Donald Trump survives.

Assassination attempt fails by inches.

Photo credit: @dougmillsnyt

It’s a miracle that Donald Trump is alive.

It happened during Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a small blue-collar town just north of Pittsburgh. His remarks were cut short by gunfire to his right. An assassin had crawled to the top of a roof of a small building approximately 150 yards away and opened fire, shooting as many as eight rounds before he was ended with a shot to the head.

Reports are still coming in fast. There’s a lot of rumor and speculation and patently false information out there. We know that one innocent bystander, a Trump supporter in attendance, was killed. Witnesses described a shot to the head. Video footage showed authorities pulling his lifeless body from the stands, a towel covering the damage. Those who rushed to his aid were covered in blood. Others were hit. Truly heartbreaking.

There are differing accounts as to Trump’s injuries: some say his his right ear was grazed by the bullet, and other sources say his injuries were caused after the bullet hit a nearby teleprompter, sending shards of glass towards Trump. It seems, at least from the pictures we’ve seen, that none of the teleprompters were damaged. (If it wasn’t from broken glass, then these purported “sources” might have their own motivations.)

Reports of Trump’s injuries from the intrepid Henry Rodgers at The Daily Caller seem to suggest it wasn’t glass.

Either way, there is no mistaking divine protection. A shot from 150 yards missed by inches. If Trump hadn’t turned his head before the shot, the world would be changed.

There’s also no way to call this anything but a failure by the Secret Service.

The shooter climbed to the top of a nearby roof with a rifle, established his position, and opened fire. All on their watch, and after they’ve known of credible threats to Trump’s life and have rebuffed repeated requests for additional security. Granted, they responded quickly enough (I guess) - surrounding and securing Trump despite the risk to their safety - and neutralized the threat. But this never should have happened.

150-200 yards. H/T @realmflynnJR

Making matters worse for the Secret Service (and for local police), witnesses were notifying the authorities of the shooter. One group of Trump supporters saw the shooter climb up to the roof with his rife. This witness was waving down Secret Service who were on another roof. He was warning the police for 2-3 minutes: “There’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.” And next thing he knew, shots were fired.

If there’s anything you watch tonight, watch this:

Here’s another witness who warned the police of the location of the shooter.

As the first witness described, the Secret Service killed the shooter then approached him on the roof with their weapons drawn. Bloody photographs of the shooter - a young white male - are out there, if you care to look.

I’m updating this as new information comes in tonight: per the New York Post, the shooter is Thomas Matthew Crooks.

FEC data we found reveals an unemployed “Thomas Crooks” of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania donated $15 to ActBlue for “Progressive Turnout Project” in 2021.

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Immediately after the assassination attempt, the White House commented that President Biden had “received an initial briefing on the incident.”

“The incident.” As if a vagrant had urinated in the DC Metro.

President Biden didn’t even have the courage to call it what it was. After his prepared remarks - which he likely had no part in drafting - Biden was asked whether he thought this was an “assassination attempt.” Despite the multiple shots directed at Trump, despite the dead attendee and dead shooter, Biden faltered:

The assassination attempt was bound to happen, given the rhetoric from the other side: that Trump is an “existential threat,” that the GOP was turning into Hezbollah¹, that Trump is a fascist who will open up camps and never leave office. Mind you, those allegations are coming from the liberal mainstream – the Hezbollah comment, for example, was published in The Washington Post. They outdid themselves more recently with the Trump/Hitler comparison.

Say those things long enough, and your supporters will start to believe it. And if they believe it they might just act on it.

The media continues to embarrass itself. Perhaps the worst of today came from CNN, which ran a headline that the Secret Service rushed to help Trump after he fell. David Reaboi observes:

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Finally, it’s hard not to think that this will be a rallying point for the Trump campaign and his supporters. As it should be. Trump understood the moment, bravely ignoring the orders of the Secret Service and the danger to himself by holding up his fist in defiance to it all. What an image.

1. Hezbollah is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and has a long history of suicide attacks and bombings. The terrorist group was linked to the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 241 Americans. This suicide-bombing was the “deadliest single-day attack against U.S. Marines since the battle over Iwo Jima in 1945.”