Trump: the Shot Misses, the White House Awaits

Published in La Cronica de Hoy
(Mexico) on 15 July 2024
by Rafael Cardona (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Patricia Simoni. Edited by Michelle Bisson.
The U.S. presidential election was decided last Saturday. Donald Trump will win the November election as long as his supporters and his publicists, between now and Election Day, display — over and over — his blood-stained face, right fist in the air with the proud Stars and Stripes flag behind him, while he charges his followers to continue the fight, a shout not visible in the photo.

It is an iconic image for the future, almost like the Iwo Jima sculpture at Arlington Cemetery, which, as we all know, was conceived as a tribute to American sailors from a photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal, photographer for the Associated Press, during the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi in the war in the Pacific.

Trump will continue to stand behind the Second Amendment as a guarantee of American domestic gun ownership.* He won’t waiver from this violent tradition (the foundation of American culture), not even after being a (superficial) firearm victim. After all, in the simple mindset of Americans, the frustrated and inept apprentice assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, got what he deserved. He was killed at the scene, which confirms a political axiom: Dead men don’t talk.

Indeed, the AP, the best news agency in the world, distributed this list of presidential victims: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John Kennedy. And it added those who suffered attempted assassinations, including Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865. Booth himself was shot dead on April 26, 1865.

Garfield was the second U.S. president to be assassinated on July 2, 1881, six months after taking office. He was killed by Charles Guiteau at a train station in Washington on his way to New England.

McKinley was shot after delivering a speech in Buffalo, New York, on Sept. 6, 1901. Leon F. Czolgosz shot him twice in the chest at point-blank range during a salutation.

Kennedy was assassinated by a man armed with a high-powered rifle while visiting Dallas, Texas in November 1963 with first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The shots rang out as the president's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died shortly thereafter.

Gerald Ford, a president who followed later, survived two assassination attempts within a span of a few weeks in 1975 and was not injured in either.

In the first attempt, Ford was on his way to a meeting with the governor of California in Sacramento when Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, pushed her way through a crowd in the street, pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and pointed it at Ford. The gun failed to fire.

Seventeen days later, Sara Jane Moore confronted Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, fired a shot at him and missed.

Reagan was leaving a speech in Washington and heading to his motorcade when he was shot by John Hinckley Jr., hiding in the crowd. Reagan recovered from the March 1981 attack.

Bush was attending a rally in Tbilisi in 2005 with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili when someone threw a hand grenade at him. The grenade failed to explode.

George Wallace was running for the Democratic presidential nomination when he was shot during a campaign parade in Maryland in 1972. The attack paralyzed him from the waist down.

Brief Hallmarks in a Horrible Tradition of American Violence

As the great writer Paul Auster, whose grandmother shot his grandfather to death, said, it is "[a] country bathed in blood.”

Like this one, then Moctezuma, Cuauhtémoc, Emilio Carranza, Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Agustín de Iturbide, Vicente Guerrero, etc., etc., etc.

*Editor’s note: The Second Amendment provides: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”


La elección presidencial de los Estados Unidos se decidió el sábado anterior. Donald Trump ganará los comicios de noviembre mientras sus seguidores y sus publicistas, de aquí a esa fecha, exhiban --una y otra vez--, su rostro manchado de sangre, el puño derecho al aire con la orgullosa bandera de las barras y las estrellas, detrás suyo, mientras el grito --eso no se ve en la foto-- conmina a sus seguidores a continuar la lucha.

Una imagen icónica  para el futuro, casi como el conjunto escultórico de Iwo Jima, en el cementerio de Arlington, el cual --como todos sabemos-- fue concebido como un homenaje a los marinos americanos, a partir de una fotografía tomada por Joe Rosenthal, fotógrafo de The Asssociated Press, durante el izamiento de la bandera en el monte Suribachi, en la guerra del Pacífico.

Trump seguirá respaldando la Segunda Enmienda, como una garantía del armamentismo doméstico americano. No actuará contra su tradición violenta (fundamento de la cultura americana), ni siquiera por haber sido víctima (superficial) de un arma de fuego. A fin de cuentas, en el pensamiento simple de los estadunidenses, el frustrado e inepto aprendiz de asesino, Thomas Matthew Crooks,ya recibió su merecido. Lo mataron en el lugar de los hechos, lo cual confirma un axioma político: los muertos no hablan.

Precisamente, la AP; la mejor agencia de noticias del mundo, distribuyó esta lista de las víctimas presidenciales: Lincoln, Garfierld, Mc Kinley y Kennedy. Y agregó a quienes sufrieron intentos, como Reagan, Roosevelt, Truman, Ford y Bush.
Lincoln fue el primer presidente asesinado. John Wilkes Booth le disparó dentro del teatro Ford, en Washington, el 14 de abril de 1865.  Booth fue muerto a tiros el 26 de abril de 1865.
James Garfield fue el segundo asesinado, seis meses después de tomar posesión el 2 de julio de 1881 por Charles Guiteau en una estación de tren en Washington. Iba a Nueva Inglaterra.
William McKinley fue baleado tras pronunciar un discurso en Buffalo, Nueva York, el 6 de septiembre de 1901. Leon F. Czolgosz, le disparó dos veces en el pecho a quemarropa durante una salutación.

John Kennedy fue baleado por un hombre armado con un rifle de alto poder mientras visitaba Dallas en noviembre de 1963 junto con la primera dama Jacqueline Kennedy. Los disparos sonaron mientras la caravana del presidente atravesaba la Plaza Dealey, en el centro de Dallas.

Kennedy fue trasladado de urgencia al Parkland Memorial Hospital, donde murió poco después.

Su sucesor, Gerald Ford sufrió dos intentos de asesinato en un lapso de pocas semanas en 1975 y no resultó herido en ninguno de los dos.

En el primer intento, Ford se dirigía a una reunión con el gobernador de California en Sacramento cuando Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, discípula de Charles Manson, se abrió paso entre una multitud en la calle, sacó una pistola semiautomática y apuntó a Ford. El arma no se disparó.

Diecisiete días después, otra mujer, Sara Jane Moore, encaró a Ford a la salida de un hotel de San Francisco. Moore hizo un disparo y falló.

Ronald Reagan salía de un discurso en Washington D.C. y se dirigía a su caravana cuando fue tiroteado por John Hinckley Jr., oculto entre la multitud. Reagan se recuperó del ataque de marzo de 1981.

George Bush asistía a un mitin en Tiflis en 2005 con el presidente georgiano Mijail Saakashvili cuando le lanzaron una granada de mano. La granada no explotó.

George Wallace Wallace aspiraba a la candidatura presidencial demócrata cuando recibió un disparo durante un desfile de campaña en Maryland en 1972. El atentado  lo paralizó de la cintura para abajo.

Breves rasgos para una horrible tradición de la violencia americana.

Como dice el gran escritor Paul Auster, cuya abuela asesinó a tiros a su abuelo: “Un país bañado en sangre”.

Como este, pues…Moctezuma, Cuauhtémoc, Carranza, Madero, Villa, Zapata,  Iturbide, Guerrero, etc, etc…
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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