In what looks a little like an echo of the episode back in mid-July when a gunman showed up at a rally and (somehow) wounded former president Trump and killed a firefighter, there’s been another rally incident.

A woman in the crowd appeared to be in medical distress at Trump’s most recent North Carolina rally, and Trump himself rushed to her aid.

Now, that would be commendable for anyone to do, but it’s not like that’s normal. People running for president let security and medical teams and staff take care of things like that. That’s why those people are there.

But the public seems to think there’s something fishy about it, too, so it’s not just me.

In Asheboro, NC on Wednesday, a woman in need of attention attracted Trump’s, and he paused his rally to direct workers to her. After a moment he walked over to the woman himself, bringing his entourage of Secret Service along.

Just to jump right into the conspiracy… There was no reason for him to walk over there, other than to look like a hero. He has a LONG established history as a man who has never willingly done a single thing that didn’t help him directly in some way. He just survived an “assassination attempt,” and was putting himself at risk for a stranger.

It was completely out of character.

In fact, all that was missing from this incident was a ridiculous, unnecessary fist-pump after undoubtedly breathing life back into the poor woman’s lungs personally. The whole thing looked staged.

I mean, who knows? Maybe there really WAS someone in actual medical need and he thought to himself, “These guys will protect me. I should go over there and make this about me instead of her.” Maybe he made the call from the line of scrimmage.

The one thing we know wasn’t a factor was Donald Trump’s concern for anyone’s wellbeing.

That much goes left unsaid, after years of watching him callously disregard people in distress. He’s called for violence from his podiums. He has sided with villains, dictators, and murderers. He has told police to rough up suspects. He has told a violent white supremacist group to “stand by,” presumably awaiting his signal.

He doesn’t even care about people AFTER they’re injured. When General Mark Milley selected wounded Army captain Luis Avila to sing at the ceremony for the 2019 Armed Forces Welcome, Trump angrily told him never to bring another wounded vet onstage again. “No one wants to see that,” Trump told him.

Frankly, you’ll have to gauge for yourself whether it looks like Trump waited half a beat, then “sprang into action” to rescue the woman, but most people don’t seem to think so.

One user on X, in response to the strange video, said “Notice no one goes to help her except Trump? STAGED STAGED STAGED.” Indeed, nobody seems to be doing a damn thing until Trump moves toward the woman, at which point the crowd erupts into cheers, like they’re watching Superman save a child from a burning building.

Another user outlined how it could have been mimicry of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz pointing out audience members at their own rallies who needed attention (not that they left the stage themselves, since they’re not doctors), saying “Sooooooo fake. He saw the footage of Tim Walz and Kamala Harris … A day late and a dollar short, dumbsh*t.”

But my personal favorite social media comment on the incident came from someone who, like me, observed that Trump doesn’t normally give a rodent’s behind about people in medical distress at his own rallies, and has the history to prove it: “Trump left people out in the cold after his rally because he didn’t pay the bus company… several times. He let people stand outside in the heat and pass out from heat exhaustion, and he left. This is 10000% staged.”

It’s yet another stop in the Tar Heel state, having already visited Asheville and Charlotte previously. He’s been hyperfocused on the state, especially since a recent NYT poll has Harris up by a point and a half there.

Pretending once again to be a bulletproof hero (who apparently doesn’t even leave marks when he’s shot with an AR-15 in the ear) might just be the ticket — to win over voters who fall for this sort of thing.

Watch the video for yourself:

Trump goes to the aid of a fainted woman. This has the same smell as the “assassination” attempt.
pic.twitter.com/LJR22vn3au

— Marlene Robertson (@marlene4719) August 21, 2024