MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – Donald Trump wasn’t slated to appear at the Republican National Convention until Thursday.
But when he unexpectedly showed up on Monday, it wasn’t the shock factor that moved delegates and attendees alike, it was his very presence, his walk, his ear bandage, his raised fist in the air and his decision to attend the convention at all just days after nearly losing his life in a failed assassination attempt.
Over the course of several days, social media has buzzed with simulations, photos and diagrams displaying just how close Trump was to death. It was nothing other than divine providence, Trump wrote on Truth Social, and it’s a topic he’s discussed with confidants in recent days, many told the Daily Caller. They described a new strength and determination to meet the moment on the former president’s face and in his voice.
“By the end of [Monday] night, I was able to work up to the rope line. So when he came down off the stairs and walked through, he saw me. He came up to me and put his hand through Secret Service to shake my hand. He looked me right in the eye. He said, ‘that was a heck of a day, wasn’t it? I said, yes, it was, sir,'” Blake Marnell, a California delegate often seen at Trump rallies donning a brick suit, told the Caller. “The truth is, he’s a heck of a guy and we’re lucky to have him.”
Donald Trump Jr. told the Caller he had to wait nearly an hour and a half to get news that his father was okay. In a phone call with his father not long after escaping death, Trump Jr. told the Caller they cracked some jokes.
“I just said, listen, most importantly, how’s the hair? [He said] It’s fine. It’s a little bit bloody. And I think that was probably a moment that we all needed, because my kids and family were around on speaker phone and listening to it. And it was tough. I try to explain to a ten year old that their grandfather was just shot in the face. It’s not a conversation you ever want to have,” he said.
Donald Trump Jr calls out MSNBC pundits who questioned if former President Trump was wearing a bandage for “sympathy”:
“He wasn’t shot in the face enough for them. They can’t help themselves. The Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. It’s so asinine that they’d say that.” pic.twitter.com/WOFtqVXBTr
— The American Conservative (@amconmag) July 17, 2024
In the aftermath of the shooting, which left one dead and two critically injured, Trump wrote that his life must’ve been spared because of an act of God.
On Saturday, six minutes into his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the sound of gunshots rang out from beyond the crowd. Trump grabbed his neck before ducking down behind the lectern. Moments later, the former president emerged from a pile of Secret Service agents and with his face bloody and a fist into the air, he gave his supporters the message of “fight.”
Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old from a nearby area, had perched himself on a rooftop about 150 yards away before firing at Trump in what was later deemed an assassination attempt. (RELATED: Secret Service Tells Senators Shooter ‘Identified’ Roughly 50 Mins Before Trump Took Rally Stage, Sources Say)
In the aftermath of the assassination attempt and just days before his speech at the RNC, Trump decided to completely rewrite his speech, according to the Washington Examiner. Trump told the outlet that he changed his speech from “a humdinger” attacking the Biden administration, to instead focusing on unity and using his near-death experience to draw the country together.
“I haven’t talked directly to the president. But I’ve spoken with my colleagues and I actually had a good long conversation with [Rep.] Ronnie Jackson, who spent the day after the shooting with President Trump. And he said he’s a very different person,” Republican New York Rep. Claudia Tenney told the Caller. “I think he understands and realizes that was an act of God, and he was saved by God. I mean, just the fact that he turned his head.”
After watching the rally with his wife on TV and seeing the events unfold, Speaker Mike Johnson was reminded of the time President George Washington managed to avoid gunfire while riding across a war-torn battlefield in the French and Indian war.
“Coincidentally, historically, the bulletproof President George Washington … the famous story in the French and Indian war in 1755, when he’s riding a horse in an open field and they’re all taking shots and he gets off the horse,” Johnson told the Caller. “He has four bullet holes in his coat, but none of them hit him. He’s just a young Army Colonel at the time, but he writes this down and says, ‘the Divine Providence spirit must be making for something happening in the future.'”
Johnson explained that the Washington story happened less than 50 miles from where Trump was during his rally on Saturday, and just a few days apart.
“I sent that to Trump, and I’m like, okay, maybe it’s coincidence, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s providence and we recognize it as such. And I think President Trump does as well,” he told the Caller, adding that Trump agreed with him that God saved his life.
Shortly before touching down in Milwaukee, Trump admitted that he considered skipping the first few days of the convention in the aftermath of the assassination attempt. But RNC Chairman Michael Whatley knew that was not going to happen, he said Thursday morning at the Faith & Freedom breakfast. The former president was scheduled to appear on Thursday, but he called Whatley up on Saturday with just a few words.
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” Whatley said Trump told him.
Walking into the Fiserv Stadium on Monday, with his ear bandaged, Trump was noticeably emotional as ‘God Bless The USA’ played.
“It really hit home for me watching him come out on the convention floor, and he was as emotional as I’ve ever seen him and I got emotional. Because you realize, okay, 15-30 minutes after the assassination attempt, we got the news that he was okay, all things considered. And then you start thinking, Well, gosh, praise God for him, for the country. Lord knows what would’ve happened to this country had that assassination been successful,” Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts told the Caller.
“But then you sort of move on to the next steps, the vice presidential pick, some of the policies, but then you see him coming. And he is a strong man, and we love that about him right? But to see that very strong man, be even stronger by feeling the gravity of what happened,” he added.
It was an entrance that struck many alike, especially those close to the president, who noticed a different perspective written on Trump’s face.
“When he came in and sat — I’ve been in his company many times when he was in office — he always had this really energized look no matter where he was and what he was doing. It struck me that he looked a little more reflective, still the courageous guy he was with his fist in the air, but I think probably like any other human being he had some different perspective around what took place,” Thomas Hodgson, Chairman of Trump campaign in Massachusetts, told the Caller.
The emotion, in part, Johnson told the Caller, could be because of the weight of the moment Trump feels of his presidential campaign.
“We’ve talked openly about this and so he feels the weight of that and the responsibility that comes along with that. He believes that he has been spared for a reason and as he said in the last couple of days, it is to unify the country and lead it again. And that is a very sobering and exciting prospect.” Johnson told the Caller. “And I think that’s what you see on his countenance on his face.”
