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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    3 months ago

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

  • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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    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.

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      Legit kinda hilarious how an actual assassination attempt completely got drown out by “new competition lol”

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

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

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            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.

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              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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                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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    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.

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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.

      • vga
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        I hope she brutally takes advantage of that.

    • 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

  • 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.

      • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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        Maggoty is a licensed clinical psychologist with 30 years experience in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and trauma. He co-authored the most widely used academic textbook on the subject and served as an adviser to the Obama administration for 4 years.

      • 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.

      • Ragnarok314159
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        It’s just Trump watching himself and internalizing about how brave and wonderful he is.

  • 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?

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

    • 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.

  • 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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      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.

        • Orbituary@lemmy.world
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          I am not a Trump supporter or sympathizer. In fact, I hate that I have to qualify this at all, but nuance is dead on the internet.

          You are speaking with a voice of logic. Trump should not have been shot at, nor should he have been killed. He was targeted unlawfully.

          No person should die at the hands of another. We can’t judge each other effectively or objectively.

          I may wish for trauma, pain, or more on someone, but I don’t earnestly believe anybody deserves it nor should we be the arbiters of death. Especially if it’s because of ideological differences.

          • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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            Trump would commonly pull a scam with his property development business where the company would hire a bunch of local, small and medium, businesses in order to do most of the work. Then, in the days leading to the project being finished, would put forth a large amount of false complaints of things they did wrong. He would then refuse to pay, and sue. He would hold them up in court, and bankrupt them, if they didn’t just drop it, and walk away, which would often bankrupt them anyway. He did this for decades. He destroyed hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses this way. That is to say, he destroyed those people’s lives. He destroyed their families. There is a long list of contractors who killed themselves in the fall-out, left in the wake of his fraudulent business practices.

            A man once slipped and fell in some event Trump was having. The guy’s head split open, and he was dying. Trump says he was mad that the blood was ruining his beautiful floor. He is a rapist, a pedophile, a con man. He definitely has bought any violence coming to him. Fuck him.

            • Orbituary@lemmy.world
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              Yes, fuck him.

              But what are you advocating for? We all know he’s trash. So is our justice system. Are you angry with him? Or are you angry that our justice system is rigged in a way that lets him get away with this shit behavior repeatedly?

              We would not know his deplorable name if it wasn’t for the him getting away with shitty behavior and flaunting that he didn’t get punished. He literally got convicted before our own eyes for something his own lawyer went to prison for, but remains largely unaffected.

              THAT makes me angry and feel cheated. Do I hate him? Yes. Do I wish terrible things on him? Absolutely. Should I be his judge? Probably not.

              • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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                I am advocating for not giving a shit when someone murders him. Someone should have done that a long time ago. The kid who tried was 20. He has time to be reformed. Time for people to figure out what is wrong, and give him therapy, make him work on himself. And it would all be at a net gain for humanity. We know, for fact, he has done these things. We know Trump can’t be reformed. It will be a huge suck on resources to imprison him. Just shoot him, toss his body in a dumpster, and move forward.

                • Orbituary@lemmy.world
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                  I basically said this. I know this is difficult because we’re on the internet, but I asked some nuanced questions that require a little more than key slapping. I’m genuinely curious if they matter at all.

                  For me, it’s our financial system that created this piece of shit and our judicial system that failed to keep him in check. He’s working and acting the way he does because he had a broken, corrupt family and was never taught moral code or an ethical framework. Yet our electoral system put him into power despite him not getting the majority. Our corporate media keeps airing him for the views. Our digital and print media keep covering him for the clicks…

                  WE are to blame because we the people cannot unfuck this country.

        • 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.

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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.