The recent attempt on Donald Trump’s life, just days before he became the official Republican candidate for President, should be a wake-up call as to just how much American society is divided these days. The candidate or public person, NGO leader, Clergy, even Spiritual Leaders, often represent all those ideas and values that many others hold, or come to hold, in high esteem.
So unfortunately, assassinating Trump or anyone for that matter, does not kill the values that are held by many of his or her followers close to their hearts. It can, in fact, galvanize the population, and cause them to close ranks, a person dead can be even more dangerous than one alive.
You may disagree with a popular political person, i.e. Trump or Biden, etc. And you may feel that the solution is to do away with him, as if he is responsible for the massive support that he gets from the populace. Also, the current administration can be held responsible for the Trump shooting because the Trump campaign has been asking for more security.
Obviously, they needed to have had more security in place. Withholding security gives the status quo a potential advantage. Just like withholding the security from a certain Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who is also running for president, something that many don’t know and the media intentionally downplays.
One additional comment about assassinations, it doesn’t kill the supporters of the messenger. But it must be effective; otherwise the US would not have such a sordid, clear history of using assassinations to topple governments and install puppets.
You may not like my angle at all…it sounds like the same sort of hyper excited speculation that the media in the US does to fill airspace…
Biden Painting a Bulls eye with Media on Trump
You may find it odd, but I don’t think it is worth getting all worked up about as it isn’t surprising, it is surprising that he had such a good chance because the Secret Services messed up, but again, can’t blame that on Biden. However, some would like to blame him for being the judge, the jury, and executioner the way he has weaponized the media with making comparisons between Donald Trump and fascists’ leaders such as Adolph Hitler.
The media will bring it out for all it is worth and at the end of the day find nothing more than a lonely, confused young man with access to a weapon. This is more likely a suicide by cop setup than anything else when history is written.
The problems with the Secret Service coverage of Trump is far more serious a question. It is naïve to think that if the messenger dies, the message dies with him, but Trumps supporters have such strong beliefs, they can carry on the same message with someone else, especially JD Vance, the VP pick. I listen to amateur radio chatter (which mainstream people think of as “CB”) for different perspectives, although most are the pro-Trump variety. It is clear that this election is going to be one that goes down in history as a paradigm shift as to how elections can change the direction of a country in hard times.
Was it a Home-Grown Domestic Lone-Wolf Terrorist?
Perhaps the attempt on Trumps life was the work of one crazed lone wolf, but we may never know, as the shooter, at least one or possibly more, who was killed after getting off several rounds, but if other news is reflective of a trend, one only needs to look at the attempt on the life of Slovak PM Robert Fico, and his more independent stance which earned him the wrath of NATO and the EU. This begs the question: did a Western-directed plot to remove his troublesome government from office trigger his assassination attempt?
You can be a Trump supporter or not, as this can happen to any politician or public figure, however, I am glad that he somehow “dodged the bullets” – but it was too close for comfort. My thoughts go out to the family of the Trump supporter who was killed. America “dodged a bullet,” too.
If Trump had been killed, or seriously wounded, his supporters would be on a rampage. This is how Civil Wars start. We don’t know yet if this is a sad example of America’s deadly obsession with personal firearms, or an even sadder example of our ugly tradition of “government by gunplay.”
Either way, it was a “characteristically American” event. Americans were stunned by the murders of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X but nowadays, most Americans don’t know this history, or, at best, look on it as a small footnote of history, however, these were history changing moments.
The attempt on Trump’s life shows there are flaws, intentional or otherwise in the provision of security, a security failure on the highest level, attributed to lapses by the secret services, homeland security, etc.
It is not difficult to understand why murders, such as that of Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich, who lost his laptop as the result of the murder-robbery, but whose case was never fully investigated by the FBI. There are just too many coincides in who dies and who lives and the timing.
The ADL described the case as his being killed in what police believe was an attempted robbery; the case remains unsolved. Rich’s murder spawned numerous “far-right conspiracy theories” that he was killed for leaking DNC emails to Wiki leaks, a theory that has (supposedly) been debunked by law enforcement.
But has it? Even till this day the FBI has not shared the extent of those emails, and when speaking of conspiracy theories, for good, albeit for the wrong reasons, it is really a crazy situation in the US nowadays. For example, the prestigious Forbes Magazine is one of the media outlets in the cuckoo’s nest with such a headline, Will surviving Gunfire be Donald Trump’s Next Appeal to Black Voters?
I think in a way there’s a wide agreement that gun violence is going too far now, however, banning guns is not the solution. Much of the problem is that the media has egged on the extremes on all sides, so much so there is no longer room for normal political discourse, and it is as if it is or die,
I am just thinking out loud. One thing for sure, this has helped Trump in his ratings, even with black voters.
JD Salinger’s book
There was a series of killers who were found to be carrying a copy of JD Salinger’s book “Catcher in the Rye”, most notably Mark David Chapman. There may have only just been one other; maybe John Hinckly, but it became some sort of meme back in the day.
Mark David Chapman had a paperback copy of it in the inner pocket of the black trench coat he was wearing when he shot John Lennon, but Trump’s shooter had donated to Democrat fundraisers, and it is contradictory, as a lot of Democrats registered as Republicans votes for Nikki Haley. For an added twist, the shooter was also in a Blackrock video.
The story in JD Salinger’s book is one of a disturbed young man. The narrative is his thoughts. In the end, he was sleeping on the couch of some dude he met, and he was woken up in the middle of the night by the dude making some sort of sexual pass at him or something, and he got really upset, and I don’t remember if he killed the dude and left of if he just left the apartment.
Holden Caulifield I mean. Thus, I am making the analogy, a literal reference to Mark David Chapman and maybe John Hinckley who were found to be carrying an actual physical paperback copy of the book in the inside pocket of their trench coat.
That, plus, the story making such a profound impression on these killers is that they carried the book around with them. The book was found in the hotel room where Hinckley was staying. It was also in Chapman’s trench coat, as stated above.
Actually, there were other “Catchers in the Rye” carriers. Oswald was another, and Robert John Bardo. So it is a thing. There are “Catcher in the Rye” carrying types of killers.
The Trump shooter was probably too young to have read JD Salinger. However, he fits the profile because he “kept to himself.” “KEPT TO HIMSELF” is another typical phrase used to describe lone gunmen. That’s another trait common among them. That plus social awkwardness… although that term applies to “autism spectrum disorder” (formerly known as “Aspergers Syndrome”). It is unfair to classify anyone socially awkward or “on the spectrum” as being capable of becoming a lone gunman.
I’ve also been classified as being somewhere on that spectrum, or “neurodivergent” or “neurotypical”, a category which many people who are skilled in any kind of art or good with computers or imaginative in any way get lumped in to. And there are fairly ignorant people who accuse anyone with social awkwardness of being that lone gunman type as well, but they are prejudiced.
In the end, such a media and government push to blame isolated and socially awkward individuals reeks of false flag propaganda, but I fear we will never see the truth. The US deep state continues to muddy the water with US media reporting on US Intelligence claims that Iran was plotting to kill Trump, something Iran vehemently denies.
Can we see the next target being lined up? After all, with the same ill wind still blows, that amounts to no good for the deep state. Though, given current polling, perhaps this assassination attempt may be one thing that ends up uniting Americans?
Henry Kamens, columnist, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
