The most damning aspect of the poll is how easy it is to believe they would stage such a thing. Its in the realm of possibilities. I hadn't believed the claims about the first assassination attempt, but I do now. Trump and his crime syndicate lie and murder regularly. Its not a stretch to think they would do so if they thought it would help maintain the power and plunder currently happening.
I'm not sure it was entirely staged, but I do believe those who are orchestrating this administration with the goal of destroying the Constitutional Republic and representative democracy, had a "fine hand" in it. Perhaps just in encouraging the "lone wolf," or somehow enabling him to get through as far as he got.
I hate that I believe this. After all, assassination plots are as old as....Andrew Jackson's presidency. But with this regime doing little else but lying about everything conceivable, I can do nothing else.
Yes, it is sad that so many of us believe the likelihood of this being staged... but we have been prepped for it by all the lies and coverups and other nonsense of this fake administration.
The good news is that nobody died, and we have the shooter in custody, so unless some Jeffrey Epstein thing happens to him, it may be possible to get some information out of him. The tRump "assassination attempt" that helped him win the presidency had the shooter conveniently killed off and a bystander was killed. But tRump got his photo-op!!
"The shooter in custody?" What makes you believe that? They have A PERSON in custody, who a bunch of known liars are claiming is "the shooter." Why, why,anymore, would anyone believe anything that comes from this administration?
I don't expect any 'facts' to come to light about the shooter, certainly nothing about any recent deposits to his bank account. Look how easily they covered up the details in PA and silenced the victims and that was before he was returned to office and took control of all the agencies that would investigate these things in his favor. I expect as soon as he gets bored with the topic or the tide starts to publicly turn against him, the whole incident, along with the alleged perpetrator, will simply disappear from the media and public view.
While there have been assassination attempts on US presidents throughout our history, it is pretty remarkable that the felon has survived not just one, but three supposed attempts on his life.
“While there have been assassination attempts on US presidents throughout our history, it is pretty remarkable that the felon has survived not just one, but three supposed attempts on his life.” PRECISELY. TOO DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE for me.
Yes, I believe it is quite possible that some minions of Patel scoured the internet to find a lone wolf candidate they could influence into conducting such an attempt. That man wouldn’t have stood a chance against the manipulation of this government. He may not be the Manchurian candidate….but he certainly could be just the lone wolf candidate they were looking for.
I’m not one for believing conspiracies, but this one has convinced me.
I wonder if he'll survive, and whether we'll hear much from him in the future. P-47's ally Pootin has a way of making people disappear or die very mysteriously. (Epstein, anyone?)
I am not a conspiracy theorist but as I was watching the event on a live streaming feed, one of my first thoughts was "could this actually be something that was staged". I immediately set that aside until I saw video of Karoline Leavitt speaking about Trump's planned speech using the phrase "shots will be fired". Again, I realized she was being hyperbolic and knew she meant that Trump intended to throw some insults and zingers at the press corps. But I thought he choice of words was a strange coincidence. That is, until her husband warned Fox News reporter Aishah Hasnie to "be very safe". Hmmm, did HE have some prior knowledge?
Again, do I believe the whole thing was staged? No. But I can certainly understand why 70% of Fox viewers would. The first Trump presidency was bad enough, but the second is even worse. And one of the greatest harms Trump has brought to our country is that with all his and his supporters lies, cover ups, deceptions, collusions, and misdirections, none of us will ever be able to trust our government again.
Hello? Did you not watch all the videos where Norm stated he and April were going to stage their protest by walking out the minute the orange dumpster would start speaking?
That would be a much more effective protest than not attending at all.
Couldn’t disagree more. Legitimized the authoritarian takeover of the press. They would have been ridiculed on their way out the door. And being interviewed on the red carpet highlights the problem of acquiescence
Any kind of attention, even if it could have been ridicule, would have been a great protest. Also, where does it say they were being interviewed on the red carpet?
Norm himself said he displayed a protest button toon the red carpet and spoke with Bari Weiss. Anyway, we’ll have to sgeee to disagree. I’m disengaging
Celebrity journalism indeed. Why did any self-respecting reporter attend last night's carnival of clowns anyway? Somebody please re-explain it to me. (No, not you, Karoline).
"If ever we needed “truthful but not neutral” journalism and unstinting candor, it is now". But instead we have frightened reporters looking over their shoulders at Palantir and the Lidless Eye of T-2.
While assassination attempts on U.S. presidents are thankfully relatively rare, it seems to me that Trump invites excessive polarization (and resultant anger) by his behavior, language and rhetoric. Such violence should never be condoned, regardless of political leaning. But our current president needs to look in the mirror and accept some level of accountability and blame, IMO.
Completely agree, but therein lies the problem. The president should act as consoler in chief in troubling times. but the one we got now is the instigator in chief.
He'll blame anyone but himself. He's never taken responsibility for anything that didn't go exactly as he had wanted it to go. He'll probably find a way to blame Biden.
I thought the same thing, especially after he spoke about how this was the reason his addition to the White House was needed as it would hold more people and have drone safe windows. I hope the apparent shooter survives. Did he even shoot his weapon?
Thankfully no one was hurt. I do not know if this was a staged event by our Reality TV Super Star in Chief or if it was another tragic example of too many weapons floating around in this country, being made ridiculously available to too many fools.
This whole incident did not shock me however, as all other incidents of American gun violence have done. It really did seem staged and typical of T****- the first event he agreed to attend and this happens? Sorry, it's got his grimy fingerprints all over it.
My thoughts, exactly! Too much pushback from the courts for him to accept that he can't have it. Make sure something bad enough happens to ensure the new ballroom will be built! That's a drumpf distraction scenario! The creepiest part is that the security people let this perp live, rather than taking him out. Odd.
The trump regime is pro violence. There was no outcry from the right when the Hortman's were shot. They are pro ICE violence. They participated and later condoned the violent coup attempt on our Capitol and election. Mass shootings barely make the news these days.
My day yesterday started with a shooting of two police officers at a hospital that owns the health center where my husband and I were in a yoga class. We were evacuated. An officer was killed, the other is in critical condition. My day ended with news of the shooting at the correspondent’s dinner. This is our world. It’s very upsetting, particularly when people in one’s own community die. I’m not sorry Trump didn’t get his chance to say crazy outrageous things that legacy media would have reported with a straight and neutral face. This is all deadly serious. Legacy media should treat it that way.
A big question for me was why was the WHCA giving Trump a platform in the first place? Trump has damaged the press in ways that it will not recover from for decades. At this point, few on the left, right or even center trust "main stream media." This substack exists because of the systematic destruction of the press at the direction of Trump. Imagine an international press organization inviting Netanyhu to speak, after the IDF has systematically targeted and murdered journalists.
Presidents are always invited. In the past, those who attended seemed to even have some fun with the banter and Don Rickles-style insults. Trump always declined because he doesn't like to be insulted - even in jest. That's why they didn't have a comedian this time.
They should have invited Jimmy Kimmel! He did a monologue of what he would have said if they had, and it was very hard-hitting. And funny.
The fact that Trump planned to attend (for the first time in either term) itself adds to the suspicion that it was staged. And he wasted no time afterward suggesting that had his big beautiful ballroom been built, this wouldn't have happened. I have no idea if it was staged or not but seeing how it plays out will be interesting.
"...our federal government needs a level of maturity that has been entirely absent of late."
The qualifying term 'of late' is unneeded. Our federal government and specifically congress, the supreme court and the current administration have been anything but mature in the way they have dealt with the people, democracy, and support of the Constitution. The whole operation looks more like bad theater than governance.
As for legacy media responsibility, look no further than who owns it. There is little doubt that agenda has much to do with what, how, or if anything gets reported. Integrity is clearly an issue.
Yes to the above. However . . . The situation last night was incredibly suspicious. A hotel guest who brought in multiple firearms and knives without being checked, even though it was crawling with government agents? The chortling of the Felon and his malign minions afterwards? The carefully timed rage postings and other nonsensical ramblings of the Felon? Ear cartilage does not grow back--just a reminder about the last "attempted assassination." I very much doubt this was a genuine attempt, especially since the likelihood of the guy getting into the banquet room at all was extremely remote. The Felon thought that a little warlette would bump up his poll numbers, since it did so for Regan and Bush I (and at least in the beginning, Shrubby Bush). When the opposite happened he began trolling around for another mechanism to re-energize his base. QED.
From BlueSky: a Fox News poll showed that approximately 70% of responders thought the shooting was staged. 🤔
The most damning aspect of the poll is how easy it is to believe they would stage such a thing. Its in the realm of possibilities. I hadn't believed the claims about the first assassination attempt, but I do now. Trump and his crime syndicate lie and murder regularly. Its not a stretch to think they would do so if they thought it would help maintain the power and plunder currently happening.
I'm not sure it was entirely staged, but I do believe those who are orchestrating this administration with the goal of destroying the Constitutional Republic and representative democracy, had a "fine hand" in it. Perhaps just in encouraging the "lone wolf," or somehow enabling him to get through as far as he got.
I hate that I believe this. After all, assassination plots are as old as....Andrew Jackson's presidency. But with this regime doing little else but lying about everything conceivable, I can do nothing else.
Yes, it is sad that so many of us believe the likelihood of this being staged... but we have been prepped for it by all the lies and coverups and other nonsense of this fake administration.
The good news is that nobody died, and we have the shooter in custody, so unless some Jeffrey Epstein thing happens to him, it may be possible to get some information out of him. The tRump "assassination attempt" that helped him win the presidency had the shooter conveniently killed off and a bystander was killed. But tRump got his photo-op!!
"The shooter in custody?" What makes you believe that? They have A PERSON in custody, who a bunch of known liars are claiming is "the shooter." Why, why,anymore, would anyone believe anything that comes from this administration?
Who is going to "question" the shooter? Kash Patel? Todd Blanche? The corrupted DOJ?
If only Trump would stage his own death and just disappear forever.
I don't expect any 'facts' to come to light about the shooter, certainly nothing about any recent deposits to his bank account. Look how easily they covered up the details in PA and silenced the victims and that was before he was returned to office and took control of all the agencies that would investigate these things in his favor. I expect as soon as he gets bored with the topic or the tide starts to publicly turn against him, the whole incident, along with the alleged perpetrator, will simply disappear from the media and public view.
While there have been assassination attempts on US presidents throughout our history, it is pretty remarkable that the felon has survived not just one, but three supposed attempts on his life.
“While there have been assassination attempts on US presidents throughout our history, it is pretty remarkable that the felon has survived not just one, but three supposed attempts on his life.” PRECISELY. TOO DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE for me.
Yes, I believe it is quite possible that some minions of Patel scoured the internet to find a lone wolf candidate they could influence into conducting such an attempt. That man wouldn’t have stood a chance against the manipulation of this government. He may not be the Manchurian candidate….but he certainly could be just the lone wolf candidate they were looking for.
I’m not one for believing conspiracies, but this one has convinced me.
Another coverup for the Epstein scandal?
Likely looking to raise his tanking approval rating — the pity vote
More likely a dramatic argument for his high security ballroom, constriuctopm pf wjocj a judge has halted.
Crossed my mind as well. Since the apparent shooter survives, we should learn more sooner or later.
I wonder if he'll survive, and whether we'll hear much from him in the future. P-47's ally Pootin has a way of making people disappear or die very mysteriously. (Epstein, anyone?)
I am not a conspiracy theorist but as I was watching the event on a live streaming feed, one of my first thoughts was "could this actually be something that was staged". I immediately set that aside until I saw video of Karoline Leavitt speaking about Trump's planned speech using the phrase "shots will be fired". Again, I realized she was being hyperbolic and knew she meant that Trump intended to throw some insults and zingers at the press corps. But I thought he choice of words was a strange coincidence. That is, until her husband warned Fox News reporter Aishah Hasnie to "be very safe". Hmmm, did HE have some prior knowledge?
Again, do I believe the whole thing was staged? No. But I can certainly understand why 70% of Fox viewers would. The first Trump presidency was bad enough, but the second is even worse. And one of the greatest harms Trump has brought to our country is that with all his and his supporters lies, cover ups, deceptions, collusions, and misdirections, none of us will ever be able to trust our government again.
"If ever we needed “truthful but not neutral” journalism and unstinting candor, it is now." We have one here in the Contrarian. Also in a few others.
Do not attend the next one. Do not legitimize the regime.
Hello? Did you not watch all the videos where Norm stated he and April were going to stage their protest by walking out the minute the orange dumpster would start speaking?
That would be a much more effective protest than not attending at all.
Couldn’t disagree more. Legitimized the authoritarian takeover of the press. They would have been ridiculed on their way out the door. And being interviewed on the red carpet highlights the problem of acquiescence
Any kind of attention, even if it could have been ridicule, would have been a great protest. Also, where does it say they were being interviewed on the red carpet?
Norm himself said he displayed a protest button toon the red carpet and spoke with Bari Weiss. Anyway, we’ll have to sgeee to disagree. I’m disengaging
Celebrity journalism indeed. Why did any self-respecting reporter attend last night's carnival of clowns anyway? Somebody please re-explain it to me. (No, not you, Karoline).
"If ever we needed “truthful but not neutral” journalism and unstinting candor, it is now". But instead we have frightened reporters looking over their shoulders at Palantir and the Lidless Eye of T-2.
While assassination attempts on U.S. presidents are thankfully relatively rare, it seems to me that Trump invites excessive polarization (and resultant anger) by his behavior, language and rhetoric. Such violence should never be condoned, regardless of political leaning. But our current president needs to look in the mirror and accept some level of accountability and blame, IMO.
Never happen.
Completely agree, but therein lies the problem. The president should act as consoler in chief in troubling times. but the one we got now is the instigator in chief.
Can he blame MTG for this?
He'll blame anyone but himself. He's never taken responsibility for anything that didn't go exactly as he had wanted it to go. He'll probably find a way to blame Biden.
And Gavin Newsom , since the alleged shooter came from California.
Sadly, when I first heard about this, I thought Trump had staged it himself! Looks like I'm not the only one.
I thought the same thing, especially after he spoke about how this was the reason his addition to the White House was needed as it would hold more people and have drone safe windows. I hope the apparent shooter survives. Did he even shoot his weapon?
That actually makes sense and funding DHS. And I understand that he shot at a secret service officer who was wearing a vest so was not hurt.
Me too.
Thankfully no one was hurt. I do not know if this was a staged event by our Reality TV Super Star in Chief or if it was another tragic example of too many weapons floating around in this country, being made ridiculously available to too many fools.
This whole incident did not shock me however, as all other incidents of American gun violence have done. It really did seem staged and typical of T****- the first event he agreed to attend and this happens? Sorry, it's got his grimy fingerprints all over it.
Again, thank goodness, no one was actually hurt.
He wants his ballroom. Please don't fall for the bullshit.
My thoughts, exactly! Too much pushback from the courts for him to accept that he can't have it. Make sure something bad enough happens to ensure the new ballroom will be built! That's a drumpf distraction scenario! The creepiest part is that the security people let this perp live, rather than taking him out. Odd.
The trump regime is pro violence. There was no outcry from the right when the Hortman's were shot. They are pro ICE violence. They participated and later condoned the violent coup attempt on our Capitol and election. Mass shootings barely make the news these days.
My day yesterday started with a shooting of two police officers at a hospital that owns the health center where my husband and I were in a yoga class. We were evacuated. An officer was killed, the other is in critical condition. My day ended with news of the shooting at the correspondent’s dinner. This is our world. It’s very upsetting, particularly when people in one’s own community die. I’m not sorry Trump didn’t get his chance to say crazy outrageous things that legacy media would have reported with a straight and neutral face. This is all deadly serious. Legacy media should treat it that way.
Thank God for The Contrarian!
A big question for me was why was the WHCA giving Trump a platform in the first place? Trump has damaged the press in ways that it will not recover from for decades. At this point, few on the left, right or even center trust "main stream media." This substack exists because of the systematic destruction of the press at the direction of Trump. Imagine an international press organization inviting Netanyhu to speak, after the IDF has systematically targeted and murdered journalists.
Could it be that trump forced his way onto the list of invitees?
Presidents are always invited. In the past, those who attended seemed to even have some fun with the banter and Don Rickles-style insults. Trump always declined because he doesn't like to be insulted - even in jest. That's why they didn't have a comedian this time.
They should have invited Jimmy Kimmel! He did a monologue of what he would have said if they had, and it was very hard-hitting. And funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRjKhsJc95o
The fact that Trump planned to attend (for the first time in either term) itself adds to the suspicion that it was staged. And he wasted no time afterward suggesting that had his big beautiful ballroom been built, this wouldn't have happened. I have no idea if it was staged or not but seeing how it plays out will be interesting.
Free Press. White House Ballroom. OXYMORON!
"...our federal government needs a level of maturity that has been entirely absent of late."
The qualifying term 'of late' is unneeded. Our federal government and specifically congress, the supreme court and the current administration have been anything but mature in the way they have dealt with the people, democracy, and support of the Constitution. The whole operation looks more like bad theater than governance.
As for legacy media responsibility, look no further than who owns it. There is little doubt that agenda has much to do with what, how, or if anything gets reported. Integrity is clearly an issue.
If there is anything to takeaway from last night's shooter event it this; Trump thrives on three principles, Chaos, Chaos, Chaos.
Imagine, in the Time of Trump, we can't even enjoy a press mocking session.
Yes to the above. However . . . The situation last night was incredibly suspicious. A hotel guest who brought in multiple firearms and knives without being checked, even though it was crawling with government agents? The chortling of the Felon and his malign minions afterwards? The carefully timed rage postings and other nonsensical ramblings of the Felon? Ear cartilage does not grow back--just a reminder about the last "attempted assassination." I very much doubt this was a genuine attempt, especially since the likelihood of the guy getting into the banquet room at all was extremely remote. The Felon thought that a little warlette would bump up his poll numbers, since it did so for Regan and Bush I (and at least in the beginning, Shrubby Bush). When the opposite happened he began trolling around for another mechanism to re-energize his base. QED.
None of our current administration's leadership deserve to be in positions of extreme importance or power.