this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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[–] Nougat@fedia.io 79 points 3 months ago (7 children)

The distinction here is hardly relevant.

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 113 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It is relevant to history. You can either tell the Trump story that a bullet hit his ear, or you can say that he caught shrapnel.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 43 points 3 months ago (7 children)

The only way that would be relevant would be if there was a determination that the shooter was trying to do some kind of ad hoc false flag thing, as opposed to writing his own name into history. Everything we know at this point indicates that the latter is true, and the former is not.

Whether Trump's injury was the result of a fired projectile or a piece of shrapnel, the injury was caused by an assassination attempt.

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 99 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (16 children)

Whether Trump’s injury was the result of a fired projectile or a piece of shrapnel, the injury was caused by an assassination attempt.

We all know what really happened.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 51 points 3 months ago

A trick he learned back in his WWE guest star days.

(This is meant as a joke, please do not be upset. I mean no disrespect to WWE fans.)

[–] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 26 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You know, it's funny because the moment I saw the picture where you could see a little blood, I thought to myself "did anyone make sure he didn't have a ketchup packet in his pockets?"

And sure enough, I'm never original...

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 months ago

I thought I was the only one whose first thought was that W wasn't surprised on 9/11 when I saw the clip of him being informed. Turns out a LOT of people had that thought. 😂

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[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The truth is still the truth, even if there is no material difference in the implications.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 9 points 3 months ago
[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago (4 children)

It's also relevant because one of Trump's current campaign statements is that he "took a bullet for America" which may be another lie.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 5 points 3 months ago

It would certainly neuter that (over)statement, but I honestly wouldn't go as far as to call that one a "lie" without some indication that he knew that it wasn't a bullet he was hit by. I don't think that even a reasonable person wouldn't come to the conclusion that "Shots were fired, at me, now my ear is bleeding all over my face" as "I was hit by a bullet."

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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

except if the shooter was just shooting into the crowd and hit like a railing or something then it wasn't an "assassination attempt" it was a mass shooting.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Frankly, it could be a mass-shooting anyway, simply one that had a high-profile figure as one of the targets. Apparently he had explosives in his car and some sort of remote detonation mechanism, so it was clearly about more than just Trump alone.

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

so it was clearly about more than just Trump alone.

Not necessarily. To my knowledge, we don't know where any explosives would have been planted. He was seen wandering around the rally area a few hours before the rally. It's possible at one point he thought he could plant some explosives near Trump's podium or something so he gets taken out in the blast, and maybe abandoned that plan when he walked around and realized it wasn't viable.

IMO, there's nothing indicating he had any intents other than taking out Trump by any means available to him. Anyone else was probably either collateral damage in his mind, or "deserved it" for being Trump supporters in the first place. He may have decided that trying to snipe him from that rooftop was his most viable option, but it looks like he woke up that morning with at least two separate plans on how to go about it.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Fair. None of that speculation is inherently any better than the mass shooting speculation though, there's similarly zero indication he had anything personal against Trump. He even had potential dem targets in his search history. There's no sound evidence for anything so far, that I've heard at any rate.

Though I do think it's a little far-fetched that what appears to be an intelligent engineering student is going to think sneaking over and planting explosives is going to be a viable plan. That's a little video gamey.

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (4 children)

It's a lot video-gamey. Let's be realistic.....the United States Secret Service just got owned by a 20 year old kid camping in one of the windows from Nuketown. The kid looks like he got beat up for his lunch money last week. Whatever plans were gong through his head, the plan he ultimately settled on involved him climbing to the one rooftop that the Secret Service somehow missed and was somehow able to not get caught until he fired off half a dozen or so shots. Everything he did that we know of so far looks like something a newbie would do the first time they played COD.

We'll of course never really know his true motives. Remember that despite all the speculation over political motives, Ronald Reagan's would-be-assassin did it because he was trying to impress a teenage Jodie Foster. For all we know, this kid could have woke up that morning and believed that Trump was Gargamel and it was his responsibility to kill him in order to save Smurf Village. Why he suddenly wanted Trump dead remains a mystery especially since he was supposedly a long-time Trump supporter, but I haven't seen anything to make me believe that his target was anything other than Trump himself, and maybe anyone who was just unlucky enough to be in the way.

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[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

ad hoc false flag

Dont be in such a rush to rule this out lol. Ad hoc false flag should be Trump's middle names

He's always been a real ad war hoc

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

Not really. I'll give you a "for instance". Few people know this story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Arutyunian.

In this case, although in danger, Trump was being shot at by someone who couldn't shoot.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The grenade landed 18.6 metres (61 ft) from the podium

Bush was thrown at by someone who couldn't throw

[–] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Got WAY closer than 60ft though.

I remember watching that and losing my shit.

Of course at the time, it was because I was a teenager and "haha president almost got hit by a shoe"

Now it's funny for different reasons, but still.

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

You know where "close" counts?

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[–] rsuri@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I think there's essentially no limit to what the shooter's motives could be. What was the Las Vegas shooter's motive? What was the motive at Columbine? There's a million possibilities. Narcissism, delusions, non-specific rage.

Sure, there's one conclusion that seems simplest, which is that he shot at Trump but missed. And if he grazed Trump's ear, that's almost certainly true. But what if it comes out that the FBI finds that the closest shot was over 10 feet away from Trump? If that happens, I think we'd be fools to continue to assume it was an assassination attempt.

The smartest thing anyone could say at this point is "I don't know".

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago

That's still not very relevant. Either way he was shot at and his ear was hit. Whether or not it was a whole bullet, part of a bullet after the bullet hit something, or something that the bullet busted off that hit his ear is of minimal importance.

[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 37 points 3 months ago (3 children)

If it was shrapnel then it dispels the idea that if he'd turned his head just a few inches it would've been death.

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 26 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

And it makes the whole divine intervention thing seem less likely, but they are already reaching so hard anyways I'm sure they will just reach a bit further... it's a cult after all.

[–] sudo@lemmy.today 6 points 3 months ago

Lol yeah THAT'S what makes 'divine intervention less likely'

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 3 points 3 months ago (4 children)

If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a bicycle, too.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I am confused. Are you trying to say that your grandma gets ridden a lot?

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] Nougat@fedia.io 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I have to admit, in all seriousness, that Fred Gwynne and my own father look very similar.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago

That man will forever live in my memory saying "What is a yoot?".

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

If my grandma had wheels she'd be a skank with wheels.

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[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

The only interesting thing about it might be that it once again points out the hypocrisy of the right.

They mocked John Kerry as undeserving of his purple hearts, and wore fake bandaids because he was hit with shrapnel.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

... it once again points out the hypocrisy of the right.

We could climb that pile into orbit.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Space elevator might be out of reach but the space mountain is real.

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[–] IzzyScissor@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

I think what you're trying to say is that "either way he still survived an assassination attempt", which I agree with, but the details still matter.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, this feels like a good headline more than useful information.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

Clickbait?!? From The Daily Beast?!? Impossible!!!

[–] DBT@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It’s relevant to the folks who believe in divine intervention, isn’t it?

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 32 points 3 months ago (4 children)

The folks who believe in divine intervention don't care about what actually happens in reality in any case, so no, it's not relevant to them, either.

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[–] EleventhHour@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

People who believe in fantasy and fairytales aren’t going to be swayed by the nuance of fact.

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[–] Spacebar@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

It's relevant in that Trump is probably dishonest again.

The situation is shocking enough if he was hit by glass in an assassination attempt, but they couldn't resist lying and saying the bullet hit his ear.