"Former President Trump is now breaking his silence on the assassination attempt against him during a rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead," Trump told the New York Post. "I'm supposed to be dead."

"The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle," Trump also told the newspaper onboard his private plane while heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for this week's Republican National Convention. "By luck or by God, many people are saying it's by God I'm still here."

Trump told the Post that had he not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigration, the bullet that grazed him would have been fatal. "

Fox News

Based God! Saved Trump but didn't save his fan from being killed and two others being seriously wounded and instead of stopping the shooter from actually shooting at all, he decided to let the fella get a few rounds out first, God really does work in mysterious ways. Just like when God saved Hitler, Mussolini, Gaddafi, Castro and Putin from assassination attempts. It's a miracle.

"The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,"

The Doctor: 

God also hates illegal immigration.

Sad thing is, America is so damn religious that this will actually work on some people, Lol. Really is a crackpot of Christianity.

Oh I think the Trump is blessed is going to resonate with a huge audience of people. While I don't agree with it, Biden just doesn't connect with people. He needs to go. I do not see him wining this election.

I'm so uncertain on what to do, it feels like both options have their own huge risks.

But I believe more and more that if Harris did replace Biden, the useless Democrats wouldn't unite behind her, they are absolute cowards and piss their pants at the slightest bit of uncertainty, I fully expect they'd be a number of Democrats who would go rushing to the papers to say why Harris is a terrible choice and that they're now doomed, they'd be Democrats who would challenge her for the nominee, especially the career politicians whose plans for 2028 will be fucked. Then the Democrats would spend the next month talking shit about each other and why this person sucks and why it should be me instead of all uniting behind Harris and focusing on Trump.

Maybe they prove me wrong but I doubt it, I believe some Democrats will probably think "another 4 years of Trump will be fine, I'll survive"

Trump's rewriting his RNC speech, probably to remove all the toxic vitriol and try to paint himself as a "unity" candidate, it's a smart play but we'll see how long it lasts, it's clear he's bored as shit whenever he tries to speak like this and his "charisma" largely comes from attacking other candidates nonstop, plus with all the other loons at the RNC.

Biden was good yesterday, a few speeches, came across as the voice of calm and reason, I think the fact that the dude is a registered Republican has also hurt the narrative for now, Trump's been a lot more quiet than I expected (though idiots like JD Vance haven't), it feels like it hasn't blown up as much as it could. Still surviving an assassination attempt is an incredibly powerful image.

If the election was held next month, I don't think any Democrat would beat Trump but maybe Harris with her youthful energy could mount a big campaign across the next few months, only if all Democrats unite behind her and do everything in their power to get her the win, no more infighting or dooming and a strong VP (Cooper, Beshear or Shapiro). If Biden steps down it needs to be sold as "on medical advice"

Oh and, Biden should keep the presidency until January, so that Harris can focus on campaigning.

Likewise if Biden is ultimately the nominee, the moment it's official, Democrats need to shut the hell up and unite behind him.

I suppose Hitler and Castro must have corralled a lot of favor with the same deity in this case :D

That being said, it seems unlikely he was grazed by a bullet---too precise of an angle plus too little damage to his ear. Most likely the shock wave came within a few inches, so it would have missed independently of the direction he was turned.

(Obviously way closer than any set up would have been, but I doubt the conspiracy theorists will come to this conclusion when the crime scene reconstruction analysis comes out and probably says something like this).

Edward Luce of the Financial Times noted, "Almost any criticism of Trump is already being spun by Maga as an incitement to assassinate him. This is an Orwellian attempt to silence what remains of the effort to stop him from regaining power." Indeed, MAGA Republicans appear to be trying to stop discussion of their extremist plans— which are enormously unpopular— by claiming that such a discussion is polarizing.

The idea that Democratic opposition to authoritarian plans like those outlined in Project 2025 caused violence might convince MAGA Republicans, but it will likely be a hard sell for Americans who remember things like:

•Trump's own suggestion in 2016 that "Second Amendment people" could solve the problem of Hillary Clinton picking judges; or his 2020 attacks on Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, who became the target of a kidnapping plot; or election workers bombarded with death threats as Trump lied that the 2020 election was stolen;

•the October 2022 tweet by Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. mocking then–House speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul after a home intruder hit him in the head with a hammer; or Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's 2022 campaign video in which she promised to "blow away the Democrats' socialist agenda" as she took aim with a rifle;

•in 2023, House Republicans wearing AR-15 lapel pins on the floor of Congress; Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) saying his wife slept with a loaded gun after he voted against Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) for House speaker; or Republican representatives sending Christmas cards showing the whole family toting guns;

•in 2024, the Kansas Republican Party's March fundraiser where attendees could donate to kick and punch an effigy of President Biden; or Don Jr.'s reposting an image of Biden bound and gagged in the back of a pickup truck;

•or Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson of North Carolina, who is running for the governorship and who is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention starting tomorrow, saying just two weeks ago: "Some folks need killing! It's time for somebody to say it."

Indeed, in March 2024, in Vance's home state, Trump said: if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole…country," and a 2022 campaign ad by Representative Collins himself showed him shooting a rifle at Nancy Pelosi's "agenda" and at a cardboard rhinoceros he says is a "RINO," a Republican in Name Only.

Republicans under Trump have increasingly advocated violence as a way to gain power because they know their unpopular positions cannot lead their candidates to victory in free and fair elections. In this moment, when there is still little evidence about yesterday's tragedy, it appears they are projecting their own behavior onto Biden and the Democrats, blaming them for advocating violence when in fact, Biden and the Democrats have tried hard to enact commonsense gun safety laws and have consistently condemned the violent language and normalizing of political violence by Republicans.

Republicans' embrace of violence is a hallmark of authoritarian leaders; by definition it undermines democracy. In Nashville, Tennessee, today, neo-Nazis shouting "Hitler was right!" were involved in fights in the streets. Ending that resort to violence, which never advances society and always injures it, is key to restoring the guardrails of democracy.

Biden spoke to the nation tonight, warning that Americans need to "lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies. We're neighbors. We're friends, coworkers, citizens. And, most importantly, we are fellow Americans. And we must stand together." He condemned yesterday's violence, noting that "[a] former president was shot" and "an American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing…. There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can't allow this violence to be normalized."

The framers of the Constitution, he said, "created a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force. That's the America we must be, an American democracy where arguments are made in good faith, an American democracy where the rule of law is respected, an American democracy where decency, dignity, fair play aren't just quaint notions, but living, breathing realities."

Biden rejected the idea that criticizing the Republicans' extremism was polarizing. While they can "criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country," he said, "I'll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box, no violence on our streets. That's how democracy should work."

Biden paused all campaign ads and events after the shooting and told staffers to "refrain from issuing any comments on social media or in public." Trump is fundraising off the attempt on his life, but he spent the day golfing rather than campaigning.

The Secret Service has launched an investigation of how a shooter could get so close to Trump; Biden has ordered an independent investigation as well. Biden said he has also directed the Secret Service to review the security measures in place for the Republican National Convention, which starts tomorrow in Milwaukee.

Within hours of the shooting, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced that "THE HOUSE WILL CONDUCT A FULL INVESTIGATION OF THE TRAGIC EVENTS TODAY," saying, "The American people deserve to know the truth." Although the FBI investigation has barely gotten underway and Congress has no law enforcement power, Johnson promised to have officials from the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI "appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP."

Observers noted that it sounded like MAGA plans to have yet another investigation designed to spread a narrative, in this case, that the "Deep State" was involved in the shooting.

Heather Cox Richardson | Substack

Damn I need to add more examples to my big hyperlink post!

Lol. So guess we're going to the 11th Circuit appeal. Obvious delay tactics from the judge.

She needs to be dismissed, it's so obvious she is up Trump's ass and doing everything to protect him.

And coordinating with Clarence Thomas

Establishing a special counsel is well regarded as a constitutional act because they are acting under the office of the Attorney General. Do they really want the appearance of the politically appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland directly overseeing the prosecution of a man who is trying to unseat his boss and basically denied him a place on the Supreme Court?

Judges appointed by Trump should not be given any authority over his cases. This includes Supreme Court justices. The three nominated by Trump should have to recuse themself from those issues that deal with Trump personally. The conservative movement is making a mockery of our system of government.

Trump should not be assassinated and I am glad he lived. But he still needs to be held accountable for his actions. However our entire legal system is bending over backwards to accommodate him. They are really preparing for his second inauguration.

I am actually sure that this is exactly what Jack Smith wanted.  This case was never going to get tried if we had to wait for this judge to do anything.  All she has done was delay constantly with a bunch of crap.  Now that she actually made a judgement that that can be appealed and also in the process remove the judge as well, things can move in that case, and we can at least finally have an effort to dismiss her from the trial.