Patterico's Pontifications

6/21/2016

Trump Assassination Attempt: Not News?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:43 pm



In case you missed it — which would be easy because essentially nobody reported it — an illegal immigrant tried to assassinate Donald Trump:

A British man arrested at a weekend Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas tried to grab a police officer’s gun so he could kill the presidential candidate after planning an assassination for about a year, according to authorities.

U.S. Secret Service agents said Michael Steven Sandford approached a Las Vegas police officer at the campaign stop to say he wanted Trump’s autograph, but that he then tried to take the weapon.

A complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Nevada charges Sandford, 20, with an act of violence on restricted grounds. He was denied bail during a court appearance later in the day. His court-appointed attorney said he was living out of his car and in the country illegally after overstaying a visa.

We’re gonna build a wa– um, a visa overstaying prevention thingie.

Agents said Sandford told them he had been in the U.S. for about a year and a half, lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and drove to the San Bernardino, California, area before coming to Las Vegas on June 16.

Sandford told officers he was convinced he would die in the assassination attempt. He said he also reserved a ticket for a Trump rally in Phoenix, scheduled for later Saturday, as a backup plan.

Prosecutors said his motive in grabbing the gun may never be known.

Ha, ha! That’s not really true. I’m just goofing on Loretta Lynch, who said that the Orlando jihadi’s motivation may never be known. But of course the motive is clear: it is [omitted].

54 Responses to “Trump Assassination Attempt: Not News?”

  1. British press report the parents say he is autistic wit long-term mental health issues.

    DRJ (15874d)

  2. We’re gonna build a wa– um, a visa overstaying prevention thingie.
    If jihadis and similar security matters are your focus, overstaid visas should be a much bigger concern than people slipping in en masse over the southern border.

    kishnevi (3e3b90)

  3. Just as with DOJ and Mateen, the media knows that this fool didn’t mean what he said.

    Seriously, though, why on earth isn’t DJT excoriating the media for its collective silence? He should be dominating with such righteous attacks. You don’t think that will resonate with every single potential voter who will even consider not voting for HRC? I really do not get this at all.

    Best of all, it places the media in a heckuva bind – they either give him the free hits, or they perpetuate the very point he makes. Yet he has been silent!

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  4. Trump cannot himself make hay out of it because it will not show him in the best light — that of a victim not a winner. He will look better if others made a fuss and he just shrugged, “Twarn’t nothing, ma’am. Just a scratch.” Which may be the reason for the news blackout. The media does not want to give him that opportunity.

    nk (dbc370)

  5. How sad is the republican party?
    Tears from the establishment after the failed assassination filled the Grand Canyon.

    mg (31009b)

  6. Environmentalists manage to kill the last nuclear power station in California

    Don’t worry. They’re going to replace it with windmills.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  7. certainly, jerry brown has been a merciful governor, returning the state to 1849,

    narciso (732bc0)

  8. Damn. Thread hijacked at the sixth comment. Is this a record?

    nk (dbc370)

  9. It take 66 acres of solar panels to power 134 acres of Six Flags New Jersey.

    http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/06/going_solar_isn_t_green_if_you_cut_down_tons_of_trees.html

    Naw. That’s useful.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  10. this is the fate we face with red queen, own up to it, she is at the head of a nazgul army,

    narciso (732bc0)

  11. I think a lot of the reason it isn’t getting any press is that it was really lame. Did he really think he’d be able to steal a pistol from a cop and keep it long enough to get close enough to Trump to shoot him?

    Fat chance.

    So no one is taking it seriously because it wasn’t really a serious threat.

    Steven Den Beste (99cfa1)

  12. What. We all know why it’s not being reported.

    We all know if it were Hilda being menaced by a crazed border guard they’d be drawing up the script for a special episode of Madam Secretary right now.

    As is it’ll take them about two weeks.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  13. morgan freeman will probably do an episode along those lines, anyways, or law and order,

    narciso (732bc0)

  14. Under federal law, if I flush my toilet in Chicago with the intent to cause a flood in New York that will drown Trump in his penthouse, I could be charged with attempting to assassinate him. Under real law, what this guy did was attempted theft from the person. Pickpocket.

    nk (dbc370)

  15. You realize that if this guy had manage to kill Trump, Hillary’s campaign would be over. An illegal alien, acting on the “Trump is Hitler” propaganda of the hard left, kills a presidential candidate who opposes Hillary’s open borders? The GOP could run Tricia Nixon and win.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  16. Don’t worry. They’re going to replace it with windmills.

    And conservation. Somehow I bet you that the houses in Marin County get all the power they need.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  17. They actually said that. Conservation. They are going to “replace” Diablo Canyon power by “using less power.”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  18. You realize that if this guy had manage to kill Trump, Hillary’s campaign would be over. An illegal alien, acting on the “Trump is Hitler” propaganda of the hard left, kills a presidential candidate who opposes Hillary’s open borders? The GOP could run Tricia Nixon and win.

    Nah, Priebus and Rove would find a way to throw it to Hillary. They’re resourceful that way.

    nk (dbc370)

  19. Nah, Priebus and Rove would find a way to throw it to Hillary. They’re resourceful that way.

    nk (dbc370) — 6/22/2016 @ 3:53 am
    ==============================================

    Slider catches the outside corner for a strike.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  20. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told Florida’s LGBT community that the “most effective” weapon at America’s disposal against Islamic terrorism is “love.”

    She should be beaten with a shovel and buried under a mountain of her own excrement.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  21. You realize that if this guy had manage to kill Trump, Hillary’s campaign would be over. An illegal alien, acting on the “Trump is Hitler” propaganda of the hard left, kills a presidential candidate who opposes Hillary’s open borders? The GOP could run Tricia Nixon and win.

    Nah, Priebus and Rove would find a way to throw it to Hillary. They’re resourceful that way.

    After we’re done with our weeping?

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  22. Considering that Trump is at an age when it is not certain that he will survive his next bowel movement, it is doubly a sin to wish him assassinated.

    nk (dbc370)

  23. Trump sure seems spry and able to get around without the assistance of a cane, crutches or walker. No knee or hip replacement for him.

    Colonel Haiku (71a740)

  24. That’s a blessing. Every person should enjoy good health in their golden years.

    nk (dbc370)

  25. Natch, he was a white visa overstay kind of illegal. In other words, the perfect assassin from the Dem point of view. Now they’re down to finding a McVeigh to twist up. Hillary wouldn’t need to quit. My ideal exit is Trump being outed on the pedo island rumors then him taking down Bill and saying Hillary made a stop there too. Beauty contest rules then enforced- Bernie v. Ted.

    urbanleftbehind (47fd99)

  26. We’re gonna build a wa– um, a visa overstaying prevention thingie.
    If jihadis and similar security matters are your focus, overstaid visas should be a much bigger concern than people slipping in en masse over the southern border.
    kishnevi (3e3b90) — 6/21/2016 @ 8:57 pm

    There goes that leftist think again, can’t do both, has to be one or the other. We don’t have the resources to build a wall to control illegal aliens and address the visa and legal immigrant problems. But we do have resources for every other half-baked leftist idea from funding abortions to subsidizing windmills. How much has the stupid leftist idea of a “War on Poverty” cost so far? Are we bereft of poor?

    Gosh, if they threw in covering home-grown terrorists like Mateen they just would go crazy. There wouldn’t be time to make another 10,000 regulations or raise another $100 million for the Clinton Crime Family.

    Rev. Hoagie® (734193)

  27. . But we do have resources for every other half-baked leftist idea from funding abortions to subsidizing windmills

    When did I ever say we should subsidize windmills and abortions?

    Just pointing out that if you’re worried about jihadis, overstaying visas should be a far more important problem than people illegally crossing the Rio Grande.

    It’s rather like voter fraud. The big problem there is not people showing up at polling places who have no right to vote. The big problem is absentee ballot fraud, but almost no one pays attention to it. Of the recent state laws dealing with voter fraud, only Wisconsin (Walker) made an attempt to deal with absentee ballot fraud (to the best of my knowledge).

    kishnevi (6fbba2)

  28. When did I say you said we should subsidize windmills and abortions?

    Just pointed out that you are trying to separate two sides of the same coin. Overstaying visas and illegally crossing the Rio Grande are both illegal immigration. And “if you’re worried about jihadis” you need to manage both.

    I made it clear a long time ago I do not believe in absentee ballots except for military.

    Rev. Hoagie® (734193)

  29. I heard the story, but it didn’t get repeated too much, maybe because nobdody wanted imitators.

    They said he was British and that he’d been in the country a year or two, and had been planning this for about a year, but nobody reported his immigration status. But it would almost have too be overstaying his visa, unless he was a student still attending school, but following Trump around doesn’t sound like that.

    I’m not sure whether you would want to call him an illegal immigrant, because to be accurate and not just technical, that really should depend on how long he intended to stay. Maybe he only stayed so long because he was planning on assassinating Trump, or otherwise he would have gone back to Britain and attempting to kill a member of Parliament there maybe.

    His status in the USA prevented him from buying a gun, but didn’t prevent him from learning how to use a gun, because you apparently do not need a gun license for that. He had this idea of seizing a gun from a policeman, but did not know that policemen have holsters from which it is difficult to take out a gun.

    This brings out an important point.

    It was a case of thinking he can do what he can’t do, which is the best kind of prevention. Much better than having people think they can’t do what they can. If they think they can’t do something that they can, they may look for something else until they find it, or decide that it is possible after all. But if they think there is something they can do that they actually can’t, they’ll try something and get caught. This is an important principle.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  30. Just pointing out that if you’re worried about jihadis, overstaying visas should be a far more important problem than people illegally crossing the Rio Grande.

    As Mike Rowe (of all people) pointed out, another wrinkle is the lack of registration of court-ruled mentally incompetent individuals. Yet another is the failure of states to adequately report convicted felons to national databases. A lot of would-be Zarqawis sift into either or both of those pans.

    This is fairly basic stuff, I would think. But… As anyone who has been drafted can confirm, basic isn’t always easy, is it?

    JP (bd5dd9)

  31. We’re gonna build a wa– um, a visa overstaying prevention thingie.

    Oh, Congress has legislated that, but no Administration wants to do that because it would disrupt travel and trade. Lots of European Union citizens, and Canadians, have overstayed visas.

    The thingie would record when somebody left the United States, so they could be barred form coming a second time, absent special permission and procedures. More sensible would be a moderatefine, but that’s not the penalty when caught.

    Right now no record is made when somebody leaves the United States. This probably actually encourages people to leave, because they’re not preventing themselves from coming again. ratgher than reduce the penalty, the situation is arranged so that the penalty is almost never applied.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  32. Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 6/21/2016 @ 9:31 pm

    Did he really think he’d be able to steal a pistol from a cop and keep it long enough to get close enough to Trump to shoot him?

    Yes. Because he was inexperienced with guns and holsters.

    It wasn’t that he was sure he would kill Trump, but it was his best shot, and he couldn’t improve the odds any further. He calculated he would be able to get 2 or 3 shots before he was killed.

    Let’s not ignore the fact that expected to get killed. That’s another thing that stops these things: Deterrence. But deterrence sometimes wears off. He might have been planning to kill himself anyway. It’s been reported that he attempted to commit suicide once before. So we can say that he figured that maybe he could take Donald Trump with him, while committing suicide by cop. Two things for the price of one.

    If he hadn’t said anything about why he did it, they maybe wouldn’t have thought it was anything more than attempted suicide by cop. But maybe because this was at a political rally, he did get asked by the Secret Service and confessed, or however this came out. Maybe he left some writings.

    Fat chance.

    So no one is taking it seriously because it wasn’t really a serious threat.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  33. Fat chance.

    So no one is taking it seriously because it wasn’t really a serious threat.

    he was incompetent, so in one sense it is not serious, but it’s got to be seen as a harbringer.

    Somebody (aged 17-18) told me two or so months ago (circa mid-April to May 3) that his mother thought Donald Trump might be assassinated.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  34. 24. Colonel Haiku (71a740) — 6/22/2016 @ 5:30 am

    Trump sure seems spry and able to get around without the assistance of a cane, crutches or walker. No knee or hip replacement for him.

    That means he should live at least another nine years.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/walking-speed-predicts-longevity-elderly/story?id=12539377

    It’s a choice between the quick, and the dead.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  35. They actually said that. Conservation. They are going to “replace” Diablo Canyon power by “using less power.”

    They’re setting up the spot shortage market again. Fleecing public utilities, because when you rob a “collective” individuals are less likely to feel the pain and yelp. That’s the con Enron ran.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  36. Hat guy in Dayton, OH had a better shot, a less heart-healthy Trump might have went down then. If Trump is projected for another 9 years, maybe put less emphasis in derailing Trump at the convention and more into a competent saavy preferrably “settler”-American 4th wife, lest a late 2nd term Woodrow Wilson scenario arises.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  37. Sammy,

    he was an illegal alien that tried to kill the man that might be our next President. No amount of linguistic tongue wrangling is going to change that fact.

    Enforce the border. Deport visa overstays. Follow the damn law.

    NJRob (a07d2e)

  38. Don’t have direct evidence, but I’ll bet you some crooked sob democrat gets a fat taxpayer funded kickback for every windmill that gets built.

    Fastest way to move California into the toss up category is to end fed subsistence for the global warming scam.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  39. It take 66 acres of solar panels to power 134 acres of Six Flags New Jersey.

    If you put them over 66 acres of parking lot it’s not so bad.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  40. solar energy is gay i like nuclear and natural gas ones

    happyfeet (831175)

  41. The difference between California and the Titanic is that on the Titanic the lights were on.

    nk (dbc370)

  42. After we’re done with our weeping?

    Well, yeah.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  43. 42.The difference between California and the Titanic is that on the Titanic the lights were on.

    Oh, I like that one, nk. I’m gonna be using it with some folks I know.

    Rev. Hoagie® (734193)

  44. urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 6/22/2016 @ 8:52 am

    If Trump is projected for another 9 years,

    I think the 9-years is for all people over 70, who can still walk well. Since Trump is exactly 70 years old, it’s more. Life expectancy for a male in the USA aged 70 is 14.1 years. But that includes people already sick or debilitated. So he has a 50% chance of making past 85 or 86, maybe. He had about a 78% chance of making it to the age he is.

    maybe put less emphasis in derailing Trump at the convention

    I think you would more want to derail him, if you don’t like him as president, instead of watching who is his pick for vice president.

    and more into a competent saavy preferrably “settler”-American 4th wife, lest a late 2nd term Woodrow Wilson scenario arises.

    Nah. He’s sticking with his current wife. She’s already a bit older than Ivana Trump was when he divorced her. Anyway it might be his oldest daughter, nicknamed Ivanka, who becomes the regent. Melania isn’t much interested in policy. Except that it’s got to be somebody who lives in the White House. She could move in, I guess. By the way, you’re describing Woodrow Wilson’s second wife.

    We do have a 25th amendment now, but if there was any attempt to displace a President Trump you could expect a Sumner Redstone situation. Sumner Redstone is now 93, by the way, and the problems didn’t really show up till he was 92. Woodrow Wilson had a stroke – actually a series of strokes, and he was only 60 and almost 3/4 years old when this happened in Sept. 1919. His second wife, whom he married while president, was 13 years younger than him.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  45. @narciso (re: nbc producer condoned assassination of Trump)

    Well, that’s all right. Donald Trump’s new campaign manager seems to have once a little bit condoned an assassination attempt against an opposition candidate.

    http://www.politifact.com/global-news/article/2016/may/02/paul-manafort-donald-trumps-top-adviser-and-his-ti/

    Experts say Manafort was unofficially invited to consult on Yanukovych’s first presidential campaign in December 2004, in the days of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.

    Now, the candidate’s problem:

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/06/trump-promotes-paul-manafort-to-campaign-manager/#comments

    Yanukovych ran for president in 2004, but came under fire when someone poisoned his opponent Viktor Yushchenko with dioxin poisoning. Luckily, he survived and won a second round election after experts deemed the first election invalid. Yanukovych’s image obviously took a hit because of the poisoning (even though no one has connected him to it), but also because he reminded the pro-Europeans too much of the old Soviet ways.

    He then sought Manafort to reform his image, which started in his “tightly organized campaign events, in his pointed speeches and in how he has presented himself to the world.” This allowed Yanukovych to move through parliament just as Yushchenko’s popularity dived with the public:

    Mary Chastain of Legal Insurrection writes that

    Yanukovych won the presidential election against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in 2010. Before she could contest the election, the government brought embezzlement cases and other lawsuits against her. She landed a seven year prison sentence and Yanukovych remained in power.

    He remained close with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but ticked him off when he agreed to sign the European Union Association Agreement. Putin could feel Ukraine, often called the crown jewel of Russia since many consider Kyiv as its birthplace, slipping through his fingers. He used money to persuade Yanukovych away from the EU and back with Russia.

    Ukrainians felt that was the last straw and birthed Euromaidan. For three months, protests in Independence Square demanded Yanukovych step down, which finally happened on February 22, 2014.

    Next thing the world knew, uprisings began in east Ukraine and Crimea. Russia annexed the peninsula and constant reports of Russian soldiers in east Ukraine surfaced. Officials issued threats against ex-Soviet republics, leading them to ask NATO for extra security.

    Yanukovych fled to Russia, where he is still located…

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  46. yes, sammeh, that’s exactly the same thing, good allah, vishnu, pazzuzu,*

    *from a futurama episode where farnsworth is caught in the fountain of youth,

    narciso (732bc0)

  47. 48. This is as hard to understand as a British crossword puzzle. I think the way to pass the Turing test is by making it clear I don’t understand it. This is maybe the first I heard of Futurama, at least as a TV show.

    No, it’s not the same thing. (I did detect the sarcasm)

    The NBC producer, who had no known connection to any campaign condoned an assassination attempt by his words, while Paul Manafort, who did have, or got, a connection to a campaign, condoned an assassination attempt by his actions.

    I think it’s pretty likely Putin wanted the other candidate dead, but was trying to do it an undetectable and somewhat amateurish, and thus deniable, way. The candidate whom Putin wanted to help, Manafort helped. He’s doing it again. Unless maybe you think Putin wants Hillary in in order to blackmail her. But I think he never got into her server but just wants people to believe that.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  48. JD, does the obligatory sign of exasperation, and I added the emphasis,

    a producer a major television network, endorses assasination, like craig kilbourne did on the late show in 2000,

    narciso (732bc0)

  49. Error! I wrote in #45:

    Woodrow Wilson had a stroke – actually a series of strokes, and he was only 60 and almost 3/4 years old when this happened in Sept. 1919

    Wrong! He was 62 and 3/4 when this happened, not 60 years old. And his wife, was therefore, at least 15 years younger than him.

    I have to remember this: 1858, 1857, 1856. Three Presidents. The one who was the youngest was president first. The middle one was second, and the oldest was last. Theodore Roosevelt was born in 1858, William Howard Taft in 1857 and Woodrow Wilson at the very end of 1856, December 28. Theodore Roosevelt was actually just a bit over two months past his 60th birthday when he died.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a22e4)

  50. it’s dejavu all over again,

    https://twitter.com/dkahanerules/status/745660246727614464

    narciso (732bc0)

  51. So let me get this right, Sammy. A presidential candidate in the Ukraine was unsuccessfully poisoned. You then make the leap that naturally his opponent in that election was to blame, and then when a political consultant provided services to him, that consultant was in some way “condoning” the assassination attempt.

    Trouble with this little tale is that while some low information idiots in the public made the same assumption you did, despite the fact that Mr. Yushchenko had a long political record that had made many enemies. Additionally, Mr. Yushchenko and the authorities felt otherwise. Per Wikipedia:

    Yushchenko claimed that he had been poisoned by government agents.

    Many have linked Yushchenko’s poisoning to a dinner with a group of senior Ukrainian officials (including Volodymyr Satsyuk) that took place on 5 September.

    Yushchenko himself implicated David Zhvania, the godfather of one of his children, of involvement in his dioxin poisoning.

    And not everyone believes he was actually poisoned:

    lso in September 2009, a special commission, created by the Verkhovna Rada, came to a conclusion that the Yushchenko dioxin poisoning was falsified to strengthen his positions during 2004 presidential elections.

    So do you have anything to show that a) Yanukovych was involved in any way, or b) that Manafort condoned the assassination attempt and did not care if Yanukovych was involved? Because if Yanukovych was not involved and Manafort did or said nothing to indicate he supported the assassination attempt (if it occurred), then what exactly are you asserting? That Manafort worked for someone who some wags (but nobody in authority, including the victim who became President and could certainly have investigated and prosecuted) claim maybe was somehow involved in a possible assassination attempt? Is that all you have? Are you sure he didn’t pull Yushchenko to the ground and leave a bruise?

    prowlerguy (fa36d8)

  52. Last year at this time we were talking about the Planned Parenthood videos and the Iran nuclear deal. On occasion, we talked about the primary and Trump. He was considered a joke candidate.

    I thought Trump was a brash, immoral version of Romney. Both come from well-to-do families and are successful businessmen. Both will embrace Democratic policies and abandon them when it suits their purposes. Both are disciplined when it comes to reaching their goals, although Romney’s discipline involves a character and morality that Trump disdains.

    Parties often nominate someone who “cures” the flaws of the last President or nominee. Carter was the honest man in response to Tricky Dick Nixon. McCain was the smart warrior who would fight wars and seek peace better than the reckless warrior Bush. Trump is a better Romney in the sense he is brash, outspoken and a fighter compared to Romney’s reserve, with an immorality that is characteristic of fascinating celebrities.

    It makes sense in a way, but it’s a terrible choice for a potential President.

    DRJ (15874d)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1370 secs.