#describing ricks behavior as being a reaction to nothing he

[plumbus-central]

I hate that you bring up the idea of Rick having a brother because in the Multiversus comics, Rick just casually mentions a NEPHEW!!! 😭😭😭

FOR REAL??????? why do they keep doing that? 😭 i swear to god there was a comment made by one of the council ricks in another comic that rick had siblings but i cant find it now?? I thought it was in pocket mortys but i scanned through the whole thing and coudnt find it.

Does anyone else know what im talking about?

[mindynichole]

Okay...so it’s time to tackle Episode 10x18 and why it didn’t bother me that much.

Despite getting to watch TWD Season 10B early thanks to a forgotten AMC Premiere account, I waited an entire 24 hours before I watched 10x18 out of fear of the inevitable. 

And by now I’m sure you know exactly what I’m referring too.

However, after I did finally break down and watch it Friday evening, I was surprised that it didn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. 

Some might say that’s just because of the tinfoil hat now firmly placed tightly around my head after the previous episode convinced me even more Beth Greene might just show up out of the blue one day soon to a TWD universe production near you. Okay, I’ll give you that! 

However, there are very logical reasons why I don’t feel the least bit threatened by this new woodland harlot, Leah, (I’m just joking, geesh) and I’m going to tell you what they are!

Before I begin, I want to make clear that while I’m not thrilled about the idea of Daryl being in a romantic relationship with anyone but Beth, I didn’t really even hate Leah but saw her instead as what I believe she was meant to be. On her own in another situation she probably would be a great character. However, when I have mentioned in the past that I liked this episode, I was mainly referring to the parts with Car*l. Not because I am petty and enjoyed the fight, but because I think these are conversations that Daryl and her need to be having. 

Nevertheless, here’s my take of 10X18. Consider yourself spoiler warned if you haven’t seen it yet.

Daryl was probably at the loneliest part of his life when Leah enters the picture.

Let’s take the time and set this scene a moment... 

At the point in the story when Leah first appears, Daryl has been wandering the woods for three freaking years looking for any sign of Rick’s body. 

While Daryl is away, everything he knows has changed and life has just continued to carry on without him for everyone else he loves. Rick and Carl are both long gone. Carol is busy being a wife and mother. Michonne has pretty much shut off Alexandria from everybody including Team family. Maggie left for parts unknown with Georgie and has taken little Hershel with her. 

Literally every single thing that Rick and Team Family ever tried to build during this apocalypse is shattered and everything the man has ever loved is gone. 

We also can’t forget that the person Daryl would have naturally clung to during this sad time happened to “die” before he ever stepped foot into Virgina. Therefore, Daryl is left with absolutely no one. It’s a damn miracle that he didn’t off himself and might have - had he not been so obsessed in finding Rick’s body.

Leah is Daryl’s exact mirror in female form. 

So he meets Leah after accidentally breaking into her cabin and almost immediately we can see she is literally like him looking into a mirror. Now, I’ve already read many people trying to compare her to Car*l and even Beth and while I do get what they are saying, I also disagree. This lady is no other than the female version of Daryl Dixon. He has surely found his exact match in her.

Here’s how we figure that out:

Leah is tough as nails but obviously has a heart because she doesn’t immediately kill Daryl for busting into her cabin and ultimately lets him go.

You come to find out she had abusive parents and a very shitty childhood just like Daryl.

You find out her life sucked until she found her group - who had given her not only hope but finally a real family.

Like Daryl, her life also greatly improved during the apocalypse.

It takes Leah a very long time to trust Daryl enough to even tell him her name.

You find out she had a son who was born very much like Judith was. Her “sister” died giving birth to him, causing her to raise him as her own.

Something horrible happens to the group (horde of walkers) and everyone else gets killed. She takes her son and runs to the cabin only to realize that he had been bitten and ultimately dies. 

It highly implied Leah blames herself for what happened to her family.

Like Daryl, at this point in the story Leah has lost everything she has ever loved, has sought refuge in the woods, and is completely alone.

Yet, in no way, shape, or form was Leah ever supposed to be a replacement for Beth. Instead, I believe she actually demonstrates why Bethyl worked so well.

While I’m okay with the character of Leah, she’s no Beth. Not even close. As I stated before, she is just like Daryl and that’s really the problem.

Because we need to understand the thing that made Bethyl work so well was their fundamentally different personalities fitting together like peanut butter and jelly - both perfectly fine on their own but together making the perfect combination. 

And TPTB spent a lot of time and effort back in the day showing us how much this was so.

While sometimes opposite people clash, we were shown that their different natures surprisingly completed each other very well. In other words, they were each other’s yin and yang. This was most obvious with Daryl helping Beth realize her own strength and Beth showing Daryl how to move forward. However, I could create an entire meta...and there are many that already exist out there...listing countless examples of how we saw them bringing the best out in each other. The combination of this along with their utmost (even sometimes brutal) honesty, shared history, and absolute trust in each other, created a foundation for a very healthy relationship.

In contrast, two people with nearly identical personalities and the same exact kind of unhealed trauma like Leah and Daryl, are usually not good life partners because they can hinder and get in the way of each other’s forward progress. 

While you can understand why these kinds of people gravitate together and form bonds over shared experience, resulting romantic relationships can often be rocky. Many times the shared trauma can result in both partners having the exact same kinds of problems with trust, communication, and reckless expression of feelings. There is nobody in the relationship to model different kinds of behaviors and ideas since both tend to have the same life experiences to draw upon. Instead, each serves to the other as a living testament to and as confirmation of why their negative thoughts and behaviors are correct. 

In other words, there is nobody there to throw the life preserver when both people are drowning. Nobody to even suggest to either partner a different way of doing things. 

Also, when the relationship’s foundation is based solely on shared trauma, the trauma itself can become the only thing holding the two partners together. 

This is why I never thought Daryl and Car*l would ever make good romantic partners. However, at least they have different types of personalities and kinds of trauma. Car*l is just...well Car*l - a force all on her own - and there’s nothing to suggest she ever experienced abuse in childhood. However, Leah being an exact carbon copy of Daryl gave that relationship even less of a chance.

And what I have just described seems to be exactly what we really do see happen between Daryl and Leah in Episode 10x18. I could list various examples but for time’s sake, I’m choosing not to because I am sure you can see it too - at least now that I’ve brought it up.

Just know I also believe this is why NR seemed to imply the relationship was not good in earlier preview shows.

Daryl flat out told Leah he didn’t know if he could choose her. 

As many others have already pointed out throughout the weekend, I believe the biggest difference between Daryl’s reaction to Leah and his reaction to Beth is the simple fact he really didn’t seem to  want to stay in that cabin with Leah forever. He doesn’t even seem all that upset about it either until he starts talking with Car*l later.

This drastically contrasts with the “Oh” scene with Beth. Hell, Daryl didn’t even care if the looney person who had been tending the funeral home and dressing up corpses came back! He wanted nothing more than to stay there and live happily ever after with her. There was no hesitation. 

I would go as far as to say Beth is the only person able to completely divert Daryl's attention away from the rest of his family - much like she did when he spotted the Grady car and began his pursuit. However, Beth would never even ask such a thing - because not only is it her family too - but also because Beth was much too unselfish to let Daryl make those kinds of choices.

So you might ask yourself why he changed his mind in the end and made him decide to go back to Leah?

I believe he makes this choice because of the conversation with Car*l. She basically tells him that everyone else has found their place and it is time for him to find his place too. It begins to slowly eat at Daryl how they have all moved on without him. It’s important to remember that by this time in the story, he’s pretty much done scouring the river for Rick. He’s already checked out that “one last place” he hadn’t been. So now he’s beginning to ponder Car*l’s words and wondering where his place is now? Where does he go from here? It’s logical to think maybe he’s supposed to be in those woods with Leah after all.

Daryl and Leah’s relationship doesn't seem to leave much of a lasting impression or effect on Daryl.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Daryl most definitely cared about Leah. Yet, we can’t forget how we first found Daryl all those years later after the time jump in Episode 9X6.

If you remember right, Daryl still wasn’t doing all that great. His relationship with Leah apparently does absolutely nothing to change his outlook on anything. 

In comparison, we all know what just a few short weeks - perhaps a couple of months - in the woods with Beth Greene does to Daryl Dixon. It changes his character profoundly! 

Daryl might have went back to Leah at the time...BUT he made it crystal clear to C*rol that he knows where he belongs NOW. That’s what the entire fight between them was really about.

There is a line that Daryl spits out during his fight with Car*l that sums up exactly why he wasn’t able to give up everything and stay with Leah. He tells Car*l that he knows where his place is…and he’s referring to being with his family at Alexandria. He’s angry that she doesn’t seem to understand that it’s where her place is as well.

AK later points this line out on TTD as important too. In fact, she literally states that his relationship with Leah is purely in the past and they will not go there again. It is rare for a showrunner to flat out proclaim something like this. It means she felt it was important for the audience to understand that this was done.She also points out that the fight is really about how sick Daryl is of Carol running away every time things get extremely difficult.

I would go a step further and say that Daryl is probably projecting what he now realizes was going on with himself when he was wandering the woods and choosing to stay there with Leah all those years ago. He’s upset with himself for having done so and he’s upset with Car*l that she has yet to have come to the same conclusion.

Ps: Be on the lookout for another post - a part two of sorts - later this week detailing all the things I’m still tinkering in my mind about this episode! ;)

Until then, keep calm and Bethyl on! She’s coming soon...

[ohnohetaliasues]

Stones to Abbigale {Ch.6}

(Kat)

We’ve established that I suck at intros, so let’s just get right into it.

Quite a few days passed. Everything felt like it was falling into place with Abbi. She had become the center of my world and I felt like I was finally really finally enjoying my life.

I’m done saying you’ve known each other for less than a week but okay.

One morning my nose woke me up, there was an unfamiliar but pleasant smell filling my bedroom. For the first time in a long while breakfast was ready for my sister and me. My mom had made eggs and waffles. To my surprise Rick was, again, sitting at our table. Him being there completely explained why my mom was making breakfast.

Uh. Great.

I approached everyone already sitting and said good morning. Rick seemed a little nervous and again my mom asked that we all have a talk. I sat down not so sure of what to expect.

Rick spoke “Listen, I don’t want to tiptoe around this topic. Your mother and I want to move in together.”

You’ve been dating a few months, that is not an awesome idea.

My sister’s arm went limp as she was attempting to eat making her fork smack against her plate as she dropped her jaw simultaneously.

That was described so weirdly I can’t.

While she was normally overdramatic about most everything, her reaction pretty much summed up how I too was feeling this time.

‘Most everything’ is going to make me have an aneurysm.

My mom tried to soften the blow by saying “And yes, this is going to be a pretty big transition for all of us but we’ll make it through.”

It began to hit me harder as I thought things through; there was no way Rick was moving in with us, our little condo was already overcrowded. Rick was the one with the higher-paying job, which meant most everything

Fuck you.

I knew was at risk to change. I began to feel panicked, “You... Mom I have Abbi.”

No you don’t. You’re not even dating her.

I said.

My mom looked concerned and Rick blurted out “Listen, we’re not going to break up your relationship for the sake of ours, we’ll figure something out ok?”

I felt like I was going to pass out; I kept thinking about the horrible timing, that I finally I had someone I bonded with more than anyone else and they were going to make it far more difficult for me to be with them, because of what? Rick had said it would work out but I barely knew him. I had learned some time before to trust people on what you know them to be, not what you hope them to be. Rick hadn't been around long enough for me to see him in a significantly positive or negative light and in that, I realized hope was all I had.

I have no words to express how annoyed I am here.

I stood up and said, “I’m sorry, I’m not hungry. I’m going to go wait for the bus.”

Everyone silently sat at the table awkwardly pushing around their food as I gathered my things. As I was brushing my teeth I could hear my sister crying and ranting dramatically in the background. Once again, she reacted externally how I felt inside.

Crying isn’t bad, James.

Davis could see my upset posture out his window as the bus pulled up so as I walked up the steps this time he screamed, “I love you so much! I wish you were my boyfriend!”

That is not how friends talk to each other, Onion.

I hated myself for giving in yet again, but laughter escaped me. My life was turning completely upside down and Davis was there to make me experience a fragment of happiness.

As I sat down, Davis grabbed me and hugged me.

Someone sitting a few seats ahead screamed “Eeew homos!” which made Davis yell back, “I love him! This is love!”

I want to shove my head through the wall.

He jumped onto the seat with his little body and pressed our faces side-by-side “Look at our love!” I patted his arm that had been wrapped around me sarcastically and he released me to sit down. Immediately he asked “So what’s up buddy? How can I turn that frown upside poopy poo poop?”

On what planet is that something that is allowed to say?

He could see I was still a bit upset and didn’t really want to talk so he did his classic “Well, I’m always here!” It was nice having Davis to keep me afloat.

Since I began my Teacher’s Assistant work with Mr. Hanson

Wait since when did you accept that job?

I felt buried in needless information about his job. He was constantly ranting about the low pay, working conditions and hours.

I’m sorry, but being a teacher isn’t like working in a sweatshop, or so I’ve heard since I’m 17 and am not a teacher myself, but you get the picture.

Despite all this he would still remind me about how happy it made him to see some students overcome the horrible condition of our school and succeed regardless.

Why is your school not shut down for cleaning? This violates health codes. Schools can not be literally falling apart while students still attend, it just isn’t what happens.

Ms. Robertson would stop in from time to time while I graded papers. Whenever she visited she and Mr. Hanson would bombard me with questions. They would ask me how I liked being a TA, random questions about the state of the school and discuss academic politics. I kind of felt sorry for Ms. Robertson, we never had normal conversations, it was almost always about her job, almost as if that was all she knew.

I hate this so much.

While she was visiting that day, Ms. Robertson could tell I was upset about something so she asked and I confessed I was pretty bummed out. I wasn’t specific because I wanted Abbi to be the first person to know what was going on between my Mom and Rick.

Ms. Robertson replied “Well, this better have nothing to do with you know who.”

Shut your mouth, you nosy bitch. That is actually none of your fucking business.

I found the fact she was still butting into my relationship with Abbi to be incredibly annoying.

More like strange acquaintanceship.

I said nothing in response hoping ignoring her bringing up Abbi would give Ms. Robertson the hint I didn’t want her talking about Abbi.

Something about this sentence is just... weird?

Finally it was time for PE and Abbi greeted me as happily as she ever did. I didn’t want to ruin her day so I asked her to call me later that night to talk without hinting too much regarding what it was.

Despite my efforts she could see it in my eyes, she said “If you have something on your mind, I really want you to tell me.”

I came back from reviewing a Hetalia OC because I needed a break and I forgot what was happening, so that’s fun.

I tried to think of the best way to say it but couldn't, so I just told her that I had to tell her later.

She replied “After school?” and I agreed.

I hate how dialogue is written in this goddamn book.

Throughout gym class her behavior changed completely. She picked up so well on my concerns that it consumed how she interacted with almost every person and thing around her.

The mere worry of some bad news caused her to appear significantly depressed, almost as bad as before we began talking.

Abbi was waiting by my bus as I walked out of school. I had been thinking about the best way I could tell her all day. “You have to tell me,” she said before I even finished walking.

I didn’t delay my response as she had waited long enough, “My mom’s boyfriend is talking about having my mom move in with him, he said he’d make things work with you and me despite the change.”

Abbi kept looking back and forth at me, then to the side, speechless.

I continued, “I can’t leave you behind.”

She interrupted as tears already began forming in her eyes “I can go with you.”

For fuck’s sake you’ve--

Oh, never mind, I give up.

I paused in disbelief; in a single moment she expressed as much desperation for me as I had been feeling the last few days. It was as if every action she took repeatedly proved her perfect alignment with my intentions.

We were becoming like gears turning in sync, unable to be slowed or broken by any obstructions. She waited for a response, looking at me nervously.

I smiled and said, “Actually, I was thinking I might be able to stay here alone. My mom owns the condo and I’m 17, so I donno.”

I am also 17. My mother would never let me stay alone in a condo with my boyfriend or girlfriend, neither of which I have.

Abbi’s nervous expression faded slightly and she said “Have you talked to your mom about that?”

I replied with “No, but I won’t let us get split up, and...”

Oh my god I hate both of you.

I paused still in disbelief that she was willing to come with me if I left. Abbi started to smile, feeling more certain I wouldn’t leave her behind.

I continued, “I’m glad you... said what you did. I know now either way it should work out.” She giggled excitedly and immediately jumped on me while simultaneously wrapping her legs around me happily kissing every part of my face but my lips.

I said “Whoa” laughing and thinking in the back of my mind about how surprisingly easy she was to carry.

I am not invested in this romance at all since I was given no time to get attached to these characters, so this is just kind of nauseating.

Later that night, I spoke to my mom about potentially staying home and continuing to go to the same school considering I was graduating the next full school year. She seemed hopeful but said she had to talk to Rick who had returned to his home past the mountains to work.

You’re fucking kidding me.

His mom is actually considering it?

When we spoke on the phone Abbi and I mostly stayed away from talking about the move. We focused on topics like colonizing the moon, strange creatures we have yet to discover in the ocean and if robots will become so much like humans one day that they’ll begin to have the same legal rights as us. Some topics were pretty silly but we didn’t really care, it was just fun to hear what we could come up with talking about things we barely imagined till then.

Onion really wants this to be a John Green novel, doesn’t he?

At some point in the night Abbi brought up a more serious topic. “I noticed something about you, when we’re in gym class.” she said, I replied asking her to elaborate.

She said “It wasn’t just in class, once I saw it I began noticing it everywhere. You barely pay attention to any other girls, even when they talk to you. You rarely even look at them most the time.”

I laughed and replied “I do that intentionally you know?” she asked why and I continued “Because I don’t want to risk you thinking for a second you’re not the most important person to me.”

This is alarming.

She replied in an amused tone “Even when I’m not around?”

You two aren’t even dating!

I added, “When you’re not around, I like to pretend you still are. So in a way, there’s no such thing as being without you.” She warmly laughed and we quickly went back to much lighter topics.

I actually crave death.

Abbi wound up falling asleep on the phone with me. Listening to her rest, how peaceful she sounded.

Okay, so that last bit is an incomplete sentence.

Despite knowing it wasn’t true, I couldn’t help but feel like everything was still perfect.

Okay, whatever. You guys are still annoying.

This is the opposite way you want your readers to feel about your characters. Because I only feel annoyance regarding them.

I’ll see you later.

~Kat

[hviral]

The contradictory, scandal-ridden life of NRA

In the aftermath of the back-to-back shooting massacres in Texas and Ohio, the debate over gun control has returned to the National Rifle Association and its immense power to stymie any significant legislation on the issue.

The man largely responsible for the NRA’s uncompromising stance is its decades-long CEO, Wayne LaPierre, who has been engulfed in turmoil and legal issues as he orchestrates the group’s latest effort to push back against gun control measures.

Law enforcement authorities are investigating the NRA’s finances and the gun group has ousted top officials and traded lawsuits with the longtime marketing firm credited with helping to shape LaPierre’s and the NRA’s image.

LaPierre’s seven-figure salary, penchant for luxury clothing shopping sprees and reports that he sought to have the NRA buy him a $6 million mansion at an exclusive golf community have drawn considerable scrutiny amid allegations of rampant misspending.

Ardent gun rights supporters have turned on LaPierre in recent months, taking to Twitter and Facebook with the hashtags #changethenra and #savethe2a. Some are calling for his resignation and questioning how he can turn the tide against the push for more robust gun control measures after the Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, rampages, given all the scandals.

“They’ve done so much damage to their reputation that the effectiveness of any NRA statements in really swaying opinion has to be considered diminished,” said Rob Pincus, a longtime NRA member and firearms instructor who is among the leaders of a group formed to change the NRA that has called for LaPierre’s resignation.

“Anything that gets said by Wayne LaPierre is going to be followed by ‘amidst turmoil over $300,000 in suits and a $6 million mansion they were going to buy him,’ and all these other allegations that are out there.”

The NRA has abided by its usual reaction after mass shootings — initially saying nothing followed by a muted response. In this case, its lead spokesman said it would not “participate in politicizing these tragedies” and remained committed to the “safe and lawful use of firearms by those exercising their Second Amendment freedoms.”

Behind the scenes, however, there’s evidence of LaPierre’s pull. The Washington Post reported that LaPierre warned President Donald Trump after he expressed support for a background check bill that such a move would be unpopular among Trump’s supporters, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks. The NRA would neither confirm nor deny the report.

LaPierre, who rarely speaks to mainstream media outlets, declined requests to be interviewed. In a written statement issued Thursday, he said none of the gun control proposals being discussed would have prevented the most recent attacks.

“Worse, they would make millions of law-abiding Americans less safe and less able to defend themselves and their loved ones,” the statement said. He described many of the proposals as “soundbite solutions” that “fail to address the root of the problem, confront criminal behavior or make our communities safer.”

To learn how LaPierre accumulated such vast power in both the NRA and American politics while remaining an enigma outside the closed-off world of the gun-rights organization, The Associated Press interviewed dozens of current and former staffers and members who have worked with him. LaPierre’s public persona is as the hard-fisted leader of the NRA, the public face of the Second Amendment with his bombastic defense of guns, freedom and country.

Behind the scenes, however, the 69-year-old CEO’s current and former associates see a different man.

The LaPierre they know is an introvert who rarely roams the halls of NRA headquarters to interact with staffers. He’s not even considered a serious “gunner.”

In fact, LaPierre’s early career included working for Democratic lawmakers in Virginia, where he spent most of his childhood. He’s said to have been in line to work for liberal icon and then-Democratic House leader Tip O’Neill until the NRA came calling in 1977.

Pro-gun activist Jeff Knox tells a story about how his father, Neal Knox, a former top lobbyist at the NRA, brought LaPierre to a gun range outside Washington early in his NRA career. LaPierre pulled out a rusty shotgun and the elder Knox, appalled by its condition, removed the dipstick from his Cadillac and used the oil to wipe off the rust.

“Wayne was like ‘What? What’s the big deal?’” said Knox, whose father, now deceased, lost a battle with LaPierre for control of the NRA. LaPierre became the group’s CEO in 1991.

“He’s gotten some nice guns since then, but I wouldn’t call him a gun guy,” Knox said. “I think he’s a true believer, but I don’t think he quite gets it. … It’s always been business and political to him, where to Dad it was almost a religion. It was a calling.”

Richard Feldman, a former NRA lobbyist and author of “Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist,” recalls that during congressional hearings, he and other NRA lobbyists would sit together to observe the proceedings while LaPierre, carrying big yellow legal pads, would sit in the back and wave people away.

“He was really like the professor. His office was just chock-full of papers and books all over the place,” Feldman said. “He never looked like the kind of guy who would end up” CEO of the NRA.

LaPierre went on to become a powerful leader, surviving several internal NRA political skirmishes that lately have been worthy of a “Game of Thrones” subplot.

He also successfully navigated the Washington political landscape and helped create a culture in which Republicans don’t dare touch gun-control measures, even after massacres of children.

He’s credited with working to end the decade-long ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004. More recently, the NRA spent $30 million helping to elect Trump.

Yet, it’s been a rough road since Trump’s election. It’s been more difficult rallying contributions to the NRA with a president in the White House who’s viewed as friendly toward gun rights. The NRA’s power has been questioned, especially after the 2018 midterm elections where it was outspent by gun-control groups.

Since then, the legal issues have mounted almost by the week. The group’s non-profit status has been threatened by an investigation by the attorney general in New York, where the NRA’s charter was established in the 1800s.

There are allegations that LaPierre expensed hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxury clothing purchased in Beverly Hills and that the NRA has made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to a handful of influential board members. The Washington Post reported this week that the NRA considered buying a $6 million mansion at LaPierre’s request last year before deciding against the purchase.

The NRA’s president, Oliver North, stepped down in the midst of a rancorous annual meeting last spring. More recently, Chris Cox, its top lobbyist and widely viewed as a successor to LaPierre, resigned after LaPierre accused him of being in cahoots with North in a failed attempt to oust him as CEO.

The rare airing of the group’s dirty laundry has exposed a divide within the NRA among those who believe members’ dues are being misspent to enrich a small cadre of NRA elite.

Even some board members have openly criticized the NRA. Among them is Allen West, who described the organization as a “cabal of cronyism.” After he and other critical board members were stripped of their committee assignments, West said the NRA stands for “National Retaliation Association.”

The ire has also come from hardcore gun rights supporters. Some felt betrayed when the NRA didn’t push back on Trump’s ban on bump stocks after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Others are unhappy that the Trump administration hasn’t translated into an easing of gun laws.

Now LaPierre and the NRA are facing new backlash from Americans outraged over the violence in El Paso and Dayton carried out by gunmen armed with AK-47 and AR-15-style rifles.

“Everyone pays attention to Wayne LaPierre as the face of the NRA, but really everything under him has been washed away,” said Adam Winkler, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law and an expert on gun rights and politics.

Longtime watchers of the NRA say it would be a mistake to count out LaPierre, who has earned the firearms community’s trust with the successful fights against gun control he’s led for decades.

Some acknowledge the allegations of financial improprieties are a problem, but they are happy with the NRA’s legislative record under LaPierre.

“Wayne’s got a lot of equity,” said Rick Manning, a former NRA lobbyist. “When you win, people give you a lot of rope. … And he’s won.”

Tom King, a longtime NRA board member, said LaPierre deserves that loyalty. The criticisms lodged against LaPierre, he said, have been fueled by anti-gun advocates and taken out of context.

“He’s not going to give up. He’s going to fight to the bitter end. And anybody who says differently doesn’t know the man,” King said.

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