It’s the Narrative, Stupid!
Every time there is a shooting, everybody turns to their narrative. We all want our stories to be vindicated, and we are perplexed if the expected pattern does not emerge.
![Trump bleeding from ear, Lee Harvey Oswald in court with black eye, US Secret Service with gun on day of Trump's shooting.](https://cdn.quillette.com/2024/07/Copy-of-Feature-Image-17.png)
This just might be the hundredth article you’ve seen on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Everybody has an opinion, and everybody thinks they have something of value to add to the conversation. Far too many people have awful opinions.
For instance, have a look at this:
![](https://cdn.quillette.com/2024/07/Picture-1.png)
Dr Karen Pinder teaches at the University of British Columbia Medical School. Her X account has since been deleted.
Just minutes after the attempt on Trump’s life, some people already felt that it was clear exactly who was to blame:
OPINION: ISRAEL SHOT TRUMP TO INSTALL NIKKI HALEY https://t.co/wNxPcNrLfc
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) July 14, 2024
Mr Ahmed has 553,000 followers on the X platform. That tweet was liked over 5,000 times and received just under a quarter of a million views.
Okay, so how can we really explain the assassination attempt?