collapse of the old society

This was my literal second thought after I heard what happened.

This is so bloody unreal. The main suspect was even a registered Republican. All of this according to the FBI.

There was some evidence that the Reichstag was torched by the Nazis as well. I can really do without the irony.

Some notes:

• almost no doubt: this will have a mobilizing effect for Trump supporters ("our great leader is being attacked", etc)

• possibly: this will improve Trump's ratings among voters with no clear political preference (a big story where he's not the villain is what he needs)

• pattern: historically, surviving an assassination attempt has improved a candidate's chances of getting elected; in the most recent example, Slovakia's prime minister Fico enjoyed a boost in ratings while in hospital after being seriously wounded

I don't blame Democrats for temporarily ceasing campaign advertisement. Two principles dictate this: "you don't kick a person who is already down" (Trump was incredibly lucky and isn't) and "you don't attack someone who has martyrdom effect". Generally, you wait until the dust settles. Democrats too will wait until the dust settles. They will also check the popularity ratings and decide how to proceed.

In my opinion, Democrats would strongly benefit from a younger candidate. I would advise getting someone under 55 to run. Among the wider population, not enough people understand that, as things are, the Democratic candidate is Kamala Harris, her name is just currently Joe Biden. :o

Overall, it seems that Trump has considerable chances of getting elected president. Preventing that will require exceptional effort and considerable luck. Only if the Democrats manage to paint a clear picture of what a Trump presidential term would bring about, and only if that picture causes their voters to show up and vote nearly without exception - only then will things turn out differently.

My personal view from Eastern Europe - contingency plans for a Trump presidency ceasing aid to Ukraine have a very high probability of occurrence now (estimated time: early 2025). Over here, everyone and their cat will researching cheap weapons systems to replace things that only the US can provide. I think that group will now include myself.

And to think I had people downvoting and screaming at me in other threads when I pointed out that this would happen.

Against who though? People grocery shopping?

Without a doubt they will. And when he wins the election, he will ban guns and take them away. Can’t have a chance of something like this happening again.

This picture reminds me of the "Sniper Elite" game I played as a kid.

Okay so we are going to go with the "rhetoric from politicians and pundits causes people to do things". Cool, so then you guys with all of your rhetoric about orange hitler caused this guy to shoot trump.