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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBrent Molnar: With a few opinions about Trump's alleged assassination attempts
I’ve read this a few times now, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion: I think both of these attempts were staged. People died—and? There’s literally nothing that can be said to change my mind at this point. The handling of it all—the silence, the speed, the surreal packaging—feels more like narrative control than national security. This is a discussion board, and we’re allowed to have unpopular opinions. This is mine.
So let’s talk about the two assassination attempts. Not one—two. And yet somehow, it all feels like a deleted scene from a rejected season of The Apprentice: Martial Law Edition.
Let’s start with Thomas Matthew Crooks—the alleged shooter at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally. The rooftop gunman with a long-range rifle, conveniently out of frame but well within striking distance of the most heavily guarded orange lifeform in America. Secret Service on the ground. Snipers on the roofs.
And yet this kid—with no military background, no known accomplices, no tactical training—is suddenly Lee Harvey Oswald 2.0, but better, because he managed to pull the trigger before anyone said, “Hey, maybe we should check the guy climbing up there with a rifle case.”
And then poof—his body’s gone. Cremated quicker than a hot dog at a July 4th cookout. No autopsy. No press conference. No time for questions. Just an official shrug and a fresh conspiracy theory for breakfast.
How does a high-profile suspect in an alleged presidential assassination attempt get turned into ashes before the paperwork cools? This isn’t a bad crime drama. This is the actual U.S. government pretending like they’re taking a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” approach to a potential coup attempt.
Now fast forward to Florida. A man named Ryan Wesley Routh camps out for twelve hours inside Trump’s own golf course. This guy’s got a rifle, ceramic body armor, burner phones, GoPros, and a note saying he’s willing to die in a blaze of MAGA-glory.
Twelve hours. Hidden inside a place supposedly crawling with Secret Service. Was this a security breach—or an open mic night for aspiring domestic terrorists?
Both men had manifestos. Both had suspicious gear. Both were painted as “disturbed lone wolves” by the usual media puppets. But let’s be honest: if either of them had brown skin or a hijab, this country would be in 24/7 DEFCON 1 with tanks parked outside Trader Joe’s.
Instead, Crooks gets erased from existence before anyone can ask, “Was this guy even real?” And Routh gets tackled and cuffed like a protester at a Disney board meeting.
And somehow, through all this smoke, Trump emerges stronger, louder, and more unhinged. Waving trading cards of himself getting shot, autographing them like they’re little pieces of martyrdom merchandise. Peddling trauma like it’s a campaign bumper sticker.
He’s not just surviving these alleged attempts—he’s monetizing them. Turning bullets into brand equity. Trump isn’t the target; he’s the ringmaster of this American trauma circus.
So yeah, we’re supposed to believe these attempts are just run off the mill. I’m not saying they were staged, but the way they’ve been handled—from the bodies to the stories to the state-sponsored silence—should make every single person with a working brain cell step back and say, “Wait… what the hell is going on here?”
Because this isn’t security. This isn’t justice. This isn’t normal. It’s propaganda in a bulletproof vest.
Brent Molnar: Voice of Reason
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Botany
(76,244 posts)How did a 78 year old man’s ear heal without leaving even a scar or a scab in 2 to 3 weeks
from a bullet wound?
AStern
(650 posts)Not suspicious at all.
DENVERPOPS
(13,003 posts)with what looked like large white heel lifts?????? That would explain why he needed to grab his shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PSPS
(15,195 posts)
Botany
(76,244 posts)… tumble after it hits someone but not in this case? And why did the Secret Service and local and
state law enforcement not respond to multiple reports of the shooter being on the roof? And why did
did his secret service agents let him stand up there by exposing himself to more to more danger?
And why no medical records on Trump?
That shooting was as legitimate as the 2024 election. Everything about Trump is a lie.
Noted to be a .223 Rem? Or 5.56mm maybe? Just curious because I hadn't heard. Small enough difference in designation but potentially big difference in ballistics.
usaf-vet
(7,742 posts)An otolaryngologist, often called an ENT doctor, is a medical specialist trained in diagnosing and treating diseases and conditions of the ear, nose, and throat, as well as related structures in the head and neck. They can also perform surgical procedures in these areas.
I have scrubbed on ear trauma repairs and ear plastic surgery. And I have never believed that Djt was ever shot in the ear and that the "wound" healed that fast, without leaving scarring.
A squib is a small explosive device used to simulate bullet hits. When combined with a blood pack (a pouch filled with fake blood), it creates the effect of a gunshot wound.
I think it was a squib, in combination with a fake blood packet, well-staged, and I doubt any U.S. Secret Service agent would let a wounded president stand up and raise his fist.
Breakaway Blood Pac: A pre-burst version used in low-impact scenes—no pyrotechnics, just pressure or pulling on a cord.
Blood Pac: A sealed bag of fake blood, usually hidden under an actor's costume. It bursts or leaks when triggered.
Trueblue Texan
(4,152 posts)Botany
(76,244 posts)However I would like to see the backside of his ear because the .223 round is a very high
energy round it would have passed through his ear and shredded it or it would have tumbled
as it is designed to do and might have gone down into his shoulder and killed him. The poor
guy who got killed head basically exploded and Trump got a flash wound that healed in 2
weeks?
ILikePie92
(223 posts)Honestly, it does look like there's a small "divit" in the ear on the july 26th picture. Again I'm not disputing anything, just being honest. Part of me does suspect it was staged. It's just that he's too fucking stoopid to have set it up himself or maybe even known.
ILikePie92
(223 posts)No way there was a 2cm hole. That's just RJ being the quack he is.
Conjuay
(2,863 posts)
Trueblue Texan
(4,152 posts)ILikePie92
(223 posts)Who among his legion of morons is up to the task to setting this up? I can't think of anyone but maybe you can. I just can't bring myself to give anyone around him competence enough to have done this. They're all slobbering imbeciles.
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,272 posts)... Eric Prince? There are many undesirables in Der Dingleberry's orbit that could and would set this up.
ILikePie92
(223 posts)Not sure, hopefully far away from orange fuhrer.
ILikePie92
(223 posts)I think of those 2 as evil more than competent.
Trueblue Texan
(4,152 posts)
kimbutgar
(26,679 posts)Mtnmama
(128 posts)And a few of his henchmen involved, yes, I could easily believe it. But how many people would have to be involved in this for it to be successful? If true, how does America ever extricate itself from such corruption and evil?
allegorical oracle
(6,135 posts)
drmeow
(5,892 posts)is 6'3" and 225 lbs? That one?
GoCubsGo
(34,632 posts)It wouldn't surprise me if they faked that, too. He's probably living somewhere in Idaho or Wyoming, under a different name.
sdfernando
(6,007 posts)1st rule in these things is to kill the assassin……no witnesses..no one to come back with the truth or to demand more $$. Tie those loose ends!
GoCubsGo
(34,632 posts)Elon Musk's deep pockets would be more than enough to buy their silence. Especially if they were people who had a criminal background in the first place. And, when it comes to Trump, the odds of that are pretty high.
Wicked Blue
(8,409 posts)They dressed the body up, and had someone in matching clothes climb up to the roof in view of a surveillance camera. The live guy ducked, shed his outer clothes and mingled with the LEOs when they arrived. That's my theory.
malaise
(292,216 posts)Then and now - that is all
Polly Hennessey
(8,508 posts)Wuddles440
(1,952 posts)anyone who has ever participated in dignitary protection will affirm that one of the most important priorities is to expeditiously remove a protectee to a secure location once a threat has been detected. You absolutely do not permit them stop on multiple occasions to make public statements! Furthermore, the USSS Advance Team would always coordinate all event planning, site security, and comms with the local LEOs. However, in this instance, many of the local safety personnel advised that they lacked such essential information. Conclusion - this was a well choreographed, theatric production (possibly meriting an Oscar nomination) and the collateral damage only enhanced the aura of legitimacy.
ZDU
(1,057 posts)Control the narrative.
Repeat and repeat, again.
Goebbels for $1,000, please
peggysue2
(12,369 posts)The last line nails it.
If you recall, the right-wing influencers immediately predicted the assassination attempts (particularly the one in Butler) ensured Agent Orange's election success. The 'wounded' martyr would surely be elected and the photo of a bloodied Trump with his fist raised would live forever in the minds of his fervent supporters.
The details of the shooter and Trump's injury never made any sense. The public never received the hospital report and the 'serious' wound to Trump's ear healed in a miraculous short time frame and left no apparent scarring.
So yes, stepping back and questioning the event and its related details is pretty much standard when you're dealing with the world's biggest liar and his Flying Monkey Brigade.
.
Sky Jewels
(9,148 posts)It's definitely bullshit. I'm sure he rehearsed the raised fist bit ... nice stage work.
I also believe that Ivana didn't "accidentally" fall down those stairs, only to be unceremoniously dumped in a golf course grave.
DENVERPOPS
(13,003 posts)VERY similar to his, and I am here to tell you, it didn't look like his two week picture, until 4-6 months later......
et tu
(2,387 posts)flashman13
(1,961 posts)gopiscrap
(24,528 posts)
Mr.Bee
(1,613 posts)I've been saying this for months.
He was splashed with someone else's blood and rather than call to help them, decided to use it to his political advantage, sympathy for weeks. How could you see the tremendous bandage, and supporters wearing bandages, and not realize you've been had, again!
Classic Darn Old Dump! 
bee_peaceful
(84 posts)ScratchCat
(2,664 posts)The guy doesn’t even get to the “worst” part.
Garland and DOJ knew they were staged and decided to not tell the American People, presumably because it would be “unfair election interference”, just like when the Republicans refused to allow Barack Obama to tell America that Russia was interfering on Trump’s behalf prior to the 2016 election.
I’ve said it before: The look on Trump’s face when he got up screamed “They didn’t say someone would be shooting at me” as if he was completely expecting something, but not bullets coming his way. Then, the SS letting him stand there when they couldn’t have known yet there was only one shooter(unless it was staged) and pose for the photo he had planned confirms it all.
The fact that we never got any update on the kid, Trump or anything(they told us his parents hired high priced attorneys - why?) Confirms it was all staged. Right down the memory hole for everyone but right wing radio who can’t let them go.
AStern
(650 posts)I personally think he intentionally dragged his feet going after the Jan 6th crowd. He's an embarrassment.
thesquanderer
(12,886 posts)...live ammunition being shot anywhere remotely in the vicinity of Trump.
I can easily believe stuff being faked after the fact... like the suggestion that what hit him was shrapnel (e.g. a small piece of teleprompter that had been hit), and that the injury was extremely minor. That's believable. But for an actual bullet to to be planned to come anywhere within 100 feet of him seems highly unlikely.
vankuria
(963 posts)You’d think wherever he was treated after the so called gun shot, the hospital would do a press conference. After all an assassination attempt on a former president running for re-election is big news, particularly given the nations history.
sop
(17,280 posts)
Iamscrewed
(486 posts)The only smell test he can pass smells like shit.
Scrivener7
(58,138 posts)Kaleva
(40,130 posts)The 2020 election was stolen, chem trails, Oswald didn't act alone and so on.
People are more prone to believe that which supports their world view and dismiss that which doesn't.
Warpy
(114,363 posts)He got very close and if he'd gotten a second shot off, it would likely have hit its mark. Government sharpshooters just shot first and prevented him from lining it up and firing.
The "attempt" I don't buy is the one at Mara Lardo. It just has a funny smell, at least to me.
John1956PA
(4,734 posts)Crooks's sniper posture was disrupted when he was forced to turn backwards and face the Buffalo Township police officer who popped up over the roofline to Crooks's rear. After Crooks resumed his posture, he hurried his shots knowing that he had been spotted.
Celerity
(53,548 posts)
BoRaGard
(7,591 posts)and they have proved they are untrustworthy
bluestarone
(21,057 posts)
wishstar
(5,801 posts)Main reason that coverage of Crooks was curtailed was because he did not leave a manifesto or social media clues as to his mental status or motives other than searches indicating his interest in targeting Presidents (plus his family has stayed silent which is understandable considering potential for threats against them). As I recall his parents had split up with Dad a MAGA gun nut while Mom was Dem leaning.
Routh did have substantial social media presence where he explained some of his grievances and pro-Ukraine stance. But he wasn't inside the golf course but camped behind shrubbery near a busy highway outside the fence that surrounded the golf course.
No surprise or mystery about Trump cashing in and propagandizing to elevate his status as we already saw how he revved up his showmanship and fundraising with the indictments and conviction playing up his image as a heroic survivor with the MAGA cult.
GulfofMexico
(46 posts)That alone is clear evidence that this was a staged event, plain and simple. Instead of throwing their bodies on top of the "target," they hoist him on their shoulders so another shooter could have a clear shot? LOL
This is bullshit of the highest order. It was another promotional event just like at Arlington, only in this one someone died, but since when does Trump or MAGA give a damn about death? Hell, Trump told people to come out and vote for him in the primaries, even if they were deathly ill, and then if they died at least they'd know they'd done a great thing by voting for Trump. Look it up.
Trump and MAGA have a laser-like focus on promoting their cult leader. Nothing else matters. Innocent people get killed? So what? If it advances them and their cause, it's more than acceptable collateral damage.
And that "wound" to the ear? LOL Again, it was just to make Trump look like a hero without ever risking anything.
The draft dodging coward with less empathy than a rock and fewer brains than a blade of grass has to be the center of attention at all times and at any cost. If that ain't clear by now . . .
You don't carry the target of an actual assassination attempt out on your shoulders like Rudy after a college football game . . . unless it was all fake and you're going for the publicity.
PortTack
(35,810 posts)Grazed, whatever by a high velocity bullet. It’s not possible
Shipwack
(2,974 posts)“Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.” - Benjamin Franklin
This crowd can’t even keep an impending military attack a secret. I can’t believe that all the people that would have to be involved in not one, but two fake assassination attempts would not have any leaks.
SCantiGOP
(14,647 posts)Nixon wasn’t lying when he called Watergate a “third rate burglary,” but it was inevitable that the truth would come out.
Too many people would have been in on these Trump incidents for someone not to talk. Conspiracy theories are, eventually, just theories and not fact.
Clouds Passing
(6,835 posts) moniss
(8,603 posts)of this age could heal so completely so rapidly is patent nonsense.
Kaleva
(40,130 posts)moniss
(8,603 posts)note for what it's worth that old people like me heal slower than when we're young. A scratch that healed in a week or so when you're young will still not be healed all the way a month later when you're old. Supposedly his ear suffered way more than a scratch and yet there he is all miraculously healed up.
Kaleva
(40,130 posts)Like he got bit by a hornet.
I think the preponderance of evidence shows that this was an actual assassination attempt.
Whether or not the bullet actually hit his ear is irrelevant.
moniss
(8,603 posts)is there is no way in hell it was as bad as they made it out to be and if he had a 2cm hole blown in his ear as was claimed there would have been one hell of a lot more blood gushing from him.
LauraInLA
(2,248 posts)
Meowmee
(9,212 posts)The injury to his ear could have been just a projectile not even a bullet wound from a bullet that clipped the side of his ear. Make up can cover up a lot and we know orange psycho uses albeit crazy orange make up/tan stuff.
One person was killed and a few were seriously injured right behind him. How do you explain that? Lone psychos get guns and shoot people all the time here in the USA. No surprise at all.
Crooks was planning to attempt attacks on d also. The secret service, le messed up, not a surprise to me either.
Show me or find some solid evidence that Crooks was hired to do this as a stunt etc. and I will consider that. One momentary difference that day, and psycho would not be here now destroying the US and the world etc.
Did psycho and his band of crooks play it up as much as they could.. yes for sure imo.
RockRaven
(18,623 posts)BlueAnon
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueAnon
Some BlueAnon theorists have alleged that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was a false flag staged by Trump himself.[7][8] Snopes has examined and discredited viral photos alleging to show Trump plotting with gunman Thomas Crooks, as well as claims that Trump was injured by glass instead of shrapnel.[9][10] PolitiFact has debunked claims that blood which appeared to be coming from Trump's ear following the assassination attempt was faked with a blood pill.[11] Reuters has analyzed viral photos from the 2024 Republican National Convention that purport to show Trump wearing a bandage on the ear opposite the one that was shot in the attack and determined the images were doctored.[12]
Orrex
(66,593 posts)Nor was he hit by flying debris resulting from an errant shot.
A sedentary, obese man with veins full of Big Mac special sauce does not heal from a bullet wound with no stitches, scarring, or bruising in a matter of days. Even if he were actually cut to produce that preposterously red "blood" spatter, he'd have an injury.
Instead we see a day or two with an ear tampon, and then he's 100% back to normal like Wolverine.
No fucking way.
rampartd
(3,570 posts)conspiracy theory?
penn gillette, former celebrity apprentice, catches bullets in his teeth .......
i will always believe trump faked this "assassination attempt." the blood squib is a standard 'rasslin' prop
newdeal2
(4,693 posts)The author makes a big point about how the body was cremated soon after, but I’m not sure why that matters much.
What is fascinating is we haven’t heard a damn thing about the investigation in forever. Trump been so busy trying to distract us with JFK files and other nonsense that maybe people have forgotten.
randr
(12,613 posts)
the_liberal_grandpa
(261 posts)With the amount of loss he is causing the very wealthy and the degree to which his is antagonizing people around the world I am sure that someone, somewhere is considering/planning on going all JFK on him.
Let's see what happens when it gets real.