Donald Trump said he’s “more of a believer” in God after surviving an assassination attempt last month — calling the fact that only his ear was struck with a bullet a “miracle.”
“It hit me at an angle that was far less destructive than any other angle,” the 78-year-old former president told Elon Musk in an X livestream conversation.
“So that was the miracle — so those people who don’t believe in God, I think we got to all start thinking about that,” the Republican presidential candidate said.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign event at 180 Church, on June 15, 2024. AP“You know, I’m a believer. Now I’m more of a believer, I think. And a lot of people have said that to me. A lot of great people have said that to me, actually. But it was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle.”
Trump said he expected many more than one would have been killed by the gunfire — and praised the lack of a stampede among attendees after the attack.
“My first question was — because I heard bullets flying over me — I said, ‘How many people were killed?’ We had a massive crowd. There was a tremendous — thousands and thousands of people,” he said.
Trump said “a lot more people could have been badly hurt and killed” if not for the Secret Service sniper who quickly shot would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20.
Crooks wounded two rally-goers and killed another at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., before he was shot dead himself.
“I have to take my hat off to [the agent] … You know, he’s been with them for 23 years, and he’s never had anything like this. And all of a sudden he has to act. And it’s a very tough thing to act and to be shooting somebody,” Trump said.
Trump said he’s “more of a believer” in God after surviving an assassination attempt last month. Getty Images“One of the miracles was that nobody ran,” he went on.
“When guns go off, and it does happen in stadiums — in a soccer match or some kind of a match — everybody flees. They call it a stampede, like cattle … and a lot of people get killed with stampedes.”
During his four years as president, Trump rarely attended church services and more often golfed on the weekends — in a contrast with his successor President Biden, 81, who rarely misses a Sunday mass.
The thrice-married Trump entered office as a Presbyterian, but said in a 2020 interview that “I now consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian.”
“Melania and I have gotten to visit some amazing churches and meet with great faith leaders from around the world. During the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak, I tuned into several virtual church services and know that millions of Americans did the same,” Trump said at the time.
As president, Trump nominated three justices to the Supreme Court who voted in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, which some religious conservatives had sought for decades.
Trump has strong support from certain evangelical Christian leaders including Franklin Graham, who spoke at last month’s Republican convention in Milwaukee.
“We live in a world of miracles. None of us knows God’s plan, or where life’s adventure will take us. I want to thank Franklin Graham for being here tonight; he’s an outstanding man,” Trump said in his own RNC speech.
“He wrote me a note recently; I have a lot of respect for him. ‘Sir, I love your storytelling, I think it’s great, in front of these big rallies, but, sir, please do me one favor. It won’t make any difference. Please. Don’t use any foul language.’ I was a little embarrassed, I said. He said, ‘It won’t make any difference.’ Actually, it does, the story’s not quite as good, but I’ve been very good. The story is not quite as good, to be honest.”
