Trump Shot at Rally

[Todd Feinman]

So bizarre. From Jewish space lasers and a Trump was right about everything hat to skewering him incessantly. I'll always remember Trump thrusting his little hand in the air. And his fluffy gauze-covered ear.

 

[Minus0]

An interesting read on the slowly rising tide of conspiracy theory surrounding this shooting, among MAGA members and leaders, noting the irony that a politician who rode to power in substantial part on the embracing and encouraging of conspiracy theory may now begin to see what it feels like to be on the other side of that particular bucket of snakes.

It is also interesting to see it becoming a prevalent belief amongst many Democrats. If you look at the comments of this video, for example, there seems to be unanimous belief Trump faked it. The YouTuber (Mike Nellis) to his credit downplays the full conspiracy, but also claims "we were lied to" about what actually happened (he believes the teleprompter shattering theory


Source: https://youtu.be/MeAxSRpg-uE

 

[Ann K]

I don't think it was a set-up in any way, because it is so improbable that Trump would agree and say "OK, but just nick the ear, remember?" I don't think he applied blood himself. I think it was a legitimate near-miss and an extremely minor injury, but he was never one to ignore an opportunity for self-aggrandizement.

 

[Todd Feinman]

I don't think it was a set-up in any way, because it is so improbable that Trump would agree and say "OK, but just nick the ear, remember?" I don't think he applied blood himself. I think it was a legitimate near-miss and an extremely minor injury, but he was never one to ignore an opportunity for self-aggrandizement.

Yes, if there was an award for self-aggrandizement, he would have to have it. I mean ya really have to go back to ancient Rome or Egypt.. But, if you are so important that you must indulge in incessant illeism, then maybe..

 

[Ann K]

But, if you are so important that you must indulge in incessant illeism, then maybe..

Ooh, "illeism", a new word! I had to look it up.

 

[Todd Feinman]

Ooh, "illeism", a new word! I had to look it up.

I just ran into it too! Good word. Yeah, he's so great he should have his own entry in the DSM. Trump Derangement Disorder?

 

[Minus0]

TYT just made a conspiracy video too. More than 1 million views in less than a day.

Source: https://youtu.be/uhjSUPGNxBI

They outline ~5 supposed damning "facts". Let's have a look.

Allegation 1: Trump only talked about the assassination attempt once.

On July 18, 2024 during Trump's RNC speech he indeed said "you'll never hear it from me a second time". However, he returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, October 5, 2024 for a commemoration rally for the victim, Corey, who had been shot and killed. He also had another rally in Reading, Pennsylvania Oct 9, 2024 during which he talked about it. Subsequent to that, he has mentioned on numerous times that he took a bullet for the people. Most of this supposed to damning evidence is based on the assumption Trump would talk about it more since he complains about election fraud and other personal affronts going back decades.

Allegation 2: "no one at the Secret Service was punished for the security breach"

Secret Service suspended 6 personnel without pay or benefits after Trump assassination attempt. (CBS)

There was discussion earlier in this thread about USSS failures. For those interested, here is a full report from July 2025
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/gao_usss_report_released_by_chairman_grassley.pdf

Allegation 3: Joe Kent claims he was forbidden from investigating a connection between the shooting and a foreign government.

It's not possible to confirm this allegation as far as I can find. However, it's worth noting Joe was appointed by Trump to chief of staff to the Director of National Intelligence in February 2025, 7 months after the event. As you will see below, different agencies had already investigated the Iran connection and found no evidence.

(Aug 28, 2024) FBI Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells: At this time, the FBI has not identified a motive nor any co-conspirators or associates of Crooks with advanced knowledge of the attack. And I want to be clear we have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack. As always, we will continue to follow all logical investigative steps in this ongoing investigation, and have not ruled anything out at this time.

> FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek: During the last few weeks, the FBI has received numerous requests to support external investigations associated with the attempted assassination, including the independent review panel formed by DHS Secretary Mayorkas, the DHS's Office of Inspector General, as well as the bipartisan Congressional Task Force. As EAD Wells stated the FBI remains committed to transparency in sharing appropriate investigative results with each of these investigative teams and with the American people.

(CBS July 2025):

Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Biden they were indeed concerned Iran might have recruited the man who fired at Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to three people with knowledge of the briefing. Hours earlier, in fact, FBI agents had rushed to Texas in the middle of the night to interview an alleged Iranian operative the bureau had arrested Friday on suspicion of recruiting hit men to kill U.S. politicians, two said. Wray, appearing by video feed, said they had found no clear link between the shooter and the Iran plot, but they continued to run down every possibility.

Given the above, Joe Kent complaining about an alleged lack of transparency well after the Iran connection investigation doesn't hold much weight in my view.

Allegations 4A: Federal investigators provided no information about the shooters motives.

This one is egregiously false. Here are some relevant excerpts from the FBI interview on Aug 28, 2024 linked above:

FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek: Regarding motive, extensive analysis of the subject's online search history, as well as his specific online activity, has provided us valuable insight into his mindset, but not a definitive motive. […]

Now, regarding the subject's online activity, analysis of searches conducted between 2019 and 2024 provided extensive insight into the subject's mindset and specific research he conducted in preparation for the attack. In late September 2023 an account connected to the subject was used to search the former President's campaign schedule and upcoming appearances in Pennsylvania.

Next, from April of 2024 through July 12, the subject searched campaign events for both former President Trump and President Biden, including events scheduled to take place in Western Pennsylvania. Specifically, on July 4, 2024, the subject searched for details of the former President's campaign event in Butler.

On July 6, the subject registered to attend the rally. And that same day he specifically searched for, "How far was Oswald from Kennedy?", "Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show?", "Butler Farm Show podium", and "Butler Farm Show photos." On July 8, the subject searched, "AGR International." On July 9, he searched, "Ballistic Calculator." And on July 10, he searched, "Weather in Butler."

In the 30 days prior to the attack the subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump. Of particular note our investigation identified specific searches conducted on July 5 to include, "When is the DNC convention" and "When is the RNC in 2024".

Next, regarding the two improvised explosive devices located in the shooter's vehicle, as well as the device found in his bedroom, the subject conducted multiple searches pertaining to explosive devices as early as September 2019, continuing through this summer. These searches specifically included, "Detonating cord", "blasting cap", "how to make a bomb from fertilizer", and "how to remote detonators work".

The subject also searched for ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, and other materials consistent with the manufacturing of explosive devices. Continuing on the topic of the explosive devices located in the subject's vehicle, the FBI lab determined that components used by the subject were legal to purchase and readily available online.
[…]

[…]

SAC Rojek: This is Kevin Rojek again. So regarding the subject's mindset, so we saw, through our analysis of all his - particularly his online searches - a sustained detailed effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets. And then when this event was announced, the Trump rally was announced early in July, he became hyper-focused on that specific event and looked at it as a target of opportunity. Again, I want to stress that we continue to analyze all the evidence associated with his accounts, with his online search activity. And we have a clear idea of mindset, but we are not ready to make any conclusive statements regarding motive at this time.

[…]

Reporter Question: Hi. We heard from you, in a previous briefing, about some of the comments and activity that the shooter had online for instance, his commentary on YouTube and Gab. And I wonder if you can, you know, using those two things the fact, you know, we've seen the CEO of Gab claim that some of the shooter's activity on there indicated some kind of affinity towards the left or the political left.

SAC Rojek: This is Kevin Rojek again. Regarding your first question, we continue to see through our analysis a mixture of ideologies. So I would say that we see no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning. It's really been a mixture and something that we're still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.

Allegation 4B: Tucker and Anna both claim the government lied by saying the shooter had "no online presence".

FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek: First, regarding the subject's use of overseas encrypted email accounts. We understand these accounts were encrypted. However, the level of encryption was no more sophisticated than any standard, widely used, Internet-based email service. We successfully accessed the information from these accounts and appropriately analyzed their content. However, we continue to identify and exploit the subject accounts.

A journalist asks a specific question about online social media account (unspecified ) with antisemitic comments alleged to have been made by the shooter:

SAC Rojek: This is Kevin Rojek. Our current assessment is that those statements were associated with accounts associated with the subject. And we continue to work to determine if they were, in fact, attributed to the subject himself.

These comments, and the one above referencing YouTube and Gab, clearly demonstrate the FBI did not lie about having access to the shooters online emails and other social media accounts.

Allegation 5. Media photographers were "shepherded to the right location" after the shooting to get good pictures.

A brief video is shown of Trump surrounded by Secret Service slowly walking down off the podium. In the foreground, it appears to be a Secret Service agent guides a few journalists nearer to where the president is leaving. He tells them to keep their heads lowered while taking pictures.

This particular allegation is seemingly built on two premises:
1. It "looks rehearsed". (Whatever that means).
2. Cenk and Anna assert if they were in a situation like the journalists, they would have fled in terror upon hearing gunshots.
Not only is it absurd to assume mainstream journalists were rehearsed to provide unprecedented propaganda for Trump (during a stunt involving the intentional homicide of a firefighter), but the assumption that journalists would run away from one of the most significant moments to document in their careers is unlikely.

Given Trump was already standing again and walking down the stairs with the Secret Service, this would have been after the gunman was confirmed immobile. It's far more plausible journalists were requesting one of the Secret Service members to let them get better pictures of the unfolding exit.

 

[FatPhil]

Ooh, "illeism", a new word! I had to look it up.

I had, until a few minutes ago, presumed it was a recent coinage by some pseud who wanted to make his mark on whatever field he was in. However, it's old:

Illeism was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1809 as the inverse of egotism, a mark of which is overuse of the pronoun I.

-- http://www.worldwidewords.org/ww-ill.html

Unnatural, some might say clumsy, self-reference is definitely one of his (Trump's) hallmarks, I don't remember a time when he didn't do it. Here's a 2009 example, I'm sure there are earlier ones:

"I think this is the most beautiful group of women I've ever seen," pageant co-owner Donald Trump told reporters. "In the old days, you got what you got. Now, Trump picks them. It makes a big difference."

-- https://www.today.com/style/venezuela-wins-miss-universe-crown-again-wbna32532865
However, a pedant would prefer to separate refering to oneself by ones name as being different from excessive use of third person pronouns, which is the original definition of illeism ("ille" being the third person singular masculine nominitive pronoun in latin, all he did was imprecisely substitute "he" for "I" in "egotism"). And, yes, I am said pedant. Trump's illeism is on a par with his egotism, and both are just a demonstration of his egoism.

I probably used the term "smeagolling" decades before "illeism" gained its recent, possibly Trump-fuelled, traction (that WWW page claims it was created in 2012, despite Quinion starting WWW in the mid-90s, and somthing must have inspired him to write it at that point):

Gollum speaks in an idiosyncratic manner, indeed in an idiolect,[10] often referring to himself in the third person

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gollum
Shakespeare, of course, used the trope a lot before that, but you can't pin that onto just one of his characters.