'Third assassination attempt' on Trump turns out to be a dud story amid post-rally fiasco

TOI correspondent from Washington: MAGA furor over a potential "third assassination attempt " on Donald Trump died a quick death on Monday after a man with guns and fake IDs arrested outside a Trump rally turned out to be hardcore Trump loyalist.

Law enforcement authorities in the county where the alleged gunman Vem Miller was arrested before he entered a Trump rally initially claimed they prevented a "third assassination attempt." But the man was released on a $5,000 bail soon after his detention when he reportedly explained he was an invitee to the rally and his multiple IDs were because of a legal name change. His MAGA associates also said he was a regular at Trump rallies and photos and videos of him with prominent Republicans emerged soon after.

But for hours before Miller's status was clarified, MAGA majors went into overdrive when the local sheriff, Chad Bianco, said "I probably did have deputies that did prevent the third assassination attempt," after he was scoffed for being dramatic. "I just received word of the third assassination attempt on President Trump’s life. This is a time that our nation must come together to condemn this violence. This is abhorrent and should never be tolerated in a civilized society," a proTrump lawmaker posted amid a frenzy in the MAGA flock which believes the mainstream media is dismissive about threats to the former President's life.

Indeed, the anti-MAGA brigade in the US has taken to ridiculing the purported assassination attempts even as the former President keeps posting his raised fist photo from the first attempt as a reminder of what he survived. "This is the 3rd assassination if you count the debate," one anti-Trumper sneered, while another scoffed that the "supposed third assassination attempt is MAGA eating its own tail."

The assassination kerfuffle came even as Trump claimed 100,000 people attended his rally in Coachella , California, a state that is out of his electoral reach, but where he is nevertheless campaigning, ostensibly to narrow the nationwide popular vote margin. Democrats typically win California (which is the largest state) and its 55 electoral votes by more than 20 per cent margin, but the former President has been riling up his white base in what is arguably the most diverse state in America, pointing to local misgovernance.

But Trump's weekend effort ended in a fiasco after hundreds of MAGA loyalists who were bussed to the rally after being asked to park miles away were stranded late into the night when the buses failed to pick them up for the ride back. Anti-Trumpers feasted on visuals of the MAGA loyalists being dumped in the desert in the dark, recalling similar incidents in 2020 when hundreds were left out in the cold after a Trump rally in Nebraska where transport arrangements collapsed.

“He can’t manage a rally but you think he can run a country? You’re just props to Trump,” mocked one anti-trumper on social media even as MAGA faithful saw another dark conspiracy to defame their idol. Critics also pointed out that the rally was not held at Coachella, site of a famous arts and music festival, but at a nearby manure ranch, “which just may be the perfect metaphor for him.”