By THE EDITORS | Commentary, National Review
The nation escaped an unspeakable tragedy that would have been profoundly destabilizing for the country by perhaps a few centimeters.
As it is, what happened in Butler, Pa., is godawful enough. A gunman tried to assassinate former president Donald Trump and grazed his ear with a bullet, while killing one rally-goer and seriously injuring others. This was a heinous act of violence and an attack on American democracy.
Trump’s reaction was truly extraordinary and will long be remembered. After Secret Service officers threw themselves on the former president and then picked him up to begin to take him to safety, he insisted on pausing on the stage, with blood streaming down his face, and pumping his fist to the crowd and repeatedly mouthing the word, “fight!”
The video and photographs of the episode will long be symbols of the current political era and of the Trump phenomenon. Trump’s presence of mind and sense of the moment, after having just been nearly killed and perhaps while still in mortal peril, speak to his natural talents and instincts as a politician and populist symbol.
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Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.