They shot Trump. The rhetoric and the hate spilled over into action and now we have people dead. One innocent man is dead, and two others are wounded and in the hospital. Trump got hit in the top of his ear. Yup. The ear. That was close for him. It was deadly for Corey Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief. David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, are in stable condition. Collateral damage, the military calls it. I call it a tragedy. The young shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks (it’s a rule: you have to call an assassin by all three names), 20, is dead. A pimple-faced young man with the look of a loner. It’s all so cliche. All it’s missing is Mark Mahlberg. Let the conspiracy theorists lose and watch the tornado of imaginations run amok!
Not me. Although I have a pretty good imagination, I don’t think these people are that smart. Trump’s or Biden’s. Corrupt enough? Yes. Devious enough? Yes. Smart enough? Not so much. I mean, come on-it’s too good. The events are reading exactly as you would have put them in the middle of an action movie. Grazed in the ear? A kid with no military training gets into an open position on a roof for a perfect shot at the candidate? The candidate, grazed and bleeding, raises a fist in defiance and looking for all the world like a tough son of a “gun”? Naw. The networks would’ve turned it down. Been done before. A movie-of-the-week, maybe. If there still was such a thing. Maybe if Melania would agree to mixing in a little love story bit, we could get Hallmark to run it. In the end, though, I just don’t think the guys from either party could’ve pulled this scene off. Definitely out of their skill set.
Back in 1912, another former president was shot while running to retake the White House. Teddy Roosevelt was running on his new Party ticket, the Bull Moose Party. He was disillusioned by President Taft (his hand-picked successor) and his conservative policies. Taft was, in Teddy’s bespectacled eyes, tearing his legacy of progressivism down, and Teddy was intent on stopping him. Roosevelt was leaving the Gilpatrick Hotel, in Milwaukee, on the way to give a speech. John Schrank (who later claimed insanity) approached him and shot him point blank with a Colt revolver. Teddy should’ve been done for, but his long-windedness saved him. The bullet passed through his metal eyeglasses case, then through his speech, which he had folded up and put in the inside pocket of his jacket. The speech was fifty pages, so it went through one hundred pages before lodging itself in one of Teddy’s ribs. To make the story even more awesome, Teddy refused medical treatment until after he delivered his speech. Ninety minutes later. Another tough son of a “gun”. Hard to believe, but true. Just like last Saturday.
My heart goes out to the family of Corey Comperatore, as well as to David Dutch and James Copenhaver. I pray for your healing. As for Mr. Trump, I am glad you weren’t killed. We watch the world in flames with war and infighting; hate and prejudice; and we have to hope it won’t happen like that here, on our watch. Let’s tone it down, gentlemen. If we can’t have a peaceful exchange of opinions, peaceful elections, and a smooth and agreeable changing of the guard, then we’re dooming ourselves to anarchy. Not here. Not in America. Please.
P.S.
By the way, in case you were wondering, Teddy lost that election. See? Unbelievable, but true.
God bless y’all!
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Rolling Stones 