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It’s Monday morning after a Saturday that saw former President Donald Trump come a hair’s breadth from being assassinated. We were planning to talk this morning about the start of the Republican National Convention and the impending announcement of who Trump’s running mate will be. Instead, we are still catching our breath, grateful that the hand of God rested on Donald Trump’s shoulder Saturday afternoon.
Is there any doubt at this point we’re dealing with a miracle? As with President Ronald Reagan in 1981, the difference between life and death was measured in fractions of inches. On Sunday, Trump acknowledged it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
Also unthinkable is how the suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, managed to get on top of a building only 150 yards from Trump without being stopped. We covered that yesterday in “Trump Assassination Attempt, the Morning After: Suspect Named as Questions Raised About the Secret Service.”
Before we get going with the Brew, a praise report. The two others critically wounded in Saturday’s shooting are now said to be in stable condition. Also, Sunday afternoon, Joe Biden announced an independent national security review to investigate the shooting. He addressed the nation later in the evening.
We have also learned from the Associated Press a local police officer confronted Crooks, backed away, but the encounter forced the assailant to rush the shot.
Melania’s Remarkable Statement
On Sunday, former First Lady Melania Trump released a remarkable statement.
“I am thinking of you, now, my fellow Americans,” she began. “We have always been a unique union. America, the fabric of our gentle nation is tattered, but our courage and common sense must ascend and bring us back together as one.”
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) July 14, 2024
She described watching “that violent bullet strike my husband” and realizing that both her life and son Barron’s “were on the brink of devastating change.”
She described Crooks as a “monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine” and who attempted to “[w]ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration.”
This morning ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence. We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first and love transcends.
We can realize this world again. Each of us must demand to get it back. We must insist that respect fills the cornerstone of our relationships, again.
“I am thinking of you,” she repeated, “my fellow Americans.”
Folk Hero
I said it after the lawfare cases, and you can now etch it in stone: The Left has now turned Donald Trump into a folk hero.
This shot from The Associated Press’s Evan Vucci is the stuff of statues, songs, and epic poems.
They shot Trump and this was his response. Truly amazing. pic.twitter.com/nOymMUK7rW
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 14, 2024
That raised fist will stand with Washington crossing the Delaware, Reagan at the Brandenburg gate, George W. Bush on top of the rubble of the Twin Towers.
It may also do what seemed nearly impossible: put to rest talk about Trump’s character. Nobody will ever forget him getting up after being shot, fist-pumping the air, and shouting “Fight! Fight!” You want to compare mean tweets to that?
In every movie, or as in Reagan’s case, the president is quickly rushed away from the scene when shots ring out. Trump had to be wrestled away from the stage. He stopped at the top of the steps to repeatedly fist-pump the crowd, resisting the agents’ to get him moving.
Even Amazon scion Jeff Bezos, whose Washington Post has done nothing but flagellate Trump for the last eight years, marveled at the president’s “grace and courage under literal fire.”
Our former President showed tremendous grace and courage under literal fire tonight. So thankful for his safety and so sad for the victims and their families.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 14, 2024
Assassin Wounds Biden Campaign
The attempted assassination also shredded what remains of Joe Biden’s campaign. The only card he’s been able to play has been painting Trump as an evil, existential threat to “democracy.” A would-be dictator. But any such sentiments from him in that vein now will be instinctively met with, “It’s that kind of talk that got Trump shot.”
It doesn’t matter if Crooks turns out to be insane, only trying to get famous, or like Reagan’s would-be assassin, John Hinkley Jr., just trying to impress an actress. (Or in this case, perhaps the Trump-hating ladies of The View.) That will still be everyone’s gut reaction the next time Biden demonizes Trump.
It is too soon to see how Saturday’s shooting will impact the Trump campaigns from this point forward. Will he keep speaking at large outdoor rallies? We’ll see. But if he found a way to campaign while being stuck in a New York City courtroom for weeks on end, he’ll find a way through this. We do know that he will be in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
The Opportunity
UPDATE: In his first interview since the shooting, former President Trump told Selena Zito of Washington Examiner that he has rewritten his convention speech. He was planning a “humdinger,” but will now use the speech to unify the nation. “This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago.”
Trump’s acceptance speech at the convention Thursday night will provide him an exceptional opportunity. The viewership will be enormous — likely higher than any convention speech in memory. He’s shown Americans his fist; he now has the chance to show his heart. Trump has proven he’s a fighter. Nobody is going to doubt the man is a beast. However, Thursday night will be his chance to prove himself to be a healer.
Soon after Saturday’s shooting, Dustin Benge tweeted out what Ronald Reagan wrote in his diary after he was shot, how he “couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed-up young man who shot me.”
After a failed assassination attempt on his life, Ronald Reagan penned the following in his diary on March 31, 1981. pic.twitter.com/yZjpQwP6Q3
— Dustin Benge (@DustinBenge) July 14, 2024
Will Trump offer similar forgiveness to the 20-year-old who tried to take his life? Or all those who still wish him harm? If Trump speaks with grace and humor, he will win over millions. Oh, most of those may still vote Democratic because they like open borders or abortion too much. But the level of affection for Trump will rise — or at least the level of antagonism will fall.
Trump was spared, I think we can all agree. Let’s pray he makes the most of it. It now appears he is going to try.
We will have more thoughts and reactions later on today’s serving of Al’s Afternoon Tea.
Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.
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