was extremely inappropriate.
It is about the only article a frustrated Left Whinger could have written and been paid for I imagine.
Very well said. Ladies and gentlemen, let me be perfectly clear. This is what America is. Americans are fighters. Americans are contrarian. Americans revere these martial qualities in a way that can be both admirable and problematic. When Theodore Roosevelt survived a similar assassination attempt, he refused medical attention and determinedly finished his speech. Americans did not question his sanity or fitness. They celebrated him and revered the man for his tenacity. Prudence and caution are not high on America’s list of desirable traits. Courage and defiance are. To the extent that America has any national character, this is it. America was born in rebellion and war and reveres the fighting spirit that refuses to submit in the face of danger and adversity. There are many who don’t like that and would like it to change, but the more they try to force the issue, the greater America pushes back.
So this author is correct. There probably is no universe where an assassination attempt in the USA, successful or not, accomplishes anything the assassin intended. Rather it inspires Americans to take the opposite view and backfires in a way that’s terribly predictable to anyone who understands this nation. If this would-be assassin is indeed the left leaning sort trying to save the world from the great threat to democracy that is Donald Trump, alone or as part of some terrorist group, it illustrates once again how the left so profoundly misunderstands the nation they are attempting to rule. These people trying to defeat Trump are simply going about it in the worst possible way. Persecuting him in court for minor felonies that are regularly ignored when committed by the rich and well connected makes him look like a victim and makes him look heroic for standing up to political persecution. It triggers that spirit of American defiance. Trying to shoot the man is simply a more violent and direct version of what the mainstream left and political elites have been trying to do, and failing at, for going on ten years now. The language and tactics that have been deployed to destroy Trump politically have inspired this sort of nonsense.
I do not agree that this makes a Trump victory inevitable. Teddy Roosevelt actually lost the election in which he was shot, albeit as a third party candidate. Still, it surely does not help the Democrats who must feel at this point that fate is conspiring against them. Ukraine, Gaza, China, Biden’s dementia, the backlash against wokeness that they only ever half heartedly supported, and now this. There’s plenty of time left, but that’s about all that can be said at this point.
“the Democrats who must feel at this point that fate is conspiring against them. Ukraine, Gaza, China, Biden’s dementia, the backlash against wokeness that they only ever half heartedly supported, and now this.”
Sorry Steve, but I have to disagree. Biden and the Dems have backed Ukraine to the hilt without ever facing the reality that Ukraine is very unlikely to defeat Russia. As the saying goes, the Dems are willing to fight to the last Ukrainian.
As for Gaza, Israel has every right to defend itself, but not to indiscriminately kill women and children with no end in sight. Gaza has become a stain on the West, but especially the USA where Biden fully stands behind his Gaza policy. The Dems also concealed Biden’s failing mental capacity for years. And, sorry, but most Dems stood squarely behind wokeness.
Fate has nothing to do with it. If there’s a backlash, it’s against the Dems’ own fervently-supported policies.
Complete agreement. The idea that any of these things, bar the last, are things that happened to the Dems, rather than being the natural consequence of their own dopey actions, is for the birds.
Not only are these their willed policies, but they have spurned every opportunity to change course, even in the fact of massive unpopularity.
What is happening in Ukriane is what the administration in DC wants. If they didn’t want it, they wouldn’t have blocked peace talks early in the war.
In Gaza too, the Biden regime offers mumbled condemnations but material support in the form of munitions and regular interventions at the UN. If they disapproved of Netanyahu’s conduct, they would offer mumbled support but no 2,000lb bombs – without which Israel would simply be unable to continue.
Whether Biden actually has dementia or not is irrellevant. It was obvious even through the primaries that he was suffering lapses of some sort. The idea that he was the best leader America could produce was absurd. He was, however, the Democrat best placed to defeat Bernie Sanders, which he did. He then went on to beat Trump, which was a bonus. But these were short term goals. It was obvious that he didn’t have eight years in him. It was therefore political negligence for him to pick a VP who was both electorally unpopular and exceedingly difficult to dislodge for identitarian reasons.
If the democrats wanted to win, they know perfectly well how to do it. For evidence, look no further than the pledges Biden has made for the first 100 days of his second administration. Codifying Roe v Wade, raising the minimum wage, ending medical debt and [ironically] banning assault weapons among them!
And yet, he has control of both houses now. He could have done any of them at any time he wanted. He didn’t. Why not? Because enacting popular policies was less important to him than retaining the support of the donor class and Washington’s serious people. It is only now, when the bigwigs and donors are seeking to oust him, that he has swung in a sharply populist direction in the hope of saving his own skin. You can have the support of the bigwigs or the voters. If you lose one, you need the other.
If the Dems actually want to win in November, they have a clear path. Stop all the constitutional monkey business about ousting Biden and make clear that if Biden cannot serve, the only person who can at this point is Harris. Develop a platform of policies voters like (the list above is a good start) and then reverse the ticket. Do the handover at the convention.
It might not work, especially after the battle of Donald’s ear. But it’s how you’d play the crummy hand they’ve got.
Welcome back George! Another great post. Btw have you seen Charles Stanhope around, I fear he is no longer with us? 🙁
Sadly no, I was rather hoping to bait him out to tell us all that my nod to the war of Jenkins’ ear was misplaced.
I miss the obscure corners of history to which he so often drew our attention.
Well, yes, they did make mistakes. Someone had to know about Biden. They maybe didn’t know how bad he would look, but they had to know he wasn’t quite as sharp as he was even four years ago. That’s their single greatest error, but they didn’t cause Biden’s dementia or unfitness, they simply handled it poorly. As for the other, I think any President would have aided Ukraine to some extent. How much is certainly up to debate, and maybe they should have pushed for negotiations to end the war earlier, but again, the Democrats didn’t invade Ukraine. Putin did that. They also didn’t perpetrate the atrocities of October 7th or mishandle the invasion of Gaza. They simply did what every US government since WWII has done, back Israel rhetorically and sell the country military hardware, which has always had an economic as well as a political motive. Yes, they did give Israel some aid out of sympathy, which is expected after an event like October 7th. The Democrats aren’t clairvoyant. They didn’t know how badly Bibi would handle the situation. I’ll contend as I always have that the wokeness we see in corporate America and in the Democratic party is mostly a marketing tactic to appeal to a subsection of young Americans who are basically idiots and place far too much importance on ‘social justice’ causes for their own or anyone else’s good. Companies try to get young customers to establish lifelong purchasing patterns. Political parties try to woo young voters who will reliably vote for their party the rest of their lives. The fact that this generation’s trendy new thing is perhaps the stupidest youth fad to come down the pipe in living memory can’t be laid entirely at their feet.
Check out ‘Naked capitalism’ Steve, you will like it I am sure.
Everybody knew about Biden. I knew about Biden. So did you. They were banking on taking everyone for fools.
As to Ukraine, that’s a Biden policy – why else was his wayward son Hunter taking a vastly remunerated no-show job in a hitherto obscure country in Eastern Europe? Because Biden took an active interest in western policy in Ukraine.
Now everyone from Kissinger, Mearsheimer and RandCorp on the right, to Chomsky on the left, was warning of the risks of that policy of provoking Russia by expanding Western influence into Ukraine. Rand wrote a paper specifically saying that the risks probably weren’t worth it.
And then, when the the risk materialised and the Russians invaded, the Americans intervened to halt the peace talks that the Ukrainians and the Russians were undertaking. And he knew how psychotic that would look, which is why he did it through a proxy (Boris Johnson) and in secret.
He also ensured that the Germans would be disinclined to follow their natural instinct to make peace with Russia for the sake of their economy by blowing up Nordstream. Again, that policy was psychotic (and an act of war against a fellow NATO member) so it needed to be denied.
These things are not hard to grasp.They barely even deny that they broke up the peace talks or blew up the pipeline any more. They are just taking us for fools again, daring us to see the evidence before our eyes. Just as they dared you to notice that Biden was going ga-ga.
If you think that the war in Ukraine is anything other than the intentional policy of this administration, you are deceiving yourself.
They also refuse to accept that they are funding Nazis. Though they should know that now the Canadian Parliament gave a standing ovation to one.
I don’t think the shooter’s act was political. I think he was just another disenfranchised, geeky, white male who could just as easily have shot up a school or shopping mall. He was just aiming for greater infamy.
He almost got it too! An inch over 150 yards is not a lot!
AR-15s arent really that accurate at longer ranges.
Indeed. They are automatic rifles intended for military use and prioritize rate of fire and reliability over accuracy. You won’t hit anything consistently at that range on purpose. That’s not what these weapons are designed to do. The effectiveness of automatic weapons (machine guns) in the World Wars, led to this change, but the standard issue rifles used by the armies of the world today are all some sort of automatic rifle, more accurate than a true machine gun, but not nearly as accurate as a traditional rifle or a hunting weapon. Whatever his motives, I’d say the assassin did not choose the best weapon for his task. He would have been better served to take an accurate shot with a standard hunting rifle, perhaps keeping his AR-15 loaded and ready once he fired his first shot. This was not the most competent assassination attempt, but historically speaking, that’s common. Many if not most assassinations are poorly planned and poorly executed whether successful or not.
AR-15s are semi-automatic, not automatic. You have to pull the trigger each time its fired
I thought that was you on the grassy knoll!
Poor old Lee Harvey he was innocent all along!
Exactly. It seems strange that in a country where guns grow on trees, he didn’t get himself a scoped bolt-action hunting rifle.
Maybe the military industrial complex who may have set him up didn’t want people to buy cheaper weapons that were more effective? AK45 anyone?
Oh its Russian of course not 🙂
An AK is pretty much the same concept as an AR. The shooter needed something longer range.
Exactly. That is the weirdest thing. In a land where guns are freely available, you’d have though the shooter would have got himself something more suitable.
This is the best scenario Trump could have wished for. Martin, sadly, we seem to be the two lone voices of reason here.
Indeed.
and the worst scenario all the Left wished for. They’d have preferred a millimetre or two the other way in their truly hypocritical manner.
As for reason – excuse me if I laugh. The New York Times believed Biden was ‘reasonable’ so they claim up until the Trump debate. IF you and Martin M are as perceptive as the NYT that might account for your comment and belief. Anyone who has even watched even only news snippets of Biden over the past year knew he had dementia long before the debate.
As Doomberg says, time to get rid of all the 80 year olds running the US – If it were my opinion I’d leave out the ‘the 80 year olds’ from that quote.
Well, I live in Australia, but I do take in US news channels (CNN, MSNBC etc.) I usually don’t bother with Fox though (apart from Gutfeld).
Was he shooting at big ears? An inch?
As I understand it, the shot grazed the top of Trump’s ear whilst moving parallel to the side of the head. I suspect an inch “headwards” would have produced a fatal shot. That said, I am only going on what is available from public sources.
I feel the same way – the real tragedy here is that of a society that makes it possible for idiot 20 year old boys to mess around with guns.
“Boys” younger than 20 firing muskets defeated the British army and created a new nation. Armed Americans will defeat government tyranny, which is why we have the Second Amendment.
See what I mean? Your’e a nutter Allison. I agree about the government tyranny, but anarchy, have you thought that through?
And a bunch of other idiots have downvoted you. Gun lovers, obviously.
Downvotes about 50-50, Clare. There are already something like 400 million privately owned firearms in the USA, more than one per man, woman and child. The guns are here to stay. The only way that the government can reasonably handle the reality that most Americans are armed, is to “assume” that a demented teenager may show up with a gun, and be ready for it. He did. They weren’t ready. Gross negligence is the reason that Trump was nearly assassinated, not the lack of firearm laws.
In the Middle Ages a sixteen year boy could become an archer if he could hit a squirrel at 100 yds. A long bow could kill a knight at 250 yards and had a range of 400 yds. The Black Prince earned his spurs at the age of 16 or 17 years at Crecy.
Boys becme mishipmen at 14 years of age and led boarding parties. Surely the issue is emotional maturity and a sense of responsibility not age.
Orwell state Britain was heavily armed pre 1917 and one could buy an arm froma hardware store.
Has Western society removed adversity and therefore prevents the development of emotional maturity which comes from overcoming it ? Can a person become an emotionally mature responsible person unless they carry the burden of responsibility?
A point of order: could we please refrain from calling other readers “idiots” and, in general, to refrain from offensive labels? It would be good to maintain some civility even if we strongly disagree with somebody else’s views. Hope you would agree, Claire.
Unfortunately a lot of views on this site are offensive without necessarily being ‘rude.’ The majority of Unherd readers support Israeli genocide, which is surely worse than any profanity?
What have you done to stop the slaughter by the Janjaweed -400,000 murdered?
Janjaweed – Wikipedia
Guns, money and burgers/hot dogs that’s the USA for you…
Parents, in this case, overpaid behavioral health professionals no less.
Lol totally agree, very brave to say that on Unherd, I think they all have guns! Americanos don’t you just love em!
This is certainly possible. That most infamy I guess.
“The shooter’s act was not political”? Really? Many on the left have been imbibing the message that Trump is an existential threat to democracy, and to the future of the US. The poor sod possibly thought he was saving the country, and forfeited his own life for the cause. Those spouting this hateful and divisive rhetoric must accept some responsibility.
Probably just trying to attract the attention of Jodie Foster…
Why though, she doesn’t like men?
The shooter was not particularly political. No motive has been found for his actions.
And you know this how? He took an advanced politjcal science class in high scool and several acquaintances of his said he liked discussing politics.
Hey, we all like discussing politics. That’s why we are here. How many of us have taken a shot at a politician? Presumably not many.
And easily lured by covert CIA agents into doing such a stupid and fatal (for him) thng. Dead men tell no tales.
And here we go with the conspiracy theories!
“I think he was just another disenfranchised, geeky, white male”
Just the type who could be easily manipulated.
More likely just the type to project his self-hatred onto others.
Which summarises the Left from the French Revolution, Nazism from the 1920s and Islamic terrorism from 1920s.
Ever since the Left stopped tryng to improve the quality of lives of blue collar manual workers, it has tried to destroy The West by inducing self hatred and guilt . There is a line from Frankfurt School- Gramsci- Herbert Marcuse- Frantz Fanon- Sartre- French Post Modernists which has tried to destroy Western Culture by inducing guilt and self- hatred. Basically First World Bad, Third World Good.
Obviously the act was political. Maybe you mean to say something about the shooter’s intention–or lack thereof. But, so what?
I won’t deny that’s a possibility, but I would be mildly surprised if that turns out to be the case. It just doesn’t fit the profile. Spree killers and fame seekers tend to select victims at random. They choose a setting, like a school or a public area, and kill whoever happens along. They derive personal satisfaction from inspiring fear in their victims. Even school shooters don’t usually have particular targets. They don’t just shoot whichever kids were mean to them. They generally act at close range in order to personally experience the event, though there are a few cases where sniper tactics were used, such as the Las Vegas shooter and the DC sniper. This was a calculated act directed at a single individual. The assassin might or might not have intended to kill anyone else.
He probably was mentally unbalanced in some way. That’s basically a given, but I doubt it’s in the same way as most school shooters. I think it’s likely he’s more like a domestic terrorist acting on his own for a political cause, like the several incidents of Islamic terrorism in the US and elsewhere perpetrated by individuals or small groups acting independently. That makes more sense to me and what I’ll bet my money on being his motive. When the rhetoric gets too hyperbolic and irresponsible, that inspires mentally unbalanced people to commit acts of violence. Terrorist organizations do this on purpose in order to strike fear in an enemy and publicize a political cause. I’m simply suggesting Democrats, in their obvious zeal to defeat Trump in any way possible, have inadvertently inspired something similar in this case.
You are so wrong about that. He was your typical depressed, white male who’d been terribly bullied in school. Plus, they say, he was not a good shot!
Why are there apparently so many like him ?
That’s about the only thing you’ve said I can agree with. However, it makes little difference. When the man stands up the way he did after that – then you can understand why people support him over others AND why no matter what the Democrat dirty tricks department tries, he keeps getting back up covered in roses. Personally I want him because he doesn’t want Nuclear Armageddon – rather like Putin. BUT Biden’s even more demented handlers keep aiming for it.
But safety is SO important. Even DANGEROUS SPORTS must have ample health and safety regulations. Even the desperate by nature plunge of suicide must have INFRASTRUCTURE.
Trump came within less than an inch of dying, and yet he lacks the one thing most people would have—humility. A man died shielding his family and two more are fighting for their lives. Does Trump thank God or his lucky stars? No. He is more macho than ever—pumping his fist. It’s all about him and no one else.
Actually, Trump has thanked God. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant.
Ah, yes. I forgot about how deeply pious a Christian Trump is.
The kid was a bad shooter, simple as that.
So true. He’s going to milk this for all it’s worth, and more.
What? Have you read his statements?
He also publicly and quickly thanked his security detail and gave condolences to the families of those who were killed and injured beside him.
I would say that right through Trump’s life, it has only ever been about him.
An intelligent post at last! You did forget ‘greed and arrogance’ however on your list of American traits.
Mr Trump is not a martyr, although an inch error in a 150 yard shot would have made him one. Mr Biden however is revealed as a demon: Mr Biden has been a principal cause of polarisation and hatred in this Nation, which though he immediately reverses and pontificates against it, has incited this tragedy.
OMG! What utter nonsense.
Yeah! Everyone knows it is Trump who is evil!
That’s what we have been told endlessly from the supposed purveyors of truth.
I seem to recall JD Vance said something similar at one point.
And they are the crowd that don’t know anyone who, in 2016, voted for Trump.
Hey, if I was American, I would have voted for Trump in 2016. However, I now know he is evil.
Really? Biden supported BLM,Antifa riots, told black conservatives ‘You ain’t black!’ and gave the eulogy for Senator Byrd a former senior officer of the Ku Klux Klan.
–
In the desperate need to create a narrative and fill column inches the media – Shriver included – are forgetting that before a shot was fired everyone had finally accepted Biden is senile and the Democrat donors were withholding $90m in funds unless he was removed as the candidate.
The alternative universe is the one being crafted by the media in real time now: that Trump is now certain to win because he’s become a martyr. This is a dangerous myth, implying that somehow his win will be due to one malign event, perhaps even illegitimate. Trump was certain to win when an elderly, confused, rambling old man was crowned to be Trump’s opponent.
Nell, I think you have nailed it!
Hence Biden’s hasty reinventionas an insurgent populist.
Trump is not much less an elderly confused rambling man…..
But more than enough to be the lesser of two evils from a voter’s POV.
It ain’t the age it’s the mileage, chronological age vs physiological age. Trump is quite healthy, obviously.
Exactly.
Biden hasn’t been crowned yet and hopefully won’t be. Isn’t it obvious that the shooting is the best thing that could have happened to Trump?
I think it’s likely that that particular desperation motivated the shooter. Trump has been pegged as a ‘threat to democracy’ for four years. Biden has been revealed as incompetent and the Democrats are running around panicking like so many headless chickens. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and there’s little more desperate than an attempted assassination. The shooter probably thought he was saving the country, like if someone had shot Hitler in 1931.
Hopefully, that will soon change. Biden must step aside or the whole world is in danger.
Ah, I see that the UnHerd editors think we need to talk about
KevinLionel, again.It’s always a contest between Shriver and Howard Jacobson, to see who can most deftly triage the ‘big story’ of the moment into second place behind their own sense of authorial narcissism and self-importance.
Did you know they have both written many, many, many novels, by the way? You will, if you have read even one of their Op Eds about…the many, many, many novels they have written – which often turn out to have predicted exactly how real life turned out!
Such is their profound insight into Human Nature & The Way Things Are, etc etc.
That’s what I though there may have been a pertinent point in the article but I became bored with the description of the novel
I suppose a fantasy novel isn’t quite as bad as fantasy political theory (liberal-left) or fantasy science (climate panic), but I still skip it.
It’s not worth the time.
But at UnHerd that discursive, rambling and highly personal style is sort of a thing. Many of us like it that way. And it’s easy enough to avoid the authors who you (or I) don’t enjoy.
Lionel is one of my favorites. But I must admit that it would be better to keep her away from the topic of Trump.
“In my fantasy world, boring-but-sane Florida governor Ron DeSantis steps up to unite his shaken party….” DeSantis should be careful stepping up. The lifts in his boots might cause him to roll his ankle.
It surprised me that Shriver would say that.
Yeah. In my view, DeSantis is almost the worst Trump Mini-Me. Mean, petty and small minded, and without a scrap of Trump’s charisma.
Forgive my small correction but Van Gogh actually cut off part of his left ear. His famous self-portrait was done looking in a mirror which its why most people, including the author of this piece, mistakenly think that he chopped off the right one.
Firstly my sincere condolences to the family of the man who was killed in this assassination attempt and best wishes for those injured, including Donald Trump, for their recovery. Nobody should be killed or hurt exercising their democratic rights.
What most strikes me about the last 4 years or so is how determined Trump’s opponents – including of course the Democrats and their supporters in the media – seem to be to get him re-elected.
Its like they simply haven’t understood that Trump and his base thrive on a sense of persecution and have gone right ahead and fed into it at every opportunity.
And of course, when they are caught in a lie – or even a half-truth – then its easier for swing voters to think to themselves that maybe Trump does have a point and vested interests are indeed conspiring against him. Like with the “sudden realisation” of the media of Biden’s cognitive decline. Nobody without an ulterior motive seriously believes that these media outlets hadn’t noticed this before the recent debate. Everybody now knows that it was deliberately not being reported.
So now the defining image of this campaign will be Trump bloodied and fist raised. Who are you going to back? The guy who can’t finish his sentences and needs his wife help to get off the podium or the guy who shouted defiance in the face of an attack on his life?
Do you mean the guy whose wife doesn’t support him?
I’m afraid that’s just s**t-flinging from left wing corners of the internet. She’s publicly and explicitly stated her support for Trump’s presidential bid.
She just doesn’t seem to want to play a full time campaigning role and personally I think good for her being her own person. Just because everyone expects a politicians wife to be a certain thing doesn’t make it the law.
Check out her response to this event.
Indeed, it was impressive – highly empathetic and absolutely dignified.
Sounds like an endorsement to me.
Not surprising as Trump and Biden serve the same masters, the military industrial complex and the AIPAC. Biden has received $5,688,000 so far in (‘legal’) donations from them so far. It is they who own and control America and it’s politicians.(European ones as well to a lesser extent).
Does anyone on here subscribe to ‘Naked Capitalism’?
So,just to fantasise further,so the shoot was fixed,a set up,not by Trump’s people and not known of by them,and not with Trump’s knowledge. How super cool would you have to be to stand there and speak if youve been told…at this point a super marksman is going to fire at you and just graze the side of your face. Act surprised. So,let’s assume The Elite decided that Joe Schmoe isn’t even up to being their puppet any more so they’ll back The Donald and then work out how to fix him. So they create the hero/martyr. That’s an idea worth considering. It’s not what I believe. But things being so odd these days,you never know
I actually think that’s quite a clever scenario. If it happens in real life , I’ll remember I read it here, first!
As hypothesized, the shot is impossible. Well, not impossible impossible, seeing as it already happened. But the risk reward before the shot would have looked a little skewed to the risk side.
Sophomoric article.
“As for his perhaps unjustly maligned security service in Butler, Pennsylvania, you know what they say: nobody’s perfect.”
Its hard to support that argument with facts. An untrained shooter only 130 yards away with a direct line of site to Trump, gets on to a roof, is spotted by civilians three or minutes before he starts shooting and in some universe that could be deemend competent?
The question isn’t about whether they were competent, they’re clearly not, the question is how they got to be so incompetent.
I’m guessing here, but I imagine most of the security detail was comprised of State Police. I don’t know anything about these particular ones, but Police traditionally become incompetent by sitting on their butts eating donuts.
“I’ve written two novels that employ a parallel-universe structure, so my mind compulsively reels with alternative worlds”
You should stick to writing those, because your non-fiction work is glib dribble, which makes reading it otherwise intolerable.
“This explosion of anger and bereavement is easy to imagine, because that’s exactly what happened after the death of a mere petty criminal in 2020.”
Perhaps Lionel has spent too much time living abroad. Or, maybe she felt the need to do a ‘hot take’ as the kids today call it. She’s making the case that the reaction in the streets to a successful assassination of Trump would be similar to the reaction after George Floyd was killed? To quote Trump from a 2016 debate with Hillary, (and I’m no fan of his), “WRONG!”. The people who gave us the summer of Floyd want nothing less than to tear down every institution that makes up the US and the West in general. Love ’em or hate ’em, the Deplorables, a group which I am no doubt considered belonging to by the Progressive Left, want nothing of that.
No, Lionel – it is not easy to imagine.
Calling a dude Hitler for 6 years and promoting violence against him, and worse, all citizens who would vote for him, is at least partially responsible for this. Back to work so I can pay my taxes yet I be “relieved” of my (their?) property. Cheers
It has been pure comedy gold watching the people who called Trump literal Hitler issue their statements of “we are glad he’s okay, violence has no place” after their fondest wish failed to come true.
Didn’t Vance call him that?
Before he announced his candidacy in 2015, Donald Trump was a popular and successful real estate developer and TV personality. Then, with the aid of authors like this one and her ilk, he was turned into the world’s Emmanuel Goldstein, except the daily two minutes of hate became 24/7 for nine years.
In their greed and need for peer approval, the media did this. Well, you came for a king, and you didn’t kill him. Now what are you going to do with yourselves? I have several suggestions, but the only polite and physically possible one is go the h*ll away and rethink your lives.
so Biden can save face. that’s the conclusion from this long winded analysis.
Not one of Shriver’s incisive pieces.
Let’s entertain another fictional scenario, in the wake of this failed assassination:
Trump’s Republican Party, the Deep State now knows, is on course to regain the Presidency and both House & Senate. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Having failed to stop Trump by demonising him, impeaching him, bankrupting him and – through Banana-Republic-style lawfare – imprisoning him, they resort to assassination via a patsy. That too fails.
They calculate that even a pliant media won’t gloss over a 2nd assassination attempt on Trump, so what are their options?
With Biden in terminal decline and certain to lose the election, they realise that no credible Democrat candidate is willing to take his place, as most will be eyeing a run in 2028, knowing they’d lose in 2024.
So rather than hit Trump, they put Biden in the crosshairs – he’s no use to them now.
Whichever Democrat replacement steps in for a martyred Biden could surf a wave of sympathy all the way up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
A Democrat administration in place, Trump’s Republicans neutered and reviled, and the MIC able to carry on with prosecuting war to their heart’s content. Job done. No one lives happily everafter.
Roll end credits ……
Obviously, for legal and security purposes, the following disclaimer is required….
“This story is only partly based on actual events. In certain cases, incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Certain characters may be composites, or entirely fictitious.”
Isn’t it sad that we have come to this place in our history that when I read your incredibly cynical comment, my first reaction is, ‘oh yes, of course that’s what they will do next”. Instead of thinking ‘how could Paddy Taylor think this terrible thought?” I rather think, given the state of our media and TDS: “How could he not?’
I don’t think it is a case of “whichever Democrat replacement steps in for Biden”. I understand the US Constitution to say that in that event, Kamala Harris becomes President, and almost certainly would become the Nominee too. What I would say there is that if the so called “Deep State” wants to organise that, they had better find a more competent shooter.
But Trump is a petty criminal too! So all that hullaballoo will have been well deserved.
The US is a country where justices are selected on the basis of their biases and half the country do not trust the judicial system, where half the population do not trust the election process and where, recently, the whole establishmen fell over itself in an unthinking hell for leather rush to prop up a bunch of murderous terrorists running riot in Gaza. It is indeed a third world country, its wealth and armaments notwithstanding. See
State of Terror; Thomas Suárez · 2016
The security team covering the event appear not to have been trained to any standard worthy of the name. It is their job to put spotters and snipers on the highest roofs and windows in the vicinity and scan for shooters. Part of the training should also be not ignoring warnings from the public that there is a suspicious person with a rifle on a roof overlooking the podium. The close protection squad also need to be trained not to act like headless chickens when shots ring out.
I am a great admirer of Lionel Shriver, but, as she says, “Nobody’s perfect.” Her oh-so clever statement “ ‘Where’s American gun nuttery when you need it?’ (Sorry.)” was deeply disappointing. She should be sorry, though I doubt that she is.
Many dumb commentators today, amused by this rambling, unseemly and callous essay. They make light of the four people killed or wounded in this terrible incident.
Only one was killed and I don’t see anyone making light of it.
DeSantis this morning:
Biden tells us to trust the bureaucracy to investigate the assassin’s motive.But the feds categorized the crazed, leftist congressional baseball shooter as “suicide by cop” — even though the shooter had a well-documented left-wing political bent and made sure that the players on the field were Republicans before attacking.
And there does need to be an investigation regarding the security protocols used in Butler. The answer to the following question must be provided in short order: how did someone, armed with a rifle, get on top of a roof 150 yards away from the stage?
DC bureaucratic failures almost never result in any accountability; this time needs be to be different. Our country is in the peril its in partly because the DC ruling class has consistently evaded responsibility for its failures.
Sorry. Doesn’t sound very sincere. It’s about time we stopped listening to the pontifications of these peeping tom journos. Authority without responsibility, like other Spectator writers. They will never suffer financially from poor government. Like war correspondents when one gets a bullet, Planet Journo weeps its crocodile tears while real soldiers go home in a body bag draped in a flag which is supposed to make the family feel better. Sickening parasites. Go away and write your books. At least we have a choice whether to open them rather than clickbait responding to opinions in the hope of learning somehing other than diversity must include fat unfit females.
I guess diversity really must include everybody (including fat unfit orange males).
American politics is a certified shit-show right now but it should be mentioned that it has been for years and was one of the main reasons Trump was elected in 2016. The voters were fed up with partisan gridlock so why not Trump? “Hey – he couldn’t be any worse”
The Dems immediately went on the offensive with variations on the them “Trump will be bad for America/Democracy/The price of soybeans” but my personal view was that their real problem with The Donald was that he would be bad for Washington. As George Carlin ranted, “It’s a Big Club and you ain’t in it”. Trump was the loudmouth boor that Basil Fawlty didn’t want at his Gourmet Night: “Fancy putting no riff-raff”
The Dems never go over it. They never wanted to. They still don’t. Trump’s election was the call for the cliques of the politically elite to demonstrate a modicum of acknowledgement and respect for the existence of an America outside the Beltway. Maybe a lot of Americans wouldn’t be keen to invite him to dinner but Trump told the EU to stop whining and look after their own problems for a change. He at least tried to plug the leaky southern border. He turned his back on forever wars. The world’s bad actors were made well aware that Trump, the “Let’s do a deal” president, also had an itchy trigger finger.
It’s easy to argue that Trump v2.0 is far from the best outcome. “Surely we can do better than him”. But apparently the GOP couldn’t. Trump’s failings are a continued indictment of a Washington elite that ceased serving America years ago and that remains committed to ruling America to the point the Dems would offer up the dementia-addled Biden as an option.
I am no fan of Trump, although I supported him in 2016 (I really didn’t like Hillary). For me, January 6 was the deal-breaker. If I had to say one good thing about him as President, it would be this: He is sufficiently erratic that the world’s “bad guys” cannot be sure that he wouldn’t launch a major military strike against them. Unfortunately, Putin can be reasonably sure that he wouldn’t be the recipient of such a strike, because Trump clearly idolises him.
Gun control would be a good place to start from here.
Um, we are talking about the USA, aren’t we? Zero chance. The thing that baffles me most about this is that the shooter had such an inappropriate weapon for the job. An AR-15 is fine for getting off lots of rounds in a burger restaurant, but not ideal for what the shooter planned here.
This is not an insightful article. Other writers have pointed out glaring questions. The gunman apparently used a ladder, a big ladder. How the hell did he get away with carrying a ladder over to the building un noticed? The Secret service counter snipers had him in their sights before he fired the first shot. Why did they wait until he’d gotten off four shots? Why was Trump being protected and taken off stage by agents, including a woman who was 12 inches shorter than him, leaving his head and chest exposed. ETC.
I think the answer is “lack of co-ordination”. The Police were told about the shooter on the roof, but probably thought he was a Secret Service guy. Maybe the Secret Service snipers thought the same thing for a second or two.
I see Biden is saying that violence has no place in US politics, an anti-factual statement if ever there was one. But the idea that it is fundamentally wrong to assassinate (or even try to) a man who has been routinely described as the direct equivalent of a certain Austrian corporal is itself surely wrong. Would anyone think that the shooting of Hitler dead before 1939 would have been wrong, or as we say today ‘unacceptable’? I would suggest not. This must mean then that Biden, the DNC and the Democrat media don’t really believe that Trump is as dangerous as they say he is, that he is in fact not ‘literally’ the Austrian painter after all. Or do they? Are they lying now or were they lying before? We must be told.
I recall JD Vance saying something that compared Trump to the Austrian Painter. It’s not just Democrats who hold that view.
Indeed, and he’s now on the Painter’s ticket, a ticket now endorsed by Haley. Even AoC is praying for Adolf. Maybe Cheyney is the only one who really really meant it?
Until the USA realises that problem lies in its sacred constitution and the division of power between the President and the legislature, its politics will continue to fluctuate between tragedy and farce.
The pathetic spectacle of Obama as a lame duck in his second term working on his golf handicap brought it home to me and the current fiasco simply underlines it.
Who was the better golfer? Obama or Trump?
“This explosion of anger and bereavement is easy to imagine…”
Only for someone who doesn’t understand the difference between the kind of person who supports Trump and the kind of person who burns down cities because some petty criminal was killed by cops.
Did Trump supporters run riot when their hero was arrested, tried and convicted of bullshit charges? No. Because we’re not that kind of person. But as I’ve seen most people don’t understand that.
Hey, I remember there was rioting and burning when the Detroit Pistons won the NBA Championships in ’89 and ’90. Sometimes you riot when you’re angry. Sometimes you riot when you’re happy.
No death no martyrdom.
Yeah, it’s a bit early for the Che Guevara-style Trump t-shirts.
Lionel, you’ve essayed too soon on this. You needed to let it sit for a while. This is not your best work.
This is a test
Do you mean that the assassination attempt on Trump is a test of America as a nation, or that you have been having trouble posting comments, and you have posted this one as a test to ensure things are now working?
I don’t remember!!
Trump might not lock them up for that, but there is a strong possibility that he will lock them up for any number of other things.
Now and then Shriver takes on too much and a muddle ensues.
This is not one of Shriver’s best thought out pieces – bit of a shot in the dark really
No-one can predict random events nor their outcomes. But assassination, terror, murder, disorder, intimidation & tnreats of or actually manifested violence are brutally effective game-changers- a fact that many honorable & intelligent people are loathe to admit, since it goes so very much.against their deeply held beliefs that violence never triumphs
Whereas in fact, sadly, regrettably, it does