'Saved for a reason': How Trump's second term is full of assassination attempt reminders
A painting hangs in a prominent spot in the White House of his iconic fist pump. He says his right ear still throbs. Of late, President Donald Trump has been talking about being "saved by God" to carry out his political agenda.
Trump's second term is full of reminders of the would-be assassin who shot the Republican in Butler, Pennsylvania, one year ago, killing a supporter at the rally before a Secret Service sniper shot and killed the gunman. It's a tragic event that lives on in his rhetoric, his approach to leading the country again and how his followers now see him. Many embrace the idea that Trump was spared for a higher purpose, and one even took the chance to recently remind him of it.
"It is very hard not see the hand of Providence on his life, and on the life of our nation," said Ralph Reed, a prominent religious conservative who recounted to USA TODAY that he texted Trump after the U.S. military bombed Iran last month to share his view that the president's life was saved for that historic foreign policy moment.
Trump has embarked on one of the most consequential and controversial opening stretches of any presidential term in modern memory – striking Iran's nuclear facilities, overhauling the federal government and pursuing mass deportations. Allies believe his near-death experience on July 13, 2024, has colored this approach to the presidency and made him even more motivated than the last time Trump ran the country.
"When you have one of these moments, you realize every day counts … and that you need to have a profound, lasting impact," said Sean Spicer, who was the White House press secretary during Trump's first term. "And I think that's why he is so mission-driven right now."
A dramatic turning point for the 2024 campaign
The assassination attempt wasn't just a pivotal moment for Trump. Historians say the shooting continues to reverberate nationwide a year later.
"I think it was a dramatic turning point," said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, who described Butler as "extremely important in U.S. presidential history." He noted Trump quickly gained new support after the shooting, expanding his coalition.
Trump got a political boost in the immediate aftermath of Butler, which came shortly after a disastrous debate for then-President Joe Biden, which helped force the Democratic incumbent – then 81 years old – out of the race. Republicans rallied around their wounded standard-bearer, who famously appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee two days later with a large white bandage on his ear. It quickly caught on at the GOP gathering as attendees donned ear bandages in solidarity. The shooting added to a sense among Trump supporters that he is a persecuted figure, which was fueled by the four criminal cases filed against him during the campaign.
'It sort of suddenly rang true, like, 'Holy smokes, they really are trying to get him,'" Spicer said.
Musk's endorsement and how Butler is part of Trump 'lore'
Billionaire Elon Musk endorsed Trump on the day of the assassination attempt, and later he appeared onstage with him when the Republican defiantly returned to Butler in October for a rally about a month before Election Day. Musk spent nearly $290 million on the 2024 campaign to help Trump and other Republican candidates, which made him the largest donor, by far, of the election cycle.
Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, called the Butler shooting "an inflection point in the campaign."
'It made a real difference in his own supporters feeling like they needed to go the extra mile for him and leave it all on the field after he had been willing to step into the arena at the risk of his own life," Reed said.
A year later, Butler has become part of Trump's "lore," Brinkley said. It will be featured in his presidential library someday. Its physical effects still linger for Trump, who talks about still experiencing a "throbbing feeling" in his ear.
Another reminder of that day went on display in April on the White House State Floor. The presidential residence now features a large painting of Trump pumping his right fist in the air with blood streaked across his face after being shot.
The scene captures Trump as he stood onstage, wounded, and defiantly shouted 'fight, fight, fight' into the mic before being whisked away by Secret Service agents. It instantly became an iconic image, emblazoned on T-shirts and "indelibly sealed in the American imagination forever," Brinkley said. There also is a statue depicting the moment in the Oval Office.
'I was saved by God to make America great again'
As lawmakers and other dignitaries gathered in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to launch a new administration, Trump recalled how "an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear," imbuing him with a sense of divinely ordained purpose.
"I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason," Trump said in his inaugural address in January. 'I was saved by God to make America great again.'
The first five months that followed in Trump's second administration have been a tumultuous time. The president has moved aggressively by pushing legal boundaries and testing the limits of executive power. Many conservatives have cheered his actions. Opponents have protested and accused Trump of acting like an authoritarian.
In a statement to USA TODAY on the anniversary of the assassination attempt, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted foremost the death of Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old volunteer firefighter at the Butler rally "who selflessly laid down his life to protect those around him."
"President Trump will never forget Corey and his beautiful family," Leavitt wrote, adding: "On that dark day, God spared President Trump's life by a miraculous millimeter. Now one year later, President Trump is standing stronger than ever as he continues to 'fight, fight, fight' for the American people.'
Trump's 'divine right' narrative
Trump's rhetoric about being saved by God to carry out his agenda plays into what Jennifer Mercieca, an expert on political rhetoric who teaches at Texas A&M University, describes as a narrative the Republican reality-TV-star-turned-politician has cultivated for years. Kings once ruled by "divine right," the professor noted, a claim that meant they were 'placed in the world by God to rule over others, as God's ambassador on Earth."
"Trump has been creating his own 'Divine Right' narrative since 2015, but has especially leaned into it since the assassination attempt," Mercieca wrote in an email response to questions from USA TODAY.
As he works to expand the power of the presidency in his second term, she said, "Trump's embrace of a mandate from God is rhetorical framing that, if accepted, gives Trump unlimited power."
Evangelical Christians have always been an important part of Trump's base. The shooting in Butler, and Trump's deeper embrace of religious language in its aftermath, may also have special resonance for them. Politically, Brinkley said, that has allowed Trump "to be seen as some kind of avenging angel by the Evangelicals who wanted to drain Sodom and Gomorrah."
Trump's allies see a leader grappling with a near-death experience − and changed by it.
'I believe it has forever impacted him," Spicer said, "in a very personal way.'
Contributing: Joey Garrison
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