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.
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.
Exactly. I suspect that the shooter had millions of dollars deposited into one of his accounts prior to this scam. The plan was ridiculous. Blowing through a security perimeter, armed with several weapons, and you think the highly trained SS is just going to continue smoking and chatting and let you get through?? This guy was nowhere near Trump. Who would have been shot at? Bus boys, waiters, and maybe a few press. The whole thing was aimed at making Trump a victim.....again, a la Butler PA, and attempting to cast sympathy on this asshole, with the purpose of increasing his decreasing support, currently at 39%. He would do anything to win the mid-terms, including putting his own wife in danger.
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?
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.
It was an AP NORC poll in the post, seemingly reported by Fox News. I’m embarrassed to report that I cannot find a link or any news about it. 😖 If it was AI generated, and this is false, I apologize.
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?
April said she went in another door to avoid the red carpet entirely, and Norm said he had a chat at one of the parties with Bari Weiss of CBS. When she or her people noticed his protest button, she was whisked away from Norm.
If he did anything, Trump tried to fracture a growing resistance and his vocal opposition—especially legacy from independent media. We’ll see if that worked for him in the long run.
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?
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.
Very, very true. SS has a guy in their sights, loaded with guns, shooting at them, and what do they do? Tackle him, strip off his shirt, tie his hands, and load him off to hospital and jail. They don't "neutralize" him, as Norm incorrectly stated they did? What a load of BS staged crap. The whole situation looked like a badly directed thriller, when you really think about it and listen to reports. Total crock of crap.
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.
Also, neither Melania or Karoline looked shocked, scared or even that surprised. They just sit there calmly, and you can see them each saying: "What happened?" First Melania says it and then you can see Karoline repeating it.
Seriously, if you were in a room & heard gunshots, wouldn't your first words be "Oh my god!!!" ? Or "F**k!!!"? Wouldn't you be diving under the table?!!!
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.
Absolutely right, and the Hortmans really were murdered in their own home and bedroom, together with their beloved dog. No one on the Right had any decency to say one supportive, kind thing about that terrible incident, leaving their adult children as orphans. But we're supposed to be sympathetic about this staged crap and believe a word of it? Yeah, I know it happened, but frankly, looked like a poorly directed TV show. DT planned this with his minions to get the sympathy vote for better results in the mid-terms. Case closed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"...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.
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.
Remember Ivana.
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.
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.
Exactly. I suspect that the shooter had millions of dollars deposited into one of his accounts prior to this scam. The plan was ridiculous. Blowing through a security perimeter, armed with several weapons, and you think the highly trained SS is just going to continue smoking and chatting and let you get through?? This guy was nowhere near Trump. Who would have been shot at? Bus boys, waiters, and maybe a few press. The whole thing was aimed at making Trump a victim.....again, a la Butler PA, and attempting to cast sympathy on this asshole, with the purpose of increasing his decreasing support, currently at 39%. He would do anything to win the mid-terms, including putting his own wife in danger.
💯% agree!!! It's total "amateur hour"!!! How hard can it be to hit a big, fat slow moving target?
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?
Good point.
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.
Patel looked like he was going to fill his pants, as did RFK Jr.
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
also to promote his ballroom.
More likely a dramatic argument for his high security ballroom, constriuctopm pf wjocj a judge has halted.
exactly
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?)
Ha!
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.
Of course it was staged. Piss poor security, elevators not secure.
A perfect opportunity for Stephen Miller to pull off some “FAKE ATTACK “. Of course the gunman had negative comments about Trump.
More than half the world has negative comments about Trump and this administration.
Took Iran off the news cycle as well as Epstein.
Of course he was left of center. 😖
I thought the same thing
Would you happen to have a link to the poll itself?
It was an AP NORC poll in the post, seemingly reported by Fox News. I’m embarrassed to report that I cannot find a link or any news about it. 😖 If it was AI generated, and this is false, I apologize.
It's OK. I had searched for any Fox News poll about the shooting and had come up empty, and I don't have a Blue Sky account. Thanks for the reply.
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?
April said she went in another door to avoid the red carpet entirely, and Norm said he had a chat at one of the parties with Bari Weiss of CBS. When she or her people noticed his protest button, she was whisked away from Norm.
If he did anything, Trump tried to fracture a growing resistance and his vocal opposition—especially legacy from independent media. We’ll see if that worked for him in the long run.
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.
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.
Very, very true. SS has a guy in their sights, loaded with guns, shooting at them, and what do they do? Tackle him, strip off his shirt, tie his hands, and load him off to hospital and jail. They don't "neutralize" him, as Norm incorrectly stated they did? What a load of BS staged crap. The whole situation looked like a badly directed thriller, when you really think about it and listen to reports. Total crock of crap.
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.
Also, neither Melania or Karoline looked shocked, scared or even that surprised. They just sit there calmly, and you can see them each saying: "What happened?" First Melania says it and then you can see Karoline repeating it.
Seriously, if you were in a room & heard gunshots, wouldn't your first words be "Oh my god!!!" ? Or "F**k!!!"? Wouldn't you be diving under the table?!!!
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.
Absolutely right, and the Hortmans really were murdered in their own home and bedroom, together with their beloved dog. No one on the Right had any decency to say one supportive, kind thing about that terrible incident, leaving their adult children as orphans. But we're supposed to be sympathetic about this staged crap and believe a word of it? Yeah, I know it happened, but frankly, looked like a poorly directed TV show. DT planned this with his minions to get the sympathy vote for better results in the mid-terms. Case closed.
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.
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.
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
Thank God for The Contrarian!
Free Press. White House Ballroom. OXYMORON!
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.
"...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.
None of our current administration's leadership deserve to be in positions of extreme importance or power.