US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said it was God who spared his life in last month’s assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The GOP firebrand claimed that he has a mission to save America, and perhaps the whole world.
Trump narrowly escaped death when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at him on July 13. The would-be assassin had taken position on a nearby rooftop that gave him an unobstructed view of his target. Crooks fired off several shots, one of which grazed the former president’s right ear. One rally attendee was killed and two others were seriously injured. The shooter was subsequently killed by return fire from the Secret Service.
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In an interview on Tuesday with psychologist and TV host Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, Trump argued that “there had to be some great power” at play on that fateful day.
“The only thing I can think is that God loves our country and he thinks we’re gonna bring our country back,” Trump explained.
“It has to be God. I mean how can you say it’s luck when it’s, you know, twenty million to one?” he insisted.
Commenting on the Democrats replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee for the November 5 election, Trump lamented that he now had to face a “nice fresh opponent.”
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The Republican went on to suggest that if he prevails, it would mean that “there’s some incredible power up there that wanted me to be involved in saving, and maybe it’s more than saving the nation, maybe it’s saving the world.”
Speaking of the Secret Service agents’ performance during the incident, Trump expressed gratitude and admiration for their bravery, but noted that there appeared to have been a lack of communication between them and local law enforcement.
The GOP nominee went on to allege that Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are partly responsible for last month’s attempt on his life. He accused the top-ranking Democrats of “making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service.”
According to the former president, Harris and Biden have also been routinely portraying him as a “threat to democracy,” which “can get assassins or potential assassins going.”
“Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric,” Trump suggested.
The former president doubled down on his claims about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, telling Dr. Phil that he had won in California.
“If Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California,” Trump insisted.