Donald Trump reflects on the impact the shooting has had on his life and his campaign and, reveals how friends have asked whether he’s getting help for PTSD
Six weeks after an assassin’s bullet hit his ear, Donald Trump said the attack had left no mental scars and he had no need for therapy.
“A few people have asked me that, but I had no influence on it whatsoever,” he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. “It’s just amazing.”
He then described in spiritual terms how the moment had crystallized in his mind the importance of his political mission.
Trump was in full swing at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July when a gunshot echoed through the crowd.
He raised his hand to his bloodied ear in disbelief, but then dove to the ground, where he was quickly protected by a cocoon of Secret Service agents.
Former President Donald Trump discussed the aftermath of a bullet piercing his ear, but said he ignored his friends’ concerns that he would need therapy
A week later, he resumed his trademark rallies, first indoors and then again outdoors two weeks ago, protected by a bulletproof screen.
Trump, 78, said he did not suffer from flashbacks or bad dreams of the kind associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that he had no need for therapy.
“But I haven’t had one yet, I have to tell you that. I don’t think about it much,” he said.
“I don’t want to think about it too much, but I have… no, it hasn’t had an impact. It’s healed.”
Trump talked about everything from his family to policies and the state of the campaign during the interview in the opulent living room of his Mar-a-Lago mansion, which serves as his political headquarters.
And he spoke candidly about the moment that could have ended his life and what it means for his race in 2024.
Trump seemed invincible in the aftermath. He followed this up with a Lazarus-like appearance at his party’s convention in Milwaukee, where attendees spoke of miracles, divine intervention and the religious symbolism of the date, July 13 (when the Blessed Mother revealed the third secret of Fatima in 1917.)
But his solid lead in the polls evaporated when Joe Biden bowed to pressure from his party and stepped aside to allow his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
Still, Trump said he couldn’t ignore the idea that something divine was happening when he turned his head to look at a map of border data at just the right moment to dodge a gunman’s bullet.
He talked about everything from Kamala Harris’ reluctance to be interviewed to the role his wife Melania and youngest son Barron, 18, play in his campaign.
Secret Service agents protected Trump on the ground in the seconds after he was struck by a gunman’s bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month
With blood streaming down his face, Trump raised a fist toward his supporters
“And you know what I’d like to think? I’d like to think that it’s God, and that God is doing this because He wants to save America,” he said.
“He sees what’s happening. God sees what’s happening in America.
‘We are doing badly as a country. Even with religion we are doing badly.
“You look at the charts and I would like to say that it is God who saved me. It was not just luck, but the reason would be that he saved me, because I can save this country. I hope that is true.”
He spoke to DailyMail.com during a day at home, between campaign visits across the country.
Nothing was too crazy.
He said he was pleased with the progress of his campaign, days after receiving the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who ended his race as an independent.
He also outlined his position on abortion and his plans to resume federal executions.