The Duran Podcast
Trump heroic. Biden talks unity. Media downplays
All right, Alexander, let's talk about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. What are your first thoughts, Alexander, on this attempted assassination? Obviously, the biggest story of the year. Well, far, the biggest story of the year up to now, and in many most respects, I think the most consequential one. The first thing to say is that we, you and I, have discussed the possibility, probability that there would be assassination attempts on Donald Trump informally with each other. We've hinted at this, our concerns that this might come in various programs. Certainly, programs I've done on my channel, programs we've done together, other people have talked about it in even more forthright terms than we have done. There is nothing at all unexpected about this. We've had the implosion of the Biden campaign over the last 17, 18 days. We've had weeks, months, years of hysteria panic about what the prospects of a Trump presidency might be all about, and that inevitably works on some people's minds. You would have expected, in this kind of situation, that the Secret Service, which was an organization which I have always up to now, held in the highest regard, would make absolutely sure that the candidate Donald Trump would be securely and properly protected. And whatever your views about this assassination attempt, about how it came about who this person who carried out was, the thing that immediately stands out is that the security service, the Secret Service, failed and failed abysmally. Now, even my in expert eyes could see that, but if you want an absolutely excoriating analysis of this, the person who's provided it is Eric Prince, who this is his job. He's pointed out in every particular way how everything that was done, that led up to this attack by the Secret Service, speaks of the most extreme incompetence, such incompetence and levels of negligence, that inevitably it is going to provoke questions. Now, I'm not going to provide the answers to those questions, but if you want to know what those questions are, all you have to do is go to the internet. They're buzzing with speculation that this was something that, you know, wasn't just didn't happen out of the blue, that the Secret Service had some kind of orders to stand down. I'm not commenting about this. I don't know. The truth is, all I would say is that the most obvious target for assassination in the world was not being protected in the way that he needed to be and that he should have been in the middle of an extremely fraught presidential election campaign. The second thing that one has to say is that Donald Trump rose to the event magnificently to say that he acted heroically, which is what some of the people in the media have been saying. Almost, I think, downplays the level of courage that he showed. It makes it sound like, you know, this is a work of fiction. It was not a work of fiction. I mean, he showed incredible defiance and courage in the face of this attack. He stood up, he raised his fist in the air, the blood streaming down his face. He talked about fighting and fighting. He's now issued statements that he's going to not change his schedule in the campaign in any way. Just before we were making this program, I saw a film of him arriving in Milwaukee for the Republican Convention. The Republican Party is now going to massively unite behind him. The picture of him, you know, raising his fist in the air with the American flag, flying behind him. I mean, people are comparing it with a famous iconic picture of the marines raising the flag in Iwo Jima. It's going to dominate the images of this campaign. And even as Trump acts like this, even as if even as he releases a statement, which again shows the strength of his resolve and appears to project leadership, we have from Biden mumbling words, hardly convincing, all perhaps emphasizing again the incredible contrast with the dynamism and energy and purpose of Trump the candidate and the absolute exhaustion, incompetence, vacuousness, if you like, of the incumbent. Now, you know, I don't want to make predictions, definite predictions. I can't say that this election is over because the realities of the United States today, the complexities of the political situation in the United States today, make definite projections impossible. But from this moment on, I would have thought that the overwhelming probability is that Donald Trump will be elected president in November. I would have thought that no Democrat would want to stand up to him. He looks like an overwhelming, unstoppable force. He has projected strength and courage and purpose to his supporters, even as the president, his rival implodes around him. Even as the Democratic Party falls apart, the Republican Party will now unite behind him. It would seem to me that on any objective analysis, if this was a normal election, Trump would now be secure and would be confident of winning in November and being reelected president of the United States. Yeah, Brian Brolettick also did a great video on the attempted assassination. And he talked about the many lapses in the security in and around Trump. Dan Bonjino also talked about this the other day to the Fox News as well. And Dan Bonjino was former Secret Service as well. So he also understands what's going on. But I suggest to go see Eric Kranz, Brian Brolettick, Dan Bonjino, I think you'll get a good understanding as to what might have happened, or in this instance, what did not happen to protect Trump from this shooter. But let's focus, me and you, let's focus on what happens now going forward. Biden spoke to the American people from the Oval Office. And he talked about not having violence in politics. The message is now about unity. Trump gave an interview to the New York Post as well as Byron York. And Trump also talked about giving a more unifying message going forward. And there is some talk that maybe things will rhetoric in this campaign will deescalate. Trump probably means it that he's thinking of crafting a more unified message. Listening to Biden, I did not get the sense that the Democrats and the Biden campaign really mean that they would like to cool things down and to tone down the rhetoric. I think they're going to continue in much the same way they continued before the shooting, demonizing Trump, demonizing the people that support Trump, the populist movement, the MAGA movement. I don't see them learning a lesson from this. I could be wrong, but I don't see the Democrats learning anything from what happened. I don't think they have it in them to to tone things down, especially when it comes to Trump, because there's this this obsession, this hatred that I don't understand it. I don't even know if they understand it. But what are your thoughts going forward? How do you see things shaping out of the next five months? And I just want to say one more thing. Everyone is saying that Trump, he's a shoeing to win it. He's going to win the election. Right now it looks like, yes, he's unstoppable. I agree, but we got five months. A lot can happen in five months. And I've been reading reports saying that the Biden campaign and the Democrats are hard at work crafting a strategy to deal with the latest developments with Trump and this assassination attempt. Keep in mind, Alexander, that the cognitive failures of Biden are out of the news cycle now. No one's talking about it anymore. So maybe this has also secured Biden's position as the candidate for for November. Right. A lot of things to say here. First of all, it is not like to say it is not a shoeing. This election is not a shoeing. We must never think that in this election campaign. If this election had been fought in the 1970s or 1980s, after an event like this, one would definitely say that after one of the candidates acted in the way that he had in the face of this assassination, it would be all but a certain shoeing. This is not like Reagan, exactly, or like Reagan or whoever. This is not that America anymore. We're talking about a deeply polarized country. We're talking about a bureaucracy, a state bureaucracy, that is all but out of control. We're talking about a democratic party that is absolutely visceral in its loathing of Trump. We're talking about a media that is absolutely visceral in its loathing of Trump. Now, I appreciate that the Guardian, the Observer's the Sunday edition of the Guardian, is a British newspaper. It's very, very close to the Democratic Party and it's widely read in the United States. On the very same day that this assassination attempt took place, just before the assassination attempt took place, they published an editorial in which they referred to Donald Trump as a tyrant. I mean, that was the actual word used and it was one of the less extreme words used about Donald Trump in that editorial. And that is the message they have been bumping up for weeks, months, years, many of their, many of their, much of their electoral base now believes it. As it happens the day before this event took place, this assassination took place, I was talking to an accountant at one of the big American accountancy firms. He's a personal friend of mine. He was saying that, you know, he's not a supporter of Trump, by the way, but he was saying that if in a meeting, a social meeting at his office, he actually expressed any kind of interest in or support for sympathy for Donald Trump. Half the people in the room would remain silent. All of the others would come after him and his entire position in that firm would be in jeopardy. Just say that is the level of animus that there is against Donald Trump. So given that this is so, an event like the one that we have just seen cannot change that dynamic. The Democrats cannot now simply soft pedal all the rhetoric that they had been engaging in for the last years. Going all the way back to the day when he came down that escalator in Trump Tower, back in 2015, they've been talking relentlessly about him in this way. You can't just switch it off. You can't get all of those people who have been talking about Donald Trump in the way that they have been, all this time, suddenly to stop talking like this. So we're going to see this continue. I think there will be a certain abatement for perhaps a week or so, but by the time of the Democratic Convention in August, you can be absolutely sure that the rhetoric will be back at full intensity. They will try and forget what has just happened. They won't be even if they understood at some level that this is a mistake now. They can't help themselves. They will be back to it. That's the first thing to say. The second thing that's going to happen as a result of this is because the rhetoric is so extreme. So many people believe it. The country is so polarized. Elections in America are not conducted in the way that they were. It is a fundamental error to think that this election can possibly be a shoe-in. The hysteria, the anger is just too great. Already, I'm seeing pictures of people on TikTok, Democratic Party supporters, furious that the shooter didn't actually hit his target. Just just saying, that's the kind of atmosphere that exists in the United States today. The third thing I'm going to say is you're absolutely correct. It does take for a short time the emphasis away from Biden. That means more likely than not, Biden will be confirmed as the Democratic Party's nominee in November. Of course, from Donald Trump's point of view, that is the best possible outcome that there could be. He would be up against Biden. Biden's words were completely unconvincing, I thought, even as Donald Trump rose to the occasion. The resilience of Donald Trump is astonishing. Straight after an assassination attempt, he actually gives interviews. This isn't something that most people do. He would have thought that somebody who's just escaped within half an inch, a bullet that would have ended his life, would need time to recover. But he's giving interviews. His capacity to keep going, to rise above every one of these things, is remarkable. The contrast between that and the president we have now, you get this mumbling, unconvincing, addressed from the Oval Office, completely failing to rise to the challenge, completely failing to talk about Donald Trump in the way that the situation is demanded as a human being, an American somebody that the American people should respect as the candidate of the Republican Party. There's none of that in Biden's words because, of course, quite apart from anything else, he doesn't himself believe that. Well, the contrast between Biden and Trump now, I cannot see how he can do anything other than play to Trump's advantage. Yeah, Biden gave a speech at Michigan a day before the assassination attempt. And Biden said that, I'm paraphrasing basically what he said, is that it's time to focus attention back on Trump. He's going through the cognitive issues that the media's putting a spotlight on and Biden's going through all of this. And in Michigan, he says, it's time to put a spotlight on Trump. It's time to focus on Trump. And I believe the mainstream media will start to do that. That's what he said a day before the assassination attempt when he was in Michigan. And sure enough, the media is now focused on Trump. And they're not focused on Biden anymore. And all of the bubbling and confusion with Biden. The media, though, is they're up to their old tricks. They know they have to report on this story. But they're reporting on it from the angle of this is, yes, there was an attempt on Trump's life, but let's not make it out to be something bigger than that it is. That's kind of the, I'm simplifying it, but that's kind of the narrative that they're taking. Don't make him out to be here. I believe The Washington Post even read an article saying that Elon Musk and David Sachs and other prominent VCs and businessmen are using their platform to make Trump into a heroic figure. And the reason they're saying this is because Trump rose up and pumped his fist. He said fight, fight, fight after an assassination attempt. So you have people like Elon Musk basically reporting the facts, just basically saying this is what I saw, which is what everyone saw. The media is trying to convince people, don't believe what you saw. Don't believe what Elon Musk is telling you. Don't believe what your own eyes are telling you. What we're telling you as The Washington Post and New York Times and CNN is that that there was some noise. Trump fell. He's okay. Let's move on. Do you know what? I mean, they're, the media is, they're trying to make it seem like this is not as big a story as as it is. It's a huge story. But they're turning it around. They're all tricks again. Indeed, yesterday in the hour, several hours after all this happened, I read an article in the British media again, but you know, the Guardian, Wiley read in the United States, very close to the Democratic Party. And it referred to the alleged assassination attempt, the alleged assassination attempt, you know, the bullet flies fast, clips he's here, but that's not an assassination attempt. That is an alleged assassination attempt. Now, you know, once upon a time, these these tricks, and where's it once upon a time? Just a few months ago, these tricks were very, were very potent. They had a real effect. I think that it's becoming more difficult for two reasons. Firstly, the media has been caught with its pants down over Joe Biden. There was the Democratic Party debate. People have seen that. Clips of it have been released and re-released. The media just a few weeks ago was pretending that Biden was the sharpest knife in the troll, the cleverest man in the room, the man whose energy and drive exhausted his junior aides, the American people were exposed to the reality that none of that is true. That is, I think, already shaken the media's credibility to a huge degree. People have seen what they saw. They saw the security, the sort of secret service people looking bewildered and confused. They saw Trump standing up raising his fist. It is going to be impossible to erase that image. So, yes, that is exactly what they're going to try to do, but it is becoming more difficult all the time. You know, what Lincoln once said, you know, you can fool most of the people most of the time. You can't fool all of the people all of the time. And I think we're now well-passed even that point. I think more and more people now are starting to doubt the narratives that they are being given and that, you know, a tipping point, basically, has now been passed. I don't know that the media understands that. I don't know whether the Biden team understand that, but I think that he's becoming more and more difficult to sustain the pretense that, you know, the narratives that have been spun around this election, around the Democrat candidate, around Trump himself, really are very convincing anyway. I wonder how this affects the independent voter, because, I mean, the people that are going to vote against Trump, and they never really vote for Biden, what they're actually doing is they're voting against Trump. They're going to continue to vote against Trump, because, as you said, that the hate is so strong, so visceral. They're not going to, even with an assassination attempt, they're not going to, all of a sudden, change to vote for Trump. The people that support Trump, they support Trump. It's the independent. I wonder how this is going to affect the independent voter, given that you do have the mainstream media trying to downplay this, trying to manipulate the story and the narrative. I mean, logically, you would expect more and more independent voters to see through this and to start moving over to Donald Trump. It's always if the economy is benefiting them very much, and it isn't just independent voters. It's some ex-immigrant voters. I mean, we already see increasing numbers of Latino and Black voters, for example, voting for Donald Trump, or saying they will. And I would have thought that this is, again, these images are going to play well with them, younger people, too. I mean, it's the sort of thing that people look to and admire in their leaders, not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world. Courage is a very important part of leadership. And you were mentioning, and I've seen those articles as well. Some people say, "Don't call Trump a hero. I'll go downplay the significance of all of this." We're both Greeks. The word hero is a Greek one. This is exactly what heroes do. I mean, heroism is exactly what we saw Trump do. That that is exactly what it is. If you want- Take it from two Greeks, yeah. You take it from two Greeks. Yeah, go, go ahead. Sorry, sorry to take it. Go ahead. Go ahead. I mean, this is, I mean, you know, read the Iliad and the Trojan War and see how the heroes their behave. That's exactly how they behave. I mean, physical courage, the ability to keep going and fighting, and to show not just courage, but moral courage, as well as physical courage in this kind of situation, is what heroism is all about. And as a Trump showed it, and well, most people, of course, don't get all these definitions, but, instinctually, they understand that. They say to themselves, "If I'm in a difficult situation, if my country is in a tight hole, who do I want to be led by? Somebody who is able to show courage, physical, moral, who finds the right words, who shows that they're prepared to face down the threat from snipers?" By the way, I remember Donald Trump wouldn't have known that there was only one sniper there. You know, he wouldn't have known, you know, that he was, you know, you know, what was going on. I mean, he, he nonetheless rose to that occasion in the face of all of this. Who do they, who do you prefer to be led by? Someone like that, or somebody who fought an entire presidential election campaign, hiding in a basement, then somebody who can't get through a television debate, and somebody who walks around vacantly and relies all the time from papers and autocues and things of that kind. So, heroism is something that does cut through, and it cuts through to most people, just so. Yeah, the Biden White House, the globalist, political class, the collective West leaders, they've been, they've been demonizing Trump, they've been calling him the mustache man, they've been calling him the next Stalin, a dictator, a thug. You know, they do the same with Putin, they do the same with Xi Jinping, they do the same with Victor Donban, they continue to, to go after Victor Donban. We'll, we'll talk about that in a separate video. Maybe, maybe the, the collective West and the media is, is not telling the truth about all of these, these leaders. Maybe it's the exact opposite. Maybe Trump isn't the, the mustache man, but maybe he, he is a heroic figure. That was definitely a heroic act. That can't be denied, even if you're the New York Times, you can't deny that's, that someone tried to kill him, and he heroically rose up and, and told everyone in, in attendance to fight, fight, fight, that's a heroic act. Whether you like Trump or hate Trump, his, his actions speak volumes. What, what does Trump need to do now going forward? I would, I would say, I would say pick a VP and double down on winding down all the wars. What do you think? Absolutely. That's exactly what he needs. He needs to pick a good VP, which I, I mean, the, the rumors today are that he's going to go for JD Vance, who I think would be the right person, by the way. I mean, this is my own view. I mean, of course, the near-con wing of the Republican Party, the McConnell wing would, will not be happy, but I think the Republican base will, would be. And I think you're absolutely right. He needs to move towards a policy of de-escalation, of winding down the wars, ending this endless militarism and confrontation that the administration has led us into. And giving people in the United States hope that the next president, who is going to be himself, will actually put their interests, and those are the United States, first, rather than that of the globalist near-con project, and we'll do something serious and realistic about improving the lives of the American people, who had to experience considerable economic pressure with inflation and all of those kinds of things. So, you know, give a message of hope, in other words, hope that the wars will be ended, that peace will be restored, and that the United States will be able to move back towards what I would call normalcy, a situation where it's focused on itself and its economy and the welfare of its people. It's not actually a particularly difficult message to put together, but if Donald Trump does that and, you know, persuades people, that he's able to deliver on these things, well, I would have thought that he would be a very, very difficult man to defeat. Yeah. Assure everyone that is not going to fill his cabinet with neocons. Absolutely. That's the biggest fear that I have with Trump was on the plane. Don. I was just going to say he was on the plane to Milwaukee, escorted by Lindsey Graham. He was with Trump, and I was reading the interviews that he gave the New York Post and Graham was right by his side. And when I read stuff like that, it's that that is the part that always worries me. And I do want to say one small thing. I think J.D. Vance is the right pick. I would love to see Tulsi Gabbard as well, but I don't think that's realistic. But J.D. Vance is the right pick. But even recently, I have to be honest, I think J.D. Vance has taken a little bit more of a harder position against Russia and more of a softer position with Zelensky and Ukraine. That's the way it seems from his rhetoric. He seems to be moving a little bit more towards the the Mitch Mc-- I don't want to overdo it, but it does look like he hasn't shifted just a touch towards the neo-con Mitch McConnell side of things. I don't know if I'm reading it wrong, but anyway, you're fine. No, you're absolutely. I presume this is again partly of the maneuvering in order to become the vice presidential pick, because Trump is only going to serve one term highly likely that whoever he picks as vice president will be the party's nominee for the next presidency in four years' time. I think that's what J.D. Vance is doing. The point I would say is that intellectually, I think J.D. Vance understands very well the realities of the Ukraine war. He has shown that. I don't think he's changed, but the fact that he's shifted shows how strong still the neo-cons are within the Republican Party. As you rightly say, Trump himself has the shadow of Lindsey Graham always there by his shoulder, and that's very unnerving. Your concern is shared by lots and lots of people that I know, and including myself, by the way, that just as he did in his first term, Trump will bring these people in and will be taken over by them just as he was last time. That's the big fear. All right, the daran.locals.com. We are on Rumble Odyssey, but you tell the grand rock fan and twitter X and go to the daran shop. Pick up some limited edition merch for the link is in the description box down below. Take care. [Music]