Updates:

Might be best for mods to lock this post at this point (is that a thing on Lemmy?) because this story is basically wrapped. The FBI says a bullet caused some ear damage. Maybe it was bullet shrapnel from a ricochet or something like that, but later photos show the teleprompters in-tact so it wasn’t shards of glass from those. Trump’s usage of the bandage (and the assassination attempt) as symbols and political tools has been discussed at length and I don’t think conspiratorial thinking beyond that is very productive. Pete Souza took his own account down after getting a lot of harassment, so no further conspiracies are needed regarding X-formerly-known-as-Twitter at this time.

A photo of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump taken on Saturday without his ear bandage has sparked a wave of speculation.

The image, taken by Alex Brandon of the Associated Press on July 27 and shared by photojournalist Pete Souza on X, formerly Twitter, shows Trump walking up an airplane staircase with an apparently fully healed ear wound just weeks after he was shot with a high-powered rifle.

Souza, known for his tenure as the chief official White House photographer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, posted Brandon’s photo on his now-deactivated X account on Saturday, writing, “AP photo this morning. Look closely at his ear that was ‘hit’ by a bullet from an AR-15 assault rifle.”

Souza’s profile, @PeteSouza, which had over 200,000 followers, now reads, “This account doesn’t exist, try searching for another,” implying that he has deleted or deactivated it. If he had been banned, it would read, “Account suspended. X suspends accounts which violate the X rules.”

  • @[email protected]
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    5611 months ago

    Since his base is so evangelical, sometimes a bible quote is apt:

    And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

    • Revelations 13:3
  • @[email protected]
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    811 months ago

    You think old, pea brained, waddling trump could fake being hit by a bullet and then apply fake blood (or have it applied) while on camera?

    • @[email protected]
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      211 months ago

      While I seriously don’t think there is a chance in hell it was a false flag (why would they pick a known conservative instead of someone pretending to be leftist?) it technically could have been applied by SS without Trumps knowledge, which would have been very funny

  • Riskable
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    611 months ago

    I’m skeptical of this photo. There’s no way Trump can handle stairs like that. Unless the photo was taken after one of his usual, “pause for 3 seconds after each step cuz this is just too much.”

  • @[email protected]
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    6311 months ago

    I still expect Trump’s ear wound appearance was fixed with cosmetics, I mean why wouldn’t they? He doesn’t want to look like Frankenstein. I got downvoted to hell in another thread for posting that though.

    • Captain Poofter
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      3311 months ago

      Are you insane? There is no way Trump would pass up that sort of imagery.

      • @[email protected]
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        411 months ago

        I do not agree. I think he see it a sign of weakness. He wants everything to look perfect, there are no way he want to look week.

        • @[email protected]
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          511 months ago

          People started making fun of him for it. He is fragile enough that being called out for his sanitary pad ear would probably bother him.

        • @[email protected]
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          1611 months ago

          I was fully expecting the bandage to stay on for months.

          But you can’t expect anything from the guy, so…

      • @[email protected]
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        1411 months ago

        No, trump is vain and an attention seeker. Hed rather talk about the ear while looking perfect. (He also has a distorted self-image but that’s another thing)

    • @[email protected]
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      411 months ago

      That was my first thought too. Makeup to cover it up. I didn’t know why you’d be DVed, except my Trump Cultists maybe. As if he’s not always caked in bronzer as is. Guys can wear makeup - every actor in Hollywood does, at the very least.

    • @[email protected]
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      1811 months ago

      Why wouldn’t they? Because they want to sell the strong tin leader narrative. I’m surprised he took the bandage off. I’m surprised he isn’t wearing a T-shirt with his little PR photo tiny-handed fist in the air. I’m sure he asks his sycophants if it looked more manly than the photo of shirtless Putin riding a stallion.

  • Riskable
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    1311 months ago

    Duh! One of the great benefits of skin suits is how easy they are to repair.

  • @[email protected]
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    11 months ago

    I hate to defend Trump, but as someone who had a cartilage piercing accidentally torn out, I can attest to the insane amounts of blood that can come from a rather small ear wound.

  • @[email protected]
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    3011 months ago

    I genuinely, since the day it happened, have not believed that Trump was shot.

    I watched over and over again and I swear what I saw was WWE theatre.

    I would have believed an attempt on his life, from someone anywhere on the Political spectrum (I even said this before info about the shooter came out).

    However, I don’t believe Trump. He has had a white mark on his ear for years. The “scab” that he’s playing off as a wound has been there for years.

    He is the liar/the first beast!

    • @[email protected]
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      11 months ago

      Two people died. It’s asinine to ignore that and let your desire to distrust trump metastasize into conspiracy theories.

      It’s conspiracy theories like the Obama birther movement that got us into this situation. So just zip it.

      He was shot at, the bullet grazed his ear leaving very little substantial damage. We don’t need leftwing misinformation any more than we need rightwing misinformation.

      Let’s be better than that, AND let’s not bring that sort of vibe onto Lemmy. Because I guarantee you Russia and other foreign state actors are looking to promote misinformation this election season as they do any other. Lemmy don’t need that stuff.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 months ago

        I see it as asinine to believe that Trump wouldn’t have his own supporters killed.

        You bring up Russia but false flags are right out of the Pig Putins Book. A man with much praise from Trump.

        I won’t zip it because I don’t believe he was shot. Until he admits otherwise, I am under the belief that he had his own supporter killed to use their names as a Martyr and say he took a bullet for America

        The thing is he couldn’t even wear the Pressure Bandage for more than one night at the RNC. He won’t even pretend he has a boo boo for America.

        He is the liar

        Edit. Let me add that since bringing this up I realized Trump met with a Putin puppet 2 days before shooting.

        • @[email protected]
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          911 months ago

          You’re a conspiracy theorists idiot then. As bad as any of the “left wing are cultural marxist elites running Capitalism” people.

          Because you’re also operating on political assumptions rather than what’s know.

          The FBI has said he was shot, they will have brought in crime scene detectives and ballistics experts and mapped the trajectory of the bullet already, and they’ve ALREADY SAID he was shot. But stand back everyone “some guy on the internet” has the real facts!

          You can’t trust the FBI and US officials - because u/tgs1999 has decided they know more about it!

          It’s idiotic conspiracy mongering where it’s not needed.

          • @[email protected]
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            211 months ago

            You can’t trust the FBI and US officials

            This is true though, but I don’t see any reason they would lie about this

          • @[email protected]
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            311 months ago

            Call me what you will but I still don’t believe he was shot from the second i saw the video. I won’t be quiet about that the way my mother was never quiet about Kennedys assissination in Dallas.

            • @[email protected]
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              411 months ago

              I’m a conspiracy theorists they way my mother was a conspiracy theorists about a different conspiracy theory.

              …do you at least get that backing a conspiracy theory up with reference to another conspiracy theory… And a family tradition, isn’t a rational or reasonable argument to present to others.

              Like, I don’t care if your family believes in Gremlins or Dragons, but that’s not a reason to bother other people about it. Believe what you like, but not expect others to consider “conspiracy theories backed by other conspiracy theories” as a valid approach to reality.

              • @[email protected]
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                211 months ago

                Kennedys assassination is no conspiracy either. It’s been proven and admitted to not be what was stated by the FBI.

                To act like there is no real “conspiracy” in reality is not reality.

            • @[email protected]
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              111 months ago

              I mean just logically McD’s thickens & clogs the blood. It’s fucking horrible. I’ve donated plasma & it pulls the fat right out of your blood, it can clog the filter. Perhaps Trump can survive any superficial wound, because he eats so much McD’s the wound just seals shortly after it’s inflicted. Like a white trash Wolverine.

              Question is, are the blood thinners powerful enough to counteract the McD’s & their artery clogging effects? 🤔

      • @[email protected]
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        11 months ago

        Your tone is so ignorant, like there is no way you are wrong.

        Did it not occur to people it was both, he was infact shot at, but it was shrapnel that hit him.

        Either way, you are not correct and your attitude is shit. Get off your high horse.

      • Todd Bonzalez
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        11 months ago

        Look, a bullet from an AR-15 passing that close to your head is going to create a shockwave sufficient enough to cause permanent hearing damage and probably a minor concussion.

        If it connected with his flesh, even just a “graze”, it would have done a lot more damage, and wouldn’t be completely healed so quickly.

        There’s plenty of evidence of dishonesty here. Trump, at least to some extent, is playing this event up. For example, if the damage to his ear was this minor, why has he been wearing a huge obvious bandage over his whole ear? That alone shows some degree of performance here, the question is exactly how much of this was a performance.

        It’s conspiracy theories like the Obama birther movement that got us into this situation. So just zip it.

        Accusing a well know liar of lying is nowhere near the same as that racist smear campaign, and you fucking know it. Zip it.

        let’s not bring that sort of vibe onto Lemmy. Because I guarantee you Russia and other foreign state actors are looking to promote misinformation

        “Let’s not bring conspiracy energy to Lemmy” Immediately goes full Russiagate

        • @[email protected]
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          211 months ago

          the earth trembles and the sky parts at the thunderous roar of the might ar15.

          Conspiracies are cool, but don’t just make shit up.

          • Todd Bonzalez
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            211 months ago

            So AP news publishes a story where literally every source is some 3-letter agency, with the message “even your fellow Americans are Russian Propagandists”, and you’re not even a little bit critical because…

            checks notes

            AP NEWS, bitch

            huh, well, I can’t say I was expecting your critical thinking skills to be good, but somehow I’m still disappointed.

            • @[email protected]
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              111 months ago

              Says the guy arguing the Trump shooting was a political stunt.

              …which by the way, just keeps it in the media cycle and makes it seem like people give a shit about Trump.

              The conservatives were getting upset that the story went away so fast, the dumb asses like you bring it back to be all “Look at his ear!”

              So thanks for keeping politics stupid.

        • @[email protected]
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          611 months ago

          “Young Fox” great name, it’s what the “T” in “tgs” stands for.

          This is my point. I’ve grieved for those dead at the event. I believe they were killed.

          I don’t believe Trump was shot and so I come to the conclusion he has planned this entire thing. This is what I’ve come to expect from Trump in his reach for Power.

          If I am wrong, I’m sorry and willing to admit being wrong.

          However, the reason I would be wrong is because Trump is a liar.

          • @[email protected]
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            111 months ago

            The word believe signals “conspiracy theorist”. “Suspect” is better if there is doubt.

            • @[email protected]
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              211 months ago

              We know Trump is a liar. He could have released medical records, but he didn’t. So everyone should be suspecting he is still lying about everything, whenever it’s convenient. As for what, you decide. From the start, we knew shrapnel or gear from his bodyguards were possibilities. Those are still on the table.

              Can you imagine how it would have been if instead of grandstanding, he would have immediately offered support for the deceased’s families? If he’s written off the wound as a scratch from the scuffle, instead of necessarily a bullet wound? That would have been a small positive end to a tragic situation. Instead we have reality. Meh.

              • @[email protected]
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                211 months ago

                Oh yes. Certainly be very suspicious of Trump faking injury (or at least exaggerating).

                My point is “believe” implies you’ve 100% made up your mind.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 months ago

          Look, a bullet from an AR-15 passing that close to your head is going to create a shockwave sufficient enough to cause permanent hearing damage and probably a minor concussion.

          This is absolutely false. A .50 cal can go right by your head, and as long as it doesn’t contact, your head, you’ll be fine, possibly with some hearing damage. 5.56 is a lot smaller than that.

      • YeetPics
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        811 months ago

        Trump still believes his birther bullshit. His base still believes his birther bullshit.

        Don’t act like it’s not possible for trump to have faked an assassination attempt as a means to seize power.

        It fits his modus operandi. It fits the evidence I see.

        The fact 2 people died, while sad, is a toll I believe trump would gladly pay for a chance at acting as Putin’s puppet as POTUS.

        • @[email protected]
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          611 months ago

          The most likely thing is it was a real attempt on his life, but he just got a scratch from some shrapnel or glass and was playing it up until he got bored of it.

          A little bit before the attempt, people were discussing the testimony surrounding a dropped case against him, the woman recounted being 13 and was orally raped by Trump in '94. She refused to continue to testify after receiving death threats or something.

          https://www.mic.com/articles/158432/jane-doe-lawyer-lisa-bloom-calls-off-press-conference-on-donald-trump-rape-allegations

          So this guy might have just been playing some pedo hunter fantasy out. He doesn’t have an online presence, if he did there would be some indication of being recruited if that was the case.

  • Boomer Humor Doomergod
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    411 months ago

    If he wants to prove there’s a hole he should just get a gauge for it. They could make it gold with a diamond T in the middle

  • @[email protected]
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    411 months ago

    It must have barely nicked him. A hit where the entire cross sectional area of the bullet passed through the cartilage would have removed substantial material as well as possibly torn the ear completely. It’s not a bullet with a lot of mass, but it has a crapload of kinetic energy from velocity. Thin pieces of flesh are going to come apart with a direct hit.

  • LasherzM
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    11 months ago

    “Jesus was a healer and he healed Trump” narrative incoming. Kamala being the new nominee stole all his thunder anyways, so who cares?

      • Riskable
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        611 months ago

        Revelations 13:3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

    • Riskable
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      311 months ago

      You’d think with how much he panders to the evangelicals he’d be right on top of showing them all just how holey he is 🤷