By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...Five days later, the story of the summer remains unfinished. Holes all over the place. The man was shot, and the shooter was killed; that we know. It is the hows and whys now in full slap mode across the citizenry's face. Insatiable is a word floating about to describe the appetite for facts.
This we know: Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump was shot-at at his rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday afternoon. The shooter, a school-bullied 20-year-old nursing home cook identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by the U.S. Secret Service.
That's the plot synopsis of this horror story.
Left for the masses are way too many questions, all of them seemingly fed by bits and pieces of what did and didn't happen, morsels just tasty enough to fuel a hunger for more information.
In a sentence, this is the conundrum:
Differing accounts described the shooting as both a ". . .false flag" operation on the part of the Donald Trump 2024 campaign in order to garner sympathy, and a carefully planned assassination plot on the part of the Biden administration and the "deep state."
"When did the Secret Service start allowing the President under duress to tell them 'to wait,' then stand up to be seen by the crowd fist-pumping?" asked a commenter on the social platform X. "Can you blame me for thinking this is fake?"
Others are scoffing at the idea that the Secret Service would allow Trump to grandstand while his life was in danger.
New Statesman reported that more than fifty thousand X users liked a post claiming that the photo of Trump raising his fist under the Stars and Stripes flag was staged: "Great camera angle; great quality; no Secret Service agent in front of his head covering the wound; conveniently placed US flag."
Another post read: "This is price you pay when you take down the elite satanic pedophiles," then suggested that the "order" for the assassination "likely came from the CIA" and accused Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Mike Pence of being involved. It was viewed almost five million times.
NewsGuard, a service that tracks online misinformation, said the word "staged" appeared in posts on X more than three hundred thousand times on Saturday and Sunday. There were also more than eighty thousand mentions of the phrase "inside job." Social media bots and fake accounts helped amplify the false claims on a number of platforms.
It is the modern-day version of the questions that surfaced after the shooting of President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade moved past Dealey Plaza in Dallas that late-November day in 1963.
Numerous other events never shared the same quest for answers. Not the bombing of the federal courthouse in Oklahoma or the raid on David Koresh's armed compound in Waco.
The attack on New York's Twin Towers in 2001 comes close, but not like this.
This shooting, an assassination attempt, came during a hotly contested campaign for the American presidency.
Its fallout will linger for a while...
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ReplyDeleteAnyone associated with this disgrace should be ashamed and NOT voted for… what a mess Donny has brought to our once Great Country
ReplyDeleteIf this was a movie, and one political party was trying to assassinate a member of the other party, they couldn't have planned it any better. Especially with the plausible deniability excuse: secret service saying local police were tasked with guarding that area, and local police saying the secret service were responsible. It makes you wonder.
DeleteThe more this back and forth has gone on, the more I feel like someone or some group was in on this. Call me a conspiracy theorist all you want.
DeleteWhen I saw it live, and before any comments, I was like want is the secret service doing by allowing Trump to fight them by exposing his face and entire chest towards the shoor. For me this was on the secret service. But then, the pictured began to develop like a slow polaroid and endless questions developed. The only reason I am not leaning towards Trump scam is because they had to have known an innocent person could be killed. But then a large number of people believe George W. Bush had to have known about 9/11 in advance so sacrificing innocent people seems to be acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI also think a big story is coming on the shooter's parents. Both licensed therapists and they did not see anything unusual. But then when pressed by law enforcement they admitted to calling the police on their son and the day of the shooting. Also, his phone shows he looked for schedules also on Biden, AG Garland.
This is going to blow up in Trump's face. I just hope the reports are true that Biden is now working with his staff to resign if he can find a for certain path for VP Harris to avoid a floor fight. After Biden's last interview he has to know he cannot stay on.
I'd love to know where the firefighter who died was sitting and how he got shot if he wasn't in the same range as Trump? Did the bullet that killed him match the bullet that shot Trump? How did the sniper get inside this event carrying a ladder and an AR-15? Why was there no blood on Trumps hand and shirt? Why was Trump so obsessed with his shoes after he'd been shot? The list of questions on things that make no sense are endless.
DeleteFirefighter was in stands behind Trump but way off to the left. I say he was shot from in front, by another shooter.
DeleteIt IS about to blow up in Trump's face. I agree. The story is alive as it was on Day One. Good stuff from BBC and other English news media. Our media is owned by Trump donors!!!
DeleteIts going to be the same old story, a cascade of small oversights and assumptions that led to a monumental security failure. They're far from the first protection detail to fail in their mission, in this country and others. Each of them were only doing a small part of that job, so in this case it seems to be the overall coordination and control of security that failed.
ReplyDeleteThere are over 300 million guns in the US. Banning one type of gun will not make a difference.
ReplyDeleteIt's very dangerous to continue affording Trump public platforms
Delete@7:37 Echo that.
DeleteIn the old days they would have recognized Trump as a moron.
DeleteWhat does Trump need Secret Service for?
ReplyDeleteAren’t all his rally attendees law abiding second amendment people anyway? Just let them all open carry their ARs and Glocks to protect him. His rallies should not be gun free zones. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers can be his security detail. WTF.
If this had happened in the valley, every Mexican in the crowd carrying a gun would have opened fire! You know it.
ReplyDeleteThey would have climbed the shooter's building like pros, like climbing trees to pick citrus!!!
DeleteEverybody at the restaurant is still talking about this story. They all say they want answers. me too.
DeleteThe valley is not really into national politics. It's all about the latest taqueria and getting a job from an uncle just elected to something or another. Fact.
Delete@8:04 AM You said it.
DeleteWhen investigators reviewed the shooter's laptop, they found a few searches in July of: Trump, Biden, when is the DNC convention, and the July 13 Trump rally.
ReplyDeleteWell, there you have it. It was about fame.
DeleteIt sounds to me like he didn't care who he shot at, it was going to be one of them Trump just drew the short straw.
DeletePhotos of a lot of political figures were on the shooter's phone. But no threats associated with anyone
DeleteThis kid even sicker than we thought. Keeping a photo of Georgia case prosecutor Fanny Willis, who would do such a demented thing.
He also had photos of Rudy Giuliani.
DeleteI have read a lot about the shooter and shooting. I think in the end...this will be a case like John Hinckley shooting Reagan. The shooter was seeking some sort of fame and recognition. It didn't matter to him if it was Trump or Biden he shot at...just that he gained fame from it.
ReplyDeleteWidow of dead firefighter says trump called her. I feel a little bit sorry for this lady. I'm not speaking about the loss of her husband. No, I'm sorry that she was so brainwashed by her partner's radical ideology, that she could not accept the simple human act of empathy and compassion from a kindhearted man (Biden) who himself has endured so much pain of loss. I mean it could have been a story for her to tell her future grandkids that she spoke to the actual American President.
ReplyDeleteShe didn't talk to Biden because her husband was a devout Republican and wouldn't have wanted that. She also said God welcomed him in. So which God did her husband worship? Seems like he liked Trump.
DeleteBiden called immediately and she refused to speak with him.
DeleteTr*mp went golfing & ignored her for days but then called when he was told Biden called her first.
"Devout" Republican? They don't see Politics as Politics. As Evangelicals, they view it through the lens of religion.
Biden could give everyone $100m each, cure cancer and solve world peace and they'd still hate him. It's tribal and it's a religious cult.
The fact that this woman thinks Donald Trump cares about her is comical. Also, I think it’s pretty low class of her to not talk to the president even though he actually called her first. $10 says this woman never hears from Trump again. (off to work)
DeleteOh, Republicans, why do you hate our country so much?
ReplyDeleteThey do. I am now convinced.
DeleteI am surprised that MAGA allows Blacks and Hispanics at their rallies. Those same Blacks and Hispanics will be shuffled off to the concentration camps. Fools.
DeleteI'm voting Biden because he's the best president. He's got morals, integrity and gets things done.
ReplyDeleteTrumpkins LOST the popular vote, by millions and millions, TWICE
ReplyDeleteSo, what exactly is this massive Trump lead all the polls are showing? The hundreds of millions of voters who don't want him around, but now every Trumpy cult member think they are the majority in the country? Did that many people sour on Biden and jump back on the death train?
Where's Melania? She's just waiting for the old fart to die, and doing what little is within her powers to cause him stress and stroke out. Maybe she'll show up with the pool boy?
ReplyDeleteBut she's not there.....................
DeleteThey're all wearing bandages on their ears at the convention, and it's not a cult. Sure, of course it's not a cult!
ReplyDeleteTrump is a means to an end: the end of democracy and rule of law, so they can replace it with something that enshrines male/white privilege.
ReplyDeleteRespect your amazing President.
ReplyDeleteEvery woman I know is so angry about the media and the Dems working against Joe Biden!
On the subject of women, I am appalled to see so many young women at the RNConvention who are supporting anti-woman Trump!
DeleteHispanic Republicans Mayra Flores and Monica de la Cruz are women, right?
DeleteTrump has released no official medical info after assassination attempt. WHY NOT, DONNIE?
ReplyDeleteNo surprise Trump does not want to release information. Seems likely it’s known that the injury was not from a bullet itself. Can't water down the “saved by God” Narrative, can we, Republicans? ha ha
DeleteSo the "theory" (or "made up shit") is that a single piece of glass flew in his direction and hit his ear with enough velocity to make it look, in real time, like he was shot. But the rest of the glass from the teleprompter flew away from his body so as to not hit anything else on him? No glass to the face, nothing hitting his shoulder or torso, just a tiny part of his ear.
DeleteBiden is going to Win, if Democrats will let him
ReplyDeleteBiden can and will win if he stays in. The reason he’s struggling is all of the kneecapping from Democrats. I’m just no longer convinced he’ll stay in. But I hope to God he does. We can win with him once we get over all this bullshit. The debate didn’t matter.
DeleteIt’s really interesting. Whoever took the video of Trump walking into the emergency room. Didn’t appear to have any Secret Service monitoring them for all we know they could’ve been suspects as well. Seems like someone from the Secret Service should’ve been inside in there before letting Trump walk through the door. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI'm haven't seen anyone analyze the sequence of shots yet...
ReplyDeleteI also wonder how the firefighter got hit all the way over there. Poor guy. That's horrible, prayers go out to the family. They do say he was a vocal pro-trumper at ease with racism.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Trump could see the shooter from the stage, right?
ReplyDeletePeople need to let the professionals do their work!! These rampant conspiracy theories do not help!!! I’m glad we are getting more information. Thank you for the patience and great reporting!
ReplyDeleteTrump SHOOTING WITNESS Drops BOMBSHELL ON TRUMP: "He's NOT TELLING THE TRUTH." Yikes, maybe it was staged!!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing!
DeleteIt's worse than I thought.
Right wing commentator Joe Rogan asks if the shooting was "by design." Wow.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the teleprompters . . . in the video, as the camera panned back, both of them are intact.
DeleteHe got nicked with broken glass, not shot. Mark my words the truth will come out.
ReplyDeleteIf you notice he has a Gauze pad stuck to his ear, not taped on like you do with a pad like that. What a fraud!
I lost half of lower lobe of my left ear in a car accident right after Christmas and didn't need a bandage as big as Trump is wearing
Delete"When the people fear the government, there is TYRANNY;
ReplyDeleteWhen the government fears the people, there is LIBERTY."
-Thomas Jefferson
But if there is a single big worry for Republicans, it is time. This current run of good fortune, Republicans say, cannot continue, and eventually the wheel of good fortune will turn back to the Democratic side.
ReplyDeleteTrump puts on a ridiculously huge bandage over his ear after not wearing one previously while golfing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a phony.
today was actually a good day. FOX News racist newsman Lou Dobbs died. One less vote for Trump.
ReplyDeleteHeads up: If Joe Biden chooses to leave the race, he may announce right after Trump finishes speaking tonight. You read it here first.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been better had he resigned late this morning so that Kamala could be sworn in, thereby forcing him to change his speech. BUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM JD Vance is going to have to attack an Indian/Black woman while married to an Indian woman. I want to see how that plays out among Indian immigrants . By the time of the election they may have to be referred to as Bharatiys.
ReplyDelete