In the most reductionist perspective, a “successful” assassination is one that involves the decease of the chosen target, because to the naked eye, that is the only point of that kind of violence. People often think that death is the only motive when someone is being erased because that is supposedly the ultimate end of the influence of the chosen target. However, what if the point of the assassination was further control? What if the purpose of the “attempt” was more influence and to increase the power of the given mindset? Over the past year, we have all seen the power of assassination be used to justify creeping the empire into a more authoritative existence, with the beneficiaries and sycophants running out of excuses for why they approve.
Trump’s multiple “assassination” attempts are the most obvious and the most over-the-top for many reasons, not least of which that age will take care of him without anyone having to lift a finger. First and foremost, I have no love for the police state as its invention was to destroy people who look like me, but presidents have Secret Service protection for life. If someone sat down in front of me with a straight face and said that random individuals got through militarily trained staff from multiple directions without anyone seeing anything, I have a bridge to sell. No one believes that. Secondly, “assassination attempts” made Trump look like a sympathetic figure, and his cult base was itching for a reason to proselytize others, and suddenly they had three. Random gunmen gave them all the reasons they will ever think of, and fomented the rabid protectionism of his image.
The next assassination we were supposed to performatively mourn was the CEO of a health insurance company who was a millionaire. To be fair, this event was almost as bad as when the Wells Fargo employee was found dead after multiple days, and nobody interfered until folks were forced to confront the issue. Despite seeing that a colleague had just been shot, the individual’s compatriots stepped over his body to attend their regularly scheduled meeting, a fact that has been scrubbed from basic internet consumption other than social media. Once the assassin was discovered, people called him “attractive” and made multiple references to the Super Mario Bros. video game, which enraged the beneficiaries of the dominant narrative. This assassination “humanized” a monster who was using artificial intelligence to deny health insurance claims and a legitimate part of his position. Moreover, shares of the health insurance company increased after the assassination, showing that the dominant narrative has less humanity than those shrieking that everyone should “see the humanity” in a beast.
Anyone believing that the death of that CEO changed anything was sorely mistaken, because once the inauguration completed, the looting of the empire began. Wealthy people lack empathy–as evidenced by the behavior of the investors–and the only thing they think about is how they can get more money. Therefore, the sympathy stock increases raises the question of whether other investors ordered the assassination to increase their portfolios, but that could completely be a fabrication. Furthermore, there is nothing sacred within a corporation, and if one CEO is murdered, another takes that individual’s place, even with all the shrieking to respect the dead. Interestingly enough, that company has been through multiple CEOs after that assassination attempt was successful at both increasing sympathy and income.
Blackstone is the largest real estate holder in the United States, and is often regarded as the “world’s largest landlord.” They are worse than RealPage, which was being sued based on using an anticompetitive algorithm to attack the working classes. This is why such an assassination was so covert that people pretended that the shooter was attacking based on not being chosen for the NFL, which people believed for a time. It was only after the positions of the targets were revealed that people understood the full motivation. Mainstream media tried to soften the targets with stating that there was a woman and an Ivy-league graduate, but people were not distracted once it was observed that a Blackstone employee and an NYPD officer were among the targets. In hindsight, I would regard this assassination attempt as a failure because no one developed sympathy for Blackstone, the NYPD, or any of the targets as a result. Their images remain as they ever were.
And now we move on to the final “assassination,” which was the most successful by far in that people are being swarmed with further control on a daily basis. That it happened in Utah was almost prophetic, and states more about the dangers of a highly-armed population instead of the advantages, especially with what happened afterwards. Governor Cox’s statements only highlighted how dangerous a christofascist government is that an elected official can actively hope that anything other than the truth was possible. Everything that has happened since has been emblematic of how things will move forward as long as the beneficiaries and the sycophants have their say.
Most importantly, the recent assassination has the feel of being “the one” the empire was hoping for all along, as all the actions have dictated the true sentiments of the country. Right-leaning individuals were calling for war and death to everyone non-white, sealing the reality of their viewpoints and delegitimizing anything they ever say again. Left-leaning individuals, like the slaveowners of old, demanded that non-white people mourn our oppressors and negate our sense of self worth. A popular white celebrity has been fired and rehired–who, by the way, I have no love for based on his asinine behavior with Quinsa Brunson when she won her Emmy, making it all about him. However, all this horrible behavior shows how unsalvageable this nation truly is, and this is why the most recent assassination was successful.
Every single one of these targets is rich, which is the only reason why they were qualified as “assassinations.” If violence against the wealthy continues to be “unthinkable,” people will be further lulled into complacency about violence against the poor in the form of starvation wages and housing insecurity. The most “well-behaved” in the world–since wealth is the only indication of “goodness” that the press measures–can be shot, so “no one” is safe. Meanwhile, fear among everyone is incited, weapons sales are boosted, and everything gets a lot worse for people who cannot afford to do more to protect ourselves based on our limited resources. Also, if there are swarms of people who cannot trust each other regarding accurate interpretations of pivotal events, how are we all supposed to build coalitions? This assassination has proven that beneficiaries and sycophants believe that “white is right,” and there is nothing to save their image among those who have finally seen behind the masks.
One final thing I would like people to consider is that rich people kill others all the time, including each other. The DOGE administrator bragged about facilitating a coup, despite all of his counterparts having done the same thing for years–just not bragging about it. When people have enough wealth, “little” things like assassinations fail to phase them. Trump is rich, and surrounds himself with rich people. Again, the CEO was surrounded by wealthy people who were looking to invest. The corporate executive was not only rich, but being “protected” by the force created to “protect” property. Finally, the latest assassination was backed by billionaires. All of these were orchestrated, and their success stems from the amount of influence they have on our consciousness. Instead of looking down all the time, like simpletons, we really need to start looking up for more accurate emotional responses.
Chasing A Dying Empire 