I’m frustrated as hell. Late last night I finally saw a diagram of the shooting area on TV. But couldn’t find it online. For hours this morning I STILL couldn’t find one. Now I can, but when you copy it most of the details that matter aren’t in the coped image. The title pic is from an image that originally showed the position of both the shooter and Trump and a line depicting the 148 yard distance. As you can see, those details don’t show up when ones saves it to their computer. And I’ve tried with several different versions from different places. I getting CT tingle from that. And for another reason. Not one diagram shows where the OTHER people who got shot were!
If you go to this USA Today article, or this one from Newsday you can see some details of the layout and who was where. Except for the spot where the man who was killed and the others who were badly wounded were sitting! Still, take note of those three rectangles behind the stage where Trump was, speaking from his podium. From what I gather from accounts I’ve read and heard the firefighter who died from being shot in the head was near a woman (who described the shooting and seeing him after he was shot) as being near the upper left hand corner of her grandstand.
What NO ONE seems to want to let the public know is where she, the victims who actually suffered horrific gunshot wounds (vs. the nick on the ear Trump got) were when they were shot. But looking at those grandstands whether the one directly behind Trump or the one at the corner of the state almost along the line between the shooter and Trump they weren’t close. In fact, the woman I referred to noted that Trump wasn’t all that close to her and the people besides Trump that got shot. I don’t know about you but that gets me to wondering.
WAS Trump the actual target? This afternoon I’m seeing the FBI says so. However I’m not seeing or hearing anything to back that up. The shooter is/was someone who’s name I won’t use. If he wanted some sick satisfaction of being famous for what he did he won’t get it from me. F**K him! However he was quickly identified. Only 20 years old, and a resident of the community in which this shooting happened. As of last night and even this morning it seems no “manifesto” was found at the place he lived. It’s hard to imagine someone that age having little or no online/social media history. However, either this guy was in that small minority who avoids having an online presence or investigators and journalists are withholding what they’ve found.
His school, neighbors and acquaintances have surely been approached by journalists by now, and many also questioned by investigators. And we are hearing jack. So that too gets me wondering if I’m headed to tinfoil hat territory. There have always been conservatives furious that the GOP isn’t conservative enough. The GOP having turned into a MAGA cult is partly because of this. And Project 2025 is all they can ask for and more. Was this piece of sh!t wannabe assassin some young INCEL dreaming of a Project 2025 country in which he’d easily live the life of his dreams, and upset that Trump started disavowing it this past week? And not believing Trump pals who wrote it saying in effect Don’t worry. Trump’s on board and will turn us loose but to get elected he can’t admit it decided Trump has betrayed him and his ilk? Maybe.
If that’s the case it would be explosive. MAGAs would go batshit insane over such news and who the hell knows who, besides President Biden and VP Harris they’ll try to assassinate. And journalists and FBI and even state/local LE in their anger would be at a hugely increased risk. It’s something to think about.
However, I want to return to the issue of the physical distance between Trump and the others who were struck by the bullets. If you look at video of the minute after Trump ducked down behind the podium and was covered by Secret Service it’s clear no one near him, or anywhere close to him was hit. In some viewings you can see almost the entire grandstand and people aren’t really showing any signs of panic, much less injury for as much as 25-30 feet away from him. Most people would be getting the hell away from the podium and scrum covering Trump if they thought there was any remaining danger.
That leaves I think the grandstand at the upper left of the stage and as I mentioned earlier one lady gave what to me sounded like a credible account of her location, that of the man who was shot in the head and died and gave their position as towards the upper left (as you look down at the scene) of the bleachers. THAT my friends is why I’m pissed NO ONE has produced, much less shown a diagram of the scene that shows the position of Trump, the shooter (and the line between them with the distance of 148 yards noted) AND the other victims. Were they ten feet off the line between the shooter and Trump? More?
Even only five feet offline (and I’m pretty sure it was at least twice that) means this kid was one lousy shot. At least if he was trying to kill Trump. He had an assault rifle with presumably a full magazine and could have just started pumping bullets into the pile on top of Trump hoping enough agents would fall away he could get another shot at the ex-prez. Or maybe, just maybe there was someone in the crowd this kid wanted to settle a score with. And doing so in such a manner would allow him to settle it in a way history would remember. There are too many examples of people doing violent, crazy sh!t to become famous.
If I were running the investigation I’d have demanded last night a chart with detailed measurements not just of positions of Trump and the shooter and a line showing the distance. I’d demand it include the OTHER victims who got shot – and the distance they were from the line between the shooter and Trump. AND the distance between each other. Start of course with those who got shot, but also ID everyone around each victim and start looking for connections between them and the shooter. If they were pretty close together that’s a pretty strong indicator there was someone in that clump of people who was the shooters actual target. Making Trump just the “bonus” that would make him famous.
Before you dismiss me out of hand consider this. How many journalists interviews have you seen/read today with the shooter’s neighbors, H.S. classmates, teachers and any co-workers or friends? Or mention of his social media history? So far all we’ve been told is that he’s a registered Republican and active voter but also that he once donated a small amount ($15 if I’m not mistaken) to ActBlue. This is the middle of Sunday afternoon and that’s ALL? Now consider this. They’ve been beating the “Biden has to drop out” drum loudly and incessantly for weeks, and yet polling has come out saying that while the President had a bad debate they thought Trump sucked too. And while critical swing state polling is worrisome overall the race is essentially tied. NOW add it in recent days the realization that much, half or more of the country isn’t buying what they’re selling they’ve started getting defensive.
Now, out of the blue they have a new “bigly” SHINY TOY! Better still, it’s right before the GOP convention which might well have been a ratings disaster. It sure as hell won’t be now! News outlets can flog the “Someone tried to shoot Trump” narrative to death and the ratings (and more importantly revenue) will come flowing in. Trump and the GOP will milk it for tons of money for his campaign. (Hell, they started last night) Hyping the OMFG! Someone tried to kill Trump! narrative will make a lot of people a lot of money. Played correctly it could even help him with the election if he doesn’t overdo it. (Being Trump however he probably will and in the process negate whatever advantage he might have gained)
If the shooter was really angry with and wanted to kill someone else and only took a shot at (or close too but got a little too close) Trump to be famous, well that’s not going to play nearly as well. Journalists instinctively know that. And Trump? He’d look especially foolish IF that turned out to be the case. So he and his MAGA minions would ramp up the threats on journalists and one or more would wind up dead as a result. It’s much easier and vastly more profitable to stick with the ‘someone tried to kill Trump’ narrative which might actually be true.
This kind of investigation takes a while, and would even if the shooter had left behind some manifesto or note explaining why he tried to kill Trump. There’s also the issue that IS getting a lot of discussion which is how the hell he got onto and low-crawled across a rooftop with a clear line of sight to a Presidential candidate standing at a podium only 150 yards away. If he was trying to kill Trump there are some hard questions being asked, and one that’s not being publicly addressed is whether the shooter had one or more accomplices. How DID he get up there? Carrying a freaking assault rifle? Or a bag large enough to hold one? In a very, very Trump friendly town in a very, very Trump friendly (or so everyone thought) part of PA?
State and local LE who would have been tasked by the Secret Service with keeping that rooftop clear are going to face some serious scrutiny. Was Trump’s Secret Service advance team so incompetent as to not make typical arrangement with local LE? Was the assignment made and then botched? Or not botched but one or more local LE helped the shooter? That’s some scary sh!t to think about.
But that’s what’s running through my brain housing group today. There are simply too many things that seem off to me. I know it’s early in the investigation but there should be not just answers to some of what I’ve asked, but answers that have been shown to the public. Ask yourself why as I’ve been doing.
Hope this works, from the AU
https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-shooting-the-diagram-that-shows-just-how-close-shooter-got-to-rally/9f26340c-37a0-467e-8061-a90e2b310010
Phuck him…he missed. Frankly I’d rather see Trump live out his years in a penitentiary than be taken out quickly. He deserves to suffer as much as humanly possible for all the suffering he has caused WITHOUT AN OUNCE OF REGRET.
To paraphrase Hunter S Thompson: if there were any true justice in the world, Trump would be in the belly of a hammerhead shark headed south of Easter Island. True enough Hunter!
Send Trump a visual of this, lol.
I feel the same way. I don’t want him physically dead. At least not for a long time. I want him politically dead as in getting the crap beaten out of him by the voters. Then his conviction in NY upheld and more convictions. Enough to put his ass in prison for years. He can waste away in cheap cotton undies and a polyester orange jumpsuit, each prison food every day, sleep on a “rack” with a plastic covered mattress no better than you’d find in some small town 40 bed hospital and a similarly plastic covered pillow with minimum thread count linens and a scratchy wool blanket like we both had when we were in the service.
No cell phone. Few visitors. Maybe a tiny TV with limited hours it would be on and limited chanels (NO Fox!). No computer on which to play DVDs of RWNJ assholes praising him. The same magazines and books as any other prisoner would have access to. No golf – not even putting out in the small exercise area he’d have access to for an hour a day if he doesn’t break rules. The thought of him just wasting away, increasingly forgotten and irrelevant gives me warm fuzzies. And after some years of that, probably not many he’d just give up the will to live. Some morning when it’s wakeup time some guard would see him laying there like a lump and yell at him for slowing down the morning routine. And when he didn’t respond because he’d up and died during the night the news would break. Trump died in prison. He was found dead in his cell, having died during his sleep during the night.
If I’m alive to experience that news, and you are too I say we get together somewhere with a bottle of Jack Daniels or if I can afford my half a bottle of single malt Scotch or perhaps a great blended one like Johnny Walker Blue and tie one on. Oh how I hope my financial situation would have turned by then so I can make the pilgrimage to piss on his grave. (Well, I’d do more than that if you catch my drift.) It would be worth a night in jail and a fine if I were to get caught.
I can get behind that scenario. But what I *really* wish is that at least 40 states show solidly blue after the election. I know it can’t happen — our country is too divided, and there are too many MAGA cultists spread all over — but I almost salivate over the idea of a mostly-blue map.
There are simply too many things that seem off to me.
I agree, see my comments on Ursula’s articles earlier today. The entire “event” seemed staged.
I hope President Biden is on top of this, because he still has all the resources of a sitting President and can leave no stone unturned.
I don’t think you are CT, this whole episode stinks and I had a twinge of, did they kill the person, this tragically mentally impaired kid, who might have the particulars into what happened. Reminded of the JFK tragedy. I am not suggesting anything out of my scope, but these doubts will linger and our sitting President must get to the bottom of it.
Thanks for posting these images. This clown must have been shooting through the crowd, because he couldn’t have been much above the people in the grandstand to trump’s right. Also, the line of the shot suggests trump was hit by shrapnel from a spray of fragments that a bullet produced after hitting something near trump, maybe behind him and off-camera to his right. If it had been an intact AR-15 bullet following the trajectory indicated in the photos, it would have blown a big hole in the side of his head.
the shooter was wearing a demolition ranch t shirt. demolition ranch is a gun nut you tube channel. per Houston chronicle.
This may explain it, Ursula. Shooter’s concentration was disrupted.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/local-cop-confronted-trump-gunman-before-shootingbut-backed-away
orange man doesn’t pay the towns for anything more than he has to so he probably didn’t pay local law enforcement, figuring his secret service detail would protect him. Besides, who would want to harm orange jeebus? He now can walk on water. We will be hearing this forever. My guess, though, is that he didn’t spend the money to pay local law enforcement to help out with security. They are expensive, at least in the Northeast. And he’s cheap.
Three rings of security. Inner is Secret Service, outer is Secret Service snipers, middle (where the shooter was) is local LEOs. In his first campaign The Rapist got so infamous for stiffing towns for the expenses of his rallies that several towns said cash up front or no go. Might have something todo with how that middle ring got handled.
I hope the possibility of danger to President Biden and Vice President Harris is at the forefront of everybody’s mind–all democrat pols too for that matter. It is critical that if you see ANYTHING that might even seem the tiniest bit hinky you immediately contact law enforcement. These magats, magat pols, and probably every other crazy out there (hey, there are crazies who have nothing to do with politics but who are merely batshit crazy) are a danger to ALL democrats. Get them off the streets before they do any more damage than they already have–and magats/magat pols have done more than enough damage to our nation.
Be extremely thankful the six cons on the s.c. are extremely stupid-they handed President Biden the tool he needs to protect our nation in these violent times. I hope he uses his unlimited Presidential Immunity to remove these dangers from the streets, etc. and into jail cells where they belong. That IS an official presidential duty and always has been. Now there is nothing ‘pube/magat pols can do about it.
They did say the kid was a lousy shot. He was booted from the high school gun club because he was so bad they considered him a safety risk. At least that’s what I saw reported.
Which makes me wonder, who put him up to this? Why would a kid who’s a lousy shot, undertake such a thing?
I saw that too. I also saw reporting including from a young man who was a classmate in h.s. who said he was a loner, and was relentessly bullied. One of those kids that first the “cool kids” pick on for laughs and regular kids start in as well. The young man I saw interviewed didn’t put that second part in but we are all too familiar with how this kind of thing goes. I saw a brief mention he WAS part of a local shooting club. That doesn’t necessarily mean he was any good at shooting. What many don’t know is that it takes practice to remain proficient and a LOT of practice to become highly skilled (able to pull off a head shot from a LOT more than 150 yards which most people who are or can make themselves confortable handling and shooting high powered rifles can learn to do with practice. But, and this is a big “but” it also takes resources beyond time.
An assault rifle is an expensive thing to buy, even second-hand. Ammunition isn’t cheap for one. It costs from around 30 cents to a dollar a round depending on various factors. Buying in bulk instead of more common 20 round boxes for example. The manufacture and grade (precision of the rounds, the brass and the powder) also factor in. I haven’t been in a store to buy ammo (sold my rifle and pistol over ten years ago when I moved from the farm up in WV to the Raleigh area in NC) but as far as I know if one shops a bit a low end stock grade box of 20 rounds from a manufacuter like Winchester or Remmington is probably by now fifteen to twenty dollars a box. It goes up (and quite a bit I might add) from there if you want higher grade ammunition.
Still, if one wants to maintain fairly decent proficiency it’s a good idea to shoot 50-100 rounds at least on a regular basis. Say if not weekly then several times a month if you want to be able to hit a six inch bull’s eye at several hundred yards. You’d be surprised at how quickly you can go through just a couple of boxes of ammo at the range. Even only two boxes and you’ve shelled out thirty bucks not to mention a range fee. That might be minimal (again, it depends on if one has a paid membership) or can instead of being five or ten bucks go quite a bit higher. So even if one only shoots a couple of boxes of ammo add the cost of the lowest cost out there with even a small range fee and that’s fifty bucks. Weekly or even skimping and going to practice a couple of times a month and you’re talking about one to two hundred dollars a month.
Add that on top of the cost of the weapon itself (many ranges will allow renting one but that can cost a fair amount too) and for a person of modest means that’s no small sum. It looks like this shooter lived like I did growing up. Not poor but in a basic modest home. A family that made ends meet each month if they were careful, but where parents stressed out at night over trying to get/keep #500-#1k in the bank for emergencies and hoping like hell no big unexpected expense popped up. After high school he worked as a “dietary aid” (in other words food service worker) at a local nursing home near his house.
It remains to be seen how much time he spent at the range and what his fellow shooting club members tell investigators about his skill level. However I’ll say again for a modestly competent shooter a head shot a 150 yards in optimal conditions (and these were) isn’t a difficult shot. I haven’t fired a rifle in over ten years and an assault weapon in far (way far in fact) longer but I’ll guarantee you this. Given my experience and skill with the military version of the M-16 if given his AR variant if you gave me an hour on a range and ammo I could dial myself and that rifle in and put shot after shot into a six inch bull’s eye at only 150 yards. In other words pull off a head shot. No problem. Scott Sammuel Jackson who lives near me was a squid (Navy instead of jarhead as I was) could do the same and would agree with everything I’ve said. He could do it too.
When I was in Army basic training, it was pretty satisfying to see the target fall at 300 yards. I qualled as expert. My platoon set a record for the most experts.