Trump was shot, and I have feelings about it
Just an inch to the right, and we would be living in a very very different world right now.
Haman Nature (both my show and this little Substack here) is my attempt to reflect on deep and important aspects of human nature and human society and how we can understand both to improve our lives — both personally and as a species.
It’s not supposed to just be my reactions to the “news of the day” as it were. Or even “news of the week". I prefer to have a little more time to reflect on things before I talk about them.
But good lord, what a busy “news of the week” it’s been!
I’m not even going to bother talking about the astonishing mess of dementia, DEI, and cronyism that the Democratic Party is right now. There’ll be plenty of time for that as we get closer to the DNC national convention next month.
I am going to write about the Trump shooting, though. Can’t help it. Tomorrow I’m going to give you my take on what happened and why, but not today.
Today I’m just going to focus on how it felt.
When Trump got shot, I was at FreedomFest 2024 in Las Vegas listening to a presentation put on by Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation. Over the years, he has put together a very convincing case about how elements of the Deep State killed John F. Kennedy back in 1963.
His argument is compelling and it focuses mostly on the coverup. Dastardly deeds are often discovered in the sloppy attempts made to cover them up. Jacob’s presentation was on the president’s fraudulent autopsy and what the CIA did to edit the Zapruder film.
Right as Jacob was going over the film, talking about when the “shots rang out”, phones of people in the audience started blowing up with reports that Trump had been shot.
It was eerie.
I left the room. I had read or watched most of the elements in the presentation before (and you can too, if you visit fff.org and poke around for the JFK section). I had to know what was happening in Butler PA.
It soon became clear that Trump’s injuries weren’t life-threatening. It also soon became clear that exactly what happened was going to be hotly contested, especially on the Internet.
The rest of that day and into the night, I was quietly upset about the whole thing. My wife noticed. I had no immediate answer for her.
I was just upset.
Donald Trump is hardly “my champion”. From a libertarian perspective he’s just awful. Perhaps not quite as awful as a Joe Biden or a Hillary Clinton, but still awful.
As I often say, “The best thing about Donald Trump is his enemies.” You see, I hate the state. I can’t stand it. I think it’s one of the stupidest, most vile, and most destructive institutions we humans were ever foolish enough to think up.
And we live under the thumb of the most powerful state regime there ever was. I despise it. And “it” despises Donald Trump. Trump enrages exactly the right kind of people. This corrupt state and its crony corporate interests and media shills just hate the guts of Donald Trump.
And it’s just human nature that if my enemy despises a guy, and that if his very existence seems to put a thumb in their eye, then I’m going to have a soft spot in my heart for him.
And I do. And he got shot at several times. He could easily have been killed. And think about how all the cronies in the state would have laughed and laughed and laughed if that had happened.
It bothered me. It still bothers me a little.
Trump getting shot also made me think about what might have happened if he hadn’t turned his head at the last second, or if the shooter had aimed a little better. Maybe taken shots on center mass rather than the more difficult head shot.
What would have happened in this country then?
I could envision two scenarios and both are awful. In one, Trump supporters take to the streets in a bloody, violent response, and touch off some kind of confused rebellion resulting in senseless violence and a massive retaliatory crackdown from the state.
That would be bad. And one can easily imagine it.
But the more likely scenario is that there would be no response at all. Not a violent one, not even much of a political one.
The problem with Trump is that his movement, while populist, isn’t focused. It’s not like he’s a Thomas Jefferson who has eloquently written up a coherent list of grievances. He’s given us no modern Declaration of Independence to rally around. We have no obvious king to shrug off.
Our enemy is the state and Trump’s supporters don’t really hate it. Not like I do. They’re mad, but they don’t properly understand what they’re mad at. And if that’s the case, then you can’t really have any kind of meaningful pushback against the state. Certainly nothing like an American Revolution.
So Trump’s shooting bothered me. For all these reasons and more. I’m really glad he wasn’t killed. I’m very sorry that Corey Comperatore was. That’s another thing that really bothered me. Some apparently really good guy is just gunned down — by accident. Not even as an afterthought — without any thought at all.
It’s stupid and tragic and awful and pointless.
Oh. And like so many, I was also really impressed and inspired by what a bad-ass Trump was in the aftermath. “Fight, fight, fight” indeed. And good lord, what an iconic photo that is.
I’d really like to know how the events of that day effected you. Not necessarily all the various conspiracy theories about what happened that day (which I’ll touch on tomorrow), but how the incident impacted YOU.
Hit me up in the comments or at “adam@hamannature.com”. Let me know if I’m just a weirdo or not.
Naturally,
Adam
And hit me up on Twitter(X): “@Rerazer”
When these things happen I am always surprised by my own reaction. I am a lot more patriotic than I know. I care about this country very deeply. For five days I have had the song God Bless the USA with the one line “I’m proud to be an American” running through my head like an ear worm.
The same thing happened to me on 9/11. I got an American flag for the first time ever and put it up in my office.
I can’t even explain this reaction. It’s very deep. I don’t care to. I like this reaction. I like wanting to be close to everyone in my country.
Yesterday, I read something that said that Biden may be terminal with something. It is probably incorrect (most info is these days) but it made me very sad too.
I always knew I am an incredibly loyal person. I guess that extends to patriotism.
Anyway.
God (if you’re there) please bless the USA.
I heard about it late that day, and the report made it clear he was fine before explaining that he was shot, which I am frankly surprised took this many years to come about. So I can't say I *felt* much about it. I was surprised how much the Blue/Left retreated from their vitriol, as if they didn't all just spend eight years publicly (and it turns out, performatively) wishing for this moment. Don't worry, it will be as short-lived as the post-9/11 "bipartisanship." I already knew these people were "cultural supremacists," and I've already written (in their voice) "Your every word, your very name, is just a TARGET I will defame." I was talking about PR and lawfare, but they've only proven my point more.