This came out so perfect part of me wonders if there is a god and I am some poor sinner getting punished.
Like, fuck man. This assassin missed and hit all of us. This is everything they want and you can pick out a number of other photos a lot like it that where incredible. These last two months basically lined up perfectly for Trump.
“This assassin missed and hit all of us.”
This is such an elegant and iconic line. History will view that as the truth.
They didn’t miss. The US government will think twice about appointing a president half of the country wants dead. Power fear chaos and unrest among people, they want to have everything in control under their eye.
Presidents aren’t appointed by the US Government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
They are.
The government spend billions on propaganda and all the most popular media are private owned. They are able to spin the narrative and manipulate public opinion as much as they want.
George Dubya Bush and Trump were.
Trump is about to implement Project 2025, which will make the rich people in the USA so goddamn wealthy it will make your head spin. The middle class will be gone and all that money transferred up. Why would they not want Trump?
Trump is about to implement Project 2025, which will make the rich people in the USA so goddamn wealthy it will make your head spin.
Billionares are so rich already that trying to visualize their wealth will indeed make your head spin. The middle class died decades ago. They may not want Trump because the majority of people already live in poverty and they are just waiting to turn into an angry mob
Wtf are you talking about
It arguably could have been worse if they’d killed him. Opening space for someone just as vile but actually intelligent, who could easily just roll through to president on the back of “Saint Trumpf the Martyr”…
Yeah, one of the redeeming qualities of Trump is that he’s incredibly stupid, and refuses to let advisors correct him. Makes him super ineffective. They had control of white house and both chambers and they did just limited damage.
As someone outside of the US, I would say that the fallout to other countries is substantial. Not due to policies, but rather rhetoric.
Where I live, neo-nazis used to hide-- but now all the bigots, emboldened by Trump, are organizing. The right-wing opposition party leader walks among them and isn’t immediately shunned/removed. This is echoed around the globe.
It’s hard to say if Trump is the cause or the effect of that sentiment…
Both. Real life is complicated.
I do concur. I am astounded at the incompetence of the ones pulling the strings of the Republican party. Sure they got some Supreme Court justices in place, but man, they really, really messed up in 2020 letting the Democrats gain control of the Whitehouse. All they had to do was strong arm Trump into making the COVID stuff a patriotic war against an invisible virus, and he would have swept* (edit) the election. Nope they shortsightedly let him retard it up, thinking it would kill more people in cities, ie Democratic voters. Lulz
He could have even taken credit for the vaccine and call it the Maga vaccine or something, but no, it’s better to promote horse paste. Alas.
Who? Who would be capable of gathering the trump support and getting enough votes? Part of the right wing powerful 1 guy thingy is this: 1 guy. Take the guy away, and you have no idea what would happen and if someone else would manage to keep the gathered power going and maybe gather even more. Would be very different if trump were president when it happened, then the power is formalised and the takeover by another supervillain easier, but during campaign that would be quite the feat and I’m really wondering who would have been capable of it.
I agree with your take. The power vacuum would be incredible. In my country, I’ve seen a political party completely collapse from infighting after its charismatic leader was assassinated.
That depends on if the person in question is has the same sort of charisma.
The problem with this line of thinking is that the GOP doesn’t have anyone else. They’re a cult of personality for Trump and only Trump. We saw all the alternatives get paraded around in the GOP “primary,” none of them are anywhere close to taking the reins. There’s a very good chance that without Trump, the cult begins to fall apart.
After hearing the fireworks going off in my Maga-heavy area last night, I’m really not sure that the gunman missing was the better outcome. Trump has a special following in the republican party that gathers followers from those outside the party that wouldn’t ordinarily vote.
Naw they’d start eating each other for the chance to be the nominee
This came out so perfect part of me wonders if there is a god and
I am some poor sinner getting punishedhe is an evil, petty, piece of shit.Seriously, go read the Old Testament.
You mock the ever living shit out of the photo. Fascists love to look strong and mocking the photo dispels the myth of appearing strong.
Edit: As Robert Evans said “blood is cool, milkshakes aren’t” when talking about far right figures being humiliated by having milkshakes thrown at them.
I like presidents who haven’t been shot.
My opinion has not changed at all
Yeah this occupied like 5 minutes of my family’s time last night. Our daughter heard about it first. She ran upstairs and told my wife about the same time I saw a news article pop up. My wife and I just kind of shrugged and went about our business.
I’m just surprised it took this long for someone to give it a go. These violent delights have violent ends.
Robert Evans is so great.
Water balloons filled with Miracle Whip?
Make sure those water balloons have been sitting in the sun a bit. Gotta make sure that they had a chance to develop a nice smell. Bonus points, if you can get your target to puke everywhere.
Or just go out in November, and vote for Biden.
Yep there’s a lot of dramatic panic, and it needs to be translated into action not apathy.
Assassination attempts don’t translate to election wins.
Stick to the plan, GET OUT AND VOTE!
My memory tells me that they usually do translate into wins. Do you have any stats?
Teddy Roosevelt would like to have a word with you.
I’m afraid I wasn’t alive when that happen. Did he lose that election? And is that the mist recent example?
Bud, use Google and figure it out. I don’t agree with these guys you’re arguing with, but Jesus Christ, just use the internet.
Not even arguing, just asking. Not interested enough to really Google it.
Let me know how that works for you.
Worked great last election! Happy to see the pedophile lose again.
Biden? Why not someone else? I don’t like either of them but holy shit please not Biden again…
Because I don’t want trump to win and that’s the only option… are you for real right now is this a serious question?
You’re making it the only option… like seriously, Biden is not good (a lot of democrats are embarrassed and admitting this too) and if we don’t pick someone else, Trump is 100% going to win this year. You guys need to understand, that debate was god awful for Biden, and now with Trump being nearly assassinated people are going to see him as some sort of martyr. For crying out loud, pick someone else!
You realize I don’t have the power to do shit by myself. You are a moron man, I’m not the one calling the shots.
Bro, you can vote for someone else… what do you mean you don’t have power to do shit yourself? Encourage others to do the same. Have fun watching Trump win the election, I guess.
Don’t listen to this idiot
“Don’t listen to this idiot”
Nah, just vote for someone other than Trump. If you’re in a swing state, sure. But if you’re in a state that is extremely likely to vote one way or another (as most are), vote your conscience.
I’m in a deep red state where Biden has almost no chance, so I’m voting for Chase Oliver. He has the widest possible reach of the firmly anti-war candidates we have.
Voting for anyone other than Biden is dumb beyond belief if you want trump to lose.
It’s irrelevant in most states. So unless you live in one of the 5-10 swing of states, your vote will not impact the presidential election since the vote gap in your state will probably be >5% one way or another.
So it’s far more valuable to show support for a third party so candidates get nervous about spoilers and adjust policies to court those votes.
So unless you live somewhere like Pennsylvania or Michigan where votes can go either way, your vote will matter more if you vote third party.
This photo looks like propaganda from a fabricated event, not a real candid from an actual attempt on a political figurehead’s life.
Why is the flag upside down?
Why is it perfectly in frame to fill the space that would otherwise be blank sky?
Why was Trump allowed by his security detail to stand back up?
It’s all extremely suspicious and screams “preplanned” to me
In the photo he is standing in the same spot as he was when he was speaking. So it would make sense that an astute photographer would have already lined up this shot on a tripod from when he was speaking. That’s what I would have done
I understand why Trump would be in frame, but not why the flag would be in the same spot AND upside-down.
If the flagpole fell in the confusion, that could explain it being upside-down but not in frame.
If the flag were already there, that would explain it being in frame but not upside-down.
It all seems too coincidental.
this reads like conspiratorial thinking tbh. Its easy to grab at the idea that this is somehow Trump’s doing, but things like this do sometimes happen
I so desperately want it to be revealed to be a conspiracy because it would further discredit Trump. But I know it isn’t, which is so utterly terrifying for our democracy.
I think the better answer is: it’s currently unknown.
Not upside down, when hung vertically that is the correct way. There’s A LOT of frankly unnecessary ‘rules’.
It’s not upside down, but I agree that it sure looks planned. Somehow every fucking situation that could sink trump always happens to help him.
How could a Pulitzer prize winning photographer manage to take a very good photo? Surely it must be staged. I bet Trump paid that guy the secret service killed to shoot him and kill an attendee!
/s just in case. I’m not sure everyone here would catch the sarcasm in this comment
👆
It was taken by Pulitzer prize winner photographer Evan Vucci
The man better win another Pulitzer. This photo will have a substantial effect on the world.
I hate Trump but this photo is historic. They’re saying it’s like the Iwo Jima photo.
Except trump is a criminal rapist surrounded by the best security in the world, not a soldier fighting a battle on a hillside. Lets not glorify him.
You’re absolutely right, but that unfortunately doesn’t matter for almost half of America considering how many people still keep lapping him up.
No, it isn’t, the Iwo Jima photo is staged.
(Seriously, not really staged, but it’s actually the second flag. Interesting story btw.)
Eh, I don’t think you can take a shot at a Trump really that doesn’t have an American flag somewhere on it.
It’s not upside down, that’s just the angle. It’s just hanging vertically. Even if it were hanging upside down, though, that wouldn’t be unusual for this lot. A lot of Maga fucks fly it that way around here, almost as a way of saying how fucked they see this country. It plays into their victim complex.
I remember when you’d go check on someone if you saw their flag flying upside-down. These idiots have turned it into a political statement instead.
You see, it’s that sort of conspiracy bullshit that will erode everything.
Could it be the work of a professional photographer bringing their A game? No, it must be staged.
Why are all these random things like that? It must be “preplanned” …or… Maybe you would have found similar things in any photograph from a political rally.
Thing is, you sound like a classic MAGA when you say daft stuff.
If you watch the video you can see how it all fits together. It’s just a very good photographer doing their job.
I agree. I don’t actually think it’s staged having seen the footage for myself and reading statements made by the secret service. My other comments are my first reactions to seeing this image
The flag is likely quite comically large (as in a hundred or more feet long), decently far away, and is being ‘hung’ by basically small construction cranes, which are holding it such that if there was no wind, it would be hanging vertically.
There is significant wind, so its going with the direction.
Zoom in on the connector point and you can see basically a jerry rigged, oversized winch. Theres a similar winch at the other point on the right side of the image, and the crane is presumably out of frame.
Its perfectly in frame because some photographers are quite good at their jobs.
Trump was allowed to stand up because he could, under his own power, and the shooter had already been declared down at that point.
It’s just a good photo.
I agree. It’s an incredible photo and the details that I didn’t know when making the parent comment all support that it’s real.
Why is it perfectly in frame to fill the space that would otherwise be blank sky?
It could have been cropped.
It’s one for the history books.
I’m sure the kids in Vault 101 will love it.
oh well if it comes to that I wanna be in the vault with the laughing gas
Gaaaarryyyyy!
Idk why everyone is assuming this will make him win. He’s still a fascist. People who weren’t voting for him before aren’t going to start now just because he was shot. People don’t like him for a reason. If people liked him he wouldn’t be shot at lol
People who weren’t voting for him before aren’t going to start now just because he was shot
The decided voters are pretty much irrelevant. They made up their mind a long time ago. The issue is the swing voters.
Unfortunately, we have evidence that surviving an assassination attempt leads to a boost in approval. Reagan surviving an assassination attempt led to a big jump in his approval rating:
"In the wake of the assassination attempt, Reagan’s approval ratings jumped – providing a new baseline that propelled his legislative agenda forward and helped translate to his broad-based re-election. "
https://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/30/avlon.reagan.shooting/index.html
Reagan surviving an assassination attempt led to a big jump in his approval rating:
It helped that it was a re-election and our economy was experiencing a huge upswing due to the tech boom at the time from Silicone Valley.
Trump’s situation is very different. But couple this with Biden’s recent public, let’s say faux pas. And we do have a recipe for disaster brewing.
Silicone Valley
Los Angeles? But seriously…
Generally, surviving an assassination attempt gives you a boost in support. That is a pattern that has been repeated often. Another recent example is the attempted assassination of Bolsonaro in Brazil. He’s often called Brazil’s Trump. This case could be different, but odds are it’s not going to result in undecided voters saying “hmm, the shooter was probably right, I’ll side with him”.
The situation in the US was a disaster even before this happened. IMO this can only make things worse.
This. It could have an energizing effect on his voting base, especially with the way the old bastard never shuts up about anything. His mouth is a faucet of incendiary idiocy; surviving this is like smashing it off the sink.
While I love that analogy, thinking about faucets and Trump in the same sentence just has me thinking about his water pressure rants.
Generally speaking, the economy tends to be the biggest driver for voting trends, and “the economy” is doing fine by most measures. Yeah, things are expensive, but they’re not getting expensive faster, stocks are pretty stable, and borrowing rates are stabilizing and even coming down a little.
By all historical signals, that should give Biden a bit of a boost, and what he needs to do to win is successfully blame Trump for inflation (i.e. inflation from COVID relief) and other COVID-related market problems. Point out that he pushed for keeping borrowing rates low, which would’ve made inflation so much worse. If the average person understands that Trump’s policies were instrumental in causing the problems we see today (and most economic indicators have a few years lag), then Biden should get a boost.
But to do that, Biden needs to string two coherent sentences together, and he seems to be struggling at that…
Who tf is still a swing vote though in the States. If your head is stuck that far into the sand, are you even going to hear about Trump getting shot?
the issue aren’t those two groups of people. The issue is the third. Those who weren’t going to vote before, which is usually around 30% to 60% of the country.
Now, of those who weren’t going to bother to vote, about 55% to 70% of them would vote for a Democratic president.
However, the 30% to 45% of those remaining - those are the ones who will be most likely ‘energised’ by this and convinced to vote. That extra turn out could turn it into a Republican landslide.
I wouldn’t be so sure. Back in 2018 when Bolsonaro (also a very extreme fascist) was running for president in Brazil, someone also attempted to kill him and very nearly succeeded, and it’s pretty much agreed that the failed assassination attempt gave him a massive poll boost and helped him win. I personally had the unfortunate experience of dealing with people here who were previously undecided but afterward decided to vote for Bolsonaro because they saw him as a vicitm trying to be silenced.
Considering how US elections are severely lopsided to depend on a couple handful of states that demographically generally aren’t affected by the risks of fascism and therefore generally see American elections as a harmless sport, there’s a very real possibility they’ll see Trump as a “martyr” trying to be silenced and throw their vote behind him.
It also seriously doesn’t help that Biden’s just been making far too many gaffes while Trump came off like a “defiant strongman” over this. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m extremely pessimistic about this being anything but a massive win for Trump.
It only serves to play into the rhetoric. It empowers the base. The victim complex becomes justified and like for like retaliation is only fair and what they deserve. The silent majority is once again being silenced!!!
/S
It’s not hard to think of a bunch of ways this plays into a fascists hand.
The prediction markets and gambling odds for the race have all swung drastically after the attempt. If Biden was going to win, betting on it now would net you a pretty good chunk of cash. Biden isn’t even predicted to have a good chance of winning the popular vote at the moment.
This is the internet, why haven’t those men clinging to trump been photoshopped into leia bikinis yet.
(nothing’s gonna go viral & fuck up his reichstag plans faster than lampoonery)
He will win because his opponents are fucking useless
But people that were on the fence no longer will be. They will 100% swing his now. It’s 110% over. Especially after bidens mishaps over the last couple weeks i.e. debate, calling zelenzky putin as well misnaming many others. It’s over
I can’t deny it is a good photo. Nice work, Leni Riefenstahl.
Are there people out there that were actually on the fence about Trump? Seems like the only thing that was going to determine this race is if liberal voters would go to the polls or not. Trump voters seemed to already be fully decided.
I don’t see how this event could change things for Trump.
Man, people on lemmy need to look outside of their own bubbles a little more. There’s more than just those in my camp and those against my camp.
There are uninformed voters who genuinely do not pay as much attention to politics as those of us on this platform do. Uninformed voters exist and they are influenced by the big headlines like this.
This is why other factors regarding a candidate such as whether or not they are likeable matter. It’s not for me. It’s not for you or any other hardline party entrenched voter. It’s for them, the ones who barely pay attention.
What I am wondering is among that uninformed voter base are there people who think “hmm, maybe I won’t vote for the guy that somebody just tried to kill.”
Sure, but there probably a lot more who think, “man, someone thinks this guy is dangerous, maybe he’s onto something big!”
I get that, but people are acting like this is a guaranteed win for Trump just because he was shot at and can claim that he’s a martyr. I just don’t think there’s enough undecided voters that will swing the election for Trump this easily.
The scariest thing is not that there are people who would vote for trump, but the amount of people that can’t imagine why someone would vote or think different than them. The level of “same as me” bias is really scary.
It might be more about energising the base to turn out rather than swaying the undecided voters at this point.
Even still, Trump already had the most energized base there is. Like taking a flamethrower to an active volcano eruption.
For every energised Trump supporter you see, there’s 1000 more sitting at home nodding along to their Fox broadcast. Same for any political party… The vast vast vast majority of us aren’t motivated enough to leave our homes for politics outside of election day.
No, it’s not the same for any political party. There is a huge and infamous bias. Conservative voters VOTE. There is a 30% base that always votes, and always votes conservative. That makes up MOST conservative voters, the difference is mainly swing voters.
This is why voter turnout so so important for progressive candidates, and why voter disenfranchisement and generally muddying the waters is such an effective strategy for conservatives. Nothing that happens ever affects their base, but if the rest of the voters don’t turn out, then conservatives win. When there are large turnouts, conservatives get CRUSHED every time.
It’s not the same for any political party.
He’s also disillusioned a lot of who should be his base by being who he is.
Ironic but here in 2024 we’re going to be hoping for the
silent majorityon the right to stay home.
It might not even be about voting anymore at this point. Their god-king was almost assassinated. This will 100% mobilize certain people to do certain things.
Shit maybe they postpone the election. I don’t even know if that would be a good thing or bad thing at this point.
Edit: By “they,” I don’t mean Trump or the Republicans. My point is that a whole lot can happen between now and November, and I think we can all agree by now that it’s impossible to predict what that will be. If political violence escalates far enough, I don’t think some kind of emergency declaration by Biden is outside the realm of possibility.
Would obviously have severe implications… But so does everything else that’s happening so…
An election has never been postponed and never will be for the snowflakes
Wasn’t really my point. You can see my edit for some clarification if you want.
Trump can’t postpone the election. He’s not president.
I didn’t say Trump would postpone the election, did I?
A lot can happen between now and November. Given how things have been going, lots of things we have no way of predicting at this point. If political violence escalates far enough, I could see there being some kind of State of Emergency declared or some shit.
This ain’t nothing. This is why I don’t think people truly appreciate what it would be like to live through civil war or a Troubles-esque civil unrest.
The is going to be their Reichstag moment.
“Proof of violent left” may sway some voters. Ofc they won’t care that the shooter was a Republican and they won’t know about Project 2025.
It’s not that they don’t know about Project 2025, they just don’t care about it. I’ve seen so-called “centrists” straight-up claiming that Project 2025 isn’t real just because Trump disavowed it… ignoring the fact that he had to since it was actually hurting his poll numbers. (The people who wrote P2025 are core members of Trump’s campaign staff. How naive do you have to be to see that and still think a politician wouldn’t lie?)
I’ve had people say Project 2025 “Is just an exaggeration”, because the “Legislative and Judicial branches won’t allow it”
Ignoring that the Supreme Court literally does whatever Trump wants…
Fucking hell, seriously… pardon the invocation of Godwin’s Law, but people used the same “Legislative and Judicial branches won’t allow it” excuse to claim that Hitler winning the elections in Germany wouldn’t be that bad and we all know how it ended up.
The amount of people burying their heads in the sand regarding Project 2025 is infuriatingly high and I hate it.
People accusing me of fear mongering when I point to a blatantly obvious problem… what else is new sigh
Oh, no no, I wasn’t accusing you of fearmongering, I was actually agreeing with you! Sorry for coming off the wrong way, I didn’t mean my post to come off as accusatory. :/
Oh no, I’m just letting you know what happens when I tell people about 25
Was any information released on the shooter?
Crooks’ political leanings were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office.
He was also wearing a “Demolition Ranch” t-shirt … which take from that what you will.
Yes. A huge amount.
When you have an FPTP voting system, many people don’t vote for, they vote against. Plenty will see Biden calling Zelensky a Putin, then this and… Good luck, Americans!
Hmm still not convinced. Got anything else?
People voting against their own interests is going to be the end of this country. People need to get off their asses, think about themselves for once and recognize that Trump wants to take away freedoms and give nothing back.
40% of the country want a dictator and will move mountains to get one. That means the other 60% best interest is already set in stone, without even looking at policies or the candidate. Just vote Democrat and what happened yesterday will not matter in the slightest.
it’s not (just) about convincing people to vote for Trump.
it’s about convincing people to actually vote.
if voting were compulsory, then no, it wouldn’t really matter. But it isn’t. So people who would vote for Trump, but wouldn’t bother to leave the house might be bothered to leave and vote for the convicted criminal rapist now.
This is the nugget of truth in this sea of tinfoil hats. This won’t change anyone’s decision, because it’s not intellectual. It will convince people to go out and vote, because notlw they’ll feel they have to. After all, is it such a big ask to go out and vote for your god-king, after he literally took a bullet for you?
I see how this could have helped his campaign. And it sucks.
Photographers generally want people to see their photos. So no, they were not thinking about the second part.
Pro here and ya I would want the exposure of this photo regardless of its context. Selfish maybe. But I could retire off this single photo
why would it be “selfish”?
war photography too is there and there were always discussions about its function.
As a photographer, you may hate trump and everything he represents, you’re responsible for documenting what’s happening there and then as well as you can.
yes, frame introduces interpretation and photography is never neutral but it’s fidelity to light is unquestionable. That relationship with “reality” must be what distinguishes a photographer from somebody holding their phone unwittingly in front of their face.
everybody can write, but then there are writers.
This is gonna make him a fucking martyr.
I get what you mean but Martyrs defining factor is that they’re dead.
The republicans aren’t big on reals, having a living martyr will suit their narrative just fine.
it’s not a conversation about “reals”, he’s making a comment about the English language and how that word means something else. He’s their living prophet or saint. That’s word to use in its place. No-one is questioning their narrative.
It is crazy that one child rapist gets shot and the Republic falls
To understand why, you have to look at how broken things were that one of the two major parties chose him as their candidate. He’s a symptom, not the problem.
Things have been heading this way for 250 years, and the only ones who knew it were the entire rest of the world.
Please take target practice beforehand next time
Brace for the “librul conpisracee” and how the white christian god saved trump by deflecting the bullet for maga
I say this as someone who saw a very similar play with jair bolsonaro in Brazil 2018, though it was a knife attack instead of a gunshot
An knife attack is easier to fake and make sure it’s not lethal.
Why is he not ducking and covered by the secret service? They should be hauling his ass the moment they heard gunshots.
They more or less did. Watch the full video if you want to see.
The perspective here is a little weird, but he was pretty much immediately dogpiled by ~10 agents who all then guided him from the scene. He made them stop so he could fist pump for the crowd before leaving.
That said, the secret service apparently wasn’t keeping a close eye on nearby rooftops. They dropped the ball hard on this one.
deleted by creator
To be fair, it’s the easy layups that are the easiest to miss. You overthink it and completely brick the shot.
I always thought that was like one of the main things they did. We’ve been hearing for years that they’ve been getting sloppy and unprofessional but I always figured they’d get their shit together for protecting one of the ones they like.
This was after they had confirmed the shooter was dead.
He dropped before the secret service got there.
There could’ve been another one. No reason to assume he was the only one.
No reason to assume he was the only one.
Unless you already knew.
Doesn’t make sense, you never assume there’s only one. It would be quite stupid to do so.
They did. You should watch the video
I feel like it’s at least possible that this will work like that trick of if you can’t decide between two things, toss a coin and call it and then notice how you feel. Like a coin was tossed here and maybe some of these dead inside non-voters will feel something, maybe an anxiety, the absence of relief, wistful. You can act on that. It’s not too late.
