“Fight! Fight! Fight!” – Donald John Trump, July 13, 2024, 6:12pm, seconds after an assassin’s bullet grazed his head
At 6:11pm on July 13th, an assassin fired multiple shots at Donald Trump during an open-air campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The VCA was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who, according to the FBI (yeah, no credibility. I get it), hasn’t any social media footprint and left no helpful information on his cell phone because he used encryption. He also lived with his parents (both mental health counselors) and looks to have been on some part of the special needs spectrum, from what little video of him we’ve seen. Some outlets are reporting that he was diagnosed with a “major depressive disorder”, but thus far that seems to be from an “unnamed source.”
All the legacy media seems to know about him (and is quick to say at every opportunity) is that he was a registered Republican. Which means nothing as Pennsylvania is an open primary state. People will regularly register for the opposing party in order to vote against their party’s biggest threat.
Crooks apparently used his father’s rifle (AR-style), with ammunition he purchased that morning. No reports yet of optics, if he had any shooting experience, or if he knew what his zero was (or even what zeroing is.) Some former schoolmates of his have been interviewed, one stating that Crooks attempted to try out for the rifle team but was passed on within a day because he was a terrible shot and unsafe with firearms. At this point we haven’t any conformation backing that claim.
It’s also been reported that he was noticed “acting suspicious” by law enforcement at least 30-minutes before the shooting, and yesterday it was reported that time frame might be closer to an hour. His presence wandering around the location with a golfing range finder was relayed to Secret Service and all other police present. Bystanders were also pointing at him and yelling to police for two minutes before he fired his first shot. The Secret Service did nothing to delay the event before Crooks was located, or to remove Trump from the stage once the sniper alert went out over the radio.
His firing position was the roof of a building somewhere between 140 and 150-yards away from the podium. A roof of a building that was actually the “overwatch command center” for the local snipers being employed by Secret Service for the event. Meaning, there were police snipers on “overwatch” underneath Crooks as he took his position. A position he accessed with a painters ladder he purchased from Home Depot the same morning, and somehow carried unnoticed from his vehicle parked almost a mile away.
As luck would have it, Trump’s personal Secret Service detail was given the day off, and replaced with temps. The temps were then reassigned to the Jill Biden fundraising event in Pennsylvania, and replaced with other temps from Homeland Security.
Google Earth photos show that there were three roof clusters that could be potential security problems, the roof Crooks used being the prime place (or Sniper Hotel) for a firing position. Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, claims that no one was placed on that roof because it had a pitch to it that was “unsafe” for Agents. Even though the counter snipers who took Cook out were on a roof with 2 to 3-times the amount of pitch…and there are sections of the White House roof that are continuously manned that have far greater pitch.
Countless witnesses have described the lax security present that day compared to other Trump speaking events. The “security” perimeter around Trump amounting to 100-yards.
There has also been no reports of any ariel coverage – Drones, helicopters, etc. Nor has there been mention of facial recognition scanners. We have had reports of cell coverage being shut off once the attack was in motion – which is SOP to prevent IED detonations. Point being, it sounds like at least that equipment was present.
I could blather on for another 5 pages about all of the problems, dereliction, missteps, mistakes, and errors of Saturday, but, you get the idea.
So, one of two scenarios occurred:
1. The attacker was able to recon the site days before without facial recognition or pre-event security noticing, and he was able to preposition and hide his rifle without any patrols or K9’s finding it. He then got completely lucky with an unguarded rooftop, in a building containing cops, with a clear view of Trump within 150-yards available due to everyone in charge of security being incompetent. He walked from his car to the site with a ladder unmolested. He was allowed to range find and recon the building an hour in advance while police watched and the USSS remaining uninterested. While taking his position, he was spotted by attendees, local LE, and a counter sniper team, and no one thought to immediately remove Trump from the lectern. He then took at least 5 shots before a counter sniper, who already had his gun trained on Crooks, returned fire.
2. Someone made arrangements for him and allowed it to happen.
For 1 to be true…well, I have a better chance of winning the Powerball drawing without a ticket than that cascade of failures occurring organically. But, to be fair, we are talking about government.
But, I lean towards 2. Who would be responsible, I have no substantive info, only guesses. I’ll not speculate. Perhaps, like the JFK assassination, we’ll learn the truth in 100-years, or so.
In the interim, everyone involved in this fiasco needs to be fired! If Cheatle had any honor she would have committed figurative seppuku Sunday morning instead of doing damage control interviews blaming local police, roof pitch, and Iran.
One final thought – If the assassin had been successful, where would that leave us? What conversations would we be having, and what would our next steps as citizens be? I don’t have an answer, but it’s something we all need to consider…
…Because, if the first explanation is true, there’s a whole gaggle of potentially violent actors out there who now recognize that their fantasies can be realized. If this loser was able to pull it off with almost zero planning, zero skills, and zero support, well, “maybe I can, too!!!” And Trump is not the only potential target.
If the second explanation is true, “they” are now desperate to finish the job.
Our Republic stands in great peril.
“Hope you got your things together
Hope you are quite prepared to die
Looks like we’re in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye”– Lyrics from the CCR song Bad Moon Rising
