Democratic strategist David Axelrod said former President Donald Trump will be greeted as a “martyr” by his supporters when he attends the Republican National Convention (RNC) next week following the shooting at a campaign rally on Saturday.
“This is an uplifting moment for our country and hopefully a moment of reflection that allows us to all pull back from the abyss and prevent this from happening again,” Axelrod, the political commentator, told CNN.
“It’s been a pretty tough election from the start. I don’t know how it’s going to go from here,” he said. “Eventually the campaign will resume.”
“But the fact that this incident happened on the doorstep of the tournament has to change the very nature of that tournament in some way,” he said.
“Assuming the president is willing to attend, and I think he will, he will be greeted as a kind of martyr in this event. And I think it may be angrier or more solemn, but it definitely won’t be the same.”
Trump said a gunman opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night, leaving him with a bullet lodged in his right ear.
“I knew right away something was wrong as I heard the whoosh and the gunshot and felt the bullets going through my skin. I was bleeding heavily and I knew what was happening,” Trump said in a statement posted to Truth Social.
Shortly after the shots rang out, Trump fell to the ground and was helped to his feet by Secret Service agents, who helped him to his feet seconds later. He exchanged fist bumps with members of the crowd before being hurried off the stage, blood visible on the right side of his face.
The former president was taken to a local medical center, where a spokesman said he was “in good spirits.”
The Secret Service said one attendee at Saturday’s rally was killed and two were seriously injured, and that the suspected shooter has since died.
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin in Milwaukee on Monday, and Trump is expected to speak at the convention on Thursday and be formally nominated as the presidential candidate.
Representatives from the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee said in a statement Saturday night that Trump was “in good spirits” and “looks forward to joining you in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate you as the 47th president of the United States.”
