by Tyler O’Neil
How many men have faced the crucible of a near-death experience and came out triumphant? America just watched Donald Trump’s great moment of testing and saw him prove his mettle.
When we tell our children about the assassination attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, we will remember the moment when a man, wounded and bloodied, raised his fist in the air and shouted, “Fight! Fight!”
Trump could not have known—in that fateful moment—that there was only one shooter, that he would be safely escorted off that stage, to recover. After he heard shots fired and felt blood trickle down his face, he must have known that any moment might be his last.
He could have cowered. He could have rushed off the stage. Instead, he risked making himself a target in order to deliver a message.
Those two seconds spoke volumes.
It was as if he said, “Don’t back down! Even if they kill me, stand firm. We must make America great again.”
Trump’s opponents have been yelling that Trump would end democracy. They’ve been comparing him to the most evil tyrant in history. They’ve been bragging about a campaign of lawfare that has left a former president a “convicted felon” on trumped-up charges.
This display of courage cuts through that noise. Americans saw what Trump is all about in the moments when it mattered. They saw a man tested by fire and come out unscathed.
We mourn with the family of the rallygoer who died in the shooting, and we pray that Americans would unite against political violence of all kinds.
But if there’s one takeaway from this horrific night, it is this: Donald Trump is a fighter, and I pray that my son will grow up to have one ounce of his courage.
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Tyler O’Neil is managing editor of The Daily Signal and the author of “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
Photo “Donald Trump” by Brady Knox.
