The tragic shooting in the countryside of Pennsylvania lives in Donald Trump’s rhetoric. His approach leading his country, and how does his followers see him?
Watch the moment Trump was injured at a Pennsylvania rally
Watch the moment when former President Donald Trump rushed off stage after a gunshot was heard while talking to a supporter in Butler, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh.
The painting hangs in a prominent place in the White House of his iconic fist pump. He says his right ear is still in his throat. Recently, President Donald Trump has spoken about being “saved by God” to carry out his political agenda.
Trump’s second term is full of memories of the assassin who shot a Republican in Butler, Pennsylvania, A year ago, Secret Service sniper killed a supporter in a rally before shooting and killing a gunman. It is a tragic event that lives on with his rhetoric, his approach to steering his country again, and how his followers see him now. Many have embraced the idea that Trump will not spare for a higher purpose, and recently he even had the opportunity to remind him of that.
“It’s very difficult not to see Providence’s hands in his life and in our country,” said Ralph Reid, a well-known religious conservative who wrote a text to Trump after the US military bombed Iran last month and shared his view that the president’s life was saved due to that historic foreign policy moment.
Trump has embarked on one of the president’s most important and controversial opening stretches in modern memory. It is struck by Iran’s nuclear facilities, reviewing the federal government and pursuing a massive deportation. Allies believe his near-death experience on July 13, 2024 colored this approach into the presidency, and made it even more motivated than when Trump last ran through the country.
“When you have any of these moments, you realize that every day is important, and you need to have a deep, lasting impact,” said Sean Spicer, White House press secretary during Trump’s first term. “And I think that’s why he’s so mission-driven right now.”
Dramatic turning points for the 2024 campaign
The assassination attempt was not a crucial moment for Trump. Historians say the shooting continues to echo across the country a year later.
“I think that was a dramatic turning point,” said Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, who described Butler as “very important in the history of the US president.” He noted that Trump gained new support soon after the shooting and expanded his coalition.
Trump got political backing in the aftermath of Butler. This came shortly after then-President Joe Biden’s tragic debate. Republicans gathered around the center of injured standard bearers and made famous two days later at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee with a large white bandage around their ears. Participants wore ear bandages in solidarity and were immediately featured at the GOP gathering. The shooting added to the sense among Trump supporters that he was the persecuted person.
“It suddenly became true, like ‘Holy Smoking, they’re really trying to get him,'” Spicer said.
Supporting Musk and how Butler is part of Trump’s “lore”
Billionaire Elon Musk supported Trump on the day of his assassination attempt, and he later appeared on stage with him when Republicans rebelliously returned to Butler for a rally about a month before Election Day. Musk spent nearly $290 million in his 2024 campaign to support Trump and other Republican candidates, making him the overwhelming largest donor in the election cycle.
Reid, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Union, called Butler the “inflection point of the campaign.”
“It made a real difference to his own supporters who feel they need to put extra distance for him and leave it all on the field after he was willing to step into the arena at risk of his life,” Reid said.
A year later, Butler became part of Trump’s “lore,” Brinkley said. One day he will be featured in his presidential library. That physical effect still remains for Trump, who is talking about still experiencing the “throbbing sensation” in his ear.
Another reminder of the day was on display on the White House state floor in April. The president’s residence now features a large painting of Trump, a large painting that pumps his right fist into the air, with blood strewn on his face after being shot.
Sheen captures Trump as he stands on stage and gets injured and rebelliously yells “fight, fight, fight, fight, fight,” and is driven away by an agent in the Secret Service. It instantly became an iconic image, hanging on a t-shirt and “unsealed forever by the American imagination,” Brinkley said. There are also statues depicting oval office moments.
“I was saved by God to make America great again.”
When lawmakers and other senior officials gathered in the Rotunda of the Capitol to launch a new administration, Trump recalls “the assassin bullet was torn into my ears,” and instilled him with a sense of sacredly defined purpose.
“I believe and believe that at the time, my life was saved because of my life,” Trump said in his inaugural address in January. “I was saved by God again to make America great.”
The first five months that continued in Trump’s second administration were turbulent times. The president acted aggressively by pushing up legal boundaries and testing the limits of enforcement. Many conservatives support his actions. Opponents 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 chief Karoline Leavitt described the death of Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter at Butler Rally, as “a selfless life was lost in order to protect those around him.”
“President Trump will never forget Corey and his beautiful family,” Levitt wrote, adding:
Trump’s “God’s Right” Story
Trump’s rhetoric about being saved by God is played by Jennifer Mercieca, a political rhetoric expert who teaches at Texas A&M University, as a story that has been cultivated over the years by politicians who have been turned from the Republican Reality TV-star. The king was once ruled by “the rights of God,” the professor noted. That meant they were “putted in the world by God to rule others as ambassadors of God on Earth.”
“Trump has been creating his own ‘God’ rights’ tale since 2015, but has been particularly leaning towards it since his assassination attempt,” wrote Mercieca in an email response to a question from USA Today.
As he worked to expand the power of the president in his second term, she said, “Trump’s God-based embrace is a rhetorical framing that gives Trump unlimited power if accepted.”
Evangelical Christians have always been an important part of Trump’s base. The shooting at Butler, and the deeper embrace of Trump’s religious language, may bring special resonance to them. Political, Brinkley said Trump “allowed him to be considered a kind of revenge angel by evangelicals who wanted to drain Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Trump’s allies have changed as they see leaders working on near-death experiences.
“I believe it had an impact on him forever,” Spicer said, “in a very personal way.”
Contribution: Joey Garrison
