2024 Donald Trump Rally Shooting

Overview

The 2024 Donald Trump Rally Shooting or 2024 Donald Trump Assassination Attempt was a shooting that took place at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally for United States presidential candidate Donald Trump in mid-July 2024. During the incident, a shooter scaled a nearby building and attempted to kill Donald Trump during his speech by firing several shots from an AR-15, with one of the bullets grazing Trump's ear. The shooter, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed one spectator and critically injured two others before being shot dead by the Secret Service. The shooting quickly became a viral subject on social media and dominated international headlines in the hours following the assassination attempt, inspiring discussions, memes, artworks and other content online. The photo of Donald Trump raising his fist was particularly memed over the following days. Plus, a conspiracy theory that the shooting was staged spread online in the aftermath. Discourse and memes were also shared about the Female Secret Service Agents on Trump's detail. In a later interview with ABC News, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle made a comment about the "sloped roof," noting it as a reason for the building not being cleared.

Background

On July 13th, 2024, at 6:11 p.m. local time, a failed assassination attempt on U.S. former President and presidential candidate Donald Trump occurred at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.^[1] As Trump was giving his speech within the first few minutes, several shots were heard, with Trump grabbing his right ear before ducking behind the podium. One of the bullets fired by the gunman grazed Trump's ear, causing him to bleed. One person who attended the rally was fatally shot by one of the rounds, with two others critically injured. Secret Service then quickly huddled the presidential candidate, rushing him off the stage (video^[2] shown below).

The shooter, later identified as 20-year-old local resident Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead at the scene by a Secret Service sniper.^[3] In the hours following the incident, it was reported that Crooks used an AR-15-style rifle with 5.56mm ammunition, firing a total of eight shots.^[14]

Developments

In the minutes following the shooting on July 13th, 2024, videos of the event began circulating on social media. Within three minutes of the attempted assassination, X^[4] / Twitter user @BehizyTweets posted a clip of Donald Trump raising his fist before leaving the stage, which received over 12 million views, 8,400 reposts and 46,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Trump just got shot in the head and got up like a fucking gangster and fist pumped pic.twitter.com/3TAzY5mI5E

— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) July 13, 2024

On July 13th, entrepreneur Elon Musk posted a photograph that depicts a bloodied Donald Trump raising his fist with a United States flag waving in the background taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci (photograph shown below). The post garnered over 201 million views, 457,000 reposts and 3.3 million likes on X^[5] in one day, with the photograph quickly going viral and inspiring memes, edits and artworks.

Shooter Identity

On July 13th, 2024, the New York Post^[6] reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year old resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, had been identified as the shooter, which was later confirmed by other sources.

In the following reports, Crooks was identified as a kitchen worker and a registered Republican. Crooks reportedly used a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle that belonged to his father and shot from a rooftop located roughly 130 yards (125 meters) away from the stage. Crooks was wearing a shirt from Demolition Ranch, a gun YouTube channel.^[7] Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper shortly after firing.

On July 14th, 2024, TMZ^[8] posted footage of Crooks on a rooftop from which he fired at the rally (shown below).

BREAKING: TMZ obtains video of shooter on rooftop at Trump Rally pic.twitter.com/Sb4cxVnCgY

— Intel Point Alert (@IntelPointAlert) July 14, 2024

On July 13th, shortly before the identity of the shooter was reported, X user @jewgazing shared a misinformation meme in which he misidentified himself as the shooter. However, due to @jewgazing strongly resembling the actual shooter, his photograph was mistakenly used in multiple online reports in the following hours.^[12][13]

Conspiracy Theories

The shooting rapidly became a subject of conspiracy theories, with some users expressing opinions that it was a staged stunt that aimed to boost Donald Trump's popularity, with others thinking nefarious government agencies or political rivals orchestrated it. Memes promoting or parodying the conspiracy theories were widely circulated online in the days following the shooting (examples shown below).

Female Secret Service Agents at Trump Shooting

Female Secret Service Agents who were present at the shooting became the subject of memes and discourse following the incident. The women's ability to protect Trump was questioned, additionally centering on the Director of the U.S. Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle who reportedly wanted the Secret Service workforce to be 30% women by 2030. Many people called the women "diversity hires" in viral posts and blamed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). A video showing one of the female agents trying to holster her weapon went viral on Twitter / X. The agent was also seen seemingly hiding behind Trump on stage amid the gunfire. The particular agent was a brunette sporting a ponytail. Many of the memes and reactions about the women were dubbed sexist and misogynistic because they demeaned the women based on their gender, suggesting that men are inherently better Secret Service agents and bodyguards.

Watching the ladies at work here. pic.twitter.com/ySuIw78VfR

— Sharyl Attkisson 🕵️‍♂️💼🥋 (@SharylAttkisson) July 14, 2024

Online Reactions

The rally shooting became a viral subject of discussions, memes, art and other content on social media in mid-July 2024. The photograph of the bloodied Donald Trump raising his fist in the air as he was being escorted off the stage by the Secret Service achieved particular virality, being described by as "historic" and "iconic" and inspiring caption memes, edits and redraws (example shown below).

Other notable memes spawned by the shooting are Shinzo Abe Saving Donald Trump memes that imagined late conservative Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, saving Donald Trump, memes imagining Trump's reactions to the assassination, posts expressing disappointment that the assassination attempt failed, misinformation memes reporting Sam Hyde and other people as the shooter, and memes mocking the shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks.

In the hours following the event, terms such as "HOW DO YOU MISS," "THEY MISSED" and "ONE JOB" trended on X / Twitter in the U.S. On July 13th, 2024, X^[9] user @buffys posted a screenshot of the trending bar, with the post garnering over 22,000 reposts and 238,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Various jokes about the event and the way people learned about the shooting went viral on social media that day as well. For example, on July 13th, 2024, X^[10] user @juiceswrId wrote, "imagine trump getting shot and his security yells 'donald duck,'" with the joke garnering over 41,000 reposts and 455,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). Later that day, X user @karlimarulli posted a Who Do You Think meme about Trump and Joe Biden that received over 2,800 reposts and 368,000 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Memes juxtaposing Donald Trump and Joe Biden saw viral spread in mid-July 2024. For example, X^[11] user @jeremyKauffman made a joke that Joe Biden would not have reacted to the shots if he was the target, which garnered over 9,100 reposts and 221,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Related Memes

Donald Trump Raised Fist Photograph

Donald Trump Raised Fist Photograph refers to a photograph of the United States presidential candidate Donald Trump taken immediately after a failed assassination attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. The photograph, in which bloodied Trump raises his fist as he is rushed off the stage by security service, achieved virality and inspired numerous edits and redraws in the following days.

Shinzo Abe Saved Donald Trump

Shinzo Abe Saved Donald Trump refers to a series of memes that imagine former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, magically saving US presidential candidate Donald Trump during his failed assassination attempt in July 2024.

Joe Biden "We Resolve Our Differences at the Battle Box"

We Resolve Our Differences at the Battle Box is a quote spoken by President Joe Biden while addressing the Donald Trump rally shooting in which he misspeaks and says what sounds like "In America, we resolve our differences at the battle box," instead of "ballot box." Biden made the address on Sunday, July 14th, 2024 and it inspired reactions that night, including memes, largely on X / Twitter, about settling your differences in "the battle box."

Donald Trump Van Gogh Parodies

Donald Trump Van Gogh Parodies refers to a series of photoshopped images combining Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Van Gogh's portrait with the 2024 Donald Trump Rally Shooting incident, which Trump said on social media that he was shot in the upper right ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Trump Van Gogh parodies grew popular on Twitter / X, Reddit and TikTok in July 2024.

Sloped Roof Secret Service Director Comment

Sloped Roof Secret Service Director Comment refers to a series of memes based on a quote from U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle who said that the shooter was on a "sloped roof," making it dangerous for her Secret Service agents and snipers to clear the building before the shooting. Her exact quote was, "That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point, and so, you know, there’s a safety factor that we considered. We didn’t want to put someone on a sloped roof." Her statement was made in an ABC News interview. Sloped Roof memes trended en masse on social media sites going into July 2024, all making fun of the idea of a sloped roof being too dangerous to save the Former President.

They wouldn’t want to put a Secret Service agent on a sloped roof. Because that would be a security concern.So they secured it from the inside.Which means that Secret Service was in the building from which a sniper was shooting the President from the unsecured sloped roof.… pic.twitter.com/xXlRthVV3E

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) July 17, 2024

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References