One of the top most news on the international media this weekend was the assassination attempt on former American president Donald Trump during a campaign event in Butler, the landlocked Pennsylvania state of the United States. He was injured after getting struck by one of the four bullets fired at him, and many believe this incident has guaranteed his victory in the November US presidential election.
The buzz that Trump heard after getting hit in the upper part of his right ear soon hit the social media. Pictures and visuals started flooding the internet, showing the former president getting hit moments after he began addressing the crowd and then getting up with a bloody ear. The first thing he did was pump his fist in the air and shouted ‘fight’ three times, as he was rushed to safety by a handful of secret service agents.
Incident creates social media buzz, nightmare for Democrats
A person died in the incident, while alleged shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was also reportedly killed. Mixed reaction was witness on popular social media platform ‘X’, with some ‘Xsans’ calling it ‘a staged attempt’, while others dubbing it a ‘victory secured’ by Trump. However, critics failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. An inch to the left, the bullet would have hit Trump’s skull, and the secret service would be cleaning his brain on the stage.
‘Xsan’ @L0m3z writes: “Trump yelling “fight. fight,” after getting grazed by a bullet in the ear, an inch from ending his life. No panic. No crawling on his knees to safety. The man stands up, faces the crowd, and yells ‘fight’.” Another user @SeibtNaomi posted: “Imagine attempting to destroy Trump and his legacy, accidentally winning him the election and then going straight to hell.”
According to reports, Trump had repeatedly asked for better security, but all his requests have been denied. This also prompted social media users to raise questions about the role of the secret service, and wondered whether the agents were actually working from ‘someone else’. They could not help but ask how the agency’s members missed seeing the shooter.
Author and TV host @TimKennedyMMA, also a former US Army Special Forces sniper, posted: “How did the shooter even get on the roof? I’ve been at several events for Trump and there is no way you can get anything going that close to him. I measured it on OnX 150.1 yards. This is complete negligence and incompetence or it was intentional.” Billionaire Elon Musk also threw his weight behind Trump and hope for his speedy recovery.
He also demanded that the secret service head and leader of Trump’s security detail should resign because of the security lapse that led to the assassination attempt. According to reports, US President Joe Biden also urged everyone to condemn the attack, saying there was no room for such violence in the country. A similar message was relayed by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who were deeply shocked to learn about the incident and said there was no place for violence in politics.
Both Pakistani leaders also prayed for the speedy recovery of the 78-year-old former US president. Likewise, leaders from across the world condemned the attack and prayed for Trump’s early recovery, implying that violence and democracy were two completely opposite things. The attempt on his life is surely going to significantly push Trump’s popularity graph up. Users across various social media platforms vowed to vote for the Republican candidate, saying that with his anti-war and anti-globalization speeches, the former president has deeply disturbed the deep state.
Even his campaign has apparently been built on the idea that it is him against the world, or the entire system – the judiciary, the media, his rival politicians and others – who he claims are bent upon marring his popularity and subsequently blocking his way to inhabit the White House for the second time. Now, even they cannot deny that there are some other powers that would rather see him dead. There has been no such credible attack since the one on Ronald Wilson Reagan just 69 days into his first presidential term in 1981.
As per the record, the 1981 attempt boosted Ronald Reagan’s approval ratings back then. The people should be ready to witness history repeating itself, this time going in favor of Trump, multiplying his chances of winning the next US presidential election. This incidents doesn’t breed more violence, especially when sentiments are high in the US.
