Former US President Trump was on stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, 13 July when shots rang out from the audience. The President ducked, and Secret Service agents shielded him with their bodies from any potential further danger. When President Trump reemerged, he had blood dripping from his right ear, onto his face.
At the confusion of the moment, most people did not understand what had just happened. CNN even reported on the event initially with the infamous headline ‘Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally’. However, within an hour, the confusion cleared up and all news outlets agreed that
it was an assassination attempt on President Trump’s life.
A bullet was fired at him which passed just inches away from his head, grazing his ear, which caused the bleeding. Still, as he was escorted off stage by the Secret Service, he raised his fist up in the air in defiance—thus creating an iconic image for US history books.
The FBI has identified the suspect as 20-year-old Bethel Park, Pennsylvania resident Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired his rifle off of a rooftop, killing one attendee of the rally and injuring another, and also injuring President Trump. Crook has been killed by Secret Service agents at the scene.
The investigation into the suspect’s background is still ongoing. However, evidently, the most likely explanation is that the attack was politically motivated.
The Reaction
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was among the first world leaders to express his well-wishes to his ally and former POTUS on the social media site X.
There was a great show of unity in American domestic politics not seen in a long time, as even Democratic leaders condemned the attack and shared their thoughts and prayers for President Trump and his family. This includes public statements by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and even President Joe Biden.
As for the victim, President Trump released this statement on his own social media platform Truth Social:
‘I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured.
It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.
I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!’
Previous Presidential Assassinations and Assassination Attempts in American History
The last US president to be hit with a bullet by an assassin was President Ronald Reagan on 30 March 1981. He was shot and hit in his armpit by a mentally ill man named John Hinckley Jr, who was trying to get the attention of actress Jodie Foster, whom he had a sick fascination with. Hinckley was released from prison after over 40 years in June 2022.
President Reagan survived the incident and his popularity shot up. He eventually won reelection in a historic landslide in 1984, winning 49 of the 50 states.
The first US president to survive an attempt on his life was Andrew Jackson. In 1835, another mentally ill person, believing himself to be British royalty, pulled a handgun on President Jackson, pulled the trigger, but the weapon misfired. Amazingly, after drawing another pistol, the new weapon suffered another malfunction as well, which is an extremely unlikely series of events. President Jackson ended up beating the would-be assassin himself with his cane.
In 1912, another former President was running for a non-consecutive term. President Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for his third-party run as a Progressive Party candidate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (coincidentally, where this year’s Republican National Convention is taking place in just a few days). A man shot at him from the crowd, hitting him in the chest. However, a folded copy of his speech and his metal glasses case in his front pocket slowed the bullet down enough that while it entered his body, it did not reach any vital organs, and thus President Roosevelt was not badly injured. Amazingly, he even finished his campaign speech, after informing the crowd that he had been shot.
Of the 45 men who served as US Presidents, eight died in office, four of whom were assassinated.
The first POTUS to be killed was Abraham Lincoln in 1865, by Confederate sympathizer and famous actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.
President James Garfield was shot and died of subsequent infection in 1881. President William McKinley suffered a similar fate in 1901.
The most famous presidential assassination in US history is that of John F Kennedy on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas. There are a few similarities between that and the recent attempt on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania. Both assassins took a long-distance shot aiming for the head from an elevated position; and both assassins are known by their middle names as well. In President Kennedy’s case, it was Lee Harvey Oswald, while in President Trump’s case, according to the latest available information, it was Thomas Matthew Crooks.
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