Everyone decries and condemns the violence at the Pennsylvania MAGA rally on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Independently of political views and party affiliation, violence cannot be condoned. Ironically, all those gun-loving, NRA-supporting Republicans appear to have realized a little too late that firearms kill—and kill indiscriminately. The gun control legislation they have been repeatedly opposing could have prevented many tragedies and spared many lives.
Was it a real assassination attempt? Many have expressed their suspicion that it was a publicity stunt. To start with, the gunman was a registered Republican. Another open interrogation mark is how an armed individual got access to a vantage point nearby from where he could shoot during the rally. Moreover, it’s surprising, to say the least, that the bullet barely touched Trump’s right ear to draw some blood but without causing further damage. It neither killed or severely injured Trump nor entirely missed him. It just hurt him minimally to make him a victim—but, again, an extremely fortunate victim.
Then, Trump has the temerity and total lack of good taste to recover at his private golf club in Bedminster, NJ, while some of his supporters were grieving the loss of a loved one, fighting for their lives, or going through a nightmarish time next to the two victims still in critical condition.
Yet, that’s Trump. His lack of consideration for others is widely known—and it doesn’t look like he’ll ever change.
Going back to topic, that so-called ‘assassination attempt’ presented Trump as a victim—without compromising his health or leaving any serious scars. For someone who openly states he finds disabled veterans unsightly, it’d have been unbearably distressing to find himself in a similar position. Nothing like that even remotely happened to him. He didn’t even need to remain in hospital and was discharged later on Saturday night—on the same day of the shooting. I wonder why he wasn’t kept a little longer for observation. Following that, he had a couple of jam-packed days. He went golfing and picked up his running mate.
Personally, I find all that very fishy. I feel strongly inclined to believe the publicity stunt hypothesis. Yet, there’s one argument against it. Trump is greedy—too greedy. He’s thirsty for power—and wants to have it unlimited. Still, I don’t think he’d take such a big chance on his life—least of all, on his face. What if the bullet had hit a little closer? What if it hadn’t passed through but gone in? I can’t imagine Trump taking that huge chance.
Notwithstanding that, I still think it was a publicity stunt—but Trump himself may not have planned it. Besides, he may not seem to have human emotions—but may not have nerves of steel either. Had he known what was coming up, he’d have appeared tense, possibly scrutinizing the distance, maybe ducking in despite himself. Conversely, others correctly point out Trump’s theatrical and seemingly staged response immediately following the shooting while still on camera—and still amidst the crowd.
Again, I strongly believe the so-called ‘assassination attempt” to have been a publicity stunt—an evil, deadly one planned by even more dangerous right-wing masterminds pulling the strings from behind. After all, Trump embodied the thirst for power, greed, and hate to become the figure the right wing had been waiting for years or even decades to emerge again.
What happened on Saturday, July 13, at the Pennsylvania rally may have taken Trump by surprise. Or maybe not. Yet, I believe it to have been carefully and evilly planned by extremely dangerous right-wing elements that will greatly benefit from another nefarious Trump era—at the expense of everyone else.
The foregoing is my own hypothesis, for which I assume full and sole responsibility,
Lillian Godone-Maresca