My wife disdains conspiracy theories, so she shocked me with her take on the Trump incident

[DFW]

She figures the following: small town venue, safe Trump country. Locals don‘t raise suspicion. A 20 year old Republican „patriot“ gets talked into a scam to shoot near Trump, but not to hit him (no one reckoned with the TelePrompter glass shattering into Trump‘s ear), he sees himself as a Republican hero to be used for future such jobs. The guys who put him up to it had no intention of risking him talking, or even saying, „I‘m not talking. Call Steve Miller, Leonard Leo or Ginni Thomas. They’ll tell you to let me go.“ The Secret Service guys on duty weren‘t in on it, so all they knew was „active shooter—neutralize ASAP,“ which they did.

Maybe she saw a rerun of the Mark Wahlberg movie „Shooter,“ and saw some similarities?

[Mr. Scorpio]

1. I'm all for planting seeds in the MAGAsphere

A little MAGA on MAGA paranoia might not be a bad thang.

[BlueWavePsych]

68. GOP terrorist vs GOP terrorist.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Now, THAT'S a conspiracy theory to beat all!

Maybe she’s right? Only time will tell.

Hope your vacation is going well!

[SallyHemmings]

44. Maybe I read too many Steve Berry books

But I immediately thought it was staged and some poor slob would be looking for a virgin in the next life…

[Marthe48]

51. I made a note to myself this morning

The idea occurred to me yesterday. I didn't see that movie, just will never trust rwnj, the people behind the traitor, and their determination to destroy democracy.

[Bluethroughu]

3. I thought the same thing, after seeing Jr was hanging out at this gun ranch.

They bought a supporter for a game, that ended this dangerous man's life, but gave them the sympathy card, strongman persona, and blame Dems. Except he was a registered Republican hanging at the Demolition ranch.

[ScratchCat]

15. Maybe the gunman

Was supposed to be caught before opening fire 🤔

Who would have thought he could have walked around acting suspicious and then climb on top of a building in broad daylight without being seen and stopped? Hmmm...

The odds that he was influenced in some way or form to do this seems high, but who knows. You could come up with all sorts of theories. Hell, Trump just met with Putin's dictator buddy last week, maybe that was to read him in on this plan 😲

[Bluethroughu]

18. It's endless reasons, but fact is the dude was

Not a good guy with a gun.

[wnylib]

38. I also thought the same thing and I am usually

not given to conspiracy theories. The scenario is in keeping with Trump style political stunts, so not so far out, IMO.

Here is my solution to handling the Dem message after this shooting.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219153827

[TwilightZone]

4. There has been no confirmation of the teleprompter story.

Pictures taken at the scene appear to show them intact, and the news reports almost all note that Trump was injured by a bullet.

As for your wife's conspiracy theory, add it to the pile of unsupported conjecture. I'm not sure what is gained by endless speculation, but it sure is popular on DU.

Edit: I will say that "I hate all conspiracy theories except mine" is a novel approach.

[Nevilledog]

13. Here's this picture

[Ms. Toad]

21. Interesting.

The only picture I saw was from the other side (which looks intact).

[Tommymac]

36. Bullets can make large exit holes, small impact hole on entry.

That is the entire point of high velocity hollow point bullets - clean entry but devastatingly large messy explosive exit points.

The AR-15 was designed to kill human beings. Nothing else.

And it is a damn good design. For a damn bad purpose.

[Ligyron]

87. We were told in the Army the rounds were meant to cause serious injury not necessarily kill.

If it did kill them fine but a wounded guy causes more chaos and ties up personnel treating them, ect. If they guys dead he's dead and they just carry on with their attack against Americans

That and the fact that the .223 round is lighter so you can carry more firepower into the field.

Or maybe somebody paid enough bucks to someone somewhere to drop the traditional .30 cal firearms, idk.

[LizBeth]

5. Everyone that talked about it yesterday and one Repub all started with this is maufactured.

[dflprincess]

6. I have been surprised by the number of people, myself included, who immediately thought along those lines

And still do.

[rurallib]

7. yep - me too

[FoxNewsSucks]

14. It's impossible NOT to be suspicious of anything involving MF45 and republicons.

They lie, cheat and steal constantly. Why take anything at first impression?

[Self Esteem]

10. So, you think Trump trusted a 20 year old shooting novice...

...to take aim at him from a few hundred yards on the roof of a building while he gave a speech with a gun that could easily blow off his head with the hopes he'd get a shot just close enough to him to create this chaos but have him barely miss?

C'mon.

[Zeitghost]

22. It's embarrassing

That this shit is allowed here.

[wnylib]

43. No. I suspect that the shooter was told to

do some shooting, not to aim at or near Trump. Unintended, accidental consequences caused a Trump injury, possibly from a broken teleprompter.

Was Mr. Crooks a "novice" shooter? Do we know how much gun experience he had? Was he a good marksman who could be trusted not to hit Trump?

[brush]

48. Exactly. Too high-risk. trump is borderline demented but even he woulldn't o for that.

[Peregrine Took]

80. He was the "patsy" - wasn't supposed to shoot just get caught and start blaming Biden for influeincing him but...he got

carried away with the headiness of the episode. and started actually shooting.

Lets get a look at that teleprompter close up. Could be a tiny chip flew off. Was supposed to just be a just a shooter incident that got way out of hand.

[Self Esteem]

85. Alex Jones that you?

[niyad]

27. I was more surprised by the number of people who DIDN'T, considering who

we are discussing!!!

[XanaDUer2]

8. Arlington Road

[Scrivener7]

9. Wouldn't put it past them for a second.

[Kid Berwyn]

11. "The very first essential for success..."

“....is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”

and

“Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.”

-- "Understandings" shared through the writing and speeches of the damaged individual who wrote Mein Kampf

[former9thward]

12. No, you wife does not disdain CTs if she said any of that.

Last edited Sun Jul 14, 2024, 02:25 PM - Edit history (1)

[jmbar2]

16. That's actually pretty plausible

My thought is, he's a Mike Flynn/Alex Jones/Qanut who wanted to light the fuse for a war between left and right.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Bannon and Miller as suspects too.

[happybird]

35. Or just another deeply unhappy little gun-loving incel

who believed this was his only way to be noticed/go viral/leave his mark on the world/“I’ll show all of ya!”/whatever tf these deeply disturbed young white male shooters have going their their heads.

The absurd conspiracy theories on here are disappointing, especially after the post-debate bs that’s been all over the site. Bottom line: Trump is not going to let anyone shoot towards him. The idea is absurd, on so many levels. What’s not absurd: bad shit happens when you court nutjobs.

Trump has been pandering and spreading dangerous disinformation and conspiracy theories to an unstable sector of the population for years. The only surprising thing is that something like this didn’t happen sooner, imho.

Let’s be better than the Q folks and cut out all the crazy conspiracy bs.
Damn, can’t believe I just typed than on DU.

ETA: the whole Don jr “connection?” That You Tube site is one of the biggest gun lover channels on the platform. It’s not odd or suspicious they both are/were fans. Yeah, let’s hire a patsy to shoot at my father, a former fucking President, from a site I visit. No one will ever notice!
Come on, now. Be serious.

[Irish_Dem]

17. The whole thing raises questions.

Your wife came to one of the very logical conclusions.

[TommieMommy]

20. Is he behind it to help his rating

[niyad]

28. Welcome to our DU family.

[Metaphorical]

23. Thought this myself

I suspect that more will come out once they begin to track in earnest his online access. Your typical incel, fallen into the dark web black hole, given encouragement from an online "mentor" and likely a covert meeting online with someone who offered a lot of money and support for extraction once he was done. Of course, no such extraction was planned, and quite probably the kid was shot by an operative in the confusion as the SS tried to track him down.

The Secret Service''s first objective is to protect the president, the n to capture, not kill, the assassin, precisely so that the whole story can be told and the truth fleshed out. Yes, it's a conspiracy theory, but when you figure out the stakes in the game (potentially billions of dollars in taxes and similar liability, possible foreign involvement) it becomes a very believable theory.

One other point - re Trump's wound: a doctor would be able to tell the difference between a piece of shrapnel (such as glass) and a bullet - the latter would leave behind a certain degree of cauterization, both due to the speed and the heat of the bullet. It may very well even have been a capsule. This may be part of the reason that he wasn't taken to a hospital in an ambulance, which should have been standard operating procedure. It would have exposed the fact that the supposed wound was faked.

[bpj62]

63. Sniper Overwatch

If the shooter is close by then yes the Secret Service will try to immobilize the shooter and disarm them. However in this case the shooter was firing from an elevated position with a high powered rifle that can reach out touch someone from a distance. Once the Secret Service Sniper team located the shooter they were going to take them out via a head shot which is what they did. Growing up in DC I have seen multiple overwatch teams on the roofs of the buildings that surround the Whitehouse complex. This is the fear that the Secret Service has when a candidate/politician is speaking at an outdoor event. Somebody on this detail failed to conduct a line of site check from the top of the stage. It could also be that Trumps team refused to rearrange the stage.

[mercuryblues]

24. I basicly just said the same thing to my spouse

I was only 1/2 joking.

I can see trump saying this....

They tried to kill me and our movement. Vote for me. Put me in power! Retribution is ours!!!

I think trump was in on it. He couldn't give 2 shits about the attendees who died. He was too quick to raise his fist. The photo op seems too planned. He wants that photo to go viral.

Do I think this is true? I'll put it this way, I wouldn't be shocked if it is.

[malaise]

25. Tell your wife

She has company. This is way too neat

[DFW]

31. And therein lies the rub, as the Bard might have said

„Way too neat“ bothers me. A lot. This helps only Republicans.

[malaise]

33. Biden speaking now n/t

[hamsterjill]

42. She has lots of company

I’m not a conspiracy theorist. But something about this smells to high heaven.

[underpants]

57. The shooter fired into people in seats.

So that makes the whole theory nonsense more than it just being another random self-victimized kid with easy access to a murdering machine.

[Think. Again.]

26. At this point I think it was just a messed up kid with a gun...

...who happen to have an opportunity to be a big shot fall into his lap.

[DFW]

32. That's what it SHOULD be.

I just can‘t shake the „why here and why now?“

[Think. Again.]

34. Here and now is when everything that happens, happens.

[happybird]

41. Because the rally was right down the road from where he lived

A golden opportunity like that would be difficult for that little shit to ignore.

[Wicked Blue]

83. I believe Bethel Park is about 40 miles south of Butler nt

[happybird]

86. In small town speak, that's definitely within the "right down the road" category

DC is right down the road from me and according to Maps it’s 48 miles.

[wnylib]

46. I agree with your wife.

I had just shared the same idea with another DUer who tipped me off to your OP. Quite a few people here are leaning the same way. It's in Trump's typical character (or lack of it) to create a "heroic victim" scenario like this. So much to gain for him when the stakes are so high.

He gets to appear at his convention to great enthusiastic applause and cheers like Biden has been getting at rallies. Nobody is likely to question him at the moment about Project 2025 or the Epstein papers. He gets to turn the reality of his own promotion of violence around to becoming a victim of violence that his spin doctors will blame on Dems.

Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Can't say that it actually did happen this way. But it is not outside the realm of possibility in the current political atmosphere.

[bucolic_frolic]

29. So by that theory he was a patsy to curry sympathy?

Nothing should be ruled out until it is.

[Crunchy Frog]

30. That sounds kind of similar to how things have gone down in some notorious terrorist attacks in russia.

It wouldn't surprise me if Trumpists are utilizing techniques learned from their russian allies.

[gab13by13]

37. Right before the Magat convention,

Nikki Haley is now invited, the theme is for Magats to unite.
Magats are re-writing their speeches because of the shooting.

MSM will be all over the Magat convention.

My daughter's best friend growing up is an ER doctor in the Butler hospital emergency room. Too bad they didn't take TSF there.

Wonder where they took TSF?

Maybe the plan was to shoot the teleprompter? How far was it from TSF on the line of the shot?

[bdamomma]

47. Well that convention

tomorrow night which I'm not watching will be a lovefest for the Magat Cult.

I wonder how much merchandise they will sell to the cult. Oh they are changing their speeches??? Like I said a lovefest for a convicted criminal felon, who is unfit for office. Remember the poem about the snake.

[hamsterjill]

39. I think Trump needed an excuse to be off the campaign trail

There have been questions already about where he’s been and what he’s been doing since the debate. Yesterday’s incident will give him the excuse his base will love for him to say he can’t campaign publicly because of safety issues.

He (or rather his surrogates) will tweet, etc. to keep his campaign alive. There is some reason that he doesn’t want to be out in the public right now. Wonder if it has anything to do with the shoes comment? Because that was just plain weird.

Time will tell.

[dmr]

56. What was the shoes comment?

Was he worried people would notice how short he is without wearing them, or people would see the shoe's high heels? Like his ratnest hairdo, it's all top secret.

Sorry to ask what he said about his shoes.
I was sick yesterday, so this afternoon I am just learning about TFG's adventure yesterday.

My first thought was this was an inside job. The reasonings given by the OP sounds very plausible to me.

[hamsterjill]

66. Trump is heard insisting that he get his shoes.

What are the odds that both came off when he ducked for cover? I don't know what happened yesterday, but something about this all simply smells bad to me.

I'm tired of posters berating us not to "be like them". We aren't " like them", but we aren't wrong to question anything that involves Trump. And I do know for sure one thing without a doubt.

No one is talking about Trump's 34 guilty verdicts, or his debate lies, or his absences from the campaign trail today. Sounds like the work of a good PR manager to me.

[dmr]

70. Yes, I agree with you.

Especially after learning how far reaching TFG's coup attempt, and the dangers of J6 -- after learning long after the fact, that anything that happens or anything TFG and his cronies do -- I cannot and will not take anything for granted or at face value.

There will be something new that they will begin to harp on President Biden very soon.

As I said earlier that I am catching up on the supposed attempt on TFG's life. One thing I've noticed is the lack of information coming forth. Any other catastrophic event, the news would have tons of information (and speculation). I've not come across that. It's in a way, hush-hush.

Am I wrong? I realize I'm just catching up, so maybe I am wrong.

[Scrivener7]

82. I totally agree. And the argument that, "But somebody died!" being used as proof that

this was totally what it looks like strikes me a astonishingly naive. Like they'd care about that! They'd view it as a feature, not a bug.

[Faux pas]

40. Those were my

thoughts exactly! Pick an easily influenced, naive kid, pump him up into believing he'd have made forever and take him out as soon as possible.

[hildegaard28]

45. There's just

Way too many holes in the official story not come to the conclusion that it was a setup by the Trump campaign. The one roof that the kid decides to climb up just happens to be the one that doesn't have any snipers or secret service personnel on it. How did he know which one to climb up unless told? It had a direct view of the podium, and they would not have told people where the podium was going to be. Then the pose after the shooting where he exposes his head for at least 30 seconds for a photo opportunity. Naw, this was preplanned and executed by Trump and his people, probably with the knowledge of his most loyal secret service detail.

[bdamomma]

49. This article by Joyce Vance should be read

Also, there are illustrations of the rally area and buildings.




https://joycevance.substack.com/p/dont-jump-to-conclusions?r=1nhj16&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post&triedRedirect=true

Violence that mars our political process, like yesterday’s assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life, is horrific and unacceptable. Full stop. Political violence is never the answer. In America, we settle those differences at the polls. That's why the Big Lie and January 6 were wrong and unAmerican. Violence is not the path forward.

Snip of article

[Hekate]

71. Joyce Vance is one of my favorite commentators. Thanks, bdamomma.

[joanbarnes]

50. I said Parallax View

as soon as I heard............similar plot.

[Reader Rabbit]

75. Same here.

Guess that means we're showing our age?

[XanaDUer2]

76. This. Me too. Also Arlington Road nt

[PatSeg]

52. My daughter had a conspiracy theory rather similar

Basically, that it was setup to win sympathy and publicity for Trump.

I'm inclined to believe Trump and his campaign were really shocked and had no idea it was coming.

[DFW]

72. I'm inclined to agree with you

I’m sure Trump had no clue it was coming. He has too little imagination and too little guts to take the risk. It’s not a risk I would have wanted to take, either. Whether this was one deranged kid with a gun or a well-planned scenario, there’s no way Trump was personally involved in setting it up.

[PatSeg]

78. I agree

Trump really has a very limited imagination and he certainly wouldn't take such a risk to his own safety. He came very close to being killed or permanently injured. That's not Trump's style.

[MOMFUDSKI]

79. It was a win win for whom ever set it up.

You win some and you lose some

[Bernardo de La Paz]

53. tRump stupid but not so stupid to put himself into a rifle sight like that. . . . . nt

[not fooled]

54. Trump: "It's 100% Certain That We're Going To Have A Terror Attack"

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/07/08/trump_its_100_percent_certain_that_were_going_to_have_a_terror_attack.html]

red don was speaking about immigrants but the underlying message is eerily prescient.

FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, the one thing you haven't said tonight that you always say is that it's 100% certain that we're going to have a terror attack, and I agree with you on that. It's 100% certain.

I mean, we're letting terrorists into our country at a level that we've never seen before. Terrorists are coming in, and they're coming in, Sean, from mental institutions and insane asylums. They're coming in from prisons and jails from all over the world, all over the world, not just South America.

They're coming in from the Congo and Africa. They're coming in from every part of the world, and some of these parts are rough parts of the world. And they're pouring into our country as prisoners, as mental patients.

They're coming into our country, and they're coming in also as terrorists, and this is poisoning our country. And nobody should have been subjected to this. They should never have been allowed to do this. There's nothing good that can come of it, and we're going to have to get these criminals, and a lot of them are criminals and very high-level, very bad criminals.

[Vinca]

55. A very similar scenario ran through my mind. Nothing would surprise me.

[brush]

58. Come on, DU, I was watching the Capehart Show on MSNBC when it happened. trump turned his head to the right....

to point out a chart on the podium. That's when the shots rang out. He grabbed his ear and ducked. Close-up slow mo video shown over and over showed blood on his ear and cheek before the SS agents jumped to dover him, then hustle him off the stage.

trump turning his head save his life, otherwide the bullet would've hit him in the back of left side of his head.

The coverage went on for many minutes as no one knew for certain what had happeen on stage. It was total chaos. Finally they showed the slo-mo video and it became clearer.

There was no glass that hit him. It was a bulltet that grazed his ear, kept going and killed an audience member. Another one injuried another audience member.

No glass fragment. No set-up letting someone fake shooting at trump but miss. He's demented but not that stupid to let some shoot at him and miss on purpose to get the sympathy vote.

Keep it logical, DU. We've had many assassination attempts on political figures. This was another one.

Unfortunately it's not uncommon in our violent America.

[Hope22]

62. I think they are saying he was hit by glass from the teleprompter. You won't hear that from him though.

In his book he’s a vet with a bullet wound.

[brush]

65. The teleprompters were all intact. The glass fragment story is a figment of someone's imagination.

[Hope22]

73. The glass was off the back....

Photo out here somewhere. In which case….chose your poison.

[brush]

74. The teleprompters were IN FRONT of the speaker.

The video shows trump reacting to being struck from behind as he turned hid head to the right to address a chart on the podium.

That probably saved his life.

Anothe rday in the life of violent America with guns easily accessible ot every tom, dick and 20-year-old.

[dweller]

77. ' bullet would've hit him in the back of left side of his head. '

And yet all the reports and charts say the shots were fired from TSF’s right side




✌🏻

[brush]

84. I watched it live. He turned his head to theright...

and the bullet grazed his right ear and contineued on into the audience and killed a spectator.

A more accurate shot, which from trump's reaction, came from hid his rear and left, might've killed him.

The video is not hard to find. Look at it closely.




A

[birdographer]

59. What was that email that trump sent to his cult

that said something like "All hell is going to break loose" or words to that effect? Sounds like another "Will be wild" foreshadowing of a planned event.

[BaronChocula]

60. Maybe she saw "Navalny"

Great documentary with a jaw-dropping scene almost out of a Tom Clancy book.

[Demobrat]

61. My first response was that

he had a fake blood capsule in his hand and hit himself in the head with it.

Of course now that we have more info I don’t think it was a stunt. But I also don’t think any theory that pops into anyone’s head is necessarily outlandish.

He’s capable of anything.

[Warpy]

64. Run this one by her

He spent his high school years shy, lonely and intensely bullied. He most likely registered Republican because Mom & Dad told him that's what he was because they'd raised him right (or something along that line). He wasn't a joiner, too shy. He favored camo clothing because being a wannabe with guns was better than putting in the effort to be the real thing. Besides, he probably thought he'd be bullied there, too.

I think this was just a lost kid with easy access to guns and who wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. If Biden had been the one to hold an outdoor rally close to his home, where he knew where he could climb onto a flat roof and get a good shot at the stage, he'd have gone after Biden. Or Fetterman. Or anyone else.

This was suicide by cop.

I do love how getting nicked by a little piece of glass has morphed into almost having his ear shot off.

Oh, and people in that happy, peppy crowd had seen the kid grab something and go up the ladder to the roof of that building and had reported it to the cops, seemingly getting blown off. Cops must've alerted the sniper, the kid didn't get too many shots off.

[MFM008]

67. My son is not political

But the first thing he asked me was did I think it was a set up, a false flag more or less.

[LiberalArkie]

69. Judging from what some of the students in his school said

I would bet he is on the spectrum. We have a tendency to be easy marks from anyone who will pay attention to us. He supposedly was bullied a lot in school as are most of us.

[Celerity]

81. please stop pushing the teleprompter/glass in ear CT, teleprompters were intact & it was exposed cartilage, not glass