Trump Wounded. God Help America Now

Guess what happens when you and all your legions  brand a political opponent a dictator, tyrant, rapist and, as voting day draws near, the American Hitler? Here’s what happens:

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop … then a pause and then … pop, pop,pop, pop.

And Donald Trump goes down in the bright sun of a late Pennsylvania afternoon. He clutched an ear as the secret Service piled on and buried him stacks-on-mill. Moving as a scrum, they hustled him offstage, a pumping fist rising out of the mass of bodies  as the knot found the safety of an armoured SUV waiting by the wings.

Briefly to be seen, blood on his right ear, the one he cupped at the first shot, with a trickle marking his cheek.

Who did it? No details yet in these first minutes, nor any word on secondary wounds, although there are reports you can hear ‘Shooter is down! Shooter is down. We’re good to go’ An arrest?

That second bracket of shots, it seems they were from one or more Secret Service agents returning fire.

Witness statements? Phone-cam video? Again, not yet, but they will come.

Whoever pulled the trigger, though, this much we know: he is/was likely proud as punch to be remembered as the man who tried to take down Hitler 2.0

more to come

Two people are dead — a spectator and the gunman, who is being widely identified on social media, as known Antifa member Mark Violets. This demonstrates why, for all its benefits, the web ain’t to be trusted.

UPDATE: The would-be assassin  has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, whose body is below, would seem to be carrying a lot less weight than the man in the picture at right.

The gunman [Crooks], fired from a low roof outside the rally enclosure. The Secret Service sniper(s), who keep discreet guard from a distance at these events,  appear to have responded with four shots, possibly two “double taps” that killed the would-be assassin on the spot.

Another spectator, as related to CNN, was shot in the hand.

Trump owes his life to a fortuitous turn of the head. Had he not been glancing to the left at that exact instant, it would have been a mid-forehead bullseye.

The dead spectator, who was hit in the head, died instantly, quite possibly killed by the same bullet that grazed Trump

more to come

More than two hours after the shots, the White House released a statement to the effect that the President was praying “for Mr Trump and his family”.

Yesterday at his own rally, Biden called Trump “a rapist”.

At this point, I’ll hand coverage over to the mainstream media.

This is the story today. Tomorrow, those who have been such useful tools in broadcasting and promoting eight years of endless stitch-ups and false charges — New York show trials, Russia! Russia! Russia!, two bogus impeachments — will have the opportunity to explain why they poisoned the wells of American democracy.

It’s an opportunity you can bet will not be taken up.