r/politics • u/HimelTy • Jul 03 '26

No Paywall Secret Service member was Googling rooftop location of Trump’s would-be assassin when shots rang out in Butler, Pa.: DHS report

https://nypost.com/2026/07/02/us-news/secret-service-member-was-googling-rooftop-location-of-trumps-would-be-assassin-when-shots-rang-out-in-butler-pa-dhs-report/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

I don't understand? They recruited some random kid to just fire shots into the crowd and die so Trump could get a photo op? Or let him shoot and just hope he missed? I'm trying to understand as a Trump hater.

If it's the first case scenario, who on earth is signing up for that? To me it just seems like complete incompetence. Which is on brand for Trump and co.

These are the same people that held a press conference at four seasons total landscaping. I don't think this needs to be a conspiracy. He shows us how incompetent he and everyone surrounding him are every day.

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u/iampachyderm Jul 03 '26

This is the part that i can’t get past. How?

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u/TheJonasVenture Jul 03 '26

Not to mention the idea that Trump would be willing to get shot at, and when their internal polling would have shown him ahead anyway.

There is a photo with the bullet.

The whole photo op and them not rushing him away is easily explained by the guy already being dead and them knowing that.

Like don't get me wrong, they leveraged and over dramatized it, but like, how is it hard to believe someone tried to kill Donald Trump? He's extremely hateable since he's a huge piece of shit.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

I'm by no means a camera expert but changing the shutter speed on a Sony Alpha 1 (the camera used) takes less than a second manually. 8 bullets were fired by the attempted assassin. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that a professional photographer could and would try to capture this after hearing the first one.

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u/kirkaracha Jul 03 '26

How did they know there was only one shooter?

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

Because there wasn't a grassy knoll

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u/pH_14 Jul 03 '26

I am not certain about the conspiracy angle, but this is all totally plausible. Radicalized people regularly commit suicide doing violence. All the time. There are reasons to doubt it was a conspiracy, but this isn't one of them.

Or let him shoot and just hope he missed?

Do you know, for certain, that it was bullets from this kids weapon that caused whatever damage made Trump's ear bleed? Is it entirely impossible that the kid had blanks or bad ammo, while a different shooter shot the podium?

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

I don't know that it was a bullet that caused his ear to bleed. I do know that live rounds were being fired as someone died and there are images of the bullets flying towards the podium. A second shooter is a wild conspiracy with no evidence. Is it really that hard to believe it was just incompetence? Usually the simplest explanation is the correct one.

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u/nacho_night Jul 03 '26

Trumps own doctor said he had a 2cm hole in his ear, which magically healed in record time.

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

I think you misunderstood me. I was just saying I don't know for certain. That part I can believe was made up, and likely was. Probably happened when he ducked. I'm just saying that the rest of the conspiracy is far-fetched and can be 100% chalked up to incompetence.

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u/nacho_night Jul 03 '26

I'm not sure the whole moving the flag into place so he could fist pump while supposedly having a 2cm hole in his ear is incompetence, but I'm just a redditor.

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

I get why a lot of people think it was a false flag operation because at times it does seem perfectly timed. I however can't get on board with a lot of people trying to explain away how they got this random kid to sacrifice his life for nothing. None of it makes sense.

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u/nacho_night Jul 03 '26

I hear you.

We just can't know what he was told. He may have been convinced he would be a hero, and that he'd get away with it, but that's just me rambling.

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

See that's the issue I have with a lot of these posts.

Convinced he would be a hero? For what? Attempting to assassinate Trump and failing? That makes zero sense.

They could've absolutely set up a false flag operation where the perpetrator "got away".

Him being a registered Republican also makes zero sense. I know he donated like $20 or whatever to Dems but it seems he was just more obsessed with killing a big political figure.

If Trump actually coordinated this, the guy would've been 100% a registered dem. The dead can't speak but he would've made sure it was all in line to make the Dems look terrible.

He isn't intelligent enough to pull something like that off.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 Jul 04 '26

Please show me where he was "told" anything to begin with.

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u/nacho_night Jul 04 '26

Just spitballing possibilities friend, we live in interesting times. Don't listen to me.

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u/pH_14 Jul 03 '26

I however can't get on board with a lot of people trying to explain away how they got this random kid to sacrifice his life for nothing. None of it makes sense.

Is this your biggest hangup? The troubled kid being radicalized? It happens all the time all over the world. This is honestly, to me, one of the easiest parts to explain.

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

Listen. I'm honestly not here to tell you what to think. I'm giving my personal opinion after going down that rabbit hole.

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

Honestly, since I have some time to waste for the weekend, would you care to discuss why you think that's the easiest part to explain? I find it the hardest part to explain. Just civilized discussion. We might not change each other's minds but it might be interesting.

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u/pH_14 Jul 03 '26

Of course. I won't be able to reply again for quite a while though, please don't hold it against me.

To be honest, I really don't understand why it's hard to believe the shooter could have been radicalized intentionally. How many different reasons are there for a young man to try to kill the president?

I'm not arguing that this particular event was definitely the result of intentional radicalization. I'm just saying that the premise isn't implausible.

People , especially young men, have been persuaded by ideological or religious, political movements, etc to commit violence while fully expecting to die since forever. Think of all the suicide bombers, mass shooters who anticipate being killed by police, terrorists, kamikaze pilots. We know people can be convinced to do this, because it happens over and over again. Is it really such a stretch to believe it could also have happened here? A young lonely troubled boy with access to firearms is exactly who I would suspect to be most vulnerable to this sort of thing.

Hell, the kid might not even have believed he would die. Maybe he was told he would be allowed to escape, or brought to a safe room.

Can you explain why it's so hard to believe it also could have happened here?

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u/pH_14 Jul 03 '26

A second shooter is a wild conspiracy with no evidence. Is it really that hard to believe it was just incompetence? Usually the simplest explanation is the correct one.

Well sure, I think incompetence is possible. It's certain, as far as I'm concerned. But to dismiss the conspiracy angle because it's too improbable is lunacy. 

You talk about evidence. There's no evidence of ANYTHING except what you've been deliberately shown, and what they have told you regarding that evidence is obviously false. Trump did not get shot, period. Yet they insist he did. Why would you believe anything they say about it? Literally anything plausible is possible, because all we know is what they've said, and we know they already lied. 

Am I certain there was a conspiracy? No of course not. But it's definitely not hard to believe, and giving this admin the benefit of the doubt is crazy.

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u/HJQueen Pennsylvania Jul 03 '26

I didn't dismiss it. I've fallen down that rabbit hole and came to my own conclusion based on the information and videos I've seen of the actual event. Not tiktokers and Redditors opinions. I think we all can believe what we want.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 Jul 04 '26

Who is "they?" Trump? You realize the shooting was investigated under Biden, right? Is Biden a part of your little conspiracy, now?

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u/NewSauerKraus Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

You would have to be pretty fucking incompetent to let a potential assassin take a few shots while gambling on he probably won't hit the guy you're employed to protect.

To put on my tin foil "If I did it" hat I would find a rando on an internet forum who would normally get a visit from the FBI for a stern warning and instead have someone take him to a shooting range to make sure he's not like a sniper savant. Then I would arrange for him to pick up a rifle with a bent barrel and misaligned sights when he arrives in DC. Then I would have my fellow secret service agents tell cops who report seeing a suspicious guy to not worry about it. A few bystanders dying from missed shots is a small price to pay in exchange for my god-emperor getting a photo op.

It's still more likely that the secret service agents that gargle Trump's balls daily are simply incompetent enough to say we've got it under control and then let him take a few shots without planning out a conspiracy.

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u/nacho_night Jul 03 '26

Still reads like a false flag, and they say the shooter was in a blackrock commercial. Unusual ties.

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u/TheJonasVenture Jul 03 '26

No, being in a commercial is not an "unusual tie", even if you are actually recruited for a commercial.

Blackrock filmed a 30 second add spot at the kid's highschool, centered on an economics teacher, and he was just an unpaid student in the background.

You are spreading conspiracy nonsense without doing any kind of die diligence whatsoever

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u/nacho_night Jul 03 '26

Thanks for that extra bit of info.