Few reasons:
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It played out like a cheesey action movie. Gunshot goes off, everyone dives down behind the podium for a sec where the cameras aren't pointed, just long enough to pull a fake blood packet out of a pocket and also it onto his face. They emerge immediately after, everyone sporting an over-the-top expression of panic, except for stone cold badass Mr prez, who just pops up with a triumphant fist pump. (reminder, this is the same guy whose life flashed before his eyes as he was recoiling away from a bird on his desk that pecked in his direction)
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We never saw damage to the ear tissue, just blood streaked on the skin.
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Dude just casually climbs up to an extremely obvious vantage point with a long gun a stone's throw away from someone under Secret Service protection, during an extremely public showing of an extremely controversial figure, and is allowed time to set up the shot.
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Days later the bandages came off to reveal there wasn't so much as a scab, it was just magically healed up completely.
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So how would you make something like that look semi plausible? Kill someone in the audience. Trump doesn't give a shit about his supporters or anyone else under his power. Firefighter? People fucking love firefighters - they'll be real mad about that.
So... It smells enough like bullshit that I'm calling it bullshit. Could have been something like the gunman was an impressionable dipshit that they knew could be easily radicalized, convinced him to take the shot, and sent him up with a fake bullet. An actual sniper nearby, possibly inside that same building, had his gun trained square onto the firefighter from an angle that didn't put Trump at any risk, and assassinated the pawn. Cheesey action movie scene plays out, dude on the roof gets killed by responding agents, and bam: Trump is a living martyr. Would only take a few key people to be in on it.
Outlandish? Absolutely, but less so than the official bullshit we were fed, and way more in character for Trump.
We'll see. Gen Z males showed up in force to vote for Trump in the 2024 election. Some of the younger ones are alright, but others are doing the whole Hitler Youth thing. Overall I couldn't tell you if they're any more or less shitty than any other generation, but their voting record isn't off to a great start.