Current possible meanings of "the tower is everywhere", I offer boldly while trembling....

[Mark Kohut]

It was found in the moment by the war photographer [Iraq] who ran to
position himself. (He is also the photographer
who caught moment right after the shoe left the hand--all fingers
spread--of the guy who threw his at President Bush
back when.

Remember 'the tower is everywhere" is, in* Lot 49 *about a 'bad' America
that Oedipa flees.

On Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 7:11 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> It was STAGED. No coincidence, its Iwo Jima composition.
>
> But, practically speaking, I don’t think it moves the needle, even a
> smidge. It only excites the base which Trump was needing badly at that
> point. His polls were starting to sink. All kinds of questions are being
> raised about why the Secret Service would allow him to be so exposed
> immediately after having been shot once. No indication that they expected a
> second or third shot from anywhere. Like they were confident it was over
> already.
>
> And a rooftop with a view directly to the stage where Trump will be
> speaking would be the first place. The Secret Service would stage
> protection for Trump. It would not be left exposed with a direct line to
> Trump. These people are stupid and they’ve been protecting people since,
> Bobby Kennedy. They check for everything.
>
> Anyway, these are some tidbits that I’ve been leaning from the Internet. I
> hate conspiracy theories, but I admit this one looks staged. And if so, two
> people died for their dramatic production.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 7:06 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> That fuckin' Iwo Jima-like photo of Trump after he hurt his ear.
>>
>> A Legendary American Photograph
>>
>> The photo of Trump after the attempt on his life is a badly needed window
>> into the MAGA mindset.
>> By Tyler Austin Harper
>> <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tyler-austin-harper/>
>> [image: Donald Trump with blood on his face, raising his fist, after an
>> assassination attempt at his rally]Evan Vucci / AP
>> JULY 14, 2024, 2:17 PM ET
>> SHARE & GIFT
>> SAVE
>>
>> Donald Trump raises a fist. Blood streaks his face. The sky is high, blue,
>> and empty except for an American flag caught in a hard wind. A Secret
>> Service agent has her arms around his waist. The former president’s mouth
>> is open, in the middle of a snarled shout. We know from video footage that
>> he is yelling “Fight!,” that the crowd is chanting “USA!”
>>
>> The photograph
>> <
>> https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/13/politics/gallery/in-pictures-trump-injured-at-pennsylvania-rally/index.html
>> >,
>> by the Associated Press’s Evan Vucci, became immediately legendary.
>> However
>> you feel about the man at its center, it is undeniably one of the great
>> compositions in U.S. photographic history. Although I am deeply relieved
>> that Trump survived this assassination attempt, I am no fan of his. But
>> the
>> first time I saw the photo, I felt an emotion that I later recognized,
>> with
>> considerable discomfort, as a fluttering of unbidden nationalist zeal.
>> What
>> encapsulates our American ideal more than bloody defiance
>> <https://x.com/EsotericCD/status/1812289350865948960> and stubborn pride
>> that teeters just on the edge of foolishness? No hunkering and no
>> hiding—standing undaunted and undeterred, fist-pumping your way through an
>> attempted murder. It was a moment when Trump supporters’ idea of
>> him—strong, resilient, proud—collided with reality.
>>
>> I can’t help but be moved by this remarkable image, taken by a Pulitzer
>> Prize winner
>> <
>> https://www.thedailybeast.com/ap-photographer-evan-vucci-spills-on-historic-trump-rally-shooting-pic
>> >
>>  who ran toward the danger <
>> https://x.com/RonenV/status/1812282594584916108>,
>> camera in hand, rather than away from it. There is a perverse and
>> paradoxical disjunction between Trump the man, who many argue is a threat
>> to American democracy, and this image of Trump, which seems to capture
>> that
>> same democracy in all its pathology, mythos, and, yes, glory. The
>> *Compact* editor
>> Sohrab Ahmari tweeted
>> <https://x.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1812275114580509145> that Trump’s
>> instinct—to reflexively gesture in rebellion after being shot at—is
>> “evidence of a truly extraordinary man.” He is more than a little right.
>> Extraordinary, after all, is not so much a moral descriptor as an
>> aesthetic
>> one.
>>
>> David Frum: The gunman and the would-be dictator
>> <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/07/donald-trump-democracy-dictator/679006/
>> >
>>
>> The image of Trump, bloody with a raised fist, is destined to adorn
>> T-shirts, magazine covers <
>> https://x.com/yashar/status/1812513859690999941>,
>> full-page spreads in history books, campaign ads. I do not think it is an
>> exaggeration to say that the photo is nearly perfect, one that was
>> captured
>> under extreme duress and that distills the essence of a man in all his
>> contradictions.
>>
>> Many commentators have already surmised that this image alone will cost
>> our
>> current president his reelection bid. Some rushed
>> <https://x.com/ritaresarian/status/1812267751471460831> to juxtapose
>> pictures of Joe Biden, staring awkwardly and looking frail, with an angry,
>> almost-assassinated Trump. One writer took to X to place the Vucci photo
>> side
>> by side <https://x.com/mannyfidel/status/1812278618019803593> with a
>> still
>> from the film *Oppenheimer*, implying that the photographer, like the
>> inventor of the atomic bomb, may one day come to feel that his greatest
>> achievement slipped out of his control and ushered in a darker world. The
>> left-wing political commentator Cenk Uygur summarized
>> <https://x.com/cenkuygur/status/1812386902236160373> things more simply
>> still: “Trump sticking the hand up and saying, ‘Fight, fight, fight!’
>> while
>> the crowd chanted ‘USA, USA, USA!’ was bad ass.”
>>
>> All of these reactions, whether fear or resentment or grudging admiration,
>> are understandable. But I wonder whether they miss the point. The real
>> subject of this photograph is not Donald Trump but his supporters. Many of
>> us have mocked Trump stans—their ridiculous fan art
>> <
>> https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/8/17376824/trump-fan-art-maga-dinesh-dsouza-jon-mcnaughton
>> >
>> that
>> reimagines him with bulging muscles or fighting in the Revolutionary War
>> <https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-mocked-bizarre-july-4-133353095.html>;
>> their unshakable and cultish belief in his vigor; their desperate desire
>> to
>> see him as he wants to be seen rather than as he is. Yesterday, for a few
>> moments at least, the Trump of MAGA’s imagination and reality became
>> indistinguishable. Not even the most slavish devotee of the former
>> president could have dreamed up a more iconic portrait.
>> RECOMMENDED READING
>>
>>    - [image: A human caregiver uses a laptop to operate a robot caregiver
>>    in the hallway of a nursing residence.]
>>    <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/ai-keeps-mastering-games-but-can-it-win-in-the-real-world/554312/
>> >
>>    AI Keeps Mastering Games, But Can It Win in the Real World?
>>    <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/ai-keeps-mastering-games-but-can-it-win-in-the-real-world/554312/
>> >JOSHUA
>>    SOKOL <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/joshua-sokol/>
>>    - [image: A woven bag containing carrots, apples, two oranges, and some
>>    greens, against a lavender background]
>>    <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/04/rules-eating-fight-climate-change/618515/
>> >
>>    Your Diet Is Cooking the Planet
>>    <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/04/rules-eating-fight-climate-change/618515/
>> >ANNIE
>>    LOWREY <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/annie-lowrey/>
>>    - [image: a chimpanzee covering its eyes]
>>    <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/01/cringe-culture-everywhere/621272/
>> >
>>    How Did We Get So ‘Cringe’?
>>    <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/01/cringe-culture-everywhere/621272/
>> >KAITLYN
>>    TIFFANY <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/kaitlyn-tiffany/>
>>
>> Today, Americans are not unified. We are not “All MAGA,” as a viral
>> headline this morning suggests
>> <
>> https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/today-were-all-maga-trump-shooting-assassination/
>> >.
>> We are angry, bitter, and divided; paranoid and afraid; governed by two
>> parties that seem constitutionally incapable of putting America above
>> their
>> own interests. What happened yesterday does nothing to change that. Nor do
>> a few seconds of real bravery absolve Trump of his sins, or make his
>> political platform more palatable. But I would suggest that Democrats and
>> anti-Trumpers take a break from contextualizing and problematizing and
>> hypothesizing and worrying, and instead spend some time contemplating, if
>> only for a minute or two, this photograph. The man, the flag, the blood,
>> the fist.
>>
>> Pete Wehner: The power of restraint
>> <
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/trump-pennsylvania/679004/
>> >
>>
>> It is often difficult for Trump critics to inhabit the mind of one of his
>> supporters, to understand Trump’s appeal without immediately defaulting to
>> simplifications like racism and misogyny, explanations that have become
>> less of a skeleton key and more of a shibboleth, particularly as the
>> former
>> president continues to see his support among minorities swell. Vucci has
>> provided us not with an alternative theory of the case but with a badly
>> needed window into the MAGA mindset, allowing all of America, and indeed
>> the world, to see Trump through the eyes of his devotees, people we share
>> this country with.
>>
>> If Democrats hope to beat Trump and Trumpism, they need to understand the
>> appeal. Which means they need to be able to look at this image and see a
>> promise—one I do not believe Trump can deliver, but a promise
>> nonetheless—of toughness, vitality, and unbowing resolve at a moment when
>> we are wavering, weak, and irresolute before a graying future. The
>> photograph is not a portrait of a man but a through-the-looking-glass
>> vision of America as she would have herself and as many in this country
>> would have her. Our oldest myths briefly became real one bright evening in
>> Butler, Pennsylvania.
>> Tyler Austin Harper
>> <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tyler-austin-harper/> is an assistant
>> professor of environmental studies at Bates College and a contributing
>> writer at *The Atlantic*.
>> ReplyReply allForward
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>