Following his brush with death Saturday evening at a Pennsylvania campaign rally, a grateful Donald Trump described the assassination attempt as a “very surreal experience” and acknowledged the miraculous nature of his survival.
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the New York Post aboard his private plane on Sunday en route to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “I’m supposed to be dead.”
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” Trump said, adding that if he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read from a chart showing immigration statistics, he would have been killed.
Trump also recounted that the doctor at the hospital told him that he’d never seen anyone survive getting hit by an AR-15.
Trump’s suspected would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired multiple shots at approximately 6:15 p.m. on Saturday towards the former president as he spoke to a crowd of supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania.
One of the bullets struck Trump on his right ear, spattering his face with blood, at which point he crouched behind his lectern and Secret Service agents rushed onto the stage to shield him from the gunfire.
Crooks was killed by Secret Service counter snipers returning fire towards where he was perched on a roof about 130 yards away from the stage.
“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes,” the former commander-in-chief said.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
Trump, who according to the Post had a large white bandage covering his right ear, described how the Secret Service agents rushed toward him and piled onto him like “linebackers” as the shooting started, displaying a bruise on his right forearm.
In the video of the assassination attempt, Trump can be heard telling the Secret Service agents “wait, I want to get my shoes,” as they attempt to hurry him off of the stage.
Explaining the moment to the Post, Trump said “The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight.”
Trump also addressed the extraordinary photo taken shortly after the shooting, which depicts a bloodied Trump, surrounded by Secret Service agents, raising his fist in defiance in front of an American Flag.
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
“I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot,” he added.
Trump is expected to speak at the GOP National Convention on Thursday evening.
He said in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Sunday that following the assassination attempt he rewrote his speech to focus on national unity, rather than on the policies of President Joe Biden.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” Trump told the Examiner. “The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago.”
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="29318 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=29318">5 Comments
Believe in a Higher Being (God) or not, Trump was saved for a higher purpose.
If that upsets you, tough.
White male
U.S, citizen
Registered Republican
AR style rifle
Associate Degree
Member of a local shooting club
Wearing a T-shirt from Demolition Ranch
Middle-class neighborhood of Bethel Park
97% white population in Bethel Park
Social media footprint – so far nothing much
That was an utter failure of our Secret Service on multiple levels, including covering our former president after he went down. I suggest you read ‘Zero Fail’ by Carol Leoning – if you aren’t appalled then read it again.
Heads must roll at the Secret Service for this complete failure to protect Donald Trump.
It seems there is more here than meets the eye.
Religious or not, there is no denying that millions of Americans, and the entire world, witnessed a true miracle last Saturday when Trump survived that horrific assassination attempt.
God bless America and God bless President Trump!
Let us pray AND go to the polls this coming November to save our country from the disastrous policies of the current administration and make America great again.