I’ve seen a number of people saying that this was the second attempted assassination of Donald Trump. By my count, it’s the third.
Have they forgotten the 2016 attempt? Do they figure it doesn’t count because the guy was arrested before he fired any shots? Or do they reset the count for every new election cycle?
I suspect it’s because the 2016 attempt didn’t make much of a news splash, likely because the attempt was so ineffectual.
I was not actually aware of until I did a search just now:
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of the 2016 event. Or else I just forgot about it. The local paper headline for this latest incedent was “Shots Meant For Trump, FBI Says”. What shots? Also, I see that DeSantis has suggested that federal investigators may have a conflict of interest in investigating this incident. 
I had not heard of it either. It looks like the purported assassin never actually had a weapon in his hands near Trump, so maybe that doesn’t count.
If you don’t even BYOG, can you really call yourself an assassin?
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(I also never heard of it before this thread)
Actually if anyone is counting it looks like there have been a number of “security incidents” against Trump, including a couple of attempted poisoning attempts with actual poison (not hoaxes):
The poisoning attempts don’t appear to have gotten anywhere near Trump, though, which is probably why they also didn’t make a big news splash. They did result in serious charges and/or hefty prison sentences for the perpetrators though.
I have to say, the 2017 forklift attack attempt sounds… inventive. (On the wiki link, Security incidents involving Donald Trump - Wikipedia)
And ambitious, given the armoured limosine he was attacking.
For every armor there is some weapon that can defeat it. For every weapon there’s some armor that can defeat it. Absent high quality intel about just how armored the presidential limo is, a forklift is not the stupidest attack vehicle for somebody to try. If this guy had brought e.g. a locomotive, instead I’m pretty sure he’d have won that fight.
Of course the real stupid decision is trying at all. The rest is just details.
I think if you want to assassinate the US president you have to be suicidal (expect to die) if you hope to succeed. I think that is part of the security. If you try, you die. Weeds out a lot of wannabes.
(Shit…I’m on a list now for posting this aren’t I?)
Okay, a quick recap of the 2016 attempt.
A twenty year old Briton, Michael Sandford, had a history of mental problems.
He went to a Trump rally in Las Vegas. He admitted his purpose for going there was to assassinate Trump. He had done some practice shooting at a gun range. His plan was to get past the checkpoints and into the rally by not carrying a gun in and then stealing a gun when he was inside. When he got in the rally, he struck up a conversation with police officer Ameel Jacob. This was about thirty feet from the stage where Trump was speaking. Sandford had observed that Jacob had his gun unsecured in his holster. Sandford grabbed for the gun.
The gun stuck in the holster. Jacob and two police officers who responded were able to subdue and arrest Sandford.
In my personal opinion, this qualifies as an assassination attempt. Sandford admits that he wanted to kill Trump. And he was carrying out a plan to kill Trump that could have succeeded.
Lots of plans look bumbling in retrospect if they fail. But I don’t think Sandford’s attempt was less plausible than Thomas Crooks’ or Ryan Routh’s.
I will concede that Gregory Leingang’s forklift plan was too silly to count as an assassination attempt.
I worked briefly in a container park. The fork lifts (Kalmars) were heavy lifters, but by no means fast.
I think Trump’s limo could easily outrun one, even in first gear.
Am I the only one who thought of this?
I am not sure if this latest counts either. The idiot never even got close to firing at trump.
Note he voted for trump 2016, but Biden is 2020.
As a former DOS employee, I had a pretty good idea of what goes into armoring a vehicle. It’s probably changed since 25 years ago, but I still won’t go into details other than to say there are basically two types: light-armored and fully-armored.
I think the Secret Service also has a vehicle with a mounted minigun that pops up through the roof. That’s some serious firepower.
Can I get one for the next jackass in a lifted pickup that cuts me off on the interstate?
Seriously, if the best you can get this guy on is felon in possession and possession of a gun with an obliterated serial number (both charges I’m okay with) really makes him sound like a mental case and not a threat.
Yes to both of these. But the answer to the thread question–“why are people calling this the second Trump assassination attempt?”–is that the “people” are the media, those who earn money from media-adjacent businesses, and those accepting what they hear without ever questioning.
Motive: the story of this golf course gun-toter becomes IMPORTANT and SIGNIFICANT if it’s an assassination attempt. And it’s IMPORTANT and SIGNIFICANT that there was (we’re told) another assassination attempt within the past two months. And we all need to tune in (or click on) Important and Significant stories!
Closer to reality: the right has made sure that there are millions of assault weapons floating around, and that even people with 100+ criminal charges against them have no trouble acquiring them. And that everyone in the US is being assured by the right that shooting others is a valid expression of political opinion.
And this guy happened to have the fairly-realistic view that if Trump gets in, Ukraine becomes Putin’s property. And he didn’t like that. So he put a little effort into expressing his opinion in the right-wing-endorsed way.
There’s also the puzzling question of how he knew Trump was there. This was an unscheduled stop, which is why the Secret Service hadn’t done a complete grounds check prior.
my guess is he got lucky - it’s not a stretch to know Trump is in that given area and that Trump likes to play golf there - it is a Sunday, and Trump had no other events planned.
If Trump shows up - he gets his ‘shot’ - if Trump doesn’t show up - he just lost 1/2 a day.
An RPG is ever so more satisfying. Without a partner though, it’s tricky to aim it out the window without getting a faceful of backblast.
It’s also possible he’s been there before on days when Trump didn’t show up, and kept coming back until he did. I haven’t heard that possibility addressed yet.