Six weeks after an assassin’s bullet pierced his ear, Donald Trump said the attack had left him with no mental scars and that he had not felt the need to seek counselling.
“A couple of people have asked me about it and I haven’t had any impact,” he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. “It’s just astonishing.”
He went on to describe in spiritual terms how that 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 rang out through the crowd.
He clapped his hand to his bloody ear in disbelief, before ducking to the ground, where he was quickly protected by a cocoon of Secret Service agents.
Former President Donald Trump has spoken out about the after-effects of a bullet that pierced his ear but said he had ignored friends’ concerns that he should get therapy.
A week later, he resumed his characteristic demonstrations, first in closed spaces and then, two weeks ago, again outdoors, protected by a bulletproof screen.
Trump, 78, said he had not suffered flashbacks or nightmares of the type associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and had not felt the need to seek counseling.
“But I haven’t had any, I have to tell you, I don’t think about it much,” he said.
“I don’t want to think about it too much, but I’ve had… no, it hasn’t had any impact. It’s healed.”
Trump discussed everything from his family to politics and the state of his campaign during the interview in the opulent living room of his Mar-a-Lago home, 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 career in 2024.
Trump appeared invincible in the aftermath. He then made 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 Holy Mother revealed the third secret of Fatima in 1917).
But her solid lead in the polls evaporated when Joe Biden bowed to pressure from within his party and stepped aside to allow his vice president, Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic nominee.
Still, Trump said he couldn’t ignore the idea that something divine happened when he turned his head to look at a border data graph at just the right moment to avoid a shooter’s bullet.
He discussed 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 hit by a gunman’s bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month.
With blood running down his face, Trump raised his fist toward his supporters.
“And you know what I would love to think, I would love to think that it’s God, and that it’s God who does this because he wants to save America,” he said.
“He sees what’s going on. God sees what’s going on in America.
‘As a country we are doing badly. Even in religion we are doing badly.
“If you look at the charts, I would like to say that it was 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 it is like that.”
He spoke to DailyMail.com during a day at home, between campaign stops around the country.
Nothing was off limits.
He said he was happy with the state of his campaign, days after securing the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who ended his career as an independent.
And he outlined his positions on abortion and plans to resume federal executions.