Ear's Donny!

Let’s see, what is there to talk about this week? Anything big happen over the weekend? Oh yeah, I remember… someone finally took a shot at TFG!

For me, this story and my reactions unfolded in stages. First I saw a blurb on Facebook as I was scrolling, saying shots were fired at a Trump rally. I figured there were potshots in the distance and they hustled the Hustler off stage.

A few minutes later, Sweetpea got a call from her brother, saying someone shot at TFG. My response was, “Come on, I’m sure it’s nothing… if it was, it would be all over the news.”

I stopped myself there because I realized I had the Orioles game on TV and all hell could be breaking loose and they wouldn’t stop coverage of the O’s and Yanks game, so I flipped on NBC.

Oh, OK, this is for real.

It was good that my brother-in-law made the call from home or else my first worry would have been wondering if he was the shooter. The dude is one of the few who’s more left-wing militant than I am.

Within minutes, I saw an instant replay of the incident and began to plot my next blog post. Eventually, there would be several more versions as the story developed.

First off, I thought there was a good chance it was faked. I’m sure Donny T wouldn’t volunteer for the William Tell treatment, but he could have ducked and squeezed a ketchup packet over his ear. I bet he’s got a pocketful of those.

But it looked pretty real and when I heard them start interviewing witnesses and they described seeing a shooter on a nearby rooftop, I thought, The Russians!

It would be a perfect Russian psyop. They get one of their Putin-loyalist snipers in place by greasing some local authorities and having him wing TFG. If this were taking place in Russia, the shooter would probably end up falling off the roof, but here, they just let the Secret Service snipers do their thing.

And the move would be perfect, hitting multiple boxes:

·         TFG gets to pose as a tough guy.

·         TFG garners massive sympathy (definitely from MAGAs, maybe a few independents. Many Dems sorry they missed.)

·         This is cover for every incident of future violence generated by MAGA.

·         Republicans get to play the victim card, which is their favorite move. (Because yeah, the richest echelon of the country and members of a massive organized religion are all victims.)

·         They can fund-raise off of this forever. Imagine the possibilities… They can make a plaster mold of his damaged ear to be used in creating anything from candles to cookie molds, to desktop fidget toys. “For just $50 a month, you can bend the President’s ear.”

·         And regardless of what they find out about the shooter, they will ultimately blame the Democrats.

A Russian troll farm couldn’t have dreamed it up any better. And it would explain why such a pampered prince, who hasn’t stared danger in the face since he came home to Melania after the Stormy Daniels case broke, was so ready to start throwing tough-guy poses amid the Secret Service dogpile.

(I figure that he is so ego-driven that he can’t accept being shielded and protected (especially by a woman) because it would make him look weak and scared, so he went into instant Ego Recovery Mode.)

I admit that for an instant, I hoped for something more serious. But only for an instant.  At the moment, there are more good reasons to see him remain alive.

·         If he’s killed, he becomes a martyr for the cause, an updated flag to wave at every uprising and polling place takeover.

·         Project 2025 moves on anyway, only with someone more skilled at the wheel, someone who WILL take steps to protect future Republican rule, and not just his own. Someone capable who will do much more damage to the Republic than a consistent fuckup and repeat loser.

·         I want to see him pay for the atrocities he’s inflicted on the nation. Instant death is too easy on him.

So, by Monday morning, it came out that the shooter was some sad sack from outside Pittsburgh, a high school outcast with his daddy’s AR-15. A registered Republican who also threw a few bucks to ActBlue. He left no social media presence or “manifesto.” Could be he just wanted the notoriety that goes with Suicide by Secret Service.

And yes, Republicans are blaming the Democrats. Always.

It’s especially nauseating to see this group, whose default plan is the death threat, cry about the mean old Left being so doggone violent.

It also seems that TFG took this opportunity to cement one of his lackeys in place with his VP pick, JD Vance R-OH, in case something else happens. It reminds me of a scene in the 90s classic TV show, The West Wing. The VP has resigned, the president has to be removed because his daughter has been kidnapped and he’s under duress, so the Speaker of the House has to step in as president. Played by the old “pre-diet” John Goodman, he says something like, “We have to name a Vice President immediately because as you may have noticed, I’m about one prime rib away from a massive heart attack.”

But I digress. (I loved that show))

Ultimately, I think this was just another loner-wolf doing something that only makes sense to him; maybe trying to impress Taylor Swift instead of Jodie Foster.

Maybe it will turn out to be more complicated than it looks, but I doubt it. There will be many investigations into how this schlub with a rifle got so close to a former president/current presidential candidate. So far the Secret Service and local cops are blaming each other. Eventually, it will get untangled, as well as the shooter's background. I think it’s an Occam’s Razor kind of thing, where the simplest explanation is probably the correct one. Shit happens and #45 has a horseshoe up his ass.

Either way, Republicans will milk this thing like a chocolate-milk-bearing cow outside a defunct Dairy Queen, until they’ve squeezed out every last bit of delicious outrage and then spewed venom all over everyone else.

USA! USA!