On July 13th, tragedy almost struck when the former 45th president Donald Trump was nearly assassinated. While holding a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was targeted by a 20-year-old male gunman firing from a rooftop less than 200 yards away from the president. The individual, named Thomas Matthew Crooks was later shot by counter snipers employed by the Secret Service. Miraculously, the bullet fired from Crooks’s AR-15 only grazed Trump’s ear; had Trump been positioned mere inches in a different direction, he likely would have been killed. The shooter had a history of making controversial comments and odd behavior; he even was told not to return to tryouts for a high school shooting team after only one day of participation.
The upcoming presidential contest is projected to be a close affair between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In many polls, Trump currently leads Biden in several crucial swing states like Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and others. These states will likely decide the outcome of the election. It is worth noting, however, that while Trump enjoys an advantage over Biden Republicans down the ballot are not faring well and Democrats continue to maintain leads in Senate races.
Joe Biden continues to face calls from within his party to drop out of the presidential contest. The President has not announced any intentions to do this just yet, although Democrats are calling for his resignation. Biden performed poorly in the first presidential debate on June 27th. Following the debacle, he blamed his performance on a cold. Recently the White House claimed Biden tested positive for COVID-19. In an exaggerated attempt to promote a “strong” Biden, NBC’s Joy Reid suggested that the president’s ability to recover from COVID resembled Trump’s ability to continue to perform after his near-death experience. She said the two developments were “exactly” the same thing, and blamed the media for allowing Trump to do a “photo op” after the occurrence.
