In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the media and press have been nothing short of a frenzy. It seems almost by the hour, a new headline related to the situation is produced, as the investigation into the shooting further unfolds. However, immediately following the assassination attempt, many popular media outlets that picked up the breaking news produced headlines that strongly undermined the severity of the situation.
This past Saturday at around 6:15 p.m., shots rang out at former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which one bullet struck Trump in the right ear. The Secret Service as well as the FBI have labeled the incident as an assassination attempt on the former President’s life. While it took around 15 minutes for the situation to make breaking news, many of the story’s first headlines had misleading titles.
Many headlines initially reported that “shots had been fired”, or “loud noises at Trump rally”. The irony of the anti-climactic headlines was that former President Trump could be seen ducking following the gunshots and being escorted off stage by the Secret Service with blood running from his right ear on live television, clearly indicating that the shots had struck Trump. Major media outlets such as NBC, CNN, and ABC, which are all left-wing outlets, seemingly played down the severity of the situation given their views on Trump and Republican voters. Major outlet ABC’s first headlines on the story stated that “loud pops” were heard at the rally, barely even touching on the fact Trump had blood running down the side of his face.
Other outlets suggested that Trump’s bloody ear was caused by the former President being struck by shattered glass when no debris or glass was anywhere near Trump during the time of the assassination attempt. As the shots rang out, Trump could be seen grabbing his right ear, where he was struck.
