'I wasn't supposed to be here tonight,' says Trump during Republican National Convention acceptance speech
President Trump opened his keynote speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention by acknowledging he was lucky to have survived the assassination attempt that took place at a rally in Pennsylvania last weekend.
“A lot of people have asked me what happened, so I'm going to tell you what happened,” Trump said Thursday night in Milwaukee, “and you'll never hear it from me twice, because it's too painful to tell.”
Trump was speaking about the shooting that occurred last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, striking the former president in the upper right ear as he turned to look at one of the immigration charts that were being shown on a screen at the event.
“I started to turn to the right to look at the charts, and I was about to turn further, but I shouldn't have, and then I heard a loud whoosh and felt something hit me hard in my right ear,” Trump said. “I said to myself, 'Whoa, what is that? That must be a bullet,' and I put my right hand to my ear and put it down, and my hand was covered in blood. There was blood everywhere. I immediately realized this was very serious, that I was under attack, and I just dropped to the ground.”
“There was blood everywhere, but in some way I felt very safe because God was on my side,” Trump continued. “The amazing thing is, if I hadn't moved my head at the last moment before he shot me, the assassin's bullet would have been perfectly on target and I wouldn't be here with you tonight.”
“But that's not why they didn't move. They knew I was in a serious situation, they saw the blood, they thought I was dead, and they just didn't want to leave me alone. You could see the love on their faces,” he said.
“I wasn't supposed to be here tonight,” Trump said, as the crowd at Fiserv Forum chanted, “Yes, you were supposed to be here.”
“It is by the grace of Almighty God that I am standing before you on this stage,” Trump said, “and as you've read in the news over the last few days, many are saying this was a providential moment.”
“The crowd was confused, they thought I was dead,” Trump said, “and there was so much sadness. I looked up and you could see it on their faces. They didn't know I was out there looking, and they thought it was over. When I realized that, I wanted to do something to let them know I was OK. I raised my right arm, and I looked at all these thousands and thousands of people waiting with bated breath, and I started yelling, 'Fight, fight, fight!'”