An unknown user on the Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu began circulating a video on Wednesday that has since gone viral in the West depicting the failed assassination of former President Donald Trump as a battle scene from the Japanese anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
In the video, the shooter — since identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks — aims at Trump, who uses a “stand,” or a spirit manifestation of his soul, to grab the bullet before it hits him. The video also recreates a now-iconic photo by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci of Trump surrounded by Secret Service agents, bloodied, and raising a fist in front of an American flag.
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Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday while speaking at a rally. Crooks climbed atop a nearby roof and shot at the president, hitting his ear, and killed one rallygoer, former fire chief Corey Comperatore, before law enforcement authorities eliminated him. Two others were also reportedly injured in the assault.
The former president has since credited God for intervening, as he turned his head slightly immediately before the shot, ensuring the bullet hit his ear and not his temple.
The anime-style video makes direct references to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, a decades-old Japanese manga and anime that introduced the concept of “stands” in its third part in 1989. It is one of the longest-running anime and manga series in history and is currently publishing new volumes. “Stands” are most commonly used to battle in the series but have also been shown to have other uses, such as in one episode where a character uses his exclusively to become a gourmet chef.
The Xiaohongshu video appears to use audio from a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure video game of Funny Valentine, a character introduced in the seventh part of the series, “Steel Ball Run.” “Steel Ball Run” takes place in an alternate universe American Old West and features Valentine — the president of the United States — as its ultimate villain. The depiction of Trump in the anime mockup of the incident on Saturday uses Valentine’s catchphrase, dojaan, a Japanese equivalent of “ta-da,” and exclaims at the end of the video, “I will make sure you don’t forget about Valentine!”
The animation of Trump’s “stand” grabbing the bullet is a reference to another part of the series. In “Stardust Crusaders,” the third part of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, the protagonist, Jotaro Kujo, proves the power of his stand by shooting himself in the head and having his stand, Star Platinum, grab the bullet before it pierces his head.
Fans of the anime series have long compared Trump to Valentine, in part due to their blond hair, but those comparisons increased following the assassination attempt, as “Steel Ball Run” features a scene in which Valentine is shot in the ear.
Several iterations of the recreation of Trump’s assassination attempt as a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure scene have circulated since Saturday.
Memes of Trump using Valentine’s “stand” are at least eight years old. Trump’s promise to build a wall on the southern U.S. border often features in the art.
Some social media users have also introduced Trump as a separate Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure character rather than a form of Valentine (in the manga, alternative universes exist). One piece of fan art circulating shows Trump in traditional Jojo art, posing alongside his imagined stand, named “Build Wall.” The manga typically names stands after classic rock songs or artists, leading some users to suggest his stand’s name should be “Wonderwall.”
Trump’s survival on Saturday has inspired a large volume of memes at home and abroad, from rapper 50 Cent equating it to his own shooting to Chinese online apparel shops selling cheap t-shirts bearing the image of him following the incident. The Chinese government, which closely censors all media in the country, has allowed memes and chatter about the assassination attempt to circulate widely on its largest social media outlet, Weibo, and image-based platforms, such as Xiaohongshu. On Weibo, the government allowed multiple tags related to the assassination attempt to trend, featuring both concern for Trump and derisive comments claiming the Chinese totalitarian communist system is superior to a free society.
Many comments referred to Trump by the nickname Chuan Jianguo, or “Comrade Build the Country,” a name initially used insultingly to indicate that Trump was such a bad president he was inadvertently helping the rise of China. What’s on Weibo, a monitor site dedicated to the social media platform, reported on Monday that the nickname is being used increasingly with “affection,” however.
“I wish Comrade Jianguo a speedy recovery, may he continue to work hard for the ultimate mission entrusted to him by the Party,” one user reportedly wrote.
On Chinese e-commerce sites, sellers are featuring t-shirts with slogans such as “Shooting Makes Me Stronger” and “Grazed but Not Dazed” under the image of Trump raising his fist following the shooting, potentially violating the copyright of the photo owners.