A grateful and at times defiant Donald Trump told The Post Sunday he’s “supposed to be dead” as he recalled the harrowing moment a would-be assassin shot him at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
The former president shared the “very surreal experience” that nearly ended his life during an interview aboard his private plane enroute to Milwaukee for the GOP National Convention.
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” said Trump, who was sporting a loose, large white bandage that covered his right ear. His staff insisted that no photos be taken.
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump said. “I’m supposed to be dead.”
He said he would be if he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigrants. At that instant, what would have been a kill shot instead tore off a small piece of his ear and splattered blood on his forehead and cheek.
Trump said that as Secret Service agents led him off stage, he still wanted to continue speaking to supporters, but the agents told him it wasn’t safe and they had to get him to a hospital.
He marveled at how the agents came flying in like they were “linebackers” as soon as the shooting started and he unbuttoned his white long sleeve shirt to show a large bruise on his right forearm.
He also cleared up a mystery about his shoes. On the video of the shooting and aftermath, as the burly agents tried to rush him off the stage for safety, he can be heard saying, “Wait, I want to get my shoes.”
As he explained in the interview, “The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight,” he said with a smile.
He commended the Secret Service personnel for their heroic actions and praised them for gunning down the shooter, who was perched on a roof about 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking.
“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes,” the former president said as he pointed to the bridge of his nose.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
Trump also addressed the incredible photo of him raising his fist and saying “Fight” three times as the agents tried to get him off stage and into an armored SUV.
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
He added,“I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot.”
The doctor at the local hospital, which has a trauma center, told him he’s never seen anyone survive getting hit by an AR-15, Trump recalled.
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“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here,” he said.
One man at the rally was shot and killed, and two were wounded. Asked if he had given any thought to attending the funeral of Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who died shielding his family from the killer’s gunfire, Trump said yes.
Then, turning to aides standing behind him, he said, “Get the numbers, I want to go the hospital and call all the families.”
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Trump also praised the crowd at the rally, which he put at 55,000 people, for remaining calm.
“A lot of places, especially soccer games, you hear a single shot, everybody runs. Here there were many shots and they stayed.”
He added: “I love them. They are such great people.”
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina spent much of the flight talking to Trump and found his optimism “unbelievable.”
“He feels like he has a new lease on life,” Graham said.
There’s already some proof of that, as Trump related that his brush with death had changed his mind about the speech he will give Thursday to accept his party’s nomination for the third consecutive time.
“I had all prepared an extremely tough speech, really good, all about the corrupt, horrible administration,” he said, then suddenly added: “But I threw it away.”
He said a new speech was in the works because “I want to try to unite our country.” Folding his arms, he added “but I don’t know if that’s possible. People are very divided.”
Was it a matter of tone, I asked, or were there policy changes he had in mind?
The policy differences, he suggested, are the stumbling block. “Some people want open borders, some don’t. Some want men to be able to play on women’s sport teams, and others don’t.”
Still, he said he remains convinced that success will unite the country, though he didn’t otherwise define what that success would entail.
He said he appreciated the call from President Biden, calling it “fine” and said Biden was “very nice.”
He suggested, without offering specifics, that the campaign between them could be more civil from now on.
He also said that “we hear” that Biden will order the Department of Justice to drop its two prosecutions of Trump. So far, there’s no public sign of that.
The interview, which included Byron York of the Washington Examiner, lasted more than 30 minutes and concluded as the plane sat on the tarmac after landing in Milwaukee.
At one point, a video of the shooting flashed on a large TV screen over my shoulder, which was tuned to CBS News and facing Trump.
Watching him as he watched the big screen, I could see he was riveted, and he said this was the first time he had watched the 2-minute segment.
More than once he shook his head, as if disturbed by seeing how close he came to death.
Regarding the campaign, he is confident he’s on a path to victory. When I mentioned how the gambling odds had shifted overnight in his favor, he knew the numbers, saying he was given an 85 percent probability of victory by one oddsmaker.
He asked York and I what we thought would be more important to voters in the long run: Biden’s collapse at their first debate, or the assassination attempt.
He didn’t give his own opinion, but acknowledged that the debate was continuing to divide Dems about whether Biden should be the nominee, and that Saturday’s shooting would almost certainly compound the swing in his favor as voters absorbed it.
All true, but I believe there is still a need for him to close the sale with many people who remain immune to his appeal. Those who have tuned him out have missed the ways in which he has run a far more disciplined campaign than his first two.
He has been especially careful about trying to curb the power of the abortion issue, which Dems see as one of their prime advantages since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
In response, Trump has said he will not support legislation imposing a national ban and changed the GOP platform to reflect his belief that, whatever limits voters in each state decide, there should be exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.
Trump also was smart in the last two weeks as Dems tore into Biden after the debate disaster. Instead of interjecting himself, he wisely stayed on the sideline, following the ancient adage that when your opponent is committing suicide, get out of the way.
And yet, the polls have remained stubbornly close, with some surveys actually giving Biden a small lead nationally.
Oddly, that makes Trump’s aim to give a unifying speech Thursday all the more essential. Because of the assassination attempt, many voters will be watching to see how it affected him.
He won’t get a better chance to show them that he wants to be part of the solution and help close the horrible polarization that threatens to destroy our nation.
One speech, of course, won’t bring a miracle, but if he follows through on his instinct to make this the start of a new, more civil and smarter campaign, he’ll pull off a two-fer.
It would help him in his quest to recapture the White House, and also help put our great but troubled America back on track for a glorious future.
Maybe this is why you were spared, Mr. President.
Go for it.
