To have grudging respect for how Trump styled it out

[Ladyslip]

I mean someone tried to murder him, he came very close to having died. He went through a terrifying experience and came out saying fight and raising his fist in defiance. I think he’s an odious man but despite that, I have to concede a nod to that.

Let’s face it, if this had happened to Obama and he’d responded in the same way we’d all be like ‘woah, he the man!’

Note. This is not a genuine AIBU. I’m confident in my position on this but know so many people have so polarized themselves that they would rather eat their own eyeballs than find any small compliment or recognition for someone they hate.

Agree op. I'm not a fan of Trump at all but I felt a real involuntary hair up on back of neck grudging "christ what a guy" type feeling when I saw his reaction, which was very likely adrenaline fuelled tbf.

Hard to explain without sounding like I like the guy. I honestly don't!

I think it's a complete inability to control himself. Ever. I don't think it's a good look.

He would have been in great pain wouldn't have known in the moment it was just his ear.

I remember when Reagan was shot the white house playing it down. When he actually did have surgery and it was serious.

His standing defiantly for a moment probably eased the trigger happy crowd and kept the peace

It just grazed him. I'm sure it was sore, but not really (I assume) like being 'properly' shot. And afaik, when you're in shock, the pain is staved off for a little while.

"The Wisdom of Psychopaths" is a great book and makes exactly this point. There's a reason lots of politicians are psychopaths - essentially other people are just a game, but that can be helpful in a crisis

Still not someone I want in charge of the nuclear codes though

No, I think his arsing about fist pumping put lives in further danger. He should have got out of there as fast as his security team were trying to and not larked about.

I agree OP - I can’t help but grudgingly admire the way he handled such a terrifying situation. I’m also heartened by his comments afterwards about how he wants to bring the country together. Perhaps having a near-death experience might alter his perspective on a few things.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13634355/Trump-gives-interview-attempted-assassination-opens-decision-saved-life.html

Also, that photo, where the American flag just happened to be fluttering above him, is absolutely iconic. You couldn’t wish for better optics if you tried.

he has certainly emboldened and encouraged some quite extreme views and behaviours.

Thing is. I was talking about this with my elderly dad yesterday. The 1960s is his generation (yes he is old) and we were talking about rhetoric in politics.

We were saying that the Democrat supporters keep posting on social media, in fact I think even some actual Dems have said it out loud, that Trump is Hitler and a Facist and his supporters Nazis.

So if you're a vulnerable and isolated individual and you genuinely believe that...well, why wouldn't you assassinate Hitler? Wouldn't that actually be the most noble and principled thing to do? It's like that old thought experiment we used to play in school, would murder be justified if you could go back in time and murder child Hitler. Well of course most of us always said Yes. So if you really believe the Democrats when they say Trump is Hitler, and you really love democracy, trying to get him one in the head is the most morally correct thing to do for the US.

So in that sense I'd say the Democrats have also certainly emboldened and encouraged some quite extreme views and behaviours.

The alternative view of course is that the Dems are only spekaing metaphorically with that sort of rhetoric and don't really believe Trump in Hitler at all. Which makes them either alarmingly disrespectful of the sacrifices their ancestors made in WW2, or makes them cynically disingenuous. Both options are pretty bad imho.

Carter?

If you listen to YouTube documentaries of people who've been shot (I listen to lots of ones about Chicago gang wars because I think it's horrific what's happening there and these young African Americans need a voice) in the seconds and minutes after it happens, all you feel is incredible heat, then pain and you're aware of gushing blood. You know you've been shot but you don't know where or how bad - especially if it's a part of your body that you can't easily get a look at, such as your head. Even people who've been shot in the arm say they couldn't see how bad it was due to the blood and immediate swelling....and as anyone who's suffered a sudden traumatic injury knows, you don't WANT to look because of the pain and your survival instinct is going to the worse case scenario.

I think in the moment Trump wouldn't have known it was 'just his ear' or if part of his skull had been taken off. I think the fist pump was to reassure his followers and ask them to continue to stand up for Trumpism even if he died. Or more likely it was just an instinctive thing and he wasn't even really 'thinking' with his higher brain at all.

Interesting! But 'higher brain ' made me laugh 😁

LOL you know what I mean. In moments like that the frontal lobe goes for a burton doesn't it and the limbic system takes over with flight/fight/freeze. You wouldn't really be capable of doing any frontal lobe thinking, what we tend to call 'thinking' in terms of the higher social skills and calculations, at all. That's why victims of trauma in war or bombings often talk about things slowing down and things strangely dissociated, being like a movie etc.

Where does wave come in terms of the fight/flight/freeze reaction I wonder?

Fight, for sure. The instinctive urge to show you're still alive. I think the determination to get back on his feet was part of that, you know if you're in a situation where you fear for your safety, you kind of instinctively want to be on your feet, to make yourself look as big and strong as possible.

I didn't feel pain in the second stage of my Labours for two of my babies. I do recognise the disassociative state might have been at play here. For the first I felt Euphoria, weird but true.

I don't think I'd wave though! Not that there's be anyone there to wave at. Sigh

I didn't see him wave, I saw him fist pump which is textbook instinctive fight response, to me at least. He was even shouting fight.

Then I saw him drive his arm down at the shoulder which would've been the agreed sign with his security that he was ready and able to walk (the security guy behind him made that signal too)

I wasn't paying quite as much attention as you were obviously. All I saw was a man desperately seeking attention. But yes, I think you're right about fist pumping rather than waving.

I said this on another thread about trumps reaction, I’m no fan of trump but I relate to his reaction, it’s hard to know how you will react when the Adrenalin is rushing and you’ve been in a situation like that, lots of people are very different to how you would expect, when I was stabbed, I was very concerned about where my hat was and I was laughing and being like this isn’t too bad. It hits you later.

Trump the unifier?

www.spectator.co.uk/article/trump-the-unifier/

Sorry to hear that 💐

I don’t think he styled anything out! He’s just a completely bizarre person - his response there was in keeping with many other equally bizarre responses to events, questions, situations. He’s like a toddler, or someone with very limited cognitive abilities.

Done something illogical and gets questioned on it? - ‘Waaah! I’m the greatest!’

Ends up in court for everything short of murder? - ‘Waaah! I’m the greatest!’

Is asked a question on any aspect of policy? - ‘Waaah! I’m the greatest!’

Gets shot at?! - ‘Waaah! I’m the greatest!’

😵‍💫

Euphoria is commonly reported in fight/flight/freeze situations because the brain gets flooded with happy hormones and active hormones so that the body can do something to save itself rather than potentially freeze and get eaten by a woolly mammoth.

@DanielGault I would highly recommend you rewatch the footage as it's rare to get such clear close up video footage of a group of people reacting in a genuinely life or death situation (something I've studied and remain extremely interested in). So you an actually watch fight-flight-freeze up close.

If you're interested in these things, I suggest you also watch the footage of the assassination attempt on then Prince Charles in 1980. I'd characterise it as a freeze response but also fascinating to see how his training kicks in and he recovers very quickly. Man basically adjusts his cuffs and gets on with what he was doing!

Also interesting to compare his close body protection people with US secret service. V different situations obviously.

I've been watching the footage on a loop tbh! I was surprised also by the audience reaction, there didn't seem to be much of a horror/aghast type reaction. I had never heard about this Charles assassination attempt, I'll definitely look that up!