Those close to Donald Trump fear the former president “may have legit PTSD” from the assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally last month.

That’s according to a Vanity Fair report published Wednesday that claimed those in Trump’s inner circle have noticed that he’s become fixated on a seven-second clip that shows the moment he nearly lost his life.

“He’s been watching that seven-second clip of how close he was to getting shot right in the head—over and over and over again,” said a Republican close to the campaign, reported Vanity Fair.

  • echo@lemmings.world
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    1 month ago

    Well, they did try to kill the one person in the world that he cares about…

  • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    That’s not PTSD. He’s a narcissist and that was the last moment where he was the center of national attention and it looked like there was no way he could lose. Then Biden stepped down.

    • Hazzia@infosec.pub
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      Legit kinda hilarious how an actual assassination attempt completely got drown out by “new competition lol”

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        1 month ago

        I’m genuinely thrilled with just how little attention that got.

        • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Just shows that empathy is reciprocative. He never showed empathy towards another human being, so now nobody feels it for him.

          • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I remember people in various places talking/writing about how they were in public places when it was being televised on cable news, and almost no one was really paying that close of attention.

            • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
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              1 month ago

              I won’t say that couldn’t have happened, but that shit was everywhere around me for like… 2 days

              • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                I don’t have a whole lot of redhats in my every day activities, thankfully. But at one point, I thought they’d all be slapping bumper stickers and other stupid regalia all over their possessions and their bodies and I’d see it nearly everywhere.

                I did see one parent that had their very young child wearing some shirt based on his photo-op after the shooting, I will say. That’s some grade-A parenting right there, egad.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
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      Idk, he has a history of obsession with being killed. Supposedly his fast food habits were formed because he could be anonymous, he’d send someone to get the food so he doesn’t have to worry about being poisoned.

    • littlewonder@lemmy.world
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      I think I’d be traumatized by being an inch from a bullet to my brain. I also think Trump is mainlining toxic traits into his persona like “men don’t cry” and “mental health is for pussies” so I wouldn’t ever expect him to actually publicly admit to having feelings about it or getting support.

      Come to think of it, him not bringing up the shooting in every sentence out of his mouth for martyrdom points, seems really out of character. All we got subjected to was a comically large, stark white bandage at the GOP convention. The lack of milking it for sympathy ad nauseum makes me think he really is affected by it.

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    1 month ago

    Too bad for him that he will refuse to see a therapist or psychiatrist because he thinks it’s a sign of weakness.

    I’d certainly be fucked up if it had happened to me.

    • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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      It’s so so sad that he’s bound for a nervous breakdown and potentially Harris slamming her hand on the podium with the right force and angle could potentially be a trigger for it.

      • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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        Not unprecedented. Even doing so intentionally isn’t new. Just look at Admiral James Stockdale in the 1992 election. Dude was a decorated Vietnam vet and former POW, but before a debate, someone thought it’d be a great idea to jingle some keys. Apparently, that was something his captors did to mess with him in Vietnam. Cue the PTSD flashback, and suddenly Stockdale’s looking disoriented on stage. So yeah, a well-placed podium slam? Could totally set off a meltdown.

    • Fester@lemm.ee
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      He might get counseling from some evangelical pastor though, and come out of it even more terrible than he already is.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      Well…would you have spent the last 8 years of your life spreading views of hate and racism?

      Because I think thats what got him shot at.

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        There is zero fucking chance he’s having an “am I the baddie?” Moment while watching this clip. He’s probably thinking how bad ass his hair looks or something about manliness blah blah.

        Trump is a one trick pony.

        • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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          Or he’s finally been confronted with his own mortality and its fucking with him in ways a life empty of any kind of introspection would.

          • abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world
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            Yeah I’m not giving him credit at all but there’s definitely a very real undeniable difference between talking smack and being threatened and all that and actually getting shot at, hit (even if barely) and nearly killed. Trump is an ego inflated asshole, but the sight of your own blood, especially at his age when death is already a daily thought I’m sure, can seriously fuck you up mentally.

            • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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              Its funny right. If he could have just shut the fuck up and let the convention happen around him, and then not been a total fucking cunt, he probably could have coasted on that into November. He could have been a “changed man” like they were trying to set him up as and just stepped a bit back, been a bit more reserved and honestly, he would be much harder to beat.

              Idk man. I have PTSD from my time in military service where I get woken up at night and have to do something. And that shit was a long ass time ago. It doesn’t really get better. I mean you can do drugs about it. Finding the company of others with a shared experience helps. But it doesn’t go away.

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                Completely unqualified suggestion here but,

                have you tried going for a run when you wake up at the middle of the night?

                I was having the problem of waking up at 3am and unable to fall sleep, I started to embrace it, prepare some coffee, stretch a bit and then get out to run to a completely deserted city.

                Running is very therapeutic, when you get intrusive thoughts, you just squeeze further running until your brain cannot focus on other thing than breathing.

                I found a time-frame of therapy that only belongs to me and it has also helped me with the sleeping problems.

                I am not qualified or anything and I don’t want to diminish your problem, but if it could help I just wanted to let it out.

                Cheers.

              • Shelena@feddit.nl
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                Sorry to hear that. I have PTSD as well (but from other causes). For me EMDR, imagery rescripting and psychosomatic physiotherapy helped. It did not completely solve it, but it made it much better. Maybe some things to try if you have not done so, and you want to.

            • subignition@fedia.io
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              He was a draft dodger, so I suppose in some capacity you could view this as that cowardice catching up with him.

      • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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        I think that’s irrelevant. Nearly getting your brains blown out will fuck with your head regardless of anybody’s judgement of whether you deserved it.

      • dexa_scantron@lemmy.world
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        It sounded like, from the shooter’s web searches, that if it had been Biden holding a rally hear the shooter’s house, Biden would have been shot at. It was less anything about Trump and more that the shooter wanted to shoot someone famous/important, from what I’ve seen.

    • iheartneopets@lemm.ee
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      I hope it wakes him up in a cold sweat every night until the day his soul leaves his greasy orange carcass

  • Xanis@lemmy.world
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    Look, Donnie, PTSD sucks. Unlike your cult, those of us working against you do want you to seek treatment. Like legitimately. We want you to get better.

    But also like fuck off while you’re doing that.

    Thaaanks.

    Signed,

    Everyone Else

    • Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee
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      God… Imagine having to be his therapist… Anyone who’s able to make even a little progress with him would deserve a Nobel prize

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    That’s not PTSD. That’s a fixation, maybe an epiphany on his mortality. There’s a whole range of symptoms he’d need to be displaying at least some of. Calling that PTSD is problematic on so many levels.

    • BleatingZombie@lemmy.world
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      I can’t stand the guy, but PTSD can manifest in several different ways. I’m willing to bet obsessing over the event is one of those ways

      Edit: it could also just be “post traumatic stress” without it being a disorder. I’m not a professional and I don’t know trump personally, but I would like to warn against telling people this isn’t what PTSD looks like because someone might not seek treatment due to misunderstanding their affliction

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        It is but what other symptoms does he have? And will he have them months from now? It’s absolutely normal to obsess over a near death experience in the short term.

        • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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          I don’t think it’s normal to seek it out and relive it, though.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            It is. Like the other symptoms it’s a problem if it persists or gets in the way of other things.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        More qualified than some random campaign staffer. For now let’s just say I came by this name honestly.

    • die444die@lemmy.world
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      Ain’t no way. They are putting this in the media because no one cares about someone shooting at him and they are desperate to explain why he’s only don’t small indoor rally’s now. They don’t want people to notice he has no supporters anymore.

    • mostNONheinous@lemmy.world
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      I would think if it were PTSD he would have a hard time speaking to a crowd again but that is definitely not the case.

      • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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        He is having trouble speaking in front of crowds. Not because of that, mind you. But because the crowds aren’t showing up.

  • ngwoo@lemmy.world
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    Is it PTSD or is he fixated on the last moment he thought he’d win before Biden dropped out and everything fell apart for him?

  • gearheart@lemm.ee
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    Watching a clip of a firefighter getting murdered over and over again.

    Dude is more worried about the shrapnel cut to his ear.

      • gearheart@lemm.ee
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        I agree It would…

        Reality is more like… Someone else died.

        Crowd went nuts. Ear hurt.

        Secret service rushes you off stage.

        Secret service tells you what happened.


        Never actually experienced an actual threat.

        Was not presented with fight or flight.

        He just… basically heard about it and walked away with a cut.

        • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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          I mean, he was present, fully. He recognized the moment and his positional within it to create one of the most iconic presidential images of all time.

          So I dont know if I really agree with your framing.

    • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      firefighter

      Nazi peon doesn’t become special because of his job or because he took a bullet intended for Nazi leader. Nothing of value was lost, except the opportunity to take out a larger pile of trash.

      • gearheart@lemm.ee
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        I’m trying hard to understand your point of view… It’s easy to be angry.

        The problem I see is that the way you feel about the “peon” is probably the same way trump feels about him too. Trump feels everyone else as insignificant.

        Unfortunately this means you and trump have very much in common.

        Let that sink in…

        Now… If that previous comment has not completely closed your mind…

        Let’s try to be better humans together.

        • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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          Unfortunately this means you and trump have very much in common.

          …because we both recognize that one of his cultist pawns is a cultist pawn? Do I really need to articulate the distinction that the pawn holds no value to me because he advocates for the destruction of my rights, neighbors, and country; vs him not holding any value to Trump because he’s not Trump?

          I’m not going to shed any tears over the loss of evil - the world became a slightly better place when that man died.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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    We all know what else in this vid. The cinematographic rise of Trump from under security agents with a fist. He is nutting over how great he is at that moment.

      • Bernie_Sandals@lemmy.world
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        Yes, hopefully in the section on how he, possibly the worst president in U.S. history, tried to destroy American democracy.

        Just because that picture looks “strong” doesn’t mean he’ll be remembered that way.

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        Yeah, but, like, he didn’t do anything for such a legacy, he happened into his own Triumph of the Will moment by a coincidence of so much mistakes. There’s though no wonder why he’s seen as a messiah by his cultists and he sees it as a personal gift from the god, the recognition he didn’t have in his family as per biographies.

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        It’s already been wrapped around a cyber truck. It can’t get any more important than that.

    • Huckledebuck@sh.itjust.works
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      Yeah, who knows what’s going on in that head of his. In a moment when most people would be in momentary shock unable to process what just happened quickly enough, Trump knew immediately that he needed his shoes. Then stood triumphantly with blood running down his face and a dead body behind him.

      Edit: when the transcript of the secret service communications was released i was shocked that Trump would be so concerned about his shoes. I immediately assumed, set up, he’s trying to move on to the next part of the act in full costume.

      Now after posting this and thinking about it more, I can see someone, in that moment, being disoriented, noticing they’re bare footed, and focus on that. I still know that Trump is a pos.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    If this was anyone but Trump, I’d probably feel bad for him.

    However, since it’s Donnie, all I can say is that I like Presidential candidates who don’t get shot.

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    It was a lesson and he learned all the wrong things.

    I hope it tears him up inside and he suffers as much as he’s hurt others.

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    I care about as much as he cares of all the people, especially kids, killed in mass shootings.