Updates:
Might be best for mods to lock this post at this point (is that a thing on Lemmy?) because this story is basically wrapped. The FBI says a bullet caused some ear damage. Maybe it was bullet shrapnel from a ricochet or something like that, but later photos show the teleprompters in-tact so it wasn't shards of glass from those. Trump's usage of the bandage (and the assassination attempt) as symbols and political tools has been discussed at length and I don't think conspiratorial thinking beyond that is very productive. Pete Souza took his own account down after getting a lot of harassment, so no further conspiracies are needed regarding X-formerly-known-as-Twitter at this time.
A photo of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump taken on Saturday without his ear bandage has sparked a wave of speculation.
The image, taken by Alex Brandon of the Associated Press on July 27 and shared by photojournalist Pete Souza on X, formerly Twitter, shows Trump walking up an airplane staircase with an apparently fully healed ear wound just weeks after he was shot with a high-powered rifle.
Souza, known for his tenure as the chief official White House photographer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, posted Brandon's photo on his now-deactivated X account on Saturday, writing, "AP photo this morning. Look closely at his ear that was 'hit' by a bullet from an AR-15 assault rifle."
Souza's profile, @PeteSouza, which had over 200,000 followers, now reads, "This account doesn't exist, try searching for another," implying that he has deleted or deactivated it. If he had been banned, it would read, "Account suspended. X suspends accounts which violate the X rules."
Speaking for myself, my eyebrows are not raised. I remember reading that day that it was a shattered teleprompter or other shrapnel that nicked or sliced his ear, not that a bullet had passed through it. In any case, I personally don't quite understand the importance of the distinction. He was shot at either way, no? If it were a nick by glass I imagine it would've healed by now.
Edit: I forgot to mention... Fuck Trump and his ilk, they deserve being two-time losers come November.
Getting hit by a bullet makes it more dramatic and makes him more of a martyr for his rabid cult fans. If it didn’t hit him then there’s always the hint of the question - “was he the actual target?”. Which makes him less important to his fans.
It was just a mass shooting: you know, the thing that keeps happening in America that no one cares about...
Let's see how much they make of it when it's one of their self-selected elites injured by the gunman.
And let's remind them it's too early to speak about shootings. Let's get some clarity and distance from this vigilante shooting over a crowd of people with an AR before we weigh in.
Plus, although being shot at is pretty close to dying of course, a bullet grazing your head is exponentially closer to dying than it missing by several feet and some shrapnel or whatever gives you a little nick
Good point, I guess that gives me some justification for my stance that it isn't important. I wouldn't want to stoop to the level of his fans.
I mean he probably was, right?
FBI officially stated that it was a bullet, not shrapnel, after expressing initial uncertainty plus unhealthy 78 year olds heal slowly, hence the raised eyebrows.
Probably he was legit shot at - I think it's irrational to believe it was staged with the evidence we currently have - but fascists love false-flag and staged attacks. Hitler's Reichstag Fire, Putin's Russian Appartment Bombings are two recent examples. Even Pisastratus, the 5thC BCE tyrant of Athens staged a fake attack on himself to generate sympathy and justify an armed guard which he then used to seize the acropolis.
So I can definitely see why eyebrows raise quickly when a would be tyrant is suspiciously unscathed.
They're saying it could have been a fragment of a bullet, which would qualify as shrapnel. They're not using that word.
Thank you! So the FBI is still saying it was shrapnel, they just stopped using the word shrapnel so trump can have his BS narrative. That's healthy for our democracy.
But then you have to click 'hit by a bullet' to find out they're using bullet as a euphemism for shrapnel.
they're not using the word cause they don't want to deal with the diaper baby having a tantrum at them, so they are caving to him.
Good point, interesting examples too, thanks.
The fact that trump wont release his medical records to anyone, or even allow the FBI to question him or see his ear, is all the proof you need that he didnt get shot.
We know trumps personality. If his ear really got shot by an actual bullet, He'd be ripping the bandage off at every fucking opportunity and pointing to it and screaming about what biden/the liberals/etc did to him.
You might not understand the importance of the distinction, but Trump does in his messaging.
He's touting this as an honest to God miracle that he survived. His followers have said God personally intervened to spare Trump, which strengthens their belief that he's some sort of holy figure destined to rule. If it turns out that he was scratched by some shrapnel and not shot, that doesn't sound nearly as divine-interventiony.
Yeah that gives a lot of context. He's a pathological liar. Unfortunately, people attributing this to an act of God won't be persuaded by any images or video showing that his ear is fully intact for whatever reason. They'll assign it as another one of God's miracles.
So he stood there in a hail of bullets so close he got hit by debris and you're telling me it wasn't an act of God?
Sorry, just giving you a preview of their answer. Having been shot at in my life, it doesn't really matter. They're going to call those bullets missing him a miracle. Especially because at 100 meters, he should be dead. He's alive for only one of two reasons, that shooter fucked up or divine intervention.
I love the idea that an all powerful God would be like "sure I could stop this whole thing from happening in a million different ways, but I'm just gonna wait until the last possible microsecond and deflect the bullets into this firefighter instead."
Sorry God was on her lunch break when the Secret Service did their pre game prayer circle.
No one should be shot at, period. It's the act of taking a bad thing (where someone did die) and embellish it for use for his advantage. If he had any shame...but...
Yeah this is pretty much the entire point.
Furthermore, denying it isn't good politics. We're not going to make his base disbelieve him and we're going to look like conspiracy theorists to moderate Republicans and centrists unless we have extremely solid evidence.
Until we get that, he was shot, he has recovered. The ear and head area is famous for producing a lot of blood from very little. He was extremely lucky to only be grazed and we all renounce this kind of violence.
It matters because he was wearing a giant bandage. Stop helping him by diffusing this.
"Helping him" is a bit hyperbolic, no? What an enraging take to read. I feel like arguing over this as if it matters gives weight to the idiocy of people who idolize him. I even said I assumed he was hit by a teleprompter. Fuck you. Vote.