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
- CNN - Trump rushed off stage after shooting at Pennsylvania rally
- AP News - Live updates: Shooting at Trump rally is being investigated as assassination attempt, AP sources say
- The Hill - George W. Bush condemns ‘cowardly attack’ at Trump rally
- Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) on Xitter - video interview with witness who tried to warn police before shooting happened
- Sky News - Gunshots reportedly fired at Donald Trump rally - as former president rushed off stage (Article confirms one rally attendee dead)
- Reuters - Biden says he is grateful to hear Trump is safe, has been briefed on shooting
- OAlexanderDK on Xitter - The shooter was on a roof approximately 125m or 400ft from where Trump was standing.
- JakeMRosen on Xitter - An emergency room doctor I spoke with tried to save someone’s life in the crowd
Saying this will change nothing is just as myopic as saying this'll guarantee a Trump victory
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.
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.
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.
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.