There's a lot of pretty deranged misinformation circulating, possibly the funniest of which is that the shooter was "Mark Violets", an antifa activist who happens to look exactly like an AS Roma fan site journalist, Marco Violi.

as if things weren't enough of a mess. this election is going to be craziest in a long long time

Too late to assassinate Biden now, they would've had to get it done yesterday. However, the fallout might hasten the urgency of the Democrats about changing things up. They're going to need to get way, way outside the frame of "Ha ha, this is what you get for not supporting gun control" to cut through this.

I don't think the identity of the shooter will prove to be too relevant, unless he's a migrant. Other than that, Fox News and the rest will readily be able to paint whoever it was as an over-intellectual outsider to normative society.

If he wasnt winning before, Trump is definitely winning now.

i don't see how this foolishness will make anyone who wasn't already sympathetic to this racist asshole feel any different. lying about getting shot in the ear when it's broken glass that nicked his poor little ear. if a bullet from a sniper rifle hit your ear it's doing some damage. but a liar is gonna do what a liar is gonna do.

    maybe it's because i'm really into guns, but it always seems like i'm the only one who isn't a trump fanboy when i'm at the gun range. i would be surprised if this shooter wasn't a gun loving republican. biden doesn't engender this level of devotion. probably a ron dekkklantis fanboy.

      Meatwad i would be surprised if this shooter wasn't a gun loving republican.

      You're spot on if the latest information—the shooter was a registered Republican called Thomas Crooks—is accurate. But I don't think it'll matter, Trump's support will paint him as an "abnormal radicalised outsider" and have a field day.

          Meatwad

          Elections are won at the margins. Doubters who said they will vote for Biden will stay at home, and undecideds will fall for trump. This could swing the election by 2-3 percentage points, which would mean a landslide win.

          That said, I'm not immediately convinced this wins the election for trump. 30 years ago, it would have been a sure thing, but I don't know now..

            Burnwinter And like that there's a fake video of "Crooks" (actually some unhinged guy from a few months ago) in circulation denouncing Republicans ...

              Republicans already blaming Biden/Dems rhetoric for the attempt.

              Election must be over now, right?

                goon A last resort for the Democrats could be to orchestrate new candidates in advance of their August convention—it'd have to be done with care to get them in with as much consensus as possible.

                I'm not wonkish enough to be definite what extraordinary changes to the primary process are possible, but I read yesterday that can hypothetically happen.

                That'd mean the Democrats have got an ugly month or so to look at how this impacts polling.

                  Gazza M Trump's political career has popularised the term "stochastic violence" ... the trouble is correct reasoning won't affect the outcome of this much.

                    Inexplicable how someone is able to get a clean shot off at a Presidential candidate in public like this. This could've been a very different (and tragic) story if not for some good fortune.

                    Trump is now a martyr. Imagine that. I already thought he was going to win. This guarantees it.

                      And then it got worse.

                      • America this century in a nutshell

                      lorddulaarsenal There's footage of a Secret Service sniper on another rooftop, with scope apparently trained on the shooter, who seems to delay until shots are fired before "taking out" the guy.

                      God knows what their plan was, but that video is generating conspiracy theories from all directions.

                        Without getting all too tinfoil-hattish it certainly stinks a bit. There was an eye witness account on BBC website who also said he pointed the shooter out to police several minutes before the firing yet the police did nothing, would have thought they'd be on it in a flash.