USA “This Time, It Was a Big One”: Trump Reflects on the Moment a Bullet Nearly Took His Life

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“This Time, It Was a Big One”: Trump Reflects on the Moment a Bullet Nearly Took His Life

 

Donald Trump was in his element that summer evening in Butler, Pennsylvania—energised, grinning, rallying his base as he has done for nearly a decade. I had followed him through his improbable rise in 2016, his tumultuous presidency, and his loss in 2020. This rally was supposed to be just another campaign stop, one more crowd, one more headline. But everything changed in seconds.

 

 

Trump had just taken the stage. Applause roared. He stood a few feet away from me, my daughter Shannon, and my son-in-law Michael. As he began to speak, a large chart about illegal immigration appeared behind him. In a moment that now feels like divine intervention, he turned to look at the screen. Then the gunfire started.

 

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

 

The sound cracked through the air like firecrackers, but I knew instantly they weren’t. Shannon, instinctively in denial, asked if they were fireworks. Then, almost absurdly, whether Michael had tripped on a wire. We’re a family of gun owners—we knew better.

 

 

I saw Trump flinch. His hand went to his ear. Blood marked his face. As the stage erupted into chaos, I heard someone yell, “Get down, get down, get down!” Secret Service agents swarmed the stage in a blur of navy blue. “Where are we going?” a female agent cried out, her voice fading under the pressure. “Shooter’s down,” someone said moments later. “Are we good to move?” came the response.

 

 

 

Michael tackled Shannon to the ground. I was knocked down by Michel Picard, one of Trump’s press advance team, who covered me with his body. His voice was calm, but his hands trembled. “Stay still, stay calm,” he whispered, his knees pinning me to the gravel.

 

The crowd, strangely, wasn’t screaming. From the dirt, I could still hear them cheering. One woman’s primal scream cut through it all. As the agents moved Trump, I heard him insist, “Let me get my shoes.” An agent said, “Hold on, sir, your head is bloody.” But he was determined. “Let me get my shoes,” he repeated.

 

 

And then, defiantly, he lifted his fist. “Fight. Fight. Fight,” he rasped. The crowd exploded with chants of “USA! USA!” He did it again, three times, as agents ushered him offstage.

 

A rifle barrel from a Secret Service agent hovered just above me. Oddly, I wasn’t afraid. Trump’s MAGA hat, knocked off in the scuffle, landed next to me in the dirt.

 

Later, I saw Trump’s Diet Coke still perched on the podium next to a bloodied rag. Then the call came. “Good morning, Salena! It’s Donald Trump. I wanted to see if you and your daughter Shannon and Michael are OK. And I wanted to apologise that we weren’t able to do the interview.”

 

Stunned, I answered. “All due respect, but are you f***ing kidding me? You’ve just been shot.” He laughed. “Seriously, Salena, are you and your family OK?” he asked again.

 

 

We spoke for 12 minutes. He marveled at the lack of chaos, at the courage of the crowd. He mourned the death of Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter at the rally, and expressed concern for the two other men who had been hit. He described the moment he was shot—the breeze on his face, the thought that maybe it was a mosquito, “the greatest mosquito in history.”

 

“If I had done things the way I always do, that bullet would have struck between both ears,” he told me. He kept asking aloud why he had changed his routine that day. “Why didn’t I wait to talk about the chart?” He repeated the question as if searching for meaning.

Then, finally, he paused. “God,” he said. “The hand of God.”

 

He told me he believed that divine presence had been with him before—in the impeachments, the legal battles. “None of that compares to what happened yesterday,” he added. “But this time—it was a big one.”

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Times  2025-06-28

 

 

[newbee2022]

That time the Almighty was protected by the most Almighty. 

Similar to Hitler.

The end was not so pleasant 

[WDSmart]

If at first you don't succeed... 

[soalbundy]

Will he get a purple heart to go with his orange face now?

[bluebluewater]

I sure wish that guy had spent a little more time at the range . . . 

[blaze master]

14 minutes ago, WDSmart said:

If at first you don't succeed... 

 

True socialist comment. How vile. 

[blaze master]

1 minute ago, bluebluewater said:

I sure wish that guy had spent a little more time at the range . . . 

 

I dont care for Trump but your comment is totally disgusting. 2 people playing coy in this thread already in less than 1 page.

 

 

 

[fredwiggy]

40 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

That time the Almighty was protected by the most Almighty. 

Similar to Hitler.

The end was not so pleasant 

He was lucky, period. If that man was a better shot we would have a different president now. Similar to Hitler? Hitler committed suicide like a coward. Are you saying God protected Hitler, one of the most vile creatures ever to walk this planet?