CNN’s Disgusting Front Page Story After Trump Was Shot Says It All

On any other day, at any other moment, perhaps an Israeli attack on a Hamas leader in Gaza that supposedly killed dozens of Palestinians might be the top story on CNN’s homepage.

That day and moment was not the evening of Saturday, July 13, 2024, shortly after the former president of the United States of America and presumptive GOP nominee was shot at, and apparently wounded in the head, by a would-be assassin.

The priorities of CNN, however, remain a bit different.

If you were a visitor to CNN’s international edition homepage, this is what you were greeted with one hour after it became clear Donald Trump had been shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania by a man who has not yet been officially identified:

“Dozens killed as Israel targets Hamas military chief,” blared the chief headline, which took up nearly half the page. “Israel is verifying whether one of the alleged masterminds of the October 7 attacks died in a strike Palestinian officials say killed at least 90 people.”

This number, it must be said, was reported by the Gaza Health Ministry, the same outfit that once claimed an Israeli missile killed several hundred people outside a hospital; while that report was credulously picked up by the media in the wake of the incident, it later turned out that 1) the number of dead was far less than reported and 2) the  the alleged Israeli missile was likely a misfiring rocket from a Hamas ally.

But never mind that, because look at the small little story right next to it: “Trump injured in incident at Pennsylvania rally.” Because CNN will do anything to minimize the violence aimed at former President Trump — which could, in a way, be seen as encouraging it.

That was sandwiched between the Gaza story and a column saying “Catch up on today’s global news.” As if there were many other stories to be covered at that point.

The “incident” was a shooting which, from all appearances, involved a bullet aimed at Trump’s head.

The shooter has been “neutralized” — intelligence-speak for killed — and a spokesman for Trump said he was “fine” after the “heinous act.”

Nevertheless, no assassination attempt on either a major presidential candidate or a president, sitting or former, has occurred in over 43 years, after a man named John Hinckley shot then-President Ronald Reagan as Reagan left an event in Washington, D.C., in March 1981.

Reagan was seriously injured by Hinckley’s bullets but managed to survive. His press secretary, James Brady, sustained far more serious injuries and remained paralyzed on the right side of his body for the rest of his life.

Nor was this CNN’s only grave journalistic error in reporting the Trump assassination attempt. This was their original headline reporting the news in the U.S. edition:

“Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally.”

Even in a horrifying moment such as this they just can’t help themselves. pic.twitter.com/REDIQvWaX8

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 13, 2024

Yes, a “fall.” Before which, on the video feed, something similar to the sound of a firearm going off could be heard.

How dense does one need to be to realize that something more serious than a fall has occurred — and that not calling it a potential threat to the Republican nominee-to-be for president, at the very least, represents journalistic malpractice?