The Return of Trump: What Doesn’t Kill 

Photos: AP Images

Separated from death by millimeters in an act of what he recognized as Divine Providence, the former president looks unstoppable — especially against Democratic paralysis. Shaken, defiant, and now professing unity, Donald Trump takes center stage again. 

When a lone-wolf assassin pulled the trigger at Donald Trump’s televised rally in Pennsylvania this week, the shots were literally heard around the world. The failed hit might well have upended the 2024 race.

It’s an image that’s already iconic.

Like the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima, or the Twin Towers aflame, the picture of Donald Trump in the seconds after surviving the attempt on his life this week is now branded into the world’s memory. The granite-jawed president, streaming blood, pumping his fist defiantly as he towers above his Secret Service agents with the Stars and Stripes soaring overhead — it’s an image of Hollywood-esque power and was recognized as such immediately. “Trump’s Raised Fist Will Make History — and Define His Candidacy,” was Politico’s headline.

Even amid the heat and drama of the Trumpian political age, the first shooting of a presidential candidate since 1981 was shocking. Many politicians and commentators are resorting to faith to explain events — not least Trump himself.

“It was G-d alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” he wrote on Sunday.