America Dodged a Bullet

Bloodied but unbowed (AP photo)

Here's what we know at 10 PM Eastern Daylight Time, according to the WSJ:

A suspected shooter fired multiple times toward the stage in Butler, Pa., where former President Donald Trump was holding a campaign rally Saturday, according to the U.S. Secret Service. The shooting occurred at approximately 6:15 p.m. Here’s what we know so far:

Secret Service personnel “neutralized” the suspected shooter, who is now dead, according to Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the bureau.

The shooter was firing from an elevated position outside the rally venue. Witnesses said he was on a roof.

One spectator was killed and two others were critically injured in the incident, which is under investigation as an attempted assassination.

Trump has said on social media that he was shot in the upper right ear.

He was rushed to a medical facility for evaluation; his campaign said he was fine.

An “AR-style rifle” was recovered at the scene, law enforcement officials said.

President Biden was briefed on the shooting and was “grateful to hear” that Trump is safe.

The shots rang out about 10 minutes into Trump’s speech at a fairground 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. Secret Service members jumped to the stage and surrounded Trump, leading him away. Photos and video showed blood on Trump’s ear and face.

Thousands of people attended the rally, which came just two days before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee, where Trump will formally become the party’s nominee.

As a former president, Trump continues to receive Secret Service protection. As a result, his rallies involve intense security protocols, with attendees being restricted to carrying only small bags and having to pass through metal detectors when they arrive.

Tragic as the deaths and injuries are, the outcome could have been much worse. Had the gunman's aim not been off by an inch, or had former President Trump not turned his head at the last second, the assassination of Donald Trump might well have triggered a real civil war.

Such a "war" would perhaps be not as violent as the 19th-century version but one that could have resulted in open defiance by individuals, even entire States, of a Federal Government against which grievances have been building for at least a decade.

Do you think January 6 was an insurrection? Despite the rhetoric, that wasn't one, and if we're lucky we won't find out what a real one looks like.