July 15, 2024

"That chart that I was going over saved my life.... The border patrol saved my life... I was going over that border patrol chart... If I hadn’t pointed at that chart and turned my head to look at it, that bullet would have hit me right in the head.'"

Said Donald Trump, quoted by his doctor Ronny Jackson, quoted in "Trump Credits Chart for Saving His Life, His Former White House Doctor Says/The former president said he would have been struck 'right in the head' if he hadn’t turned and pointed at an immigration chart, Dr. Ronny Jackson said in an interview" (NYT).
Dr. Jackson recounted Mr. Trump sounding “determined,” adding, “He wasn’t the least bit flustered.” Others around Mr. Trump described him similarly, saying he had said he was grateful he was safe. He told advisers he wanted to move on with the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee, to make no changes to his schedule and to press ahead....

On Sunday, Republican officials were contemplating possible changes to convention speeches, and it remains to be seen how much the assassination attempt is woven into the presentations in Milwaukee.... 

32 comments:

James K said...

It seems to me his head was pretty stationary in the couple of seconds before the shot. He was turned to the side, but it wasn't at the last second. In other words, this was not "Day of the Jackal" redux. It seems much more likely that he just missed the target or that the wind affected the bullet's trajectory.

Leland said...

If he is crediting a chart for saving his life, I'd say he is flustered. That's ok. He was that close to not being here to be flustered. His life was saved because of pure luck, but sometimes luck goes your way. For the poor former fire chief, luck didn't go his way and nothing saved his life.

Achilles said...

You can see the flop sweat flowing like a river through the NYTs news room.

It is starting to sink in what position they are in right now.

Original Mike said...

I'm a big fan of charts. I wish he'd use more of them.

doctrev said...

Is the Stupid Party really stupid enough to play down the Democrat murder attempt? Don't be surprised. Trump wants to drag them to victory, and they would rather drink poison.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Reported elsewhere that Dr. Jackson's nephew, with him at the rally, was injured by the shooter. Trump did turn hid head with fortuitous timing. Link below takes you to a story about and reprinting of the NYT photo that caught a Bullet leaving a tiny vapor trail as it whizzed past Trump's head.

https://www.livemint.com/news/world/donald-trump-rally-shooting-photo-shows-bullet-passed-inches-from-trump-s-head-11720925034575.html

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

It's been reported that the shooter tried out for his High School rifle team but was a "comically" bad shot. Supposedly he attempted to fire at his target and got a hit several lanes to the left of his position. His aim may have improved if he worked at it, but a shot like he was making requires a certain level of concentration to perform even marginally well. He'd already been seen by local PD at that point, so I suspect he was win a bit of a hurry. There may be something to Trump having turned his head at that exact moment, but there's also other factors involved. Anyway, I'm glad Trump only received a minor wound.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

"turn his head" I meant

Original Mike said...

My comments are disappearing again. Oh, well.

Breezy said...

This hits me the same as that butterfly in Mexico affecting the winds in the NE.

If Biden hadn’t opened the borders and let in millions of people regularly over the last 3.5 years, the border patrol wouldn’t have had that info and Ron Johnson wouldn’t have been able to graph it out and show that to me recently and I wouldn’t have had it for my PA rally and had I decided to post it earlier or later in my speech I wouldn’t have been looking at it and describing the problem with illegal immigration in such detail and I would have been killed.

traditionalguy said...

Go Donald go.

Bring J D on the team and fight the good fight. That’s all your loyal supporters want from you. COURAGE and your intelligence..

Quaestor said...

James K. writes, "It seems to me his head was pretty stationary in the couple of seconds before the shot"

James K. decrypted: I know nothing, but here's my worthless opinion pulled straight from my ass, sorry for the stink.

n.n said...

Securing American civil rights and lives is the right Choice... uh, choice. Emigration reform to mitigate progress at both ends of the bridge and throughout would be a positive development for human rites... correction, rights. Ending the Obama-era of CAIR forced by ethnic Springs, Diversity, etc. is a humane imperative.

gilbar said...

Imagine the world we COULD have woken up to this morning
woulda coulda shoulda
however it happened..
We were inches away (seconds of arc) from having half of the country celebrate Trump's death..
let us Thank GOD, that did not happen..

Quaestor said...

North 101 writes, "It's been reported that the shooter tried out for his High School rifle team but was a 'comically' bad shot."

By who? His Marine buddy who said he's got Maggie's drawers using Walter Matthau's voice?

Limited blogger said...

Trump sharing credit for saving his life with others.

A beautiful thing to do.

Ann Althouse said...

"You can see the flop sweat flowing like a river through the NYTs news room."

I think they're settling down and about to relax into relatively unbiased reporting. They should be resigned to a Trump victory now.

I don't think they're hoping — a la Jack Black — for another shot at Trump.

James K said...

F off Quaestor, I watched the same video everyone else did.

PM said...

An illegal immigration chart saves his life = Irony.
It's gotta be framed and hung in The Oval Office.

Original Mike said...

"They should be resigned to a Trump victory now."

This election is nowhere near over. To start with, it's 4 months from now. That's an eternity.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Hope spring eternal in Althouse breast.

Quaestor said...

Don't get all forensic-y using nothing but incomplete data.

It's not dignified.

James K said...

"It's not dignified."

Says the guy using potty language to insult another poster rather than contribute something constructive to the blog. Buh-bye.

Quaestor said...

"I don't think they're hoping — a la Jack Black — for another shot at Trump."

Someone ought to administer a dose of cancel culture to Mister Jack Black. We'll see how he likes it.

Leland said...

So much for that fourth installment of Jumanji...

Quaestor said...

Perhaps James K. hasn't noticed that nasty trend of modern history called the conspiracy theory. Idle speculation leads to further speculations based on earlier speculations, leading inevitably to "facts" that are not factual, which in turn, fuels other foundationless opinions presented as bombshells, revelations, hidden truths unmasked, etc.

The fact that millions of Americans believe John F. Kennedy was murdered by the CIA isn't accidental. That plainly irrational dogma was not born fully formed like Athene sprung from the forehead of Zeus. It grew and multiplied on the backs of incomplete information rounded out with guileless postulation and the occasional cunning fabrication like an infestation, a pox on the underpinnings of self-government. Many of these same people also believe the entire Apollo space program was a hoax, and not without the help of a certain malignant logic: If the FBI, and the Supreme Court, and every administration, both Republican and Democrat, since 1963 can keep the motive and identity of the unseen sniper on the Grassy Knoll a secret for 51 years, then faking the Moon landings was child's play. And some of these same Americans also believe the Earth is not a planet, but a disk surrounded by a wall of ice guarded by the CIA and illuminated by a geocentric Sun by day and a holographic Moon by night. These people are lost to the rational society envisioned by the Founding Fathers. We cannot afford to sow another crop of such foolishness in the wake of this latest tragedy. Imagine a borderline schizophrenic taking a shot at a prominent Democrat in revenge for what he has been led to believe about the late Mr. Crooks -- his bullet was defected by the wind, he was a comically inaccurate marksman, etc. Trump was wounded as were others, and another killed. Who killed them? Not Thomas Matthew Crooks (Lee Harvey Oswald) He couldn't hit the broadside of a barn (had Maggie's drawers) Crooks (Oswald) must have been a pasty for a professional assassin hired by (fill in the blank).

mccullough said...

This is an advantage of being old.

Most males born in the US in 1946 are now dead.

It’s not surprising Trump isn’t afraid of death. He’s living in the bonus round compared to his peers.

Michael K said...

For those discussing the chart and Trump turning his head; My son pointed this out less than an hour after the shooting.

MadisonMan said...

Immigration saved Trump's life!

Jupiter said...

Marshal Ney gave a dinner party, and as can happen, after most of the guests had left, he found himself arguing with one of his old friends, who claimed that Ney had not earned his many estates, but rather had simply been rewarded for his slavish devotion to Bonaparte. This kind of thing will happen, when there is drinking.

And Ney said, "I will make you an offer. You will stand down there, at the far end of the garden, against that wall. And I will stand here, and I will fire a gun at you. Sixty times (Ney had been present, quite prominently, at sixty battles). And if, after I have shot at you sixty times, you are still alive, you may have all my estates."

Jupiter said...

"I think they're settling down and about to relax into relatively unbiased reporting. They should be resigned to a Trump victory now."

Oh, yeah. The last 25 or 30 years of biased reporting were just a sort of an aberration, a kind of fever dream.

"Who ... who are you? What ... what happened? Where ... where am I? When ... what year is this? How, how ...".

And, of course, why?

JAORE said...

"I think they're settling down and about to relax into relatively unbiased reporting. They should be resigned to a Trump victory now."

Is this a click bait/pot stirring comment? Or..you have GOT to be kidding me.