MAGA Is Using Trump’s Assassination Attempt To Spread Their Misogyny
It’s difficult to see how someone could twist the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump to blame women. However, many conservatives have done just that, as they are triggered that female Secret Service personnel helped save Trump’s life.
Trump was at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 when gunfire broke out. The former president was shot in the ear. As soon as he was hit, his Secret Service personnel acted immediately, tackling him to the ground and shielding his body with their own. The agents huddled around him, continuing to shield his body as they escorted him safely from the rally. Trump suffered no severe injuries, but one audience member was killed, and two were injured. The shooter has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service sniper. While the shooting is being investigated as an assassination attempt, the motive remains unknown.
The violence has been denounced by both political parties but has also kickstarted some odd conversations and conspiracy theories on both sides. Some conservatives are convinced that the shooting was an “inside job” and that the Secret Service personnel were in cahoots with the shooter and allowed him to try to take out Trump. There’s no evidence to support this theory, especially since the investigation into what happened isn’t even complete. Meanwhile, many other conservatives are actually angrier that they saw female Secret Service agents than that the Secret Service as a whole failed to stop the shooting from occurring.
Apparently, only men are allowed to save Donald Trump’s life
Images of Secret Service personnel escorting Trump from the rally have gone viral. In the photo where Trump raises his fist in the air, a female agent is positioned under his arm, hugging his body tightly to shield his torso from gunfire with her own body. Later, Trump slung his arm over her shoulder for support as the agents practically carried him to safety. While many are wondering why the Secret Service agents didn’t spot the shooter beforehand, it can’t be denied that these specific agents did their duty in immediately jumping into action and being wholly prepared to take a bullet to save Trump’s life.
However, some are now attacking this heroic woman for no other reason than that she’s a woman. Shortly after the shooting broke out, “Trump is 6” started trending on social media. The phrase is in reference to his height. According to conservatives, the fact that Trump is over 6 feet means that no women should be allowed to serve as his Secret Service agents. X users spread images of the woman shielding Trump on stage, as well as footage of three female agents who were using their bodies to separate the unruly, chaotic crowd from Trump’s vehicle. Dozens of posts claimed that Trump’s Secret Service agents must all be big, strong, tall men.
Users began criticizing the female Secret Service agents, spreading completely false statements claiming that they were “frantic” and running around like “chickens with their heads cut off.” Many made nasty and unnecessary comments about their height and weight to claim that they were unfit for their job. One user wrote, “This IS NOT A WOMAN’S JOB,” while heaping praise on the male agents (who did the exact same thing as the female agents). Others claimed it was a “dangerous sh*tshow” to have women on Trump’s security team.
Of course, the statements make absolutely no sense when Trump is alive and well. These women’s job was to protect Trump at all costs, and that’s what they did. If they botched the job as badly as conservatives are pretending, then how is Trump still alive? These people watched footage of women shielding Trump’s body with their own and standing their ground against a wild crowd and somehow came away screaming that women can’t be Secret Service agents. Since the women did their jobs as they were supposed to, this conservation has nothing to do with their performance. It wouldn’t have mattered how tall or effective the female agents were. So long as they were female, they automatically did a horrible disservice to Trump in conservatives’ eyes.
The conversation demonstrates how deep hatred for women runs in the MAGA movement. It’s not just Democrats or women seeking some bodily autonomy that they hate; they even hate the women on their side. Several women were willing to sacrifice their lives to save MAGA’s idol, Trump, yet these people seemingly would have rather he died than be protected by women. If you have someone by your side who is brave enough to tackle you to the ground and shield your body with their own during a shooting, that person’s gender should be irrelevant. The fact that a bunch of cowardly keyboard warriors are threatened by the women who protected Trump doesn’t erase their bravery.
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