While many Americans were trying to enjoy their Saturday, a would-be assassin sought to turn July 13th into an important day in American history. He tried to kill former President Donald Trump.

I spent the evening trying to keep up with the information as it was flying, which involved a whole lot of info that turned out to be not true, including allegations that the shooter was a Chinese national.

He wasn't. He was some loser from a Pittsburgh suburb.

So now that the dust has settled just a bit, let's take a look at what we actually know versus what the press reported in the immediate aftermath that almost always goes awry. 

First, the shooter has been identified, as alluded to previously. The media is reporting that he was a "registered Republican." Dana Loesch wrote about this over at her Substack, first to correct some misinformation claiming that someone else's picture was that of the shooter, but also noting this:

Regardless, other information that the collective internet turned up was verified by multiple sources. It is true that the shooter donated to a PAC via ActBlue on the day of Biden’s inauguration. It is also true that eight months later, it appears he registered to vote as a Republican.

Is this confusing? Yes. When I looked into the Progressive Turnout Project, I found out that they are a scummy organization that was sending out aggressive fundraising emails at the time. Based on Ryan Grim’s reporting, it is entirely possible that the then-17-year-old was tricked into donating, and even if he donated to them on purpose, he was likely tricked into donating.

As for his voter registration, I’ve seen people claiming he was probably part of the movement to mess with Trump in the Primary. It’s possible, I know, because I’ve done it. I am registered to vote as a Democrat because, in my locale, the Democrat primary is the election, and by the time the GOP primary gets to me, it’s already decided.

My own take is that yes, people can register to vote with a party that doesn't represent their beliefs so as to mess with the election, but if you want to see who they really are, look at where they spend their money. However, because of the shady nature of the group, we can't even go by that. As Loesch notes, it's entirely possible he was tricked.

So our clues into what was going on in the shooter's head are still nonexistent.

As for the assassination attempt itself, we know that two people were injured and one man was killed. He's been identified as Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief of Butler, Pennsylvania where the attempt took place. His family reports he was hit while shielding them from being shot, calling him a hero. I can't argue with that description under the circumstances, but that's also being a husband and a father. Many of us would like to think we'd do the exact same under the circumstances.

The Trump campaign started a GoFundMe campaign for those shot. The Hill reports that it's raised over $2 million.

On Sunday evening, President Joe Biden took to television to speak on the attempt. It was kind of a trainwreck, really, as Townhall's Sarah Arnold covered it.

However, there is still a pile of questions. Top among my own was how in the hell a gunman gained access to a rooftop a couple hundred yards from where Trump would be speaking, a rooftop with a clear line of sight. Why was it not already secured?

The United States Secret Service has a long track record of good work, but this was not it.

It appears that due to Trump's schedule, his normal detail is being run ragged, so the USSS subs in temporary agents to give members of the regular detail a break. That's not a recipe for good security, really.

There is also word that a local police counter sniper team had the shooter in their crosshairs and couldn't get the go-ahead from the Secret Service to take the shot until after the shot was fired.

We'll have to see if that last bit holds up, but it's clear the Secret Service dropped the ball. In fact, it's so bad that one of CNN's security analysts says US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle should be put "on leave" over the failures.

CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem said President Joe Biden should put US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle “on leave” amid intense scrutiny over the agency’s handling of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump Saturday.

“If this agency is going to move forward people need to pay the consequences for it.”

Kayyem, who served as Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, said there were a number of unanswered questions about the Secret Service’s preparation and response Saturday — including why the rooftop where the gunman was perched wasn’t secure, and whether or not the agents removed Trump swiftly enough.

I'm sure that there's a lot of information that I've missed here. 

What we do know is that someone took a shot at Trump. They missed. Now we deal with a world post-assassination attempt and how that will impact many different facets of politics in the United States.