MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump’s defiant response after nearly being killed has put into focus for delegates at the Republican National Convention that the choice in this election is between strength and weakness.
Moments after a sniper’s bullet grazed his ear, a bloodied Trump had the instinct to yell, “Fight!”, to his supporters and fist pump while being rushed off a Pennsylvania rally stage by a mob of Secret Service agents.
The iconic image seen around the world especially energized the thousands of delegates who have descended on Milwaukee to nominate Trump and potentially complete his political comeback story.
Trump’s response to the assassination attempt also stands in stark contrast to President Joe Biden, who stumbled so badly on the debate stage in June that Democrats have spent the last two weeks urging him to drop his reelection bid over health and mental acuity concerns.
“You have a guy who can’t get off the debate stage without help,” Evan Power, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, told the Washington Examiner. “And then a guy who’s willing to stand up and put his fist in the air and say ‘fight’ after he’s been shot.
“That makes the choice between the two of them very simple. And I think the American people will be able to understand that choice, and I think he’s going to win big in November because of it.”
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Biden, 81, is not much older than Trump, 78, but polling shows more people have viewed Biden as too old to be president following appearances where he looks frail and confused. Biden has tripped onstage, stumbled while walking up the steps, and fell off a bike. But it was the June 27 debate against Trump that jeopardized his candidacy for meandering answers and standing frozen, at times, with his mouth agape.
Biden has maintained he is physically and mentally up to the job and that he has what it takes to beat Trump again.
Delegates here disagree.
“I don’t believe that President Biden has the physical and mental abilities to sharply and alertly confront the many challenges our country faces, and I do not expect him to become any sharper or any more alert at any point between now and Nov. 5,” former Rep. Lee Zeldin said.
The split screen between Biden and Trump has now become obvious to those beyond the “Make America Great Again” faithful, Zeldin told the Washington Examiner.
“I have seen plenty of people speaking out over the last 24 hours saying that they haven’t supported President Trump in the past, expressing how they haven’t liked him, but that the way that the president responded made them proud,” said Zeldin, who also survived an onstage attack in New York while running for governor. “I’ve heard the term ‘bada**’ used by many people who are in the same breath saying that they’ve never supported him before. But they were proud of how he responded.”
For his part, Biden has used the presidential perch since the shooting to urge the country to “lower the temperature in politics” and ordered an independent review of security measures. From the Oval Office on Sunday night, Biden acknowledged how he’ll be viewed at the RNC.
“I have no doubt they’ll criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country,” Biden said. “I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box. No violence on our streets. That’s how democracy should work.”
‘Trump cannot possibly lose in November’
In Milwaukee, delegates describe a greater sense of unity and patriotism around the former president they nearly lost in an instant and expressed confidence the example of strength under fire will assure Trump’s victory.
“How he got up and how he was calm during complete chaos shows his true leadership and what he stands for,” said Erin Skipper, a GOP alternate delegate from Clay County, Florida, and a local school board member. “It’s what America needs.”
Richard Saccone, a GOP delegate from Pennsylvania, said he is feeling “upbeat” for the convention. “Trump cannot possibly lose in November,” the delegate said.
Minnesota delegate Kelly Fenton, like others at the convention, expressed sadness for the loss of life as 50-year-old former fire chief Corey Comperatore died at the Trump rally in a final act of shielding his wife and daughter from the bullets flying toward them. A Secret Service countersniper returned fire on the suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, killing the 20-year-old.
“It gives me chills as I see the footage,” Fenton said. “Violence is never the answer. But then, to witness the strength of former President Trump, assuring the people that he’ll be OK and will never stop fighting for America as he gets up.”
Trump arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday night and could take the arena stage as soon as Monday to receive a hero’s welcome from his electrified fans. He rewrote his Thursday acceptance speech to focus on unity, rather than Biden, after becoming the last president to survive an assassination attempt since Republican Ronald Reagan in 1981.
The brush with death — a difference of mere centimeters could have turned fatal — has also strengthened Trump’s case of martyrdom. In May, he became the first former U.S. president to be found guilty of multiple felonies in the New York hush money trial, which has fueled Trump’s argument that his political enemies are trying to take him down.
Initially, he was to be sentenced last week in that case, but his victory at the Supreme Court on presidential immunity delayed his other criminal prosecutions and sentencing, which had threatened to put him under confinement during the RNC. Until Saturday’s bloodshed, Republicans were looking to the convention as a fairly drama-free affair, in comparison to infighting among Democrats as they decide whether to oust their presumptive nominee.
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But after dodging a bullet for the MAGA movement, delegates described Trump’s White House comeback in terms of personal sacrifice for the good of the nation — the opposite of how the Democrats have portrayed Trump as only caring about himself.
“President Trump could be enjoying life, spending time with family, sitting comfortably on billions in wealth, and not having to face a daily barrage that almost cost him his life,” said Zeldin, a delegate from New York. “But he clearly is filled with tremendous will to fight, to face the great costs, and save our country.”
Cami Mondeaux and Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.
