Oh, man. This is getting worser and worser. We are now going straight down the rabbit hole and our next stop is Hell. Melania Trump has released a statement and the Republican play at this moment is to defuse Joe Biden’s central talking point, which is that Donald Trump is a convicted felon who is a danger to our democracy. That has not changed. The only thing that has changed is that now Trump is playing the sympathy card because somebody “attempted to assassinate” him and he was grazed “by a bullet.”
What we know is that a shooter was on the roof and discharged rounds. We don’t know much else about the man or his motive. We know Trump shows a bloodied ear and two facial scratches. And now we know what Melania has to say about it all. Let’s talk a look at that. ***Warning*** If you’ve eaten recently and don’t want to throw up, you might want to wait a bit. This is phony layered on as thick as Trump trowels on his orange makeup.
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) July 14, 2024
It’s admittedly difficult to read. I apologize. I attempted to expand the image and for naught. She says at one point, “When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized that my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change.” She goes on to talk about her saintly husband, his kindness and generously, the shining light that is Donald Trump. Swell. May I politely inquire if this man she’s married to is so goddamn wonderful, why was she never at his side when he needed her, like when he was getting arrested — four times?
Or when he was in trial? Or when he was sentenced? Or when he went to the June 27 debate and Melania was conspicuous by her absence? That’s why this reads as cobbled together PR. That’s what it is.
Now let’s look at excerpts from a newsletter by a guy named Mark Halperin, who is a Republican. Let’s see the “mentality” behind all this. Halperin states that “both Trumps put out statements which are wonderful expressions of unity and brilliant politics.”
Let me bottom line it for you and then you can read it. Trump’s assassination attempt is considered a “game changer.” The Republican POV on this is that Trump is going to win over enough voters, as a direct result of this shooting incident, to win the election. Why getting shot at is a vote winner is not explained. It is simply presumed that that is a logical stance to take and that we all understand it.
And there is STILL talk of Joe Biden stepping down and that is not going to happen. I don’t know how many times that needs to be said by both Biden himself and everybody else. The race is between Biden and Trump, period, period, period.
I have great, brilliant sources who say his hold on the nomination is now even more firm than it was pre-shooting – and/but I have great, brilliant sources who say that the shooting and Trump’s iconic reaction of strength make it even more imperative that both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris stand aside. And some think the answer is to have Biden withdraw and settle quickly on Harris.
Joe Klein  is in the last camp:
The Republican Convention will provide the Democrats an opportunity to proceed quietly with the task at hand: Convincing Joe Biden to stand down. From what I’m hearing, the process has gone subterranean but is increasing in its intensity. There is a sense that Democrats want this to be a surgical procedure—Biden gone, Kamala installed, no blitz primary. They will, after the quasi-martyrdom and the GOP convention, need something, to bring them back to life. If the Dems had a Trumpian sense of drama, Biden would choose the night of Agent Orange’s convention speech to announce his withdrawal from the race.
We are waiting on a few things, but here are two we know:
1. The shooting did not enhance Joe Biden’s already weak chances to win the election.
2. The shooting did not enhance whatever chances Kamala Harris had, if subbed in, to win the election as the presidential nominee.
Among the many things we don’t know:
1. When will Trump’s running mate choice be revealed and who will it be.
2. If the shooting will impact the public polling in a way the debate did not.
3. If the few people in a position to really try to convince Joe Biden to stand down (Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama indirectly, Ted Kaufman, Ron Klain, Jill/Val/Hunter) have a different point of view or different plan in the wake of the shooting.
And, perhaps most importantly of all when it comes to healing the nation and beating Donald Trump at the same time, what is Joe Biden’s message and method going forward?
When will we see him next on camera? What will he say in any TV interviews he does this week?
Remember: elite Democratic doubts about Biden’s capacity to win have as much to do with their belief that he does not have the strength and acuity to avoid another Atlanta as they do with the polling.
It seems like it will be a bit before Joe Biden can angrily call Donald Trump a convicted felon who threatens our democracy.
Perhaps the greatest irony of all is this: After a political career during which political division and smash mouth politics has been the animating force and key to success, Donald Trump’s path back to the White House is now going to be carried on the wings of angels calling for unity, love, understanding, and America coming together as one.
Of course, while he does that, other Red voices will continue business as usual. As one of the most hard-headed and clear-eyed Democratic strategists I know texted me moments ago:
Trump can really change things by not being Trumpy and rising to the moment. If he wants, let his assholes be assholes while he takes the high road.
If Team Biden has a plan to deal with that game changing reality, we haven’t seen it yet.
We haven’t seen a game changing reality. We have seen Donald Trump with a red ear and a couple of scratches on his face, perhaps from flying glass but Trump is claiming he was a bullet. We have seen nothing from a medical facility. And we probably won’t. And now we’ve got Melania saying, “I watched a violent bullet strike my husband.” Great. Show us the footage. Because the rest of us 1. heard popping, 2. heard Trump say “oh” and saw him touch his ear, 3. Saw Trump lower to the ground. Nobody saw him struck by a violent bullet except Melania, evidently.
I don’t see this incident as some magical carte blanche back into the White House. Trump is still the same man he was. And conversely, if the exact same thing had happened to Joe Biden at his last rally, I would not see anybody changing their vote from Trump to Biden. That is flat out fantasy.
The only thing that this may have done for Trump — and it may be enough — is it may bring out all his voters. Or, all his voters may have come out in 2020. They weren’t enough then, they may not be enough now.
I don’t think we saw a game changing incident. But the churning in my guts tells me that desperation and propaganda have risen to new heights. And yes, that is a game changer. I heartily concur, on that basis alone, that a game changing event took place this weekend. I would never have dreamt that anybody would rise to shenanigans like this, but it looks like Team Trump has.
I’m not going to believe that Trump was struck by a bullet until a medical doctor signs off on that. And even then I’m going to want to know if the medical doctor in question might have reason to feel coercion. This election has just officially gone completely batshit.
You are absolutely correct Ursula, it has gone batshit!
I didn’t believe from the start trump was shot. He didn’t even have a bandage on. I think it was a PR stunt. Regan’s poll numbers went up after he was shot. I just hope the person killed was not considered collateral damage.
Jeffrey Epstein was supposed to be in a jail cell and on “suicide watch”. He’s dead supposedly due to suicide. I think he had something on Von Shitzinpants and we’re finding out that is not possibly true, but damned likely.
I think this rube was hired to do a job, stupidly thinking he was going to be paid for the act and then he would go his merry little way. Didn’t work out quite the way he thought because at the point when he said “sure, I’ll do it” he knew too much and his remaining time alive was greatly shortened.
I comm0ented on your post about the treatment of, “Girls as agents, Clueless”, the stupidity amongst most Republicans of not defending women doing a job that might end their life, is completely bonkers … If one of their own young girls was left screaming with a split scull, as a useless wart like Trump went injury free, would they say and do the shitty things they do now?
I have always thought, that stepping into another person’s shoes at a certain moment in time could change my perspective, as most of us have limited access to critical information for a variable span of time …
These, “Knee-jerk”, comments by true JERKS, just shows their low grade education has been active again, allowing freaky statements of non-facts … Even if they might actually damage someone else’s life …
About, “SEEING”, a bullet at that speed is a pure fictional statement … There are cameras designed to ACTUALLY record such speedy things, they have to be capable of recording up to a million frames a second, a task so foreign to our slow speed eyes, that can miss things that occur in more than 1/40th of a second, and identifying an image caught at 1000th of a second or less as a bullet, goes beyond super-human ability …
Some resourceful back-room Republican-hires are trying so hard to show so much, family respect and genuine caring, along with making up obviously staged/boasted comments from a missing wife that has already removed HER son from the toxic/outrageous world of lies that is Trump … It still bugs Trump to be shown with a son that is a head and a half taller that Trump himself …
Trump’s shallow self is going to be the end of his own dream-world, his front is so fragile without any real merit to back him up, just his own word salads, heaped with sour dressing …
Getting shot and put into a wheelchair didn’t get that racist POS George Wallace elected. This won’t get this child killing nazi elected either. Where were you Melania when your husband praised the nazis in Charlottesville WHO KILLED A YOUNG WOMAN???? CRICKETS FROM THE MONEY WHORE!!!! PHUCK YOU AND YOUR PRIVILEGED NAZIS IN TRAINING!!!!
I watched that violent bullet strike my rapist. Jean Carroll
OMG! Melania and Barron are the victims of a world created by themselves and the patriarch of the family!! Her crap kinda makes me desperate to wear a jacket that says “I Really Don’t Care, Do You?!” 🤬
I am surprised that no one has shot at the ORANGE CONVICTED FELON before this! I see that the shooter was a MAGApublican, though they will blame President Biden.
DON VON SHITZINPANTS WILL NOT WIN!! He is a LOSER! the worlds BIGGEST LOSER!!
To paraphrase Trump himself “I like Presidential candidates who didn’t get themselves shot.”
I’ve been writing in comments and an article last night about the failings of his Secret Service detail to ensure what happened could NOT happen. However well trained and up to the job they might have once been, his hand-picked detail including the ones who do advance work for this kind of events were chosen by Trump for one reason and one reason only. He liked them – the unspoken aspect is they did the best job of hissing his fat orange ass! Sucking up to him to be able to be on his lifetime protection detail would be a relatively cushy job. A lot less travel for one thing. Plenty of taxpayer funded perks living near him or at his properties too. Keep in good shape and pal around kissing his ass. Head to the range to maintain weapons qualification (they still had to meet certain minimum standards as members of the Secret Service) but really, and I mean really keeping their skills honed? Not so much. One doesn’t need my experience to know instinctively what they are hearing pundits ask on TV which is how the hell the shooter was allowed to set up on that rooftop and start shooting!
As for “Melanie’s” statement it was clearly written by someone else. It was a “Geeve me my mon-ee BEFORE I sign eet” situation. In truth she wishes a bullet from the shooter had ripped Donald’s head off. She’d get her prenup payout of course but sooooo much more. She could have played the “grieving widow” and milked Trumps MAGAs for god knows how many tens of millions. So hell yes she cried last night. Over the lost money of Trump NOT having his brains (or what passes for brains) splattered all over the stage and the MAGAs near him.
Getting back to my first line in this comment. I’m terrified that there are more than enough MAGAs out there that were already planning to take a shot at President Biden. Now they will be even more determined to do so, even at the expense of their own lives. I wonder what Republicans will say then? Actually, I don’t wonder at all just as I know how crass and ugly so many of them would be had it been the President who was shot at and luckily barely grazed by a bullet. THEY for goddamned sure would be claiming it was a publicity stunt and the GOP House would be hauling in everyone under the sun to bray at them.
And if the President were to be badly wounded or killed the dancing and celebrations they had when RBG died would be nothing compared to the partying they’d be doing. And for you conservatives that come here if you try to say that wouldn’t be the case I say either STOP LYING or pull your head out of your ass and admit reality.
Fact is Denis the magats are, to the every last one of them, idiots incapable of producing a single, intelligent thought. They CAN however be lead to commit violence: this takes no intelligence on their part at all.
This was planned out, it was not an assassination attempt, but rather a desperate act by von shitzinpants and the ‘pube/magat party. A whole bunch of shit is coming to roost on trump and none of it is bringing up his poll numbers and President Biden’s debate performance did not hurt him as bad as they thought it would. And it doesn’t matter if von shitzi wins or loses in November, this little act has riled up the stupidest, bar none, people on the planet and stupid people not only do stupid things, they can easily be ordered to perform violent acts–we saw this on J-6 and we will see more of it–guaranteed.
These criminal fucks, the entire ‘pube/magat party, need to be removed from office this November. They will be in Milwaukee this week-I hope the citizens of that city give them the welcome they deserve–no welcome at all. Oh, and city of Milwaukee officials: make sure they pay up front otherwise you’ll not be receiving a penny from the criminal pieces of shit.
I can’t like you Ursula, no matter how many times and with what intensity I click on your like button. If I am experiencing that, so must other people. Please look into that and in the meantime I Love your article.
I fully expect to see an increase in gun violence everywhere after this. I see the magats as a simmering cauldron of hatred, anger, resentment, ready to be set off by anything, ready to take action against the rest of us. I figured it would happen after the election, but maybe we won’t have to wait that long.
Riding through the state (NH) this Sunday, I noticed about twice the tRump signs as normal. There haven’t been many out there, believe it or not. It used to be every other lawn ffs had a stupid orange moron sign but now if there are two in a neighborhood, that’s a lot!! But Sunday they started putting them out. He is orange jeebus come back from the dead. It’s magatland Easter.
I’m surprised the stupid slut pulled herself away from getting her nails done to take the time to lie. I’m not surprised she lied, just surprised she made the effort.
Melanoma was hoping he was out of her life before all of his money runs out.
Best Tweet so far, “The only time I wished Trump had moved further right”