Today is the first anniversary, if one wants to call it that, of the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The iconic photo of Trump, fist raised in the air, letting supporters know he was okay and imploring them to fight on, is seen by some as a turning point in the campaign. Mark Zuckerberg called it “badass.” Jeff Bezos was impressed. The Trump base was galvanized, and it changed the political landscape.
There were those who believed Trump was being politically persecuted, yet with each new attack, he bounced back stronger. Now, his opponents were seen as trying to kill him. And the gun was sighted for what very well could have been a fatal headshot. However, a “miracle” then occurred; some call it divine intervention.
As the assassin squeezed the trigger, Trump turned his head, referencing a chart on immigration statistics displayed on a jumbotron. Slow-motion footage and photos from the rally show the bullet flying past his head, missing a fatal impact by mere millimeters, six to be exact, 1/5 of an inch. Look at it this way: a classic #2 pencil used in schools measures about 6 to 7 millimeters across its narrowest point. Not much room for error.
Some say the bullet hitting his ear and being non-fatal averted a civil war. I can’t speculate on it. It’s possible. There are those who say it was a publicity stunt. Logically, it makes no sense. No one tries to pull off a stunt like that, turning their head in a split second to take a bullet to the head area from an assassin who killed firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounded three others. No one takes a shot to the head as a campaign assist, and liberal and conservative media acknowledge that it was a real bullet and Trump was hit.
However, there are legitimate questions that need answers. Six U.S. Secret Service agents were suspended without pay for their roles in security failures during the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The suspensions, ranging from 10 to 42 days, affected agents from supervisory to line-level positions. The agents were reassigned to roles with reduced operational responsibility upon their return.
The investigation showed significant operational lapses, including poor communication and coordination with local law enforcement. The suspensions follow a bipartisan House report stating the incident was “preventable” due to leadership and training failures.
As far as divine intervention, perhaps so. Did God shift Trump’s head at just the right moment to allow a .223 bullet from an AR-15 to speed past his head at 2,700 FPS? If so, it’s a miracle from God as worthy as those in the New Testament. Not all people are going to consider it a possibility.
But that photo of Trump with his fist raised, blood on his face, and the American flag in the background, with Trump calling on the faithful to, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” told me he was saved to serve. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s response to nearly being assassinated, calling his raised fist after the incident “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
