Trump falls!! Hurt too

[Gospel]

Trump isn't the cancer; he's a symptom of it.

That's what I said. He’s the tumor blocking our airway, and will kill us a lot faster than the cancer of which he’s a symptom.

Sorry, I actually meant to say the tumor.

 

[Elixir]

Trump isn't the cancer; he's a symptom of it.

That's what I said. He’s the tumor blocking our airway, and will kill us a lot faster than the cancer of which he’s a symptom.

Sorry, I actually meant to say the tumor.

Okay … still makes medical sense to remove it to prolong the life, even if it doesn’t cure the cancer.

 

[Gospel]

Addressing breathing difficulties by forcibly opening the airways neither removes the tumor nor the cancer. Similarly, Trump's death would accomplish nothing positive beyond satisfying those who want to see him dead. I'm sure the shooter would agree with you though.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Oh good lord!

I initially assumed this was mocking him, which would be awful. Are they supporters?! I think that'd be even worse!

Trump and the MAGA base have broken Poe.

Yeah, this kind of nonsense becomes the norm when we start normalizing dishonesty and manipulation. You know, the kind where saying and doing whatever it takes to win elections becomes acceptable.

One thing is bordering on cult worship, the other partisan politics. The rift between these two things is quite large.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Trump isn't the cancer; he's a symptom of it.

That's what I said. He’s the tumor blocking our airway, and will kill us a lot faster than the cancer of which he’s a symptom.

Sorry, I actually meant to say the tumor.

Okay … still makes medical sense to remove it to prolong the life, even if it doesn’t cure the cancer.

Seeing the GOP is malignant in the House, the malignancy is growing in the Senate, and SCOTUS is beyond repair for the next couple decades, Trump is becoming irrelevant, with his only value being easy to manipulate by his handlers. You think if JD Vance became President, Project 2025 disappears?

The only difference is whether the base can get behind another.

 

[Elixir]

You think if JD Vance became President, Project 2025 disappears?

Not at all. The cancer remains. But the chances of it being fully implemented are greatly enhanced by the support of the cultists who are not going to worship JD Vance.
It's a cult of personality. Remove the personality, you still have the cultists. But nobody to co-ordinate the damage they can cause.

The only difference is whether the base can get behind another.

Has there been another American populist in YOUR lifetime who has been nearly as successful as Trump in gathering a "willing to die for him" cult? Let alone a President?
Not in mine, and I think I'm older than you are.

 

[Gospel]

Oh good lord!

I initially assumed this was mocking him, which would be awful. Are they supporters?! I think that'd be even worse!

Trump and the MAGA base have broken Poe.

Yeah, this kind of nonsense becomes the norm when we start normalizing dishonesty and manipulation. You know, the kind where saying and doing whatever it takes to win elections becomes acceptable.

One thing is bordering on cult worship, the other partisan politics. The rift between these two things is quite large.

The rapid escalation of partisan politics we see today stems directly from cult-like worship. This partisanship manifests in simplistic and unnuanced expressions, much like the nonsense depicted in that picture. The distinction you're championing here seems to be whether it's done for the greater good. I'm arguing that disregarding nuance is ultimately harmful.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If we were in a bubble, then you have a point. The trouble is, SCOTUS has already changed the game. And they aren't going anywhere. They have seized enough power to be able to bring America back to the Gilded Age all by themselves.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Yeah, this kind of nonsense becomes the norm when we start normalizing dishonesty and manipulation. You know, the kind where saying and doing whatever it takes to win elections becomes acceptable.

One thing is bordering on cult worship, the other partisan politics. The rift between these two things is quite large.

The rapid escalation of partisan politics we see today stems directly from cult-like worship. This partisanship manifests in simplistic and unnuanced expressions, much like the nonsense depicted in that picture. The distinction you're championing here seems to be whether it's done for the greater good. I'm arguing that disregarding nuance is ultimately harmful.

This is false. Look around here. Looks like a lot of liberals, but among the liberals here, are actually moderates too, or fiscal conservatives/social liberals. You can't tell who they are. I know who they are because I've been posting here long enough.

Add to that, George W Bush wasn't a cult leader. But the GOP under W was part of this movement that started with the Southern Strategy and on its path to Project 2025. They said we need to watch what we say. They questioned our Patriotism for questioning invading Iraq. They suggested we were happy US Soldiers were dying in their failed occupation.

The 9/11 Commission Report indicated that the brutal obstructive Republican leadership in Congress made it extraordinarily difficult for President Clinton to manage the threat that was Osama bin Laden. The GOP and their base went as far as to say the attack on bin Laden was "Wag the Dog" a reference to a movie at the time regarding the attack being nothing but an attempt to protect himself politically.

The "rapid escalation" we've seen to this point, has been in large part due to the GOP dehumanizing everyone else. We aren't liberals now. We are "socialists" or "communists". The Democrats are partisan, but your false equivalence is just off base.

Let's look at three examples. The shooting of the Republicans playing baseball and the Trump assassination attempt was not brought on by rhetoric of the left. Trump's rhetoric directly led to January 6th riot at the US Capitol.

 

[Gospel]

If we were in a bubble, then you have a point. The trouble is, SCOTUS has already changed the game. And they aren't going anywhere. They have seized enough power to be able to bring America back to the Gilded Age all by themselves.

The lack of information has brought us to the current state of the SCOTUS. Embracing nuance was effective during both Obama's and Biden's presidencies. Putting Hillary up against Trump was like handing him a winning Powerball ticket. The real issue is that Democrats failed to anticipate the Republicans' long-standing strategy of weaponizing both religious beliefs and national identity. It's reached a point where even our flag is associated with god fearing fascist. Being informative works, but Democrats simply failed to address the already well fucking known monopoly Republicans established.

Do you really believe that avoiding nuance when communicating with the general population will benefit the Democrats? There is a segment of the population that relies on simplistic, religiously influenced views. This approach primarily resonates with them. Therefore, unless the Democrats can reclaim the flag and religion without losing support from their base, they risk aiding the Republicans by participating in this tactic.

 

[Gospel]

The Democrats are partisan, but your false equivalence is just off base.

I'm not equating the two at all. I'm saying that adopting the same tactics Republicans are using will ultimately benefit the Republicans. Unless the Democrats can somehow break the monopoly the Republicans have, which they don't seem to be attempting.

 

[Gospel]

This is false. Look around here. Looks like a lot of liberals, but among the liberals here, are actually moderates too, or fiscal conservatives/social liberals. You can't tell who they are. I know who they are because I've been posting here long enough.

Add to that, George W Bush wasn't a cult leader. But the GOP under W was part of this movement that started with the Southern Strategy and on its path to Project 2025. They said we need to watch what we say. They questioned our Patriotism for questioning invading Iraq. They suggested we were happy US Soldiers were dying in their failed occupation.

The 9/11 Commission Report indicated that the brutal obstructive Republican leadership in Congress made it extraordinarily difficult for President Clinton to manage the threat that was Osama bin Laden. The GOP and their base went as far as to say the attack on bin Laden was "Wag the Dog" a reference to a movie at the time regarding the attack being nothing but an attempt to protect himself politically.

The "rapid escalation" we've seen to this point, has been in large part due to the GOP dehumanizing everyone else. We aren't liberals now. We are "socialists" or "communists". The Democrats are partisan, but your false equivalence is just off base.

Let's look at three examples. The shooting of the Republicans playing baseball and the Trump assassination attempt was not brought on by rhetoric of the left. Trump's rhetoric directly led to January 6th riot at the US Capitol.

It seems there may have been a misunderstanding of my original point. I wasn't equating the actions of both parties; rather, I was specifically addressing the cult-like support for Trump among Republicans and how it leads to a dangerous escalation of simplistic and unnuanced political expressions. My concern is that participating in these tactics, regardless of the party, ultimately harms our political discourse. I agree that the GOP has a history of dehumanizing tactics, but my focus is on the current climate of cult-like worship and its impact on partisanship.

 

[SLD]

There is no benefit to Trump being dead.

I disagree 100%.
Nothing but bad things will come from Trump continuing to live. His death would have been a salve to the nation.

His assassination would no more save the Republic than Caesar’s assassination.

He needs to die a natural death. That would be a salve to the nation. Hopefully real soon. But I’m not expecting it. Sons of bitches like him and Putler and Xi tend to live forever.

 

[bilby]

I predict we will never know the truth.

I predict that we do know the truth, but with a sufficiently concerted effort from the Trump campaign, and from his most vociferous opponents, tomorrow we won't.

Picked it:

But I now find myself wondering if this was an assassination at all

My expectation is that the shot was fired wide on purpose, and Trump bladed his own ear, and that they all decided to murder an innocent in the crowd. All he would have to do is wait for the pops, and then nick a concealed razor blade through his own ear.

your scenario would make more sense than someone "missing" four times from that range

What we all saw happen simply isn't plausible enough; We need to invent more agency and more control, otherwise some parts of reality might turn out to be just be slightly unusual, but perfectly reasonable, shit that happens.

Planes aren't flown into buildings very often; Buildings don't often collapse as a result; Therefore what we all saw must be a fictional shield for the evil intent of unknown bad guys.

Presidential candidates aren't assassinated very often; Assassins don't often miss at moderate ranges; Therefore what we all saw must be a fictional shield for the evil intent of unknown bad guys.

Someone shot at Trump. Trump got away with a minor injury; A bystander died; The shooter was killed by Trump's bodyguards. We all saw it. It's what happened. None of it is sufficiently implausible as to demand or even sugggest some grand conspiracy. There was no grassy knoll, jet fuel didn't melt steel beams, and plesiosaurs didn't survive the Cretaceous by hiding in Loch Ness.

 

[bilby]

If someone is deliberately shot at, it will be either a hit or a miss. The chance of a minor graze is phenomenally lucky if this was a genuine shot.

Statistics from wars suggest that this is nonsense. For every fatality, there are typically ten injuries requiring hospitalisation, and fifty minor injuries so trivial that the recipients barely even notice them at the time.

Guns are not magic, and don't work in reality the way they work in Hollywood.

The chance of a minor injury, either from the bullet, or from spalling off nearby objects hit by a round that missed its target, is far higher than you imagine.

 

[southernhybrid]

Trumps's survival of the assassination attempt was an act of God according to many of his nutty supporters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati on/2024/07/16/trump-religion-messiah/

Former president Donald Trump’s narrow escape from an assassin’s bullet has reinvigorated talk among some of his supporters that the thrice-married billionaire is a messiah figure, anointed by God to save a troubled nation.

.

Since the attack on Trump’s life during a campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pa., left him bloodied but otherwise unharmed, some supporters in Congress and on social media have shared Bible scriptures and illustrations showing the Holy Ghost deflecting the bullet. Internet celebrities such as boxer Jake Paul have called the moment proof of “who God wants to win,” and posters on TheDonald, a far-right message board unaffiliated with Trump, have mentioned God seven times as often as they did in the week before the shooting, a Washington Post analysis found.

The idea of divine influence has surfaced at the Republican National Convention, where a bandaged and somber Trump was hailed before a raucous Milwaukee crowd Monday night. Some delegates and Trump aides already convinced that the former president would put the country on a righteous course said they saw that belief confirmed from on high on Saturday night.
“I told him that last night,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who was in Trump’s box at the convention, said at a Milwaukee town hall on Tuesday. “I said, Sir, the hand of God is on you.” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Sunshine said Tuesday on Fox News that Trump survived thanks to “divine intervention” and, after calling the left “godless,” added, “It’s important to remember that good does defeat evil.”

If I were a Christian, this would make me nauseated, as it would have my late mother, who was an evangelical who despised Trump.

“The deep state wanted the world to see Trump’s death and God intervened. To me there’s no other possible explanation,” said one commenter on TheDonald. Said another: “God Protect Our GEOTUS” — the acronym for “God-Emperor of the United States.”
“Surviving an assassination attempt just confirms for these folks everything they say and believe — it confirms that he is God’s chosen to bring salvation to the United States and to the world,” said Matthew Sutton, a Washington State University historian of American religion who focuses on apocalyptic Christianity and politics.

There were a few who saw this in a more rational way.

For some, scripture went the other way. On X, some users noted that, in Revelation 13:3, a beast understood to be the Antichrist, or Satan, heals from a head wound and is then globally idolized. Others questioned the spiritual interpretation of the day’s violence, which left one rally attendee dead and two others critically injured.
“Oh but God didn’t care about the guy in the crowd that was actually killed?” one X poster said.

It reminds me of when we has a tornado here last year and some of my Christian friends were all praising god because only two people died including a little boy. I had to bite my tongue to avoid conflict but all I could think was why did your god allow the tornado to hit our town and kill a little boy and an innocent worker? Religion does so much harm, especially when it glorifies an immoral man like Trump.

I didn't quote him, but the horrible Franklin Graham also said it was a divine act that saved Trump. WTF! Why didn't god get some help for that young shooter who had been bullied in school and why did god allow the US to fetishize fucking AR-15s. Oh right. There is no god but some of those who believe there is, are more like mythological devils than mythological angels.

If Trump had died, would they be praising god for that? /s

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile, regarding the whole DEI thing, it wasn't just me who noticed.

https://wapo.st/4cLzGTu

Within hours of the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania, right-wing media pundits and conservative influencers coalesced around an unfounded narrative on social media: the reason Donald Trump was injured was because of female Secret Service agents and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The unsubstantiated accusation arose after photos and edited videos featuring female Secret Service agents spread online, along with allegations that the assassination attempt on Trump happened because the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, is a woman. Conservative media pundit Ann Coulter promoted a petition calling for the firing of Cheatle, citing the Secret Service chief’s goal of increasing the number of female agents to 30 percent.

 

[Toni]

Trumps's survival of the assassination attempt was an act of God according to many of his nutty supporters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati on/2024/07/16/trump-religion-messiah/

Former president Donald Trump’s narrow escape from an assassin’s bullet has reinvigorated talk among some of his supporters that the thrice-married billionaire is a messiah figure, anointed by God to save a troubled nation.

.

Since the attack on Trump’s life during a campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pa., left him bloodied but otherwise unharmed, some supporters in Congress and on social media have shared Bible scriptures and illustrations showing the Holy Ghost deflecting the bullet. Internet celebrities such as boxer Jake Paul have called the moment proof of “who God wants to win,” and posters on TheDonald, a far-right message board unaffiliated with Trump, have mentioned God seven times as often as they did in the week before the shooting, a Washington Post analysis found.

The idea of divine influence has surfaced at the Republican National Convention, where a bandaged and somber Trump was hailed before a raucous Milwaukee crowd Monday night. Some delegates and Trump aides already convinced that the former president would put the country on a righteous course said they saw that belief confirmed from on high on Saturday night.
“I told him that last night,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who was in Trump’s box at the convention, said at a Milwaukee town hall on Tuesday. “I said, Sir, the hand of God is on you.” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Sunshine said Tuesday on Fox News that Trump survived thanks to “divine intervention” and, after calling the left “godless,” added, “It’s important to remember that good does defeat evil.”

If I were a Christian, this would make me nauseated, as it would have my late mother, who was an evangelical who despised Trump.

“The deep state wanted the world to see Trump’s death and God intervened. To me there’s no other possible explanation,” said one commenter on TheDonald. Said another: “God Protect Our GEOTUS” — the acronym for “God-Emperor of the United States.”
“Surviving an assassination attempt just confirms for these folks everything they say and believe — it confirms that he is God’s chosen to bring salvation to the United States and to the world,” said Matthew Sutton, a Washington State University historian of American religion who focuses on apocalyptic Christianity and politics.

There were a few who saw this in a more rational way.

For some, scripture went the other way. On X, some users noted that, in Revelation 13:3, a beast understood to be the Antichrist, or Satan, heals from a head wound and is then globally idolized. Others questioned the spiritual interpretation of the day’s violence, which left one rally attendee dead and two others critically injured.
“Oh but God didn’t care about the guy in the crowd that was actually killed?” one X poster said.

It reminds me of when we has a tornado here last year and some of my Christian friends were all praising god because only two people died including a little boy. I had to bite my tongue to avoid conflict but all I could think was why did your god allow the tornado to hit our town and kill a little boy and an innocent worker? Religion does so much harm, especially when it glorifies an immoral man like Trump.

I didn't quote him, but the horrible Franklin Graham also said it was a divine act that saved Trump. WTF! Why didn't god get some help for that young shooter who had been bullied in school and why did god allow the US to fetishize fucking AR-15s. Oh right. There is no god but some of those who believe there is, are more like mythological devils than mythological angels.

If Trump had died, would they be praising god for that? /s

I think that assigning god’s will to explain events can be useful to help explain what otherwise are just senseless tragedies or, depending on your philosophy, fate. Human beings seek explanation. We just do. And a part of us, or many of us, wants very much to believe in fairness, and even justice. Not knowing or understanding is uncomfortable, disconcerting.

I don’t think a belief in god is itself an evil but I do believe using god as a cudgel to impose belief —in anything—is very much an evil. And just as evil, to use it as a lever to manipulate people.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Yeah, the idea that God decided to intervene in the situation to save Trump, but not to have someone enter this kid's life to help him find peace and purpose is ridiculous. So, if a god did redirect the bullet, fuck 'em! To quote The Incredible Hulk, "puny god".

 

[TV and credit cards]

Meanwhile, regarding the whole DEI thing, it wasn't just me who noticed.

https://wapo.st/4cLzGTu

Within hours of the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania, right-wing media pundits and conservative influencers coalesced around an unfounded narrative on social media: the reason Donald Trump was injured was because of female Secret Service agents and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The unsubstantiated accusation arose after photos and edited videos featuring female Secret Service agents spread online, along with allegations that the assassination attempt on Trump happened because the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, is a woman. Conservative media pundit Ann Coulter promoted a petition calling for the firing of Cheatle, citing the Secret Service chief’s goal of increasing the number of female agents to 30 percent.

It's such a ridiculous assertion, that DEI plays a role in such a position, of using your body to protect that of another. "Well, given her stature she can't fully perform the job but what choice do we have?"
Maybe it's expected that numbnuts crouches down. Maybe numbnuts is even told in such situations to crouch down. Maybe it would be instinctive for any other human being to crouch down in such a situation. But not Donald Trump. No sir. Numbnuts is going to stand tall and pump his fist in the air.