WHAT

  • Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump was shot at a rally in PA.

TRUMPS STATEMENT

“I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW SO FAR

  • gunman is dead
  • Trump “is fine”
  • one attendee is dead
  • another attendee is in critical condition

News Sources

  • @ProtecyaTec
    2•2 months ago

    There’s no real substance behind the idea that this guarantees a red victory. No Democrat who was against Trump before is going to realistically change their view over Trump over this situation. It doesn’t change who Trump is or what he stands for. If this achieves anything, it will be to incite violence.

    You’ll also take notice many of the accounts parroting this nonsense are not old accounts. Usually, these accounts were just botted to repost news articles or memes and only just recently started commenting. It’s a strange pattern I’m seeing across multiple threads.

    • dactylothecaEnglish
      1•2 months ago

      I don’t think people mean that D voters will suddenly vote from Trump because somebody tried to murk him, but that it might get sympathy from swing voters. If that’d have any real effect on the outcome is anybody’s guess, but I’d wager it probably won’t matter all that much.

      But yeah, in any case I figure that – like you said – the most “visible” outcome of this will be more political violence from the right.

      • @ProtecyaTec
        2•2 months ago

        sympathy from swing voters

        I would think that the number of actual swing voters is extremely low. The last few years of politics have been very divisive (probably an understatement), more so than anything in my lifetime. At this point, I haven’t heard anyone IRL not have their political compass already pointed. Democrats have been dug in against DT since he announced he was running again. Rs have been dug in for DT since he announced he was running again.

        • dactylothecaEnglish
          2•2 months ago

          Frankly I’d tend to agree, it doesn’t seem likely there’d be a lot of them exactly because… well, *gestures around broadly*

          But now that I think about this, even though the effect on swing voters could well be pretty inconsequential, the shooting might well “reactivate” some Republicans who weren’t necessarily going to vote – although I’ve understood that their turnout is often a higher than the Dems’, it’s still not 100%. Now whether that is likely or what the size of the effect could be isn’t something I’m really qualified to speculate on, I’m just a random Yuropean who woke up this morning to find that while I was sleeping somebody apparently tried to murk Trump.