Was It Staged?

The claim: shots were never meant to kill; the martyr photo and the fist were the product.

• FOR: Enormous political payoff. Near-perfect imagery. Miss was millimeters.

• AGAINST: Three real people shot, one dead. Thousands of witnesses, independent cameras, bodycam, Meta glasses footage.

• AGAINST: Staging a live round that close to a candidate's head is an insane operational risk — one twitch ends the nominee.

• VERDICT: A real attempt + a photogenic reflex + a campaign that knew how to use an image ≠ manufactured attempt