Former US President Donald Trump was hit in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally today in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a shocking incident that will fuel fears of instability ahead of the 2024 US presidential election. Several politicians, tech leaders and followers of Mr Trump condemned the attack, stressing that political violence is intolerable. Amid this, terms such as 'Civil War 2' and 'American Civil War' spiked on Google search, as per a report in the New York Post.
According to Google Analytics, on the day when Mr Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, the search term 'American Civil War' reached a 12-month high. Additionally, the day also saw the highest increase in interest in the term 'Secret Service' during the previous five years. The day following the incident witnessed new 12-month highs for the terms 'long-distance shooting' and 'gun store near me,' which both had notable interest surges. At the same time, 'How do I move to Canada' also hit a record 12-month high.
Google Analytics tracks the total amount of interest in a word rather than each individual usage- the term with the most searches during a specific time period (100 points) is at the top of the list, while the term with the fewest searches (0 points) is at the bottom. Within moments of the incident, 'Civil War' soon became the most searched phrase on the platform.
Meanwhile, the 78-year-old Republican presidential contender, whose team claimed he was "fine," was attacked shortly as he began his speech."I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin," Mr Trump said on his Truth Social account.
He added, "Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening." Earlier in the statement, he stated, "I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear."
Meanwhile, the FBI identified the shooter in the assassination attempt on the former president as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. The US Secret Service said in a statement that the shooter "fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside the rally" before being "neutralized" by agents. He was registered as a Republican, according to the state's voter records.
