Assassination Attempt

Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump was apparently shot in the ear by a young man during a rally at Butler Farm Show Grounds near the city of Butler in Pennsylvania. The shooter was identified as 20-year-old Matthew Thomas Crooks. Some of the early pictures or videos of the shooter may have been an internet troll or prankster.

Bad Shot

How did the shooter miss? He was supposedly only 130 yards from the Donald. As a 20-year-old with alleged ties to leftist groups, he probably isn't a gun expert. Maybe his Dad took him shooting a time or two, and maybe he takes an evil ol' gun out to shoot bottles sometimes just because it's cool or whatever.

In fact we learned he was a member of a gun club, so maybe he had a little experience.

They say he used an AR-15 type of rifle. I think rifles like that are usually zeroed for 100 yards, if he or his father even knew enough about firearms to do that. Zeroing is a process in which you tune the iron sights or scope to be accurate, and 130 yards is close to that distance, so that could explain the shooter's vertical accuracy.

But why was his shot off horizontally to the left? Was it wind? If it was an AR-15, the muzzle velocity is so high and 130 yards is so near that I doubt wind could have compromised accuracy that much unless there were some very strong winds, which there apparently were not.

Was he using a scope or just the basic iron sights or what? Iron sights are less precise, especially for the beginner shooter. Some claim to be able to shoot as accurate as a scope using mere iron sights, but that's got to be unusual. If he used a scope, it may have been bumped during transit or while crawling on the roof.

But we have learned he was being pursued by a local cop who jumped back down before climbing onto the roof because he was not armed. Maybe the shooter thought he had only seconds before being captured or shot, so was in a hurry and missed for that reason.

Leftist Or Rightist?

I've read the shooter had ties to leftist groups, but now they say he was registered as a Republican. Was that intended just to confuse us? So we wouldn't blame his leftist friends? Or was it a ploy to possibly make it easier for him to approach rallies or other events? Or is he a never-Trumper? We await more information about the shooter, but can we even trust what they claim to uncover?

Secret Service Response

Joe Biden says he's "grateful" for the job done by the Secret Service. If you watch the actual unedited video, the Secret Service took forever to get Trump away from the scene. What's up with that? They got Reagan down the road in seconds, but they're loitering around, taking their time with Trump.

And why did the Secret Service counter-sniper wait until the shooter had already shot at Trump to shoot him? That seems like an interesting course of action. Let's give him a chance to shoot Trump in the head before responding. Someone talked about "rules of engagement." I'm still not sure why you would let someone shoot at Trump before taking action.

And why was a roof only 130 yards from Trump not secured by the Secret Service or someone else before the event? They say that was outside of their perimeter and in the jurisdiction of the local police. Local police say they were the big boys who told everyone what to do. If you're the Secret Service and your job is to protect the man, why would you not secure a rooftop only 130 yards away?

The head of the Secret Service is a former Pepsico executive facing severe criticism and calls to resign.

One inch to the right and Trump would be in critical condition or dead, and Joe Biden is pretending to be glad that Donald Trump didn't get shot in the cranium. Why do I doubt that? He wants to destroy the man in every way possible, tell lies about him, have the media demonize him every day, have him arrested for nothing, but he doesn't want him to happen to be shot?

The fake journalists are surely responsible in large part for misleading people such as that poor kid into thinking Trump deserves to be shot for being a conservative who disagrees with much of the nonsense going on these days. Every day, we see more deceptive propaganda intended to demonize Trump and other conservatives as the most terrible people imaginable, and we get much the same about the Democrats from conservative talk radio, yet they all suck about equally.

Legacy

Maybe he thought he would be remembered as the guy who saved the world from another Trump presidency, but he will be remembered as the guy who helped Donald Trump get elected again. Maybe he thought he would escape the scene unscathed or throw down the gun and throw up his hands and surrender afterwards, and just spend ten or twenty years in a penitentiary, and get out as a famous leftist hero. But his brain tissue is splattered around on the roof, and Trump is doing fine and more likely than ever to win the election. I suspect that didn't turn out quite as the shooter planned.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

A fellow student says the shooter was bullied. These shooters are always bullied. Why do we continue to allow kids to be bullied? Regular abuse is not supposed to be a normal part of growing up. America doesn't seem to value its next generation much. He was a bright young person, good at math, and could have become a productive member of our society. But instead we get this.

Manchurian Candidate

There was a 1962 film called The Manchurian Candidate based on a 1959 novel about a man who's brainwashed to assassinate a presidential nominee. Could it be that the young and impressionable Matthew Thomas Crooks was groomed or brainwashed by someone to attempt the assassination of Donald Trump?

Wikipedia says that according to the CIA, "historians have asserted that creating a 'Manchurian Candidate' subject through 'mind control' techniques was a goal of MK-ULTRA and related CIA projects."

Coincidentally, Trump and the CIA haven't been the best of pals. Other powerful enemies include China, the Democratic Party, and perhaps Benjamin Netanyahu. Could they have groomed or brainwashed Crooks to attempt the assassination of Trump?

May those investigating be vigilant and discover the real truth.