Between Dallas and Butler

By José R. Cabañas Rodríguez on July 31, 2025 from Havana

Two weeks ago marked the one-year anniversary of the alleged assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. At the time, we took some notes on what seemed like a poorly told official story. More than twelve months later, that assessment has only been reinforced.

As part of the public reaction, both inside and outside the United States, to the events that took place on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, it was almost impossible not to recall the assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November 23, 1963.

These are incomparable times, with different outcomes, but the same common thread: the desire for the so-called “official truth” to prevail at all costs, even though many of the repeated claims contradict the most basic laws of physics and other sciences.

More than 60 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the government story found in every library and agency in that country asserts that the perpetrator was Lee Harvey Oswald, an inexperienced shooter positioned at an improbable distance and angle. Despite being located behind the president, Oswald allegedly inflicted a wound to Kennedy’s skull that caused part of his brain matter to be projected not forward, but toward the rear of the vehicle in which he was traveling. Oswald was not executed at the time of the assassination, but hours later, they made sure he could not give his version of events.

Today, the existence of cell phones, social media, and a multitude of other media, rather than serving to describe reality more accurately, contribute to a multiplicity of messages and their repetition, which lead us not to think, not to question, and to simply accept the “information product” that is offered and repeated everywhere.

It is logical that in the first minutes after the exceptional event of 2024, there were many contradictions, different interpretations, and even conflicting reports from different federal agencies. What is surprising is that more than a year later, there are still basic questions that have not been investigated, or essential data that has not been taken into account, or at least not been shared publicly.

These lines are not intended to contribute to conspiracy theories. The official Cuban position condemning the use of violence has been clearly expressed, as a matter of principle and because Cubans on the island have been victims of extreme methods on countless occasions, even today.

But precisely because of this, and because the argument of probable “foreign involvement” was woven around the events in Dallas, we are obliged to go further and reconsider.

The US media repeatedly reported in July 2024 that a young man with no military training used his father’s AR-15 assault rifle in a space he explored on foot for over an hour, leaving traces everywhere, and achieved almost perfect accuracy at a distance of almost 140 yards (128 meters), which even the most experienced Olympic shooters often fail to achieve.

Several witnesses, some of whom did not make further statements after the first exercise, contributed to a description of the alleged mistakes made by the Secret Service and the local police, which would imply that both institutions had massively violated the minimum security standards established for this type of event.

The problem is that all of this “truth” can be questioned with the simplest exercise in reflection, or a virtual search of the millions of pieces of content posted on the so-called global web.

The rifle that Thomas Mathew Crooks had in his hands when he was killed is one of more than 24 million AR-15s in civilian possession throughout the United States. It is a version of a military assault rifle that was banned from public sale until the early 21st century, when the National Rifle Association obtained certification through technical and legal maneuvers.

The AR-15 is a rifle that is widely accepted “on the market” for its light weight and low recoil, which aids accuracy. However, using a real weapon is still a much more complex exercise than a virtual game. Try taking an object that is about the size of a human head and placing it 140 yards away. The image you will see through your scope is barely a millimeter thick, or less.

Another issue related to this weapon is the type of projectile it uses and the effect it has. As the AR-15 has been involved in a large number of mass shootings in the United States, there are a variety of reports in which journalists and witnesses describe the effects of these bullets and their speed of travel on victims, with perfect entry holes and massive tissue rupture at the exit points. Many forensic scientists have referred to “traumatic images” resulting from “mass murders” that have been publicized.

Initial reports of the attempted assassination of Trump mentioned the death of a local firefighter who heroically protected his family and the serious injuries caused to two other attendees at the political rally. However, neither then nor months later were any references found to the exact locations where these people were when they were wounded and whether, in all cases, they corresponded to the alleged trajectory of Crooks’ shots. Even less has been said about the ballistic analysis of the bullets found in each body. These are two studies that are carried out immediately, in the minutes following the event, and which help to clarify many questions.

There should be no doubt about the firm religious conviction of many Donald Trump supporters and the theological conclusion that a higher power intervened to save the candidate. And they may well be right, because what happened had nothing to do with the actions of mere mortals.

US federal agencies linked to security combine a high level of knowledge of the details of their profession with, unfortunately, the use of these strengths against third parties. In other words, not only have they studied their own potential vulnerabilities hundreds of times, but they have also used this knowledge to attempt to take the lives of foreign leaders. The so-called Church Congressional Commission (1975) was tasked at the time with stirring the pot.

If there is no explanation for why every detail of the perimeter of the area where the event took place was not secured, it is incomprehensible that there was no physical screening of each and every one of the attendees who came to listen to the candidate’s speech. Even less can be said for the fact that after blood was seen on one of his ears, the former president was not protected from the floor until it was absolutely certain that the danger had passed. In a scene straight out of a movie, Trump was lifted up and embraced in a fixed position, almost as if to offer himself up to another sniper to finish the job, or to allow time for souvenir photos to be taken.

And if few coherent explanations can be found for these events, what happened afterwards is even less rational. Without a clear proposal for rules to strengthen his protection, without a temporary suspension of campaign events to conclude the investigations, Trump and his entourage continued their political agenda, selling snapshots of Butler on sweaters and shoes, replacing earrings or piercings with XL medical bandages on the right earlobes of supporters.

In the final days of July 2024, several medical specialists referred to the type of laceration that the projectile must have left on the candidate’s ear. However, each and every one of the photos taken of the candidate-president afterwards deny any kind of impact.

Not a single headline has been published demanding accountability from the security service chiefs and subordinates who failed so miserably in their duties a year ago. It’s a clean slate.

Towards the end of 2024, much of what was called the presidential campaign in the United States was limited to gloating over that irregular event and the obvious inability of then-President Joe Biden to perform his duties, let alone do so for another four years.

No substantive debate took place on clear policy proposals that would help address the problems facing the American nation. Much less on the urgent requirements of the world to deal with shared crises.

Perhaps the main consequence of the events in Butler has to do with the identical pattern of simplicity and superficiality with which the main initiatives of President 45-47 have been covered and taken on in his first months in office: from blaming immigrants for all crimes in the country to attributing all the imbalances in the domestic economy to foreign influence.

July 13, 2025, was not marked by celebrations or new inquiries into what happened in Butler. Trump had just passed his Beautiful and Great Law (BBB) on the 3rd of that month, on the 4th he presided over a lackluster military parade on the occasion of the United States’ National Day, and on the 13th itself he was debating whether to send new weapons to Ukraine, reject questions about the so-called Epstein Files, or the alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 elections.

Perhaps the main attack in Butler was against the American popular imagination. A barrage of bytes and images, not evidence, left an irreversible mark on the voting pattern recorded in the November 2024 presidential elections.

José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez is Director of the International Policy Research Center (CIPI) in Havana, Cuba.

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English