About how likely is it that some cut-out – perhaps a Roger Stone confederate – arranged a false-flag incident? That the goofy gunman had been duped into some play acting? The detailed logistics (coaching?) might present difficulty, but sure some similar scenario might be at least a possibility.
Yes, it strikes even me as unlikely. But truth is stranger than fiction, and the whole decade has been rather strange. Is it a 5% chance? Higher?
I’d say zero. I don’t think such a thing would stand up to an FBI investigation.
That’s the same thing I said when people suggested that Trump faked his ear injury in the previous shooting. When the FBI said after the investigation that Trump was injured by either a bullet or shrapnel, to me that ended any suggestion (as far-fetched as it was to begin with) that he somehow faked the injury with red dye or something, and had a follower murdered to make it plausible.
Same here. If this guy was hired by one of Trump’s cronies to pretend to be trying to kill him, the FBI is going to learn it.
Remember that while Trump and his toadies have committed a lot of crimes, and have escaped consequences for much of it so far (especially Trump himself), they are total crap at getting away with covering it up. That’s why there are so many indictments and lawsuits. They’re incapable of successfully pulling off something like that and keeping it hidden.
Would they? You may be attributing an omniscience to the FBI than they don’t possess.
And “hired …to pretend to be trying to kill” Trump is not the only way an incident of this type could be engineered. If you’ve found a mentally unstable person—and both Routh and Crooks appear to qualify—you probably can manipulate them to do what you want. No payment necessary. The mark doesn’t need to be “in on” the plan in any respect—they just need to be persuaded to be in the right place at the right time.
Anyway, putting aside the question of whether or not the Crooks and Routh attempts were engineered: Donald seems to be signaling that something is going to happen when (he says) he visits Aurora, Colorado, or Springfield, Ohio:
If he got tons of attention—and donations!—from each of two ‘attempts on his life,’ then why wouldn’t he decide to make sure a third happens??
It’s not a matter of omniscience. I’m just comparing the FBI’s expertise in investigating versus the total incompetent clown show tactics that we’ve seen from Trump’s people in the past. They have a bad habit of getting caught. The FBI is far from perfect but they have to be better than his sycophants.
This, this might be plausible. Rather than a coordinated fake attack, a real attack influenced by Trump’s people? That doesn’t sound impossible, though you would then have the question of either Trump being comfortable with allowing someone to try to murder him, or Trump’s people going rogue and risking their boss’s life without his knowledge.
Again, not saying that couldn’t happen, but it still seems far-fetched (in my opinion at least).
I’d suspect that this is just Trump’s usual self-promotional personality, maybe even drawing from his reality show TV star experience. He’s trying to find an angle to get people interested in showing up to his events, especially since attendance is down quite a bit (despite his never-ending claims to the contrary). So, play on the notoriety. I mean, sure, one of his followers got murdered at a previous event, but he knows his supporters are really dumb and would show up anyway (maybe they even want to be martyrs for him).
I doubt this is a sign that he’s planning to try to make something happen, but rather just trying to capitalize on the attention the previous attempts have brought him.
Probably the former—and he’d have to be assured that he was in NO danger whatsoever. For example, in the Crooks example, they’d promise that Crooks’ gunsight had been adjusted so that any bullets Crooks aimed at him would fall way short, killing meaningless fans in the stands. (Not my opinion of those fans, but rather a guess as to what Trump’s people might have said to assure Donald that he’d be safe.) With Routh, they could just let him know that Routh would be seen long before Donald was in range—but all the benefits of being an ‘assassination-attempt victim’ would accrue anyway.
I’m not saying this MUST have happened but I’m not sure we can rule it out entirely, even if the FBI tells us it’s all on the up-and-up. The FBI may not be in possession of all relevant information.
Maybe. I guess we’ll find out.
To further add to the conspiratorial discussion, it’s worth noting that Malcolm X was killed by Nation of Islam members, and Indira Gandhi was killed by her bodyguards.
Not saying that Trump’s contingent had anything to do with the attempts on his life, but there is historical precedent for that sort of thing.
Based on what’s been publicly released about Routh, it does appear that he was originally a Trump supporter in 2016, but turned against him by 2020.
Man who staked out Trump at Florida golf course charged with attempting an assassination
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
A new-ish judge with a tiny handful of cases under her belt sure does have enormous luck in landing the high-profile cases, doesn’t she?
Update: Another Republican has tried to assassinate Trump.
Vern Miller, a registered Republican, has been arrested in California. He was attempting to enter a Trump rally with a loaded shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a fake press pass. Apparently the police thought the fake press pass was suspicious.
Yesterday I was in a tourist schlock store. Lots of those places now have a bit of trump merch somewhere among the postcards & keychains and …
One trumply item was a small metal box like an Altoids box. I didn’t bother to find out what, if anything, was inside. The cover art was a Photoshopped pic of trump in white shirt, red tie and blue jacket unbuttoned and flapping in the breeze. He’s looking out at you while lean and strong and determined and making some big expansive gesture. Truly a hagiographic image.
The real point of my story was the words across the top of the pic.
Impeached. Convicted. Arrested. Shot.
Still Unstoppable
Whoever designed those things thought of impeached, arrested, and convicted as something good. Shudder. It certainly speaks to the mindset of a typical trumper that “strength”, even in the naked pursuit of pure evil, is a good thing in itself.
I love how hilariously stereotypically American this is. Shotgun and handgun, just some dude going about his business. Press pass? Looks like this guy is up to no good!
Sorta.
Guns he had hidden, and then he showed a badly faked credential to a cop to get past the public area into the private / backstage area. Once suspicions were aroused, the hidden guns were quickly found.
Seems pretty normal to me for any country. Except for the ready availability of the guns and ammo in the first place.
Ah, I see. I was picturing him walking up to the checkpoint with the pistol on his hip and the shotgun on his back.
You can not openly carry loaded guns in CA, except in rural/ wild areas open for hunting. You will not see people carrying guns at Walmart, for example.
I misread Miller’s name. It is Vem Miller not Vern Miller. My eyes are old.
I apologize to any Jim Varney fans who were upset.
Jim Varney died a while ago.
Know what I mean?
Took the heart right out of the Toy Story franchise.