Iran television coverage of the shooting of Donald Trump
As we all know, Iran has been targeted by the United States in an Information war that goes back well over a decade. The country has been vilified, called out for every imaginable human rights abuse, subjected to vicious economic sanctions including exclusion from the global financial payments system (SWIFT). I ask you to bear this in mind when you view this morning’s discussion I had on air with one of the leading news presenters on Press TV, the Iranian global broadcaster, with regard to the shooting of Donald Trump. Is this responsible and professional journalism? Is it worse, …or is it better than what you saw today on CNN, on the BBC or on Euronews? I leave the verdict to you.
https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/130106
*****
I freely acknowledge that the most relevant point which I raised when I spoke of gross negligence of the authorities responsible for Former President Trump’s security, namely the failure to deploy drones for overhead supervision of the event, came from the remarks of a security expert on CNN that I listened to over breakfast.
As the day has progressed, CNN coverage seemed to move in another direction, towards discussion of the overall political tensions and polarization in the U.S. which made such an attack possible. However, to my knowledge no one in Western mainstream media is going beyond generalities and pinning down the specifics calls for Trump to be ‘stopped’ and even to ‘be shot’ because he is a threat to American democracy, as Biden has said repeatedly and thoughtlessly on the campaign trail. Tonight’s edition of News of the Week hosted by Yevgeny Popov on Russian state television did name the names of several public figures who had directly called for Trump to be killed. It is utterly remarkable that those who made such threats were never brought to justice for inciting violence.
In closing, I was pleased to be given the microphone by Press TV to call attention to one other sign that something is seriously amiss in the security being provided to our most important politicians. The question of whether Trump had previously requested more from the Secret Service was raised by our media during the day and then dismissed. However, no one mentioned the repeated refusal of Biden to name a security team to candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. This is utterly outrageous given the murder of his father in the midst of campaigning decades ago.
A country that has thrown away 175 billion dollars to keep the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev in power seems to fret over the few million it would take to keep its own elections safe.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024
Transcription below by a reader
PressTV: 0:00
Former US President Donald Trump has been injured after a gunman opened fire during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump:
If you want to really see something that's sad, take a look at what happened--
PressTV: 0:25
The Secret Service said a gunman fired multiple shots from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. Trump was speaking to supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania. His team and the Secret Service confirmed that he was fine. In a social media post following the attack, Trump said that he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear. One spectator was killed, and at least two were critically injured. The Secret Service said the shooter was also killed. US law enforcement officials say the incident is investigated as an attempted assassination.
Kevin Rojek, FBI: 1:09
This evening we had what we're calling an assassination attempt against our former president Donald Trump. It's still an active crime scene. As I mentioned, we have a number of agents on scene. We also are working closely with other federal agencies, our state partners, and our local police partners as well. Again, at this time, we are not prepared--
PressTV:
The FBI has identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. However, there is still not any mention of a potential motive or whether anyone else was involved. Reacting to the shooting, President Joe Biden described it as sick and denounced political violence. Biden said that he was grateful that Trump was safe and doing well.
2:00
Let's bring in Gilbert Doctorow. He is an independent international affairs analyst who joins us from Brussels. Welcome. When you take a look at what has happened here, obviously an assassination attempt on a potential future president of the US is something that should be condemned. But the causes behind what drives a person to do that seems to be what the US is now-- not now, but has called political violence. And based on a recent poll, 10 percent of Americans actually think that political violence is justified. Are we looking at this, not phenomenon, but this type of thinking and the justification that Americans feel to be the cause of what we have seen unfold today?
Gilbert Doctorow, PhD: 2:49
I'm [not] particularly surprised that there was an attempt on the life of Donald Trump. The question was only for me, when in the campaign would it occur? And is it the only attempt that will be made, and how thorough and open the investigation into this will be. It's very convenient that the would-be assassin has himself been killed, because that spares us all the interrogation which would reveal who else was involved. Any police or other law and order officials would be investigating precisely that question. Where has he traveled previous to this event in Pennsylvania to find access to Mr. Trump? Who assisted him? Because it is most improbable this was a lone wolf attack.
3:44
Also, the question has been raised by serious experts in terrorism: why was there no drone over that event? We have drones monitoring all kinds of public events. I go to open-air opera concerts, and there are drones overhead to watch whether there is some possible source of violence in the area. Nothing of the sort occurred in Pennsylvania. That is, by itself, quite extraordinary.
Mr. Biden's remarks were pitiful. They were showing absolute, willing ignorance of the atmosphere that has made this possible, an atmosphere in which he is about to lose the election, and the deep state is troubled, is frightened, and will do anything to eliminate Mr. Trump. That's clear. It also raises another question, which goes directly back to Mr. Biden. Why has he refused to provide Secret Service protection to the other candidate in this race, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly requested such protection and who has a right to such protection under U.S. law?
4:58
So the Biden administration is guilty of negligence, willful negligence, in its protection of those who would campaign against it.
PressTV:
I'm curious as to who gains out of this. I mean obviously if it's something that getting rid of a candidate would potentially mean that Biden is going to maybe come out on top. I guess that's one of the gains here. But what does this show about the I guess divisions that exist in the US when it comes to the way that people are polarized based on the politics? I mean, we know that when Trump set foot on the political stage, he did bring about divisiveness based on a whole host of issues and topics and ideas that he has had on a variety of topics, I guess. Do you think that this is an outcome of that in any shape or form?
Doctorow: 5:50
Mr. Trump has been highly divisive. That has been held against him by status-quo politicians. They would like us all to be singing from the same chorus book, from the same set of notes. And they resent and denounce his raising fundamental concerns with where America's headed. The potential for violence is, of course, there. There are those who speak about America on the edge of a civil war. I think that's an exaggeration. But there could be widespread outbreaks of violence if Mr. Trump were eliminated in such an assassination. That's beyond question.
If there were to be measures to prevent his being on the ballot in November, there would be a high potential for violence in the United States. The United States is divided close to 50-50 among political activists. I don't mean the general population, but among those who are following and active in politics, the country is evenly divided. On the one hand, that presents a background, a context for the kind of event that we saw yesterday. On the other hand, that is the greatest protection of the freedoms of speech and assembly and the other freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, which America enjoys today in contrast to parts of the world, such as Europe, where I live today, where all emphasis is on unity and where any naysaying voice is immediately denounced.
7:25
So the United States benefits. Americans benefit from this division. Politics, in essence, is all about division. And those who tell us it's about solidarity are themselves authoritarians who do not wish to face a fair election.
PressTV:
And the undertones of what you initially stated, I get the feeling perhaps that they're-- again, my interpretation, I could be wrong-- is that there's a deep state that could be involved here in one form or another. We know the animosity that Trump feels about, for example, the FBI and the CIA. Are we looking at that to be a possibility in this case?
Doctorow: 8:07
Oh, I think definitely. There's also an interesting question about the role of the Secret Service. We will remember-- and the facts about the Kennedy assassination have never been fully revealed, but there is enough information in public space for some excellent investigative journalists to have looked at the role of these security organizations particularly as you mentioned the CIA, and also the Secret Service for their complicity, if not their active participation, in the murder of John F. Kennedy. I think, thus, if there is to be an open and fair investigation of what happened yesterday in the case of Mr. Trump, these are the two main areas that should be investigated: what did they know, and why didn't they act?
PressTV: 8:57
Why do you think the fact that there were no drones there could be a cause of concern, or a factor that stands out here? What other factors do you think stand out in addition to that?
Doctorow:
Well, the reason why the drones comes up an issue is that there were anti-snipers present at that event. This is how and why the assailant was killed very quickly and did not complete his task. There was lateral vision and slightly elevated vision of the possible points from which an attack could be made on the president, or former president. However, there was no vertical observation of what was going on in that territory. And this is itself a case of gross negligence, if not part of a plan to eliminate Mr. Trump.
PressTV: 10:00
All right. Thank you very much for that. We do appreciate it. Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst there from Brussels. Thank you.