Trump plays with his own death

Twelve weeks after coming within a hair’s breadth of death in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump returned there for a dramatic and skillfully orchestrated show. If he was troubled by the experience, he (almost) didn’t let it show.

Going from shaking your head to seeing your brains smeared on the carpet must necessarily be a traumatic experience. However, since he escaped an assassination attempt during a meeting in Pennsylvania on July 13, leaving a few tiny pieces of his ear, Donald Trump likes to assert that he does not have the slightest after-effects. psychologist of events.

No trauma, no sleepless nights, no nightmares, no flashbacks. This would definitely make him a special case, given that 90% of victims of armed violence suffer from post-traumatic syndromes, recalls the Daily Beast.

Whether he regularly thinks back to this head movement which saved his life or not, the candidate left nothing filtered of his trouble this Saturday, for his big return to Butler. Just an expression of deep pride and emotion, when he went on stage, while a delirious crowd of several thousand people shouted his name with passion.

In fact, on the contrary, Trump could not have exploited his miracle status more fully. American flag delivered by parachute, dripping dramaturgy, affected pause and pose, closed eyes and heavy verbs; the show was halfway between the Olympic closing ceremony and a 5-star funeral.

Distinguished guests were present to highlight the importance of the event, including his son Eric and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.Keystone

For the occasion, the billionaire had brought some beautiful people. Starting with his running mate, JD Vance, with whom he had not shared the spotlight or a meeting since August. But also his son, Eric Trump, and his wife Laura, who both shared a few words to stir things up. No one failed to repeat, again and again, the importance of this gathering.

Without forgetting, to close the show, a guest of honor. The cream of the crop. Elon Musk, who has become one of the Republican’s most loyal supporters. As the icing on this pie filled with symbols, the richest man in the world had formalized his support for the very first time… the very day of the assassination attempt.

Playing with your own death

And since everything depended on one gesture, it was by picking up his sentence where he left it, on July 13, that Donald Trump began his speech this Saturday. “As I was saying…” he began, pointing to the famous immigration graphic he presented just before the shooting.

He pushed the detail so far that at 6:11 p.m., the precise time at which the shots rang out on July 13, the former president interrupted his speech for a minute of silence.

A huge crowd gathered this Saturday in Butler to attend the survivor’s speech.Image: AP

A bell rings three times, before a “Ave Maria” rises into the air. To give goosebumps. Officially, a tribute intended for the family of Cory Competore, the firefighter killed in the shooting while protecting his wife and children, also installed in the stands this Saturday. Unofficially, an ode to the candidate-survivor and his own courage.

A tribute which quickly turns into a standard rally speech. It only took about twenty minutes for Trump to fall back into his usual rhetoric and foibles: grand declarations on the decline of the country, immigration and crime, serial attacks against Kamala Harris or transgender athletes, a thousand theories times repeated about the stolen election in 2020. Nothing new under the setting sun of Butler, Pennsylvania.

After twenty minutes of speech and optimism, Donald Trump fell back into his usual style. Getty Images North America

If, on the surface, the survivor did not seem very disturbed by his return to the scene of the crime, behind the scenes, it is rumored that he is losing a little of this beautiful confidence. According to an insider at Wall Street Journalthe former president recently asked a group of law enforcement officers if they could have missed their shot on July 13, like the 20-year-old shooter on the roof of the warehouse. “No,” assured an agent.

Donald Trump reportedly let out a laugh, before yelping: “It’s crazy, right?”