https://subium.com/profile/kevinmkruse.bsky.social/post/3kx7axm6o7r2n
These people really have no understanding of reality do they? I mean, maybe I'm wrong myself, but to not even entertain the possibility of him gaining politically from this event...?
Trump bled for the cause and they have a bloody shirt to wave from the MAGA that got got. idk how they can think this wouldn't be a boon to him against a weak, failing, doddering old man.
Oh man I didn't even think of it in comparison to Biden. Trump "took a bullet" and Biden can't handle a stiff breeze
Kruse is an unabashed (if not shameless) dem cheerleader but he's not a total idiot. I can't decide if he's outright lying (to rally the dem troops) or if he actually believes there's no upside for Trump. At first I was going to write that he's surely lying but then I realized people can poison their own brains by pumping out propaganda nonsense every day. And the easiest person to deceive is yourself.
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I think Trump's fist pumping will turn out to be the most powerful political images* in all of American history and there won't be a close second.
Edit: By "political images" I mean how that's defined in the media or in history books or in textbooks and not how we define it.
The New Yorker agrees with you:
But what makes the image is Trump. In its surface details, it carries echoes of the marines at Iwo Jima. In the former President’s bloody defiance, it even evokes Rocky Balboa. On that stage, Trump seemed well aware of the image he was creating. It is an image that captures him as he would like to be seen, so perfectly, in fact, that it may outlast all the rest.
Trump looked like the American heroes of myth, such as (staged war photo) and (entirely fictional character)
That Iranian guy was so right
I am assuming this is the commentary about how when the US assassinated the Iranian general who was a cultural hero that they were unable to respond because all of the US's cultural heroes are made up (I believe Micky Mouse & Captain America were the examples given)
It is an image that captures him as he would like to be seen, so perfectly, in fact, that it may outlast all the rest.
Nothing will outlast
He's a good performer. Knows how to appeal to the crowd. Must be all the TV experience.
I realized people can poison their own brains by pumping out propaganda nonsense every day. And the easiest person to deceive is yourself.
The initial reactions in the comments on the .world news comms really show this. People didn't want to believe there was even an actual shooter.
I'm not sure it really rivals the 9/11 images or Saigon Execution, those images and the cultural context surrounding them led to material changes while here it's just gonna be Trump winning even harder.
Saigon Execution
The average American would have no idea what those words mean in 2024. Or 2014. Or 2004. Or 1994. As for 1984 - my wild guess is that 2 out of 100 Americans might know.
9/11 images
Well, of course the Dubya-Cheney administration milked the shit out of that event and it made a 2004 win easy for them.
Saigon Execution is an irrelevant photo now but at the time it was iconic for the antiwar movement which is why I think it's a very powerful picture, there was a world where the war lasted a bit longer but mounting pressure from the domestic anti-war movement played a role in stopping the war. Only a secondary role to the absolutely heroic struggle of the Viet Minh, of course.
Kruse makes his living by providing a mental salve to liberals who fear that reality won't unfold in their favor. He could never come to a conclusion other than what he posted.
Thanks. Since I woke up from my nap (God, do I sound like Biden) and learned Trump got shot - I had an inchoate thought that kept escaping me as I read Bluesky posts. It was something about liberals and I thought the word was "panic" but I just couldn't explain it to myself. And now I see my thought was that they fear any kind of change or use of power.
I assume there's not a single important dem on the national stage who said what's been plainly obvious to anybody with a brain for a very long time - "Trump has been stoking violence - especially political violence for years."
He wouldn’t ratchet up anything if he stood a couple millimeters elsewhere. There’s your gain you bozo
finally things are getting interesting
Looking forward to seeing how every side will spin this
Heh, finally things are getting interesting, dattebayo.
As for me? Well, I’m just looking forward to sitting back and seeing how all the different sides spin this. I’m above this whole “politics” thing… guess that’s just the life of a thinker like me.
Don’t be mean bruh. “The yanks are having an extra normal one, lemme get the popcorn” is a perfectly valid reaction.
Really though. Maybe a few more trailer park boys get up and vote, but I think just about everyone I know thinks it's really funny and good he got shot, and won't suddenly start supporting him because of this.
My lib friends are all still "well, now we have to vote harder!"
What exactly is the argument for someone who was not voting for Trump now voting for him due to an attempted assassination? I don't understand this take.
Elections are based on turnout. Voters (even democrats) see Biden is a frail, doddering old man. Trump is - in fact - a fat old man in questionable health but he has charisma so somehow people overlook reality. It's crazy but image is the most important thing in the US. And - of course - Trump has a rabid base that will love him even more now. I think comments like this will be typical: They tried to kill him to stop him but he stayed alive for us!
Trump became an almost-martyr and he did something that would be dumb and way over-the-top in fiction - iconic fist pumping too. To his base he's now like some kind of unkillable superhero. And - of course - the GOP will say that they dems can't win so not only did they try to stop him in the courts - they tried to kill him too. That's nonsense but they'll push that all the way to election day. Many Americans - independents - would never admit they are fans of Trump's moronic "strong and powerful" phrase. But they are fans of that form of thinking.
Pelosi came out with a message that she's praying for Trump. Praying for a fascist to recover? His hateful rhetoric helped cause the attack on her own husband. Dem/Biden messaging was bad before but now it will be schizophrenic and approaching gibberish. Biden and the dems too are going to seem even weaker and more feckless than ever before.
They'll make endless comments that "violence is bad and has no place in American life". But they'll say Trump is a boogieman who will destroy democracy. Yet they'll also say "Heavens forbid you mention Trump is a himself is a messenger of violence and a stochastic terrorist!" They'll also say "Everything is fine. Everything will work out. Vote!"
Are we in danger? Or is everything going to be fine? Which one is it?
I think a case could be made that this will absolutely galvanize the luke warm part of his base that "likes his policies but not his attitude/tweets/whatever". There are plenty of republicans that were put off by Jan 6, or maybe even the legal cases and might have stayed home this November, but will come out to support him now.
