By Alex P. Vidal
“Since we all know that death is inevitable, I don’t really see the difference between dying now and dying a decade later. So, if I’m threatened with assassination, I welcome it!” —Miriam Defensor-Santiago
I WENT to sleep early without posting any story or comment on my social media account about the attempt to kill former President Donald Trump when a gunman perched on the roof of a nearby edifice and opened fire, which happened about six o’clock in the evening Saturday (July 13 U.S. time).
I also failed to write immediately about the “breaking news” for my blogs and newspaper column, thus some people had suspected “there was a deliberate attempt by some liberal media entities and individual journalists with so much hatred for Trump” to shut down any information about the incident in Butler, a western part of Pennsylvania about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh, during the former president’s campaign rally.
Nothing absolutely is farther from the truth. Assassinations or any story that involves a VIP is not only news but a headline or earthshaking news.
Censoring a top event known to everyone in the planet is the highest crime to be committed in journalism by any media worker.
No reporter or those involved in media profession in his right mind will block or shut down such gargantuan story only because he doesn’t like the main character in the subject matter. It’s taboo and inconceivable.
No media network will cancel a legitimate story even if it involves Lucifer. A legitimate story can’t be suppressed and repressed. It will stand, circulate and reverberate around the globe quickly especially in the age of Internet.
What Dr. Simone Gold, founder of America’s Frontline Doctors, did when she accused the media of censorship was irresponsible. Her social media tantrums were a height of hypocrisy and ignoramus.
Gold, by the way, had been sentenced to 60 days in prison by a US federal court in Washington, DC, for illegally entering the US Capitol building during the riot on January 6, 2021.
No wonder.
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AFTER the foiled assassination attempt on his life in Pennsylvania July 13, former President Trump’s popularity—and, perhaps, lead in the surveys—is expected to increase.
Anywhere in the world, people who see a wounded and bloodied leader will be touched and horrified. Immediate sympathies and expression of anguish will pour in; it’s human nature.
The sordid episode in the presidential race came at a time when the Democratic Party was on panic mood owing to the disastrous debate performance of 81-yer-old reelectionist President Joseph “Joe” Biden Jr.
The bullet fired by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks narrowly missed the 78-year-old presumptive Republican party official standard bearer for the November 5, 2024 US presidential election.
“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” (Genesis 37:20)
We’re glad the former president was safe and heading to the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin scheduled July 15 as of this writing.
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Here’s the most latest results in the US presidential surveys:
The NPR/PBS/Marist survey found Biden would beat Trump in a head-to-head matchup, 50 percent to 48 percent, but trails him by one point when third-party candidates are on the ballot, though the results are within the poll’s 3.1-point margin of error.
Trump leads Biden by 2.7 points in Real Clear Politics’ poll tracker, a 1.2-point swing in Trump’s favor since the debate and is up by 2.1 points in FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker, a 1.9-point increase from June 27.
An ABC News/Ipsos/Washington Post poll released Thursday found Biden and Trump are tied among registered voters, and Trump has a one-point lead if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an option, also a better-than-usual showing for Biden following the June 27 debate.
However, that poll also shows 67 percent think Biden should withdraw from the race, while 85 percent say Biden is too old to serve as president, up from 81% in April and 68 percent just over a year ago.
Among Biden supporters, 54 percent say he should drop out and 81 percent say he’s too old for another term, according to the ABC News/Ipsos/Washington Post poll.
Trump is up by three points over Biden in the latest poll by Emerson College, taken July 7-8, and by two in both Morning Consult’s weekly survey.
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Trump leads Biden by six points in a New York Times/Siena College survey conducted June 28-July 2, a three-point swing in Trump’s favor since a poll a week earlier, and Trump’s widest lead in any poll by the groups since he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015.
A Wall Street Journal survey conducted after the debate also found Biden trails Trump by six points, Trump’s widest lead over Biden in Journal surveys dating to 2021 in a two-way matchup, and a four-point increase in Trump’s lead since February.
A CBS/YouGov post-debate poll taken in the seven crucial battleground states likely to determine the winner of the election found Trump leads Biden by three points, after trailing him by one point last month.
Forbes has reported that polls taken before the debate consistently showed Trump leads Biden in the seven crucial swing states, all of which Biden won, with the exception of North Carolina, in 2020.
A May Cook Political Report survey found Trump up by three points on average in the seven states, a May Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll found Trump leads Biden by four points overall across the battleground states and an April New York Times/Siena/Philadelphia Inquirer poll found Trump would beat Biden in five of six swing states (Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada), with the exception of Wisconsin.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
