The Assassination Attempt on Former President Trump in Four Photos

A man fired multiple shots during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening, killing one spectator and critically injuring two others, according to the Secret Service. President Donald Trump was rushed off stage, blood visible around his right ear after it was grazed by a bullet. Before leaving the stage, he turned to the crowd and said, 'Fight! Fight!' pumping his fist in the air.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” said Trump in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. 

Secret Service snipers killed the shooter, whom federal law enforcement officials identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The attorney general’s office and the F.B.I. are investigating the assassination attempt as a possible domestic terrorism attack.

Many politicians and commentators on the right focused on expressing condolences for Trump, leading some to criticize the Democratic Party for refusing to present a united front in the aftermath of the shooting. Other commentators on the right view the assassination attempt as a result of the Secret Service’s security failure. Some on the left also demonstrated sympathy for Trump, but criticized GOP members for hailing him as a martyr. Others on the left see the shooting as a consequence of the Trump administration’s refusal to expand gun control.

Pops, then screams

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

In the Daily Beast Opinion (Left bias), Nell Scovell wrote, “After back-to-back shootings in Texas and Ohio in August 2019, President Trump took to a White House podium to denounce gun violence…Because of empty Republican promises and the National Rifle Association’s stranglehold on GOP members, mass shootings continue to occur at an average of more than one a day in the United States.”

Moments after

Gene J. Puskar/AP Photos

A writer for Fox News Opinion (Right bias) argued that “the prospect of Trump rising above the political divisions and using the tragedy that befell him - and indeed the country - to argue for a different approach and a different kind of politics offers him something unique.” The writer added that “It is important for the country and for Trump’s political standing that he does in fact take a softer approach, something President Biden himself has done in his Oval Office speech…What happened to Trump means that the American people will be looking at Trump and looking to him first and foremost to see how he responds on the biggest stage of all to address the horrific events of last Saturday.”

One for the history books

Evan Vucci/AP Photos

The above photo was captured by Evan Vucci for the Associated Press. In an interview with Time Magazine (Lean left bias), Vucci explained, “It wasn’t the first time I was in that situation. So I was able to keep my head…I was able to compose pictures.” Financial commentators noted how this image may positively impact Trump’s campaign donations.

Bloomberg Opinion (Lean left bias) columnist John Authers said, “Shocking events like the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump are bound to have financial effects, which will matter…He’s in fantastic political shape.” Authers concluded that “Prediction markets are far from infallible, but they offer the best available approximation of the probabilities embedded in securities prices…Trump’s political instinct not to leave the stage until he’d brandished a triumphant fist to the crowd was truly masterful.”

How could this happen?

Evan Vucci/AP Photos

Commentators across the political spectrum, especially those on the right, have asked why there was not more foresight in this assassination attempt, as photos taken at the event display many Secret Service agents in attendance. A piece by a Washington Times (Lean right bias) contributor stated that “the Secret Service failed in its core duty and mission to protect Trump from a killer — despite the fact that agents and officers working under the agency had ample warning from rallygoers [sic] and bystanders of the shooter’s presence — is not so much a surprise as it is a ‘more of the same’ moment.”