Trump’s Fake Assassination

Jeffrey Meyers

Persuasive evidence suggests that Donald Trump deliberately faked his attempted assassination on July 13 to get excellent publicity, create a heroic image and fortify his presidential campaign.  Several important assassination survivors have gained great sympathy and prestige: Vladimir Lenin in 1918, Benito Mussolini four times in the 1920s, Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II in 1981.  Unlike the other assassins, Trump’s gunman did not make a close-up confrontational shot.  He fired from a distance and Trump was seen by a huge crowd.

Trump has gained fame as a successful television actor.  He has continued his role-playing with suntan makeup, dyed and frozen cantilevered hair, histrionic ranting and vulgar insults, and by making funny faces during his so-called debate with Biden.

He lost only the small amount of blood streaking down his face (like the dye used in movies), which was needed for the spectacular cosmetic close-up.  It was made by the photographer placed in exactly the right position and was immediately shown on news broadcasts throughout the world.

Trump was composed, not frightened.  He was well enough to make a brave, raised-fist, defiant salute before being pushed down and out of sight by his keepers.  He could not have avoided the high-speed, potentially fatal shots merely by turning his head.  His miraculous survival seemed to prove that he was once again invulnerable and could survive all violent attacks as well as criminal prosecutions.  Divine intervention showed there was no need for gun control.

That day in Butler, Pennsylvania, 35 miles north of Pittsburgh, the 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks practiced at a shooting range at 2:30 P.M.  He flew a drone over the place for 11 minutes; the Secret Service did not use a drone.  He brought a ladder to get up to the roof of the warehouse where he fired the shots; the Secret Service did not have a ladder.  The Secret Service excluded the warehouse from the security area.  Crooks was able to enter without a pass.

The supposed assassin was well armed with a tripod, telescopic lens, rangefinder to accurately measure the distance, 50 rounds of ammunition and a car full of explosives.  None of these weapons was discovered before the event.  He was only 133 yards away from Trump.  The maximum range of his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was the far greater 3,000 yards or 1.7 miles.

Crooks had time to fire 8 shots at 6 P.M.  He was able to kill or wound 3 random bystanders, in the crowd below Trump and the stage, to emphasize the danger.  But he did not hit Trump’s skull or any of the Secret Service guards who were standing in full view on the stage.

Despite the important planned conference that was supposed to take place at

9 A.M. that morning, the Secret Service did not contact the local police.  The police had trouble finding enough officers for the 12-hour shift.  One of the Secret Service counter-snipers went off duty at 4 P.M.  (In Washington on January 6 many policemen were told not to report for duty that day.)

The gunman was able to get on the warehouse roof 90 minutes before the shooting.  Several people reported that he was there.  The police knew about this but did not remove him from the scene.  The Secret Service took photos of Crooks at 5:14 P.M., but were more interested in the images than the reality.  Even though his behavior was suspicious, they did not stop him from shooting at Trump.

The feeble, meaningless official excuse for the massive failure was that “Technologies that might have protected the former president failed because they were improperly deployed or because the Secret Service chose not to use them.”

Like Lee Harvey Oswald, who killed President Kennedy from an elevated position, the gunman was killed before he could reveal his recruitment, his managers, his motives and his methods.  The head of the not-so-Secret Service took the blame for the fake assassination and was forced to resign before she could provide an explanation of the events.

Two crucial questions remain:  How was Crooks able to outsmart the Secret Service for two hours before the shooting?  How could an expert marksman, firing 8 shots from a high-powered rifle at close range, possibly miss a standing target?  One conclusion is that the Secret Service cooperated in Trump’s carefully organized plan.  It allowed the gunman to bloody his ear, but not seriously wound or kill him.  The fake assassination might have been Trump’s greatest and most perfectly executed theatrical performance.

Jeffrey Meyers has published James Salter: Pilot, Screenwriter, Novelist and Parallel Lives: From Freud and Mann to Arbus and Plath, both LSU Press, 2024.