According to the principle of Occam’s Razor, the simplest
explanation for an occurrence is most likely to be the correct one. Entities
should not be multiplied unnecessarily. This makes sense to me. Most
conspiracy theories are too far fetched to be believed by rational thinkers.
Just as the shortest physical distance between two points is usually a straight
line, the less convoluted a theory is the less probable it will be that holes
can be poked in it. The simplest, least serpentine explanation of the
assassination attempt on Donald Trump is that some nutjob didn’t like him
(there are no shortage of reasons to dislike the man) and decided on his own to
take him out. Thomas Crooks was killed after firing a series of shots that
failed to kill Donald Trump, but did end the life of an innocent bystander who
put himself in the path of a bullet to heroically protect his family.
With this simple explanation accounting for everything that
took place that day, why did many people (including me) immediately reach a
different conclusion? Why did #Staged trend on Twitter (I can’t make myself
call the thing X)? Probably because of an alternative theory that has no fancy
name that I am aware of. The theory goes like this. If it looks like a duck,
swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Man did
that assassination attempt, particularly Trump’s dramatic gesture and tough guy
chant moments after a bullet whizzed by his head, look and swim and quack like
a staged event.
Within minutes after Donald Trump was ushered to safety, I
wrote on Facebook that the whole thing struck me as a poorly produced movie scene rather than chaotic reality. I
referenced Tyler Perry because making fun of his work is something that I do
sometimes, but I’m trying to cut down on that. Then I learned that a man named Corey
Comperatore was killed by a bullet meant to prevent 45 from having a chance to
become 47. The life of the gunman was also ended by sharpshooters who opened
fire after Crooks took several shots in the direction of the ex-president. Two
other people were reportedly shot by Crooks, but they survived and have since
been released from the hospital. Calling the event staged when lives had been
lost, including a rally attendee unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time, a man who lost his life by being a shield to protect his family, seemed
to be in very poor taste. Surely a result of an orchestrated event would not be the unintended death of a civilian. Comperatore’s death along with injuries suffered by others confirmed that it was best to go with
Occam. So I took down my Facebook post and put aside my suspicions.
In the time that has since passed there have been no new
developments or revelations. It has been remarkably quiet. Trump rode the high
of narrowly avoiding death into the Republican convention. Those who adore him
turned the camera captured sight of him throwing a fist in the air, blood streaming down his
face, the American flag fitting neatly in the frame, into merchandise imagery. One
more reason to be enthralled by the guy. He’s a bad ass who came away from the
ordeal with nothing more than a band-aid on his ear. A bandage that seemed way
too big, but why quibble? Bad assery was still on display, and what could be a
more essential characteristic for a President of the United States than that?
No way was Biden going to steal his thunder with comparatively mundane
achievements like low unemployment or record high stock market numbers.
Yet somehow Joe Biden did subsequently steal the spotlight –
by dropping out of the race and shortly thereafter being officially replaced by
Vice President Kamala Harris. Within ten days or so, hardly anyone was talking
about Trump being shot at anymore. His campaign was forced to pivot to a different
derogatory accusation than “Sleepy.” As of the time I’m writing this they are
still searching, because accusing Kamala Harris of suddenly becoming Black
after previously being exclusively Indian is not going to cut it. A disastrous
interview with the NABJ won’t be helpful to the Trump campaign either.
Meanwhile, the Democrats still have momentum from selection of a running mate
for Kamala and their own convention to look forward to. By all appearances,
narrowly avoiding death turned out not to be the deal closer. Instead,
Americans may go the old-fashioned route of looking at the candidates’ policies
and qualifications to determine who our next president will be.
With less emotion and greater imagination, I decided to
re-evaluate the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, PA. Why did it initially
feel staged, and if in fact it was, what would the specifics of the scam be? How could everything be accounted for? Why would they think they could get away with it? As a writer of
fiction, I am accustomed to coming up with a dramatic scenario and then
figuring out how to lead up to it in a way that is plausible. For a conspiracy
theory to be effective, one need not be able to prove it. It only has to be
possible, to be sensible, to hold up under scrutiny. The main hurdle to overcome
was the death of Corey Comperatore. Nobody would stage something meant to
improve a political candidate’s poll numbers at the expense of someone dying.
His death needed to be an accident. The following is what I (in discussion of
the matter with my wife) came up with. I have no proof. Occam’s Razor states
that it is nonsense because it has too many moving parts. Certain fantastical
events are staged not by duplicitous man, but by God. This is why the word
“miracle” was created and added to the dictionary. Logic can’t explain
everything. But that doesn’t mean we can’t come up with alternative theories.
Trump’s campaign realizes that their lead will probably be short-lived because they have read the tea leaves. Too many prominent
figures are calling for Joe Biden to bow out. So, he probably will, to be
replaced by the far more dynamic Kamala Harris, and Trump’s advantage would
evaporate. As a pre-emptive strike, shortly before the boost they hope to get
from the GOP convention and selection of Best-Selling author JD Vance as
running mate, Trump’s team hatches a devious plan. The main thing needed to
pull it off is a patsy. Someone with shooting experience who would be willing
to help the GOP campaign because he is either Republican or neutral. Someone who
would gladly take a duffel bag full of cash in exchange for getting up on the
roof of a garage and firing shots in the direction of Donald Trump. Convince the kid that nobody will be
harmed because the gun will contain blanks or some non-lethal projectile. 'Don’t even hit him' would be the directive, just come close to make it look good. Tell Crooks that he will be allowed to
escape and never become a suspect. In case anyone sees and can ID him, it is
best to put Crooks into hiding. Change his identity. Live the rest of his life
somewhere else under a new name and plenty of money in his new bank account.
Even if spotted by people prior to shooting, which is what happened, nobody
will interfere until he has done his part. Crooks agrees because he believes no one, including himself, will be killed. He agrees for the age old reason of greed $$$ along with securing victory for the Republican.
Crooks is being lied to by plan organizers. His gun will contain live
ammunition because bullets need to be retrieved from the scene to make it look
real. The bullets fired at him in return will also be real. He will not be
allowed to escape. That would be reckless. Eventually he would talk too much,
maybe under the influence of alcohol while trying to charm a pretty girl.
Leaving him alive is too big of a risk to take. Crooks must be the sacrificial
lamb, only he does not realize he has volunteered for that role. Nobody other than him is
supposed to die in this plan. If Corey Comperatore stays in his seat, the only blood shed
will be from a bag that Trump presses to the side of his head while covered by
Secret Service agents. Movie magic. Then he majestically arises, refusing to let the agents
keep him safely out of potential harm’s way until he…you know the rest, that the crowd goes wild in response to his display of patriotic machismso instead of him ducking for cover in case more
bullets are on the way. Trump probably would have shouted “Yippee Ki-Yay, MF”
if Bruce Willis didn’t already claim that line for Die Hard. But "fight fight fight" is a suitable battle cry.
The reaction of rally attendees seen behind Trump was so
muted (imho) given the circumstances prior to their hero rising like a phoenix
from the ashes, that I considered if they were in on the plan. Not everyone at
the rally, just those you could see on TV. If they did not know what was going
to happen, then the result could have been a stampede that killed someone. Even
when bullets miss, it does not necessarily mean that nobody dies. Those with
great seats being in on the plan, believing like Crooks that the bullets would
be blanks, enabled them to remain calm. But not too calm. It would also mean that Corey
Comperatore did not think his heroic gesture would cause him harm.
This is probably too far of a stretch though.
The fewer people involved in a plot, the better the odds of success.
Involvement of more people creates more opportunity for someone to crack and
spill the beans. Best to keep the number of perpetrators in the know as few as
possible. The real reaction of those in the frame therefore is not calm, but people who are stunned by what's happening.
The plan worked, if a plan is what it was, because no funny
business has been exposed. Not yet anyway. An investigation is not going to be
launched as result of this blog post. Medical records have not been released to
prove or disprove that Trump was hit by a bullet, or shrapnel, or glass from
the teleprompter. We are left to accept the official story that Trump’s blood
was legitimately shed. Remarkably little has emerged about the shooter in the
aftermath. He did not leave behind damning social media posts that showed he
was a ticking time bomb. Thomas Crooks was simply a young man who had access to
an AR-15 and decided to kill Donald Trump when he came to town to force
Republicans to run a better candidate. That’s a crazy thing to do, so we’re
left to accept that even though nobody in his life had reason to suspect it,
Crooks was insane. Or insanely hateful of Donald Trump, a man that it is pretty
easy for many to loathe. Corey Comperatore tragically died in heroic fashion.
And Donald Trump – he continues his streak as the luckiest man of all time.
Can’t take him out in criminal court, can’t take him out with a wannabe
assassin’s bullet, so all that’s left is for Kamala Harris to repeat on
Election Day 2024 what Joe Biden accomplished on Election Day 2020.
As for my conspiracy theory presented here for your examination, I’m not sure if it has any
holes in it. But it is still probably less convincing than the principle of
Occam’s Razor. Most likely there was a legitimate attempt on Donald Trump’s life. Factors such as security incompetence, and the wildness of a man being
shot at and receiving only a scratch on his ear for the effort, and Crooks being immediately
killed so unavailable for comment, and a presidential candidate being gifted
with the photo-op of the century to assist his campaign, stirred suspicion of
staging.
Unless/until an investigator much closer to the evidence than I am unearths evidence of a fake assassination attempt, the official story must be accepted as gospel. Sherlock Holmes was not available to look into the matter, him being fictional and all, so I did my best detective work in his place. If it turns out that the theory presented here is correct and Occam has been defeated, then yes, I do want a cookie as reward.
For now, we must accept that Donald Trump is so brave and
determined that not even a bullet nicking his ear as it flew past could faze
him. But you would think that someone supposedly so courageous wouldn’t be afraid
of a little debate, unless the debate is moderated by his friends and takes place in front of
his fans. If a bullet can’t stop him then what danger can be posed by Q&A
in an impartial setting where journalists are allowed to fact check the most
blatant of perceived lies? If the
shooting in Pennsylvania was not staged then surely Donald Trump can’t be
intimidated by a mere debate stage. So one would think. But the world is a strange place indeed.
So gotta keep on (cyber) trucking.
Traumatized or Monetized? You decide.
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