this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2024
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Donald Trump appeared to be shot in the ear as shots were fired at the former president at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Trump grabbed at the side of his face and blood spattered across his cheek as several popping sounds were heard.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

I don't know, to some extent this take on it sounds like victim-blaming to me. Not that I'm saying you intend it that way, but like... "best possible outcome of this [because...] the fascist bandit armies would come out in droves [if he died]" seems like kind of a lose-lose situation for people to be in. If Trump is alive and kicking, he can win the presidency and continue to foment stochastic terrorism by riling up his base with more and more violent rhetoric, while also potentially instituting policies meant to harm his political faction opponents. If he's not, they commit terrorism on his behalf.

I know it doesn't all start and end with Trump (far from it and there's plenty to be said about how fascist and imperialist the US already is under Biden and previous presidents before him and Trump) but from the standpoint of the kind of base Trump is the center of gravity for, him further riling it up or being a martyr both seem like bad outcomes to me in different ways. The "far-right" doesn't need an excuse to do violence and already has been (I mean, the Jan 6 thing happened long before this). What they do need is power to be able to carry out what they want to do as more than random acts of terror and Trump represents a means of them getting that in some way. Though he is of course far from the only one in their circles willing to go there. He's just currently the most charismatic and the center of gravity for pushing it.