27 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

@ Varnell? 

 

Ben Shapiro is a lying sack of excrement.

Since the perp was a Right-winger he was responding to Trump's rhetoric.

20 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

A great man once said that we should; “not see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.

I'm not giving "a distorted and desperate view of the other side."  I'm quoting what the other side has said repeatedly -- Trump will be justified in using the power of his office to arrest his political enemies.  Trump has said he'd be justified suspending the Constitution, that he'll be a dictator on Day One.

20 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

 

As for you’re spare me the kumbaya comment; no doubt there would have been some in 1968 who felt the exact same about Robert Kennedys masterful speech in Indianapolis… 

Which is not applicable in 2024 when the Supreme Court has given the President the power of a King -- and one candidate expressly intends to take full advantage.

4 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

Some sickos here

Sickos who blame Right-wing violence on the Left?

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

  My preliminary hypothesis this morning, before I read the newspaper, was that the young assassin was probably an intelligent Republican who accurately viewed Trump and the Trump cult as threats to American democracy and the planet.

My take as well.  He was outraged/inspired by Trump's own words (or so I speculate).

7 minutes ago, K K Lane said:

Moderators:

I started this thread and I now request that this thread be moved to political discussions because a couple people have hijacked the thread to push their political views and advance hoaxes that even Snopes has exposed.

 

My initial motivation for this thread was the comparison of various ad hoc assassination attempts to the seemingly better organized JFKA.   The people who hijacked this thread have made such a comparison/discussion impossible.

You wrote:

My reaction: there SEEMS to be a difference between random-assasination attempts (Trump, Ford, Reagan) and JFK (and MLK that seemed more organized by government elements.

Again,this difference isn't dispositive, of course, but I find myself more and more thinking JFK, RFK and MLK are a different breed of assassination. </q>

What's preventing you from expanding on this observation?

28 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

Many are quick to label the gunman as either an ultra-left-wing Democrat or an ultra-right-wing Republican, depending on their own political leanings.

No Johnny, it depends on facts.  The kid wore a super-patriotic T-shirt in his high school year book, registered Republican when he was 18, and wore the gear of a right-wing gun website when he fired an AR-15 at Trump.  There is nothing left wing about these facts.

28 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

 

Such rhetoric only deepens the sense of distrust and hatred on either side. 

False equivalence.

28 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

In the final analysis, this crime was perpetrated by one American citizen against another. As John Kennedy once said, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.” The right answer now is to stop the divisions which exist within the United States and remember that before you are Democrats or Republicans, you are all Americans.

Throughout history, men of different faiths, backgrounds, and politics have answered this nation’s call to defend freedom and democracy in its hour of need. Democrats and Republicans have fought and died together on the fields of Gettysburg, in the trenches of France, and on the beaches of Normandy. They died to protect the freedoms of their fellow human beings.

Freedoms that are under attack by fascists -- Trump and his Project 2025, his unceasing violent rhetoric, his open desire to align with Putin, and his stated desire to suspend the Constitution and be a dictator on Day One scream the fact this is not normal politics.

28 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

 

Now, the seed of distrust and hatred is so tightly sown in the Untied States that the country is tearing itself apart.

Personally, I think the country was more polarized in the 60's and 70's when political bombings were as common as today's mass shootings.

28 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

All I know is, in Arlington Cemetery, both John and Robert Kennedy must be turning in their graves.

Especially over that bit where Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the two sides cannot live together peacefully.

28 minutes ago, Johnny Cairns said:

Thomas Jefferson once qualified the Untied States as the last best hope for man, but for that to be realised, we must work for one another, not against. 

I don't want to live under a Christian Fascist dictatorship, especially when the dictator is an infantile narcissistic career fraudster adjudicated rapist.

Trump promises to bring democracy to an end.  Spare me the kumbaya.

5 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Which is not to say the gunman acted at anyone’s behest. We don’t know much about Thomas Crooks save that he is dead.

And he was the type of kid who'd wear a super patriotic T-shirt for a high school yearbook photo, registered as a Republican when he turned 18, sat in the front row of his honors economics class, and wore the gear of a right-wing gun website to the shooting.  Trump has spent nine years spewing violent, divisive hate speech and he doesn't bear a degree of responsibility for this?

21 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

Things are getting stranger:

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20 year old shooter who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump was featured in a BlackRock commercial in 2023.

 

 

Front of the honors class.  No dummy.  

Did all of Trump's talk of dictatorship on day 1 and absolute immunity drive this super-patriotic kid over the edge?

9 minutes ago, Charles Blackmon said:

You might as well be paranoid in addition to everything else.

I don't see why not.  In the early days of the first Trump term sets of TWMHP were going for $200 each and up.  I have 150 un-collated sets in my closet.  I should have jumped on it then -- now sets go for about $70 mint.  Come and get me Crapper -- I can make money off notoriety too.

16 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

I agree. 51 Former Intelligence officers swore the Steele Dossier was real. They lied.

Several points I want to touch on about the shooting suspect.

While Mr. Varnell  is quick to point out that the shooter was a Republican, he fails to mention that one's party affiliation is only to determine which ballot you receive for the PRIMARY elections. And since Nikki Haley was on the ballot in this year's Pennsylvania primary, I would ask him to prove that the shooter registered as a Republican to vote for Trump. How does he know that the shooter didn't register as a Republican to vote AGAINST Trump and for Haley ? He doesn't, no one does for sure.

Registered as a Republican is only one indication.  He posed for a high school yearbook wearing a T-shirt that had Mt. Rushmore super-imposed upon the Stars and Stripes.  Most important, he wore the gear of a right wing gun website to the shooting.  Small Town white boy.

16 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

But there may be evidence to support this theory.

According to his 2021 tax filing, the shooter donated $15 to ACTblue, a LEFT-WING political action committee and fund raising platform to get out the Democrat vote.

So why would a Republican be donating to a Democrat PAC ? Ask Mr. Varnell.

He made the donation at the time of Biden's inauguration.  As a super patriotic true believer he probably felt it was a patriotic gesture.

16 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

So while he accuses me of "not letting the facts get in the way", it is he who doesn't tell the whole story.

And now we get to the part of the exchange where stories are made up out of whole cloth.

16 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

This shooter was NOT pro-Trump or a MAGA Republican. He was a left-wing nutjob who wanted to prevent Trump from regaining the White House.

Mt. Rushmore and Demolition Ranch say otherwise.

16 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

 

I believe he registered as a Republican to vote against Trump in the primary.

Who cares what you believe?  You're just making stuff up.

11 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

 

 

You know Rick Wilson is a republican, right?

14 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

@ Cliff Varnell   

Are you sad that this sicko who climbed that roof undisturbed (like Ruby got into the basement undisturbed) despite seen by several bystanders who alerted the police who did nothing, that this sicko missed his target?

Not at all.  As a student of the JFKA I know how much assassinated politicians are canonized.  Trump thought it was real funny Nancy Pelosi's husband was bludgeoned with a hammer.  Karma's a bitch, ain't it?

14 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

 

And how do you know that murderer is a right winger?

1)  He's a registered Republican.

2)  He posed for a high school yearbook photo in a shirt depicting Mt. Rushmore super-imposed on the Stars and Stripes.

3)  At the shooting he wore the gear of a right wing gun website Demolition Ranch.

14 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

Have you already a manifesto in your possession? Your last postings tell me something about you as a human being. 

Let me tell you something about me as a human being.  In 1992 I wrote the text for a set of collector's cards called THE WORLD'S MOST HATED PEOPLE.  I insisted Don Trump had to be in the set.  It was a hit in New York.  Al Goldstein wrote it up in Screw, and I've been told it was discussed on at least one New York radio talk show.

Will Trump get to me in his campaign of retribution?  I doubt it.  But it's possible. 

15 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

One thing is for sure: It is as if fate has provided the best iconographic Campaign picture ever ...

Shows how stupid he is.  Shots ring out, he gets hit, then he insists on standing in the open.

"Wait!  Wait!  Wait!"  Trump endangered not only his life but the lives of the SS detail by holding them up for a photo op.

Iconic or moronic?

5 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

Karl, I think this may end up giving him a bigger victory. People are getting fed up with this anti-Trump BS.

The anti-Trump BS coming from 20 year old small town white boys who wear a shirt in their high school yearbook with Mt. Rushmore superimposed on the stars and stripes, and then wear a T-shirt advertising a right wing gun website while shooting at a right wing politician?

Trump got shot by a Right-winger.  Did liberals kill RFK?

2 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

Some FACTS for Mr. Varnell and the other anti-Trumpers: remember these ?

What does this have to do with a 20 year old Republican super-patriot gun nut shooting at Trump?

Man Shot in the Head and Killed at Trump Rally Tracy, who was close to the incident, describes what happened: “Somebody got popped, somebody got killed, somebody died. Somebody got shot this close to where we were. Those bullets. I pray to God for these people's families. Oh, my God. But how is this happening in our country today?

Today??  How about every day.  Trump bragged to the NRA he "did nothing" on gun violence.

For all the good folk throwing around the phrase "political violence" please be aware Trump was attacked by a super-patriot probably to his Right.

4 minutes ago, Karl Kinaski said:

Meanwhile some sickos on X;

 

People are prone to imitate what they hate -- these two hate the guy who drew laughs mocking Paul Pelosi.

Be careful how one hates...

Just now, Gil Jesus said:

An example of the type of hatred I mentioned.

 

But your hate is hideously misplaced.  The perp was a super-patriot right wing white boy -- you claim he represented the Left.

I hate lies.  I admit it.

I find the narrative Trump was a hero amusing given the amount of responsibility he carries for his own shooting.

39 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

The deep state has done everything to Trump but kill him. It no longer has to hire and train assassins, as it did in the last century. All it needs to do today is to is have its allies in the media and its political leaders influence weak minds. When you have the President of the United States saying that MAGA Republicans are the greatest threat to the security of the country, you can expect results such as this.

The perp was a 20 year old small town white boy super-patriot registered Republican gun nut.  Trump has spent the last nine years spewing violent hate speech and got tagged by one of his own.  More than any woman who dressed slutty and got raped -- Trump Asked For It.

39 minutes ago, Gil Jesus said:

Political hatred killed JFK, the same political hatred that fired at Donald Trump last night, fueled by a media that has lied about and attacked him since he came down the stairs at Trump Tower in 2016. Chet Huntley tried to warn us about this influence by the media in 1963. His words ring true 61 years later.

Rush to judgement much?  Whatever you do, don't let facts get in the way of your feelings.

31 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

 

Even far leftie Cenk knows the truth.

Give credit where credit is due.

Trump, getting his the top of his ear shot off, missing death by an inch, and then defiantly rallying the crowd...was an inspiring, bravura performance. 

Rallying the crowd against whom?

 A 20 year old small town white boy registered-Republican gun nut.  Trump's nine year record of violent rhetoric came back and bit him in the ear.

Cenk sucks, by the way.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson at NC church meeting: “Some folks need killing”

https://ncnewsline.com/2024/07/05/lt-gov-mark-robinson-at-nc-church-meeting-some-folks-need-killing/

Trump-https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-georgia-threats/

MAGA’s Violent Threats Are Warping Life in America

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/opinion/magas-violent-threats-are-warping-life-in-america.html

Trump’s ‘bloodbath’ and other rhetoric inflame his 2024 campaign trail

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bloodbath-vermin-animals-trumps-rhetoric-trail-2024-03-22/