Do you remember this from the Butler PA shooting?

[kentuck]

Thomas Crooks was killed in his attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Does anyone recall Trump slapping at his ear, as if a bug was near, just before the shooting? Was he "slapping" at a bullet or something else?

Ears bleed easily and profusely if hit just right.

Anyone else remember that?

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Let's roll the video tape!

If anyone can find it. It was weird the way the whole incident kind of clammed up. Journalism walked away. Everyone preferred silence. Few man-on-the-street interviews. I don't think relatives of the deceased talked to the press at all. Insufficient coordination between federal and state LE was about all the public learned.

Progressive media is asking questions:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221293158

[intheflow]

12. Here's the video:

?si=e-VH-LEN7TeFBQGp

Exactly as Kentuck describes it.

[sarisataka]

21. Except that he reached for his ear after the shooting began

The crowd was already reacting.
Maybe they were in on the whole thing, including the timing?

[bucolic_frolic]

24. Yes, it could be the whole thing was rigged. Feed the paranoia and blame the government. /nt

[Ponietz]

30. Low media literacy, information bubbles, and stress/fear

Warning signs

Certainty without evidence: “I just know.”
Everything is proof: any counterevidence becomes part of the plot.
Unfalsifiable claims: no possible evidence could change their mind.
Source asymmetry: dismisses mainstream sources automatically, trusts fringe sources uncritically.
Secret-knowledge appeal: feeling special for “seeing what others don’t.”
Motive inflation: assuming every bad outcome must be deliberate.
Constant escalation: one theory leads to broader suspicion about everything.

How to talk to someone

Stay calm: mocking usually strengthens the belief.
Ask gentle questions: “What evidence would change your mind?”
Focus on one claim: don’t argue about ten things at once.
Examine sources together: who produced it, what’s the evidence, is it independently confirmed?
Affirm emotions, not the theory: “I get why that feels unsettling.”
Avoid identity threats: don’t make it about them being stupid or gullible.
Plant doubt slowly: small cracks work better than direct confrontation.
Set limits: if it becomes obsessive or aggressive, disengage.

Best question to ask

“What evidence would convince you this claim is false?”
The answer shows whether the CT is evidence-based or identity-based.

[CivicGrief]

35. Thank you , doctor.

I think the fever broke. All the evidence (medical records, police reports, etc) is overwhelming. The non-stop news (could the MSM please give it a rest already?) is just what you would expect about such an event. I’m glad everything is on an even playing field and on the up and up. I will never question the official story ever again. Bless you.

[Fiendish Thingy]

34. I want to see video of the dress rehearsal the day before

Then we would know the whole story…

[intheflow]

38. Maybe there was a noise that sounded like a gunshot and some

(by no means all) people reacted to that. It’s also weird that some people ducked but then when it became clear he’d been shot, they all sit upright, no one scatters or stays down with an active shooter out there. Also, all the info we know came from Team Trump. Put another way, do you think Trump’s doctor is being truthful when he says Trump is in excellent health and is built like a professional body builder? There is literally ample reason to suspect rat-fuckery in Butler as there is in everything this regime does.

[sarisataka]

39. A sound like a gunshot right before actual gunshots

That is the plausible explanation?

Having been under fire I can assure you with first hand knowledge there is no "standard" reaction to gunfire.

We have more than their claims. We have the video above, witnesses, reporters who were covering the event and a Pulitzer winning photo of a bullet in the air.

The doctor's statements of his current health are not relevant.

[kimbutgar]

26. He put the blood pellet on his ear or an agent did when he was thrown down on the ground

It was so staged.

[heme]

2. I do remember Trump was heavily involved,

With the wrestling world, where they know how to bleed.
Kentuck, you could be onto something here.
I never connected those pieces, until your post.

[yellow dahlia]

4. So much of it seemed staged, didn't it?

The idea that someone would go through all the logistics to stage the incident, at the risk of being "caught" doing so, always baffled me. BUT!

It accomplished what they wanted. Gave them a reason to garner sympathy. Nothing with these people is "real" or truth.

[travelingthrulife]

6. Keeps the phony christians on board.

[heme]

44. I'm new here

But I don't understand how " phony christians" fits to my reply.

[CivicGrief]

13. The WWE has fake blood capsules for that.

[PatSeg]

29. Good point

Welcome to DU!

[yellow dahlia]

3. What I remember is seeing him reach for his ear, at about the same time a shot

was heard. His hand came back with "blood" on it.

He ducked/went to the ground. If his ear really was hit, wouldn't the contact with a fast moving bullet propelled him further?

There has never been any evidence of a wound to the ear. Did the blood look fake?

And that kid on the roof - so many questions. And now there are alleged emails he sent to a police deputy beforehand.

More questions than answers.

[CozyMystery]

5. https://butlerradio.com/sheriff-disputes-report-that-deputy-sheriff-exchanged-emails-with-crooks/ nt

[CivicGrief]

37. No blood splatter.

It appears the blood didn’t appear until he stood back up.

[karynnj]

7. If it were staged, it seems unlikely people in

the audience would have been killed. It may just have been a failed assassination where Trump might have been cut by a piece of the teleprompter or something else.

[Johonny]

9. You dont think Trump would happily kill

A few in his audience to become president? Trump would happily kill them all. He doesn't give a shit about them.

[Fiendish Thingy]

18. So did Trump know and approve of the "staged" attempt?

Who else knew (would have to be dozens, if not hundreds of people)?

[intheflow]

40. Have you learned nothing from the Epstein files?

It’s quite obvious that literally hundreds of people knew about him and were able to keep it secret for decades. If you’re rich, they let you get away with it. Especially if you pay them.

[Fiendish Thingy]

41. Except it wasn't secret

At least not for long. The details may have been unclear, but the fact that Epstein was a sex trafficker has been known for close to 30 years.

Yes, his wealth, and his wealthy friends protected him for a time, but it was a very poorly kept secret.

A staged assassination would require the complicity of the Secret Service while Biden was president, as well as the complicity of numerous campaign staff, not to mention all those “paid crisis actors” ( unless one is stupid enough to believe both the shooter and the audience member were sacrificed for the benefit of the campaign).

Trump was in the line of fire between the shooter and the audience member who was killed.- was trusting that the shooter would miss Trump part of the ingenious plot? Or was the audience member killed by someone else besides the shooter?

Koo koo for Cocoa Puffs .

[CivicGrief]

42. Sadly, the "evidence-based geniuses" fail

to see the evidence that we are on the path to autocracy. It’s all nothing more than norms being ignored to them. Trump was the most desperate fuck to ever run for president. And it wasn’t about honesty and helping the American people.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. I remember that an audience member was killed

And I remember all the kooky CT nonsense that followed.

[CivicGrief]

14. What else do you remember about him?

He was a fireman. No he wasn’t. Ah, who gives a shit, we got credibility for our assassination scheme. What do we know about the shooter. Again , who gives a crap. Now quiet, piggy.

[Scrivener7]

15. He was a 20 year old maga kid. Who worked in the kitchen of

an old age home. And who outsmarted the entire US Secret Service. And who was known by the Secret Service to be up on that roof with a gun for 20 minutes before the shots were fired.

Nothing to see here, you crazy conspiracists!

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. Did he die?

Or was he a “paid crisis actor”?

[CivicGrief]

20. Maybe just collateral damage.

With all the fucked up things this administration does and is capable of doing, we should not put anything past them. If they outright seize ballots, will calling it out be the same as dump’s unproven election claims? We are not in Kansas anymore.

[Fiendish Thingy]

22. We aren't in OZ either

Trump is not omnipotent (he’s not even competent, and has failed more times than he has succeeded), and the states and the people are not powerless.

I appreciate your candor, as it makes clear who I need to add to the 100+ members on my Ignore List of CT nonsense spreaders.

[CivicGrief]

25. Good.

I’m sick of you too. Just think about the things he does with no consequences and reconsider your snide remarks.

[themaguffin]

43. well

I doubt we will really know what happened that day, but on your point, look at 1/6 and the other schemes after the 2020 election. They would and will do horrific things as a means to their end.

[EarlG]

32. Here's the dead man's obituary

https://www.redmondfuneralhomeinc.com/obituary/Corey-Comperatore

Two other people were also shot at the event. One of them was shot twice:

https://www.pa.gov/agencies/psp/newsroom/pennsylvania-state-police-identify-victims-shot-during-attempted

Those men are now suing the government over the shooting:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/2-men-injured-in-trump-rally-shooting-in-butler-sue-us/ar-AA24Ddnw

Here's information about the shooter, Thomas Crooks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crooks

[Orrex]

27. It takes so little to get the cheerleaders to pounce

Above all, The Official Story must be tirelessly parroted, however ridiculous or contrary to observation The Story may be.

[LessAspin]

10. The Unhinged Looney Left

Obviously the Unhinged Looney Left was behind it

At least that's what right wing media has reported and the dutiful mainstream media repeats.

The funny thing about that is why haven't the MAGA Trump bootlickers in Congress been running non-stop hearings into this?

[MIButterfly]

11. It's all television to DJT

A spectacle, a show, drama all done for ratings and to manipulate. Was it staged? I don’t know for a fact, but everything about it sure was fishy. Especially that "Fight! Fight! Fight!" with his fist in the air as he's being hustled off the stage. I would think that someone having just been shot at would be too shocked and scared to think to do that, but what the hell do I know?

[ColoringFool]

16. Waiting For The "CT Nay-Sayers" To Weigh In.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

19. Trump called so many people crooks, one named "Crooks" had apparently had enough of his shit, LOL.

[CivicGrief]

23. As good as any theory we have been given.

Last edited Tue Jun 9, 2026, 01:02 PM - Edit history (1)

for the motive

[hlthe2b]

31. I don't remember, but if he had an earpiece in that ear and struck it just right...

that could cause some mild bleeding--especially since he is on high dose aspirin (blood thinners).

[jls4561]

33. The ketchup and Kotex assassination attempt. The only things real about Fat Donnie are his cruelty and stupidity.

[mb40]

36. Deceiving people is his mode of operation, look at the official narratives from Noem after crimes commited by ICE

If you accept the official narrative regarding Butler as is, you much acknowledge the secret service was totally inept and they were not really disciplined after the event (no firings). Trump gave the one agent in charge during Butler a promotion when he became President.

It is a little strange that Trump, as vindictive as he is, would not be furious with them after he came that close to losing his life.