(07-14-2024, 12:08 AM)Maxmars Wrote: Well, someone has to say it...
I have already heard from the rabid political opposition planting the seed of a notion that this was a 'staged' event... that this was possibly an attempt to give Trump an advantage in the upcoming election.
I rolled my eyes... and explained that this thing they were discussing was the stuff of paranoid politics they so often accuse others of doing... (lost some 'friends' there)... The topic of "Q" and "Q-Anon" (whatever the hell they imagine that is) came up... And I was immediately thrust back into my mental corner where I always maintain that too many people are too much for their party, and too much "against" the opposition, rather than "for the country."
I am listening to ongoing audio news about this... and the topic of conspiracy is already broached... but they seem to be subject to real time 'direction'... returning to the minutiae of the crime scene specifics... which they have no confirmation about... lot's of focus on the weapon (of course) (as if that 'speaks' of the criminal.)
By the way... it appears to be impossible to escape media bias even when the bias is superfluous... it's kind of sad.
There are those around the world who could make a discrete shot from 300 meters to nick an ear; I have known a couple of them. That notion -- that it was a "staged" event is ridiculous, and I'll tell you why.
1) Even those skilled marksmen who could make that shot, even the best of the best, the elite, could not be trusted by the recipient to not jog just a little. It is one thing to place shots at a dead rest within the space of a quarter on target . It is an entirely other thing to bet your life that it can be done.
2) Think of how close the ear is to the head. A momentary puff of air, or any perturbation of the variables that surround the perfect shot, and everything changes. THAT is for a unique sniper rifle in the hands of a uniquely trained specialist. NOT an "AR-15 style" rifle. It's a good rifle. Not a sniper rifle.
3) Most importantly, Mr. Trump was addressing the crowd. The shooter was at his 2:00 or 3:00, or thereabouts. At the critical moment, Mr. Trump turned his head to the right, such that a broadside shot became a shot parallel to his head, and instead of punching into his brain, it clipped his ear. I have watched the moment in slow motion countless times, and I am convinced that if he hadn't turned his head at that exact moment and looked to the right, he would be dead right now. Obviously, there is no way to orchestrate this level of event.
An aside: The images of the bloodied, defiant, fist-shaking Trump as he was moved to the SUV will have already won him the election, if it was ever in question. Love him or hate him, (and I'm truthfully somewhere in between, but still on the side of respecting him) that is an image of a mean little asskicker that we want leading the nation.